This year the NZ Skeptics Annual General Meeting was held separately from the conference, on 7 September in Wellington. Among the business attended to was the election of a new chair-entity, Mark ... (1243 words)

A new group advocating a strong basis in rigorous science for the provision of safe and effective healthcare has been established in New Zealand. Mark Hanna explains. There is a lot of medical ... (930 words)

The spread of new technologies has caused an upheaval in the world of the media, but gives skeptics many causes for optimism. This article is based on a presentation to the 2013 NZ Skeptics ... (2817 words)

Mark Hanna reports on how to use the Advertising Standards Authority to fight back against the promotion of questionable therapies. In November 2012, I saw a television infomercial for a product by a ... (1612 words)

"… she successfully resisted the forces pitted against her, giving an astounding manifestation of some power other than that making up the ordinary phenomena of nature." So wrote the Feilding Star on ... (1886 words)

At the 2013 NZ Skeptic Conference Vicki Hyde presented a series of soundbites and talking points skeptics can use in discussions with others. Here are some of them, presented as a smorgasbord of ... (1938 words)

The proposed Hastings District Plan (November, 2013) includes references to 'matakite walkover', the use of Maori clairvoyant powers as a means of determining an area's cultural or spiritual ... (642 words)

At TAM 2013 the last talk was by Peter Boghossian and it was on Authenticity. One of the take-away messages I got from that talk was that you should stand by your words and if someone is offended by ... (2142 words)

The New Zealand Skeptics Society supports the scientific consensus on Climate Change. There is an abundance of evidence demonstrating global mean temperatures are rising, and that humans have had a ... (49 words)

Human carbon emissions have been described as a planet-wide experiment with a sample size of one. Are there ways for science to accept uncertainties and just point at what could happen, while not ... (2062 words)

Martin Bridgstock worries about a new trend which might, in the long run, threaten both science and skepticism. What exactly is a pseudoscience? The Oxford English Dictionary defines it like this: A ... (1811 words)

Daniel Ryan reports from the front line of the battle against the anti-fluoridationists. The members of Fluoride Action Network NZ and its spin-off groups are vociferous about the urgent need to ... (1303 words)

"Alkaline and hydrogen-rich" water is being touted as the latest cure-all. There is a sort of health shop in the Johnsonville Mall on the outside of which is this handsome sign: Which is intriguing. ... (819 words)

Most people are very bad at distinguishing genuine patterns from random noise, but fortunately there are statistical methods that can help. This article is adapted from a talk at the NZ Skeptics ... (2474 words)

Completely Unnecessary? Hardly. New Zealand's own Completely Unnecessary Skeptical Podcast is celebrating its fourth birthday and has established a niche for itself in the country's digital airwaves. ... (1233 words)

Reports of the 'rediscovery' of the Pink and White Terraces may be premature, writes Bill Keir. On 2 February 2011 a post on the blog of GNS Science's outreach educator Julian Thomson announced ... (1609 words)

Keith Garratt finds the NZ Homeopathic Society is capable of change. On 2 October 2013, I received this email: Dear Keith, We acknowledge receipt of your letter 16th September 2013. The changes you ... (1114 words)

A 'Wellness Festival' provides a couple of hours' entertainment, if not much more The stallholders at Porirua's inaugural Wellfest in August were a mixed bunch. Among the 50 or so displaying their ... (973 words)

A best-selling book claiming to present evidence of life after death may not be all it's cracked up to be. I recently read an article ("Heaven's Gate", SA Weekend Magazine, The Advertiser, December ... (1475 words)

Keith Muir responds to Barry Brill's article, A Climate of Hope, in NZ Skeptic 108. In his article A Climate of Hope, Barry Brill makes the following statement: "It's pretty clear that the ... (891 words)

A lot of effort goes into science communication, but the effectiveness of much of it is debatable. This article is based on a presentation to the NZ Skeptics Conference in Wellington, 7 September ... (895 words)

Michael Edmonds reports on his successful complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority over the dubious science used to promote BioMag underlays. For more on BioMag see NZ Skeptic 91. The BioMag ... (548 words)

Hormone supplements derived from plants are widely promoted as more 'natural' than hormones from horses, but they carry the same risks - and some more of their own. The New Zealand Menopause ... (786 words)

Martin Bridgstock considers a major work, which gives us all some astonishingly good news Most of us are used to being deluged with bad news. The economy is on the slide again. Violence has burst out ... (1650 words)

The widespread use of what are basically dowsing rods to detect bombs in Iraq and other trouble spots is a striking example of how a lack of critical thinking can lead to all manner of death and ... (2509 words)

What is a miracle? In the vernacular we speak of "miraculous" escapes and the like, to characterise events which are extremely unlikely - at odds with the normal course of experience. A miracle in ... (275 words)

I agree with Vincent Gray (NZ Skeptic 107), it is not possible to determine an average temperature for the Earth. However it is important to note that even the alarmists agree that the Earth is not ... (265 words)

Stuart Landsborough conducts a small experiment which may land him in big trouble. I tried an experiment with my wife, but until now she knows nothing about it. I wonder what her reaction will be ... (692 words)

If climate scientists were credit-rating agencies, climate sensitivity would be on negative watch, says a recent article in the Economist. Barry Brill looks at recent climate sensitivity estimates ... (682 words)

Real science operates by collecting data, inventing theories, developing models and making predictions that can be tested. If predictions fail, theories must be modified or discarded. At the ... (1341 words)

Is wellbeing a subject that can be approached scientifically? The following article is a based on a presentation to the 2012 NZ Skeptics Conference. Why do we care about truth? Why do we attend ... (1692 words)

Vitamin C is essential to human health, but our understanding of its role has been perverted by practitioners of 'alternative' medicine. The 18th-century discovery that oral citrus juice can protect ... (3244 words)

The history of a word which is very familiar to skeptics carries some important lessons. Most skeptics are familiar with the term 'bunk', (or perhaps 'bunkum') with its associated skeptical activity ... (1442 words)

Some Skeptics have been surprised that our organisation has been so restrained in its response to the purported moa sighting near Cragieburn. As we see it, the whole issue is fraught with difficulty. ... (470 words)

The Advertising Standards Authority provides an accessible platform for members of the public to take on the merchants of woo. This article is based on a presentation to the 2012 NZ Skeptics ... (1184 words)

