Issues from November 1996

A skeptical look at the Natural Law Party provided to journalists in preparation for the election.

Malcolm Carr, from Waikato University's Centre For Science, Mathematics & Technology Education Research, talks to Annette Taylor about the nature of science education and the new science curriculum following his address at this years' conference.

The organisation responsible for setting exams for New Zealand secondary students receives the Skeptics' annual rap on the knuckles for bad science.

At the Skeptics' conference we were treated to one official's view of the status of scientific medicine relative to alternative treatment systems and beliefs. This presentation reinforced many of our fears that modern medicine is truly the victim of its own success. Now that so many of us live to old age, and find that pharmaceuticals and surgery can do little to prevent inevitable decline, we are encouraged to turn to away from "Western orthodoxy" towards "alternative" systems of other, more "spiritual and "holistic cultures".

At the AGM, and in a subsequent letter from a member, the question was raised "what are we saving money for?". Certainly the Skeptics bank account is a reasonably healthy one, after ten years of frugal saving on the part of Treasurers past and present.

One of the interesting things about the Skeptics is the wide range of opinions that can be found in our group -- not to mention the ever-readiness to express them. So I was interested to read Frank Haden's column on the conference and how he found it.

It often seems as if home schooling is the domain of hard-line Christians. In fact, they're not the only people who feel that their children are better taught at home than in school.

The media love to manufacture a mystery, and the Kaimanawa Wall is a great example of this. Watch closely, as a perfectly natural rock formation becomes a megalithic structure...

This year has seen one of the most significant discoveries ever made -- the announcement that there are solid indications of life having once existed on another planet. The implications for us all, whether scientific, philosophic or religious, are tremendous.