Welcome. Since 1986, NZ Skeptics members have been sharing curious, critical writing about extraordinary claims in New Zealand and beyond - from classic NZ Skeptic journal pieces to newer newsletter and media commentary.
This archive brings all of that work together in one place. You can dive into the latest articles, explore older favourites, browse by topic or author, and follow how skeptical conversations have changed over time.
Editor's pick
I'm a big fan of the Assassin's Creed series of games, where you play an assassin in a virtual reality simulation of history. For me I think a large part of the attraction is a mix of how well the parkour parts of the game flow when you're in towns and cities, along with the completionist inside me that loves to 100% complete games that have a large task list of missions and collectables.
Approx. 8 min read
9 November 2026
Last night I was watching the first episode of a 2024 TV legal drama called 'Matlock'. For those who are old enough to recognise that name - it isn't a remake of the detective show. Anyway, what caught my ear in this show was when the main character Madeleine Matlock (played by Kathy Bates) said she had managed to get past law firm security and stand unnoticed in a partners' meeting because older women are 'invisible'.
Credit to the YouTuber Jen and her channel Fundy Fridays for putting out a video on this development; I still recommend watching Jen's earlier videos on The Botkin Family and the now-defunct Vision Forum that the Botkins were associated with:
On The Climate Brink on the 27th of October Zeke Hausfather wrote that “Off-grid data centers have 60-80% higher emissions”.
A few weeks ago I wrote about mouth tape, and threatened to buy some from Temu. So, while recording the Yeah… Nah! Podcast a few weeks ago, I jumped onto Temu, added a $5 box of tape to my basket, and clicked to check out:
1 May 1998
Approx. 10 min read
1 August 1994
Approx. 12 min read
1 February 1997
Approx. 9 min read
1 November 1991
Approx. 9 min read
Although I have been receiving free email alerts for a long time, I am a (very) new member. Among the goodies which I received a couple of days ago was the Spring, 2003 newsletter, number 69. Obviously, free speech is the first requisite of such an organ, but I was rather taken aback by contribution in Forum from Lance Kennedy of Tantec, an organisation in the biocide industry, on the subject of global warming. Its content is highly selective, and it contravenes all the principles outlined in the Skeptics Guide to Critical Thinking. He writes of a "sound and healthy reluctance to subscribe to anthropogenic greenhouse... warming". He says that the Scientific American is committed to "greenie (a pejorative term which has no place in a serious discussion) nonsense".
1 February 2004
Approx. 10 min read
Presenting numbers with excessive and artifical precision in product labels, newspaper articles and report tables does nothing for scientific credibility and sows confusion in the mind of the reader.
1 August 2009
Approx. 9 min read
It is hard to avoid hearing about Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies these days. Almost every issue of every newspaper has an article about some aspect of Bitcoin. As a researcher in cryptography I have been interested in Bitcoin since around 2013 (though I confess to have never "mined" a block or invested in Bitcoin). The purpose of this article is not to explain the technology of Bitcoin or to give a detailed overview of it. And I am definitely not giving investment advice! Instead I want to highlight a few aspects of the Bitcoin story that I think are of particular interest to skeptics.
1 February 2018
Approx. 12 min read