Making a submission to a parliamentary committee proved to be a worthwhile exercise. When the Natural Health Products Bill was introduced to Parliament in September 2011 with cross-party support it ... (2317 words)

_This could be the shining hour Based on all those mad beliefs In the money oil and angel powder In the new age magazine_ Grant Lee Buffalo, The Shining Hour (1993) Law and medicine have much in ... (2752 words)

Do you believe in climate change? Based on my past readings of NZ Skeptic of course not. After all this is the skeptic's magazine. I consider whether you believe in climate change is the wrong ... (473 words)

The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young. - Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). In 2011, I gave a talk at the NZ Skeptics conference in Christchurch titled ... (1269 words)

Michael Edmonds reflects on the 2012 NZ Skeptics Conference. Having just driven four and a half hours back to Christchurch from the NZ Skeptics conference in Dunedin I should be tired. However, I am ... (668 words)

A fiasco over a 'Natural Therapy Clinic' at Wanganui Hospital was finally resolved satisfactorily - but for the wrong reasons. The attempted introduction of 'natural therapy' to Wanganui Hospital has ... (2686 words)

NZ Skeptic Chair-entity Gold stopped by the NZ Skeptic offices recently on his way from Bluff to Cape Reinga. Looking rather hairier than when he started, and having "worn out a foot" in Palmerston ... (126 words)

Darcy Cowan takes another look at a subject that just won't go away. The page views for my amber teething necklace post (printed in NZ Skeptic 100) are about to pass the 20,000 mark. Interest in the ... (1456 words)

The discovery of a long-missing body offers a rare chance to put the psychic stars of Sensing Murder to the test. On Saturday 19 May 2012 the remains of Auckland teenager Jane Furlong were found in ... (2249 words)

Annette Taylor has personal experience of a phenomenon that lies behind many tales of ghosts, demonic possession, and alien abduction. I was asleep. Marley, our cat, was faster asleep by my side. ... (757 words)

How should a skeptic relate to those who have other belief systems? What does a skeptic and atheist do when they are part of a broader group that is quite loose on empirical evidence and critical ... (908 words)

Ethics and morality are often regarded as beyond the reach of scientific inquiry. But certain values appear to be shared by all humans as species-typical adaptations. This article is based on a ... (2452 words)

Pictures don't lie, right? Of course they do. And they were deceiving us long before Photoshop made the manipulation of images almost child's play. Today, nobody would bat an eye at a ghostly image ... (1003 words)

Adam van Langenberg gives practical suggestions on how to run a high school skeptical society, based on his own successful experience. In late 2010 I was fortunate enough to see noted US skeptics ... (1834 words)

ACC's best-practice guidelines for identifying cases of sexual abuse are not credible. Twenty years ago, New Zealand had a mere handful of people who claimed to be 'counsellors'. Now they number in ... (1301 words)

Gold takes a long walk. Some time back I noticed that I was getting the first signs of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). I'm a web developer and spend way too much time in front of a keyboard and ... (293 words)

Gold takes local action against PowerBalance, with encouraging results. PowerBalance Bands are hideously expensive silicon rubber wristbands with a mylar hologram in them. PowerBalance, an American ... (469 words)

Sodium monofluoroacetate (1080) is a proven tool in the New Zealand pest control arsenal, but significant opposition to its use continues, much of it irrational. This article is based on a ... (2184 words)

Massive changes are transforming the skeptical movement. A tidal wave of change is hitting skepticism. The people, the ideas and the place of skepticism in society are all changing. We need to ... (1910 words)

Having a basic knowledge of the principles of chemistry can help one evade the pitfalls of many pseudosciences - but it's not infallible. This article is based on a presentation to the 2011 NZ ... (2610 words)

After almost 15 years of intermittently tagging along with her parents, Iris Riddell reports on her first official attendance at a NZ Skeptics Conference. I attended my first ever Skeptics conference ... (752 words)

The NZ Skeptics cast the net wide for the 2011 Bent Spoon. The NZ Skeptics have awarded their annual prize for journalistic gullibility to all those media outlets and personalities who took Ken ... (838 words)

Earth scientists can forecast the size and frequency of the aftershocks following Canterbury's September 2010 earthquake. But this is very different from earthquake prediction. This article is based ... (2742 words)

A 'natural' way to manage teething pain has no plausible mechanism. Parents, especially new parents like myself, are a vulnerable group. We tend to be full of anxiety that we are doing the 'right ... (1235 words)

The paranormal field contains both con artists and the well-intentioned. It's often impossible to tell one from the other, but in the end it makes little difference. This article is based on a ... (2667 words)

The following changes to the constitution of the NZ Skeptics have been proposed and will be considered at the Annual General Meeting in Christchurch on Sunday, 28 August 2011. This notice is ... (500 words)

NZ Skeptic issues 96, 97 and 98 contained articles presenting different viewpoints on the 'Unfortunate Experiment' at National Women's Hospital and its aftermath. Wellington registered nurse and NZ ... (4755 words)

A learning difficulties programme that claims to re-train the cerebellum makes some impressive claims which don't stand close scrutiny. DORE is an organisation that claims to treat learning ... (2210 words)

It's not a hopeless cause to engage with proponents of the irrational - but some ways of doing this are more effective than others. This article is based on a presentation to the 2010 NZ Skeptics ... (2086 words)

Englishwoman Doris Stokes was a medium - by which I don't mean her dress size was between small and large. She claimed she spoke to people "on the other side," to use the euphemistic jargon of the ... (335 words)

In the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes, Ken Ring's predictions were widely, though often inaccurately, reported. David Riddell looks at Ring's writings, and compares them with actual ... (1431 words)

Creationism is not a new problem in New Zealand schools, as this article excerpt from NZ Skeptic 18 (December 1990) illustrates. A report of a survey conducted in 1988 In order to ascertain to what ... (426 words)

Chiropractic has had a colourful history since its invention in the 19th Century. Chiropractic has had an extraordinary history, but the vehement response of its practitioners to criticisms of its ... (2981 words)

Linda Bryder responds to an article in our last issue. The article by Michelle Coffey (NZ Skeptic, 97) restates the conclusions of the Cartwright Report which are not, as she seems to imply, ... (1920 words)

Research at Victoria University of Wellington is shedding light on the often irrational processes by which people assess new information. This article is based on presentations to the 2010 NZ ... (2253 words)

I'm a men's health promoter working out of Christchurch and have some reflections after reading the discussions about the Cartwright report. I'm staggered at times by the difference in response by ... (233 words)

His name is Gold, he describes himself as a post- goth Discordian web developer, and one day soon he hopes to be homeless. He' s also the new chair entity of NZ Skeptics. Annette Taylor finds out ... (1257 words)

Rayna Ramsey produced a photographic record of this years NZ Skeptics conference. ... (12 words)

Many people lost a lot of money investing in non-existent data compression software because well:established principles of information theory were ignored. This article is based on a presentation to ... (3162 words)

After 17 years as chair-entity of the NZ Skeptics, Vicki Hyde has stepped down. Annette Taylor talks to her about life, the universe and taniwhas. Vicki Hyde can't quite remember who came up with the ... (1406 words)

This article is a response to 'Truth is the daughter of time, and not of authority': Aspects of the Cartwright Affair by Martin Wallace, NZ Skeptic 96. The Cartwright Inquiry1 was held after the ... (2926 words)

Gold looks back at the first year of Skeptics in the Pub. I had been listening to skeptical and science-based podcasts for about four years when I decided that I wanted to do something more than just ... (490 words)

NZ Skeptic 17 (May 1990) included an item taken from the NZ Herald's "100 Years of News", published in 1963, looking back at the great New Zealand airship panic of 1909. This topic, and its parallels ... (540 words)

The 'Unfortunate Experiment' at National Women's Hospital has entered the national folklore as a notorious case of medical misconduct. But there is still disagreement about what actually happened. It ... (2575 words)

When creationists try to harmonise their worldview with certain inescapable facts of geology, the result is chaos. Recently I had forwarded to me a document bearing the title Debunking Evolution: ... (2256 words)

Eyewitness testimony is commonly regarded as very high quality evidence. But recent research has shown there are many ways memories of events can become contaminated. This article is based on a ... (1298 words)

NZ Skeptics link up with a British campaign against homeopathy. On January 30 there was a concerted global mass overdose - but no-one died because the 'medication' was homeopathic. The event grew ... (1451 words)

At last year's NZ Skeptics conference Bob Brockie reflected on his career as a newspaper columnist and explained why he has no future with the Mormon Church. After spending most of my life as a ... (2073 words)

Some fields that claim the authority of science may be in need of an overhaul. This article is based on a presentation to the NZ Skeptics 2009 conference in Wellington, 26 September. I have always ... (1960 words)

Noel Townsley continues our series on the psychic roadshows touring New Zealand. From a website to which I subscribe came an email notice of two upcoming events with "well-known psychic" Jeanette ... (3087 words)

The dire predictions of the Club of Rome's 1972 report on The Limits to Growth have supposedly been refuted by subsequent studies, but the refutations have serious shortcomings. This article is based ... (1968 words)

NZ Skeptic editor David Riddell finds Kelvin Cruickshank less impressive in person than he appears on Sensing Murder. A shorter version of this review appeared in the Waikato Times on 9 December ... (1305 words)

Some claim our society is too materialistic and lacks spiritual values. But what would it be like to live in a society that rejects materialism? Arnhem Land in tropical Australia has a curious ... (1942 words)

More 'ghosts' than ever are appearing in photos - thanks to digital cameras. This article is based on a presentation to the NZ Skeptics 2009 conference in Wellington, 26 September. Since the ... (2077 words)

Economics has been called the Dismal Science. But to what extent are economics scientific, and economists scientists? This article is based on a presentation to the NZ Skeptics 2009 conference in ... (3691 words)

Gold gives the inside story of the beginnings of Skeptics in the Pub meetings in New Zealand. I first heard about Skeptics in the Pub on the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast ... (834 words)

Yet another Sensing Murder veteran struts her stuff. AS a professed skeptic I have been unconvinced by psychics who claim they can communicate with dead people. However, those who do believe such a ... (2513 words)

Loretta Marron exposes an Australian Australian alternative cancer therapist. On 26 February this year, trailers were run every hour throughout the day in Australia advertising the Channel Nine ... (638 words)

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. ... (1889 words)

Stuart Landsborough has an interesting night out with one of the Sensing Murder mediums. On 12 May, 2009, Kelvin Cruickshank of Sensing Murder fame came to Wanaka to wow the locals with a one night ... (2160 words)

A therapy marketed as a guaranteed way to stop smoking appears to lack a sound theoretical basis and to have little experimental support. As health researchers in the field of tobacco smoking ... (2402 words)

When the Sunday Star-Times decided to survey the nation on how superstitious New Zealanders are and about what, Vicki Hyde got used as a guinea pig. Part One of her responses was published in the ... (1944 words)

Ian Luxmoore investigates the claims for BioMag underlays. I hear and see advertising for the BioMag Underlay on a regular basis in New Zealand media. They advertise extensively on TV and radio and ... (1889 words)

Placebos may contain no active ingredients, but they have real effects on the human brain. This article is based on a presentation to the NZ Skeptics 2008 conference in Hamilton, September 26-28. ... (2648 words)

Today, gonorrhoea infections in young girls are taken as certain evidence of sexual abuse. Yet there is an extensive but now-forgotten literature showing that this is not necessarily the case. This ... (4091 words)

When the Sunday Star-Times decided to survey the nation on how superstitious New Zealanders are and about what, I got used as guinea pig. Having done a lot of survey design and analysis during the ... (1773 words)

Annette Taylor learns it's not enough to have your cake, you have to test it too. The Yuletide has well and truly washed up at our place, much food has been eaten and we are still in recovery mode, ... (520 words)

While we were in Fiji recently there was a dengue fever alert. This unpleasant virus is carried by mosquitoes and naturally we were careful to use insect repellent. We stayed in a Suva hotel; in the ... (125 words)

The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has upheld a complaint from the Commerce Commission against TV3 current affairs show 60 Minutes. An item, broadcast at 7.30pm on 15 October 2007, presented ... (433 words)

David Riddell revisits the 2008 NZ Skeptics conference. The NZ Skeptics learned first-hand that strange lights in the sky can have rational explanations as the annual conference kicked off at Waikato ... (274 words)

A visit to Lake Rotoroa in Nelson Lakes National Park is rewarded with a remarkable sighting. Sea monsters are real enough; I have even caught one. Years ago a friend and I found a live oarfish ... (908 words)

Why is Canterbury University fostering an alternative therapy at its Health Centre? Should Canterbury University be funding pseudo-science? It was implied that this was occurring in a recent ... (1169 words)

Modern skepticism owes a huge debt to ancient Greece. This article is based on a presentation to the 2008 NZ Skeptics Conference I was born in Athens, Greece, and grew up during the war, one of 12 ... (2228 words)

Extravagant claims are often made for the health-giving effects of anti-oxidants in the foods we eat. But sorting out the truth from the hype is not at all easy. In the window of a health-food shop, ... (2199 words)

Mike Palin queries the judging criteria in a recent high school science video competition. A blatant anti-evolution DVD has been "commended" by the Royal Society of New Zealand ... (415 words)

Ian Wishart is one of New Zealand's more prominent creationists. In a recent book he takes on evolutionary biology, a task for which he seems ill-equipped. In his latest book, Eve's Bite (2007), ... (1878 words)

Martin Wallace particularly likes two of the five definitions of 'pitfall' in the OED: A trap or crafty device to catch by surprise the unsuspecting or unwary Any hidden or unperceived danger or ... (2099 words)

A strange transformation has overtaken the murky world of the creationists. This article is based on a presentation to the 2007 NZ Skeptics Conference. Creationism has always been primarily an ... (2802 words)

In our last issue, Hugh Young looked at the practice of circumcision. But how did such a bizarre tradition ever get started? Hugh Young's article on circumcision (Skeptic 86) was excellent but it is ... (1091 words)

Photos of a bright, slow-moving object over Northland caused quite a stir when they were published in the local newspaper last year, but some patient detective work has revealed the likely identity ... (2543 words)

Intersecting as it does sex, religion, blood, medicine and masculinity, circumcision is a subject that is hard to discuss rationally. The male human foreskin or prepuce is a remarkable structure. Far ... (1821 words)

In NZ Skeptic 82, John Welch wrote that there was something about general practice which attracts an interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Is it acceptable for medical graduates ... (3126 words)

Despite a series of studies showing it to be ineffective, ultrasound continues to be widely used by physiotherapists. Ultrasound is one of the most frequently applied treatments used by ... (1132 words)

Following on from online discussion and debate in the NZ Skeptic, a set of proposed motions to alter the society's constitution were mailed to all financial members four weeks before the conference, ... (404 words)

The teaching of evolution in New Zealand schools may seem secure, but it has faced many challenges, and these appear to be on the increase. This article is based on a presentation at the Evolution ... (1514 words)

Some risks in life are distributed throughout a population, others are all-or-nothing. There's a big difference. This article is based on a presentation to last year's Skeptics Conference. Many ... (2399 words)

It's Bent Spoon time again-the time when the Skeptics highlight the worst-and best-of the year's media. In the first double-header of its kind, one organisation has won both brickbats and plaudits ... (611 words)

This is a transcript of a talk given at the 2007 Skeptics Conference. Parts of it were also published in the NZ Family Physician in early 2007. This paper can be found at www.rnzcgp.org.nz Why do ... (2208 words)

Ethnic fundamentalism is a form of 'secular religion', an oxymoron that resists criticism. This article, originally presented at the NZ Skeptics conference in Auckland, September 2006, interrogates ... (2728 words)

An article in the Listener makes much ado about very little. The week after the Listener won Best News-stand Magazine of the Year its cover featured three mug shots of ordinary-looking people and the ... (803 words)

An Auckland University study reveals the costs-financial and emotional-of telephone psychics. There are no published reports estimating how many people use psychic hotlines in New Zealand, but belief ... (1286 words)

It's often said that scientists long rejected the idea of meteorites, but the evidence for this assertion is far from convincing. Pseudoscience constantly attempts to discredit science. One method is ... (944 words)

This is a transcript of a talk given at the Skeptics conference in Auckland last year. Parts of it were also presented at the inaugral lecture for Bruce Arroll on being appointed to a personal chair ... (2777 words)

There is no point in being gullible. What is so special about believing things that it is more righteous than questioning things? The number of times we've had the wool pulled over our eyes and later ... (1638 words)

Judith Goodyear became the youngest ever presenter at the 2006 New Zealand Skeptics conference with this exploration of the chain letters of the average teen. Most email chain letters that people my ... (1208 words)

Claims about pre-Maori colonisation of New Zealand refuse to go away. There's one born every minute. Former Act MP Muriel Newman appears to be the latest convert to the view that New Zealand was ... (1541 words)

The New Zealand Skeptics have launched a competition to encourage critical thinking among Auckland high school students. Entrants are to submit a 100-word summary outlining their proposal for a 10-12 ... (143 words)

Of all the so-called evidence that has been presented in support of human settlement in New Zealand before the second millennium, only a set of radiocarbon-dated rat bones has appeared scientifically ... (1727 words)

Attacks on Darwinian evolutionary theory have come from within the scientific community as well as from creationists. Much of this is the normal process of scientific scrutiny, but some bear all the ... (1600 words)

It was an eye opener. Under the stern glare of past headmasters of Kings College, the NZ Skeptics were holding their annual dinner that always goes with the annual conference. We had arrived at our ... (420 words)

A Listener article on Brazilian medium and 'miracle-worker' Joao de Deus has taken the annual Bent Spoon Award from the New Zealand Skeptics. The article by Diana Burns, Come and Be Healed, ran ... (391 words)

Canterbury University will next year be offering a Stage I course on critical thinking, to be called Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus. Named after a classic book by Martin Gardner, the course, ... (275 words)

New Zealand has its own version of 'postcolonial science studies'. This is supposed to emancipate those who see themselves as subjects of colonial oppression, but the actual consequences may be very ... (2566 words)

Louette McInnes found a talk by Richard Wiseman at Canterbury University well worth braving the winter cold for. Professor Wiseman holds the Chair of Public Understanding of Psychology at ... (1460 words)

Jim Ring takes another look at Bishop Ussher's famous date for the creation. Hamilton skeptics chose the date 22nd October for a celebration to "be as close as possible to Bishop Ussher's date for ... (1699 words)

Some people are skeptical about UFOs and alien abductions-but for all the wrong reasons. Gary Bates is the latest in a long line of Australian creationists who have mounted tours of New Zealand since ... (814 words)

Warwick Don celebrated the 21st annual NZ Skeptics conference by presenting a potted history of the society. IN 1976, several arch skeptics got together in the US to found the Committee for the ... (1771 words)

One of New Zealand's most senior journalists, and a long-standing member of the NZ Skeptics, has announced his retirement (Dominion Post, 2 December, Sunday Star Times, 3 December). Frank Haden has ... (1237 words)

Alternative medical practitioners often start out in the mainstream, but other currents may take them into new channels. This article is adapted from a presentation at the 2006 NZ Skeptics ... (2570 words)

"There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents and only one for birthday presents, you know." A quotation is always a useful heading to an article, and one ... (387 words)

A knockout blow for evolution turns out to be nothing of the sort AS JBS Haldane famously said, God must have an inordinate fondness for beetles, he made so many of them. Of all the tens of thousands ... (714 words)

A website poking fun at veterinary homeopathy has become the unlikely symbol of a global backlash by conventional vets against their homeopathic colleagues, according to New Scientist magazine. The ... (232 words)

Early in 2005 Professor Kaye Ibbertson, the relentless grand vizier of the Marion Davis Library and Museum, asked David Cole to offer the Medical Historical Society some comments about the history of ... (2970 words)

Research scientist Hamish Campbell spoke of his experiences as Te Papa's museum geologist at the 2005 NZ Skeptics conference. It behoves all scientists to be both skeptical and open-minded, research ... (690 words)

Many pharmaceuticals originate from nature, but their development is very different from that of so-called natural health products. This article was originally presented at the 2005 Skeptics ... (1839 words)

Demands for equal time cut both ways. Armies of the night, science-writer and novelist Isaac Asimov once called them. He was referring to the countless millions of evangelicals who believe the book ... (790 words)

For those of us who learnt of the tragedy through the media, the anguish and grief of the family who lost their two youngest children in the icy depths of Lake Wakatipu is painful even to imagine. We ... (627 words)

The last of Hamilton's highly successful Café Scientifique series for 2005 examined the issue of dating the Earth and the universe. The date was chosen to be as close as possible to Bishop Ussher's ... (271 words)

This is the text of a letter sent to new Minister of Health Pete Hodgson in November 2005 by Keith Garratt, as a follow-up to his submission to the MACCAH committee in 2003. Dear Minister In ... (887 words)

In retrospect, it was a cunning move to give us each a Hopi ear candle. Wrapped in pretty cellophane, the little beeswax treats - if used correctly - would ensure people would be in prime mental ... (455 words)

Genealogy as normally practised gives us a very misleading view of our genetic heritage. This article was originally presented at the 2005 Skeptics Conference in Rotorua. Over recent years, there has ... (2532 words)

Frank Searle, who produced 20 pictures of the Loch Ness monster and did more than anyone to make it a major tourist attraction, died on March 26 aged 84 (Dominion Post, 7 July). Searle claimed to ... (161 words)

Magnetic fields are no better for your water or your car than they are for your arthritis Powermax magnetic water-treatment conditioners have been controversial since they were introduced in New ... (754 words)

The Tertiary Education Commission was suffering from "dilutions of grandeur" when they identified homeopathic training as a nationally important strategic priority for New Zealand. That's the reason ... (458 words)

Surfing on the massive wave kicked up by the craze for things paranormal is Dunedin's spookiest entrepreneur, Andrew Smith - host of Dunedin's Hair Raiser Ghost Walk. Is it all nonsense, or is there ... (1917 words)

Dear Skeptics... Occasionally, the Skeptics get correspondence from the general public. Chair-entity Vicki Hyde responds to two such inquiries. A question I have always wanted to ask you guys: If ... (964 words)

Psychic scammer Maria Duval failed to foresee trouble over 'her' misleading advertisements. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is funded by the advertising and media industries, and has the ... (572 words)

The ACC-sponsored conference Many Faces of Abuse (Auckland, 10-12 August 2005) features a plenary speaker, Anne McDonald from Melbourne, who cannot talk, walk or feed herself. Her minder, Rosemary ... (283 words)

On 14 June 2005 the Advertising Standards Complaints Board met to consider Complaint 05/116, filed by Martin Craig for the Consumers' Institute, concerning the Maria Duval psychic services ... (1539 words)

Herald Sun, Australia - 21 July 2005 They have an evil reputation but white-tailed spiders might not be as bad as people fear. Popular myth is that the spider's bite can cause a large ulcer or lesion ... (199 words)

Can stereo cables really make a difference to the way your music sounds? Bob Metcalfe (Skeptic No 75) might have been reading New Zealand Tone magazine: Bringing Technology to Life, Sept-Oct 2004. ... (610 words)

"There's no need for your organisation. We're all skeptics nowadays." Anthroposophy in Darmstadt Children's Hospital The Darmstadt Children's Hospital in Germany has acquired an "Anthroposophical ... (400 words)

A widely publicised trial which appeared to show prayer was effective in enhancing fertility now appears to have been fraudulent. In 2001 an extraordinary paper, from the highly regarded Columbia ... (908 words)

The idea that low self-esteem is the cause of violent behaviour has been current for some time. Many years ago I attended numerous education meetings where I heard that certain (male) individuals ... (836 words)

A New Zealander's quest to find Noah's Ark has suffered a double blow, with two samples he gathered in Turkey turning out to be rock, not petrified timber. Ross Patterson delivered the samples to ... (219 words)

<<img class="g-image g-image--lazy g-image--loading" src="data:image/svg+xml,%3csvg fill='none' viewBox='0 0 615 463' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' ... (829 words)

When it comes to environmental issues, it's not always easy for a skeptic to decide where to stand Over the last few years, there has been a growing community of "environmental skeptics", who ... (2189 words)

There's a stereotype of card-carrying members of the Skeptics Society that we're dour, humour-less, cynical nay-sayers; depressed Eeyores not cheerful Tiggers. Like most stereotypes, it's 95% wrong. ... (673 words)

The medical community in Britain is suffering a severe attack of lèse majesté, and it is feared some distinguished heads will roll on Tower Green. Prince Charles, in his untiring care for the health ... (474 words)

You can't break the laws of thermodynamics, says Bob Brockie Next time you visit the US don't miss the Museum of Unworkable Devices, the brainchild of physics Professor Donald Simanek from the ... (414 words)

Neither theory nor observation support claims that lunar cycles can be used to forecast the weather Ken Ring of Titirangi is New Zealand's best known proponent of the idea that the Moon is an ... (2666 words)

The battle between the Enlightenment and Romantic traditions is far from over, though it has taken on new forms. This article is abridged from a presentation to the NZ Skeptics Conference, 2004. P J ... (3412 words)

Bob Brockie samples a health food that saw the dinosaurs come and go We've all seen the claims - Spirulina! Nature's Health Solution! The World's Healthiest Superfood! Soulfood! "Spirulina - the ... (410 words)

Journalists in New Zealand generally show a lack of scepticism when dealing with issues of science and pseudoscience - except for mainstream medicine. This article is based on a presentation to the ... (2548 words)

A new star on the psychic circuit impressed the makers of TV3's 20/20, but not the NZ Skeptics A gushy piece of infotainment on what is claimed to be New Zealand's premier showcase for investigative ... (532 words)

The reading by Jeanette Wilson which featured most prominently on the 20/20 programme awarded the 2004 Bent Spoon (see page 3) was of a woman named Maria. It transpired after the reading that Maria's ... (752 words)

Don't judge them by their demeanour. The vast majority of people in this business are sincere, well-meaning individuals, and they are very hard to distinguish from the con artists. They might well ... (474 words)

One of our members (who was supposed to be teaching carbon chemistry at the time and wishes to remain nameless!) used Jeanette Wilson's TV performances as a resource for teaching critical thinking to ... (1635 words)

Occasionally, the NZ Skeptics receive correspondence from members of the general public. Recently, Chairentity Vicki Hyde took the time to reply to one of these. Portions of the original letter are ... (2279 words)

A French test of a therapeutic touch practitioner generates sympathy, but no positive results We have recently received a message from OZ. Not transtasman Big Brother, but the cousins in France. OZ ... (569 words)

It began like any other Saturday morning, out of bed even later than on weekdays, a leisurely breakfast, dismembering the 10 sections of the Press, and settling to a good long read. It was then that ... (309 words)

There were more than 20,000 pilgrims packed around ancient Stonehenge for the 2004 summer solstice. Among them were witches, druids, new age healers… and Hamilton journalist Russell Joyce. He reports ... (507 words)

Dr Robert R Holcomb was in Wellington in January to announce a technological breakthrough. Before an audience of New Zea-land government, business and environmental leaders, he announced for the ... (261 words)

Did the ancestors of the Celts sail to New Zealand and establish a network of megalithic survey points and astronomical sight lines? Some think so The prehistory of New Zealand is generally thought ... (2103 words)

Bob Brockie thinks he can explain why the Skeptic editor gets woken up at 2am every Saturday morning Doctors have a name for impulsive, over-energetic, risky, unpredictable, posturing, defiant ... (420 words)

A Waikato University website on evolution has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from teachers, says biological sciences lecturer Alison Campbell. "We held a teacher meeting in April for the ... (671 words)

One of our members almost spots a UFO In late August 2003, three friends and I spent several nights in a hut on the north bank of the Whataroa River in South Westland, 5km from the river mouth. One ... (718 words)

"Energised Water" turns out to be much the same as the other kind Grander water indeed, than the ordinary stuff from the tap; Europeans are paying more than the equivalent of $NZ20 per litre for it. ... (577 words)

The US$3.3 billion Cassini mission is about to rendezvous with Saturn, but if some had had their way the robot probe would never have left the ground. Dr Kevin Grazier, a scientist from Nasa's Jet ... (1132 words)

Consumer response to the outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy has involved a complex balancing of risk and price Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) has officially been recognised in the ... (1458 words)

Bob Brockie gets himself a qualification in acupuncture Last year a healthy anaesthesiologist, Dr Kinsinger, visited nine chiropractors in Oklahoma, claiming that his chest or back were playing up. ... (430 words)

One possible source of the outlandish reports given by children in cases such as the Christchurch Civic Creche affair was described at the 2003 Skeptics' Conference. In recent years the western media ... (478 words)

Bill Taylor explains some of the thinking behind the Time-Line installation, "Genesis Aotearoa", at Victoria University (See also Page 13) As a lay person I entered the world of Earth Science with a ... (531 words)

Hokum Locum talks with one of the unsung victims of the Christchurch Civic Crèche The New Zealand Judiciary has consistently refused to face up to that gross miscarriage of justice, the Christchurch ... (554 words)

Bob Brockie considers the enduring influence of the founder of Anthroposophy Down on the farm, Rudolf Steiner taught that our forbears lived on the continents of Atlantis (which sank beneath the ... (412 words)

An anonymous contributor to the website, http://mostembarrassingmoment.com, shares her experiences as a professional tarot card reader. I wanted to make a little extra money with a part-time job, ... (2087 words)

The universe we live in is vast, in both space and time, so vast as to be beyond human comprehension. Mathematicians have devised a way in which the large numbers involved can be manipulated, the ... (439 words)

It may be time to expand the principles of the Hippocratic Oath First do no harm. That's the major principle of the doctor's Hippocratic Oath. For the most part, the public are well-served by that ... (735 words)

The Eugenics movement in New Zealand had legislative successes greater than anywhere in the world outside the USA and Nazi Germany Eugenics was a phenomenon that lasted for less than a hundred years, ... (2975 words)

Bob Brockie looks at the link between genius and eccentricity When the Californian surfer Kary Mullis was introduced to the King of Sweden he said, "I believe you're having problems with your ... (427 words)

Claire Le Couteur reports from the 2003 Skeptics' Conference in Wellington. This year's conference, held at Victoria University, began with a social gathering followed by a presentation by artist and ... (739 words)

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment is calling for submissions on the role of science in environmental policy and decision-making. This article is based on a paper presented at the ... (1277 words)

Answering Answers in Genesis The young earth creationists have been active again ... the Australian-based group Answers in Genesis (AIG), has been doing the circuit in New Zealand. Warnings on the ... (1212 words)

Ancient Phoenicians in New Zealand? A recent book makes the claim, but the evidence doesn't bear scrutiny. Ross Wiseman's book, New Zealand's Hidden Past (Discovery Press, 2001), is his personal ... (3733 words)

Should we trust psychologists and psychiatrists, especially as expert witnesses in court cases? This is an important question because, depending on their opinions, a person can inherit vast sums of ... (412 words)

The Word-based submission to the CAM discussion document which was sent out in our (NZCSICOP) name is now available for you to read at http://skeptics.org.nz/cam My apologies for not being able to ... (514 words)

A British man considers himself unlucky because the week he won the lottery, another person did too. So he had to share the £8 million ($NZ23 million) winnings instead of taking home all the money ... (319 words)

Our acceptance of evolution brings with it moral obligations, believes geneticist Professor David Penny, who has been fighting for greater consideration to be given to the well-being of the great ... (2655 words)

Increased litigation will do nothing to reduce the rate of medical misadventure In a recent decision the Privy Council has ruled that a New Zealand patient dissatisfied with a diagnosis can take ... (1021 words)

This article was originally presented on National Radio's Sunday Supplement Be wary of "the health professional you see most often". In some cases be afraid, be very afraid. Why? Well in some cases, ... (734 words)

In New Zealand Skeptic No. 64, Warwick Don critiqued Ian Wishart's article Walking with Beasts, published in Investigate, June 2002. This is Wishart's response. Having just read Warwick Don's ... (1034 words)

In this issue Ian Wishart responds to Warwick Don's critique of his article on Intelligent Design. I deny any fudging on the use of the word "creationist". I make a clear distinction between ... (607 words)

Insecurities about water quality have led to a boom in sales of bottled water. But the health benefits of the phenomenon are probably minimal. We were surprised to hear recently that sales of ... (976 words)

The Painted Apple Moth spraying programme in the western suburbs of Auckland has generated considerable controversy. An alternative programme was evaluated at last year's Skeptics The Painted apple ... (952 words)

Skeptics - always in two minds about something… You may recall I mentioned in the last issue of the NZ Skeptic that we were surveying members to see if we were all still on roughly the same ... (1926 words)

This is the press release (slightly edited) which announced this year's Bent Spoon Winner. Most of the reports used only a small proportion, and included a quote from Ms Fitzsimons saying that the ... (3584 words)

This article is based on an address to the Skeptics Conference 2002. A condensed version has also been produced for the NZ Listener. I've just received my first bad review of A City Possessed. It was ... (3181 words)

A critique of "Walking with Beasts", by Ian Wishart, Investigate Magazine, June 2002 A Prominent English state school, Emmanuel City Technological College, has recently decided to include creationism ... (2215 words)

Whether or not you believe in the paranormal may depend entirely on your brain chemistry. People with high levels of dopamine are more likely to find significance in coincidences, and pick out ... (336 words)

Mass screening programmes have generated considerable controversy in this country. But these programmes have inherent limitations, which need to be better understood In 1996 the Skeptical Inquirer ... (2096 words)

Vicki Hyde reports from the 4th World Skeptics Conference I knew Someone was smiling on me - there I was going to be stuck in Los Angeles for three days waiting for a flight back across the Pacific - ... (1567 words)

Owen McShane examines last year's Great Soya Sauce Scare There's a lot of Budget Science going on. Budget Science is not low cost science. It's certainly not amateur science driven solely by the ... (786 words)

University days are a great time to explore new directions. But sometimes you may end up a long way from where you thought you were going. Back in 1969 I was a fresh-faced first year student at ... (1118 words)

Damian Thompson argues that a tangle of folklore and urban legend, allied to a particular horror of paedophilia, has blinded many to the scientific facts Ritual satanic abuse is back. In March, a ... (1043 words)

This article is drawn from interviews with Allan Coukell on the NZ National Radio science programme "Eureka!" in 2001. We live in an era where science is universally needed but rarely appreciated, ... (2066 words)

In the second of a two-part series, Jim Ring looks at what evidence means to different people Scientific evidence is often difficult to interpret, in medicine in particular. 'An Unfortunate ... (1322 words)

When I spoke at the conference two and a half years ago, argument was rife as to when the next millennium would begin. Now, there is no doubt we are well launched into the third thousand-year period ... (1818 words)

When Raymond Richards included a lecture on the Mormon Church in his course on American history he ran foul of not only the Mormon community but also the University of Waikato heirarchy. He told his ... (2690 words)

MBChB, DipAvMed, MRNZCGP, MRAes Warfare has always been stressful for its participants. Before the psychological impacts of the conflict in Afghanistan became apparent, our regular medical columnist ... (2328 words)

Sometimes the most successful prophets are the ones that don't even try In the aftermath of the Challenger disaster and the death of Princess Diana, the world was quickly awash with black humour and ... (879 words)

This Bravo Award-winning item originally appeared as the editorial in the March 23 issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal Is it time for the government to investigate a glaring anomaly in our ... (1677 words)

Is there anything on television worth watching? Maybe. Who has the most dangerous job in prime-time TV and at the movies? Police officers? Soldiers? Private detectives? None of the above, according ... (2600 words)

The Misinformation Age has arrived at last How many times in the last month were you conned or approached by a con? Maybe this con took the form of a weight loss product described in an ad in the ... (489 words)

Skepticism is very much concerned with assessing the quality of evidence in support of a particular claim. But evidence means different things to different people. In the first of a two-part series, ... (487 words)

The marketing of sodium chloride should be taken with a pinch of salt Sodium chloride is a very simple chemical and cannot decay. Excess is harmful though it is an essential part of our diet. These ... (1138 words)

A new book on alternative medicine has little to add Last year, I wrote to the Minister of Health protesting at her plans to spend $600 000 on a Ministerial Enquiry into Complementary Medicine. Press ... (936 words)

Howard Bezar and Denis Curtain Scientific support for organic farming isn't all it seems An article appeared in the Canterbury Digest in December, 2000, claiming organic foods have 'superior ... (827 words)

Being a skeptical parent in New Zealand isn't always easy, but it has its rewards. This was originally presented to the Skeptics' World Convention in Sydney, in November. When I became head of the ... (4156 words)

Goethe's Faust is a tale of the supernatural. According to a famous passage, on Walpurgisnacht a witch's sabbat was celebrated on top of the Brocken, a mountain in the Black Forest. Old maps show ... (713 words)

Bernard Howard reports from the Skeptics' World Convention, Sydney, 10-12 November 2000 John Clarke's gaze had been mercifully averted, so we were spared a TV series "The Congress", showing all that ... (990 words)

The old creationist claim that there are no transitional forms in the fossil record is starting to look a bit tired A perennial contention of creationists opposed to evolution is that transitions or ... (1486 words)

The following is an abridged version of a paper presented at Skeptics 2000, Dunedin, New Zealand. The author would like to thank NZCSICOP and NZARH for sponsoring this visit to New Zealand. In this ... (4234 words)

An old mystery now looks rather less mysterious In December 1978 and January 1979 there was a spate of sightings of lights in the night sky around New Zealand, some of them seen from aircraft. Many ... (1377 words)

Presenting the evidence just isn't enough Bill Peddie In his book Unpopular Essays, Bertrand Russell claims that although he was fully aware of the notion that the human is a rational animal, despite ... (2965 words)

Wherein intrepid ace reporter Vicki Hyde spills the beans on what Skeptics get up to at their annual meetings… Perhaps Someone was trying to tell us something - why else would we end up with a ... (1426 words)

The risks of third-generation contraceptive pills have been much in the news. But assessing risk can be a tricky business. Twenty-nine years ago, I was about a week into my first job as a doctor, as ... (3073 words)

Christian fundamentalists usually come to the notice of the Skeptics when they make pronouncements on scientific matters, as with creationism. But, as Ross Miller indicates, fundamentalism results in ... (797 words)

As Professor Cole explained at the last Skeptics' Conference, "Quantum Booster"-like devices have been around a long time. If you include the Roman physician, Scribonius, who treated patients with ... (2166 words)

What red-blooded skeptic could turn up an invitation to stay in a haunted house and meet the inhabitants -- certainly not your intrepid chair-entity.... You get a lot of interesting invitations when ... (1067 words)

Remember the '90s? It was the decade when: scientists discovered an anti-aging drug that stretched the normal lifespan to 150 years Madonna gave birth to quintuplets earthquakes transformed both San ... (885 words)

Here's an idea that WINZ have yet to suggest -- but it may not be far off! According to a recent report in the New York Times, the Big Apple's city welfare department has been recruiting welfare ... (795 words)

At last year's conference, John Scott spoke on the problems of mixing misinformation and medicine. Early in my medical career I became aware of the enormous distorting forces which operate upon ... (2506 words)

A screenplay by Lloyd Fricker The recent decision by the Kansas (U.S.A.) Board of Education to discourage the teaching of evolution in public schools raised the question "what would Darwin think"? In ... (1478 words)

The Swedish chemist Berzelius coined the term "organic" for substances that could only be made by living organisms and not synthesised by humans. His German friend Wöhler synthesised urea in 1828 ... (2659 words)

Sceptics have put up $100,000 in a bid to make a controversial Australian spiritualist eat her words over claims she does not need food. The New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists has ... (360 words)

Paper prepared for the 1999 Skeptics Conference, Auckland, 28-29 August. Our children are our greatest investment, our hope for the future. The best thing we can do as a society is to nurture the ... (3098 words)

New claims that pollen grains on the Shroud of Turin link it to pre-eighth-century Jerusalem were made in August by researchers at the International Botanical Congress in St. Louis. In fact, the ... (554 words)

IT IS WELL, at the start of a discussion, to declare an interest. So, I begin by admitting that my fascination with the year 2000 was aroused nearly 70 years ago. Like many mechanically-minded lads ... (1917 words)

THE 1999 Skeptics Conference in Auckland was a conference looking for a theme, and in the end none presented itself. We ended up with an eclectic mix of papers, ranging from "Reading Cats' Paws" (Ken ... (680 words)

Three sketpics go head to head with a creationist lecturer. When the call went out on the Skeptics' mailing list for people to take part in a debate against Australian creationist John Mackay, I ... (841 words)

Did a British regiment really vanish mysteriously at Gallipoli? The Story Gallipoli, August 28, 1915. The following is an account of a strange incident that happened on the above date, in the ... (2753 words)

More from last year's Skeptics conference. A Relatively recent development in Western society has been the increased popularity of health foods and dietary supplements. While initially these health ... (1490 words)

CHINESE CANCER THERAPY. This title of a modest advertisement in the Sunday Star-Times last September caught my eye. Two statements in the ad surprised me: the first, that "usually only three ... (852 words)

Did he or didn't he? THROUGH various articles, books, radio and TV programs, most New Zealanders will be familiar with the name Richard Pearse. Many are convinced that Pearse flew before the first ... (884 words)

ROBERT Temple's book The Sirius Mystery suggests that astronauts from Sirius visited Earth in ancient times, 5000 years or more ago. These beings were amphibious humanoids, with the lower body ... (1428 words)

Tarot readings really do work -- for the reader. The Confession AFTER the July REALL meeting, my dirty little secret is out. Yes, I admit that I used to do Tarot readings back in my college days. OK, ... (1428 words)

Research is revealing how people can develop memories of things that never really happened. The most common cause of wrongful convictions in the judicial system is mistaken identification -- US ... (2762 words)

Around 300BCE there started a school of Greek philosophy called Skepticism. It continued for centuries, but was more like dogmatic doubt than the modern version. Bertrand Russell put their creed as ... (1281 words)

A close encounter with a travelling Arkeologist. New Zealand was recently treated to a visit by what was proclaimed as "probably the best known archaeologist in the world", a chap by the name of Ron ... (810 words)

This is an abridged version of Professor Hill's presentation to the 1998 Skeptics' Conference. During the witch-hunts of the Early Modern period, a regular pattern emerged. Volumes would be written ... (3183 words)

Rats carrying the deadly bubonic plague will overrun Los Angeles, sparking mass evacuations Patsy Ramsey will confess that she and her husband killed JonBenet Ramsey Bill Cosby will quit show ... (588 words)

James Randi has demonstrated that a water diviner has a 94% chance of success in finding water for the simple reason that 94% of the land surface has fresh water immediately below its surface. The ... (640 words)

AS A CONFIRMED, but lightweight, sceptic, I have had to endure many jibes from friends and colleagues as I questioned information reported in the newspapers and on the news. Equally, I have had to ... (602 words)

Broadcasting Standards and... Vicki Hyde told the Conference how the Skeptics' complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority had progressed. The story so far... As outlined in the last issue ... (1839 words)

IN THE beginning (specifically on October 23, 4004 B.C., at noon) out of quantum foam fluctuation God created the Big Bang out of inflationary cosmology. He saw that the Big Bang was very big, too ... (753 words)

Oh My God, it's the End of the World! Again! IN A RECENT Herald report, alarmist forecasts for May 5, 2000 speak of an "alignment" of the six inner planets, the Sun and the Moon, "for the first time ... (647 words)

NEW AGE theory holds that practically all cultures had a tradition of using medicines (mostly herbal) and that there is a danger that "Western medicine" will replace these, so losing irreplaceable ... (1167 words)

Bernard Howard proposes an answer to a curly question. During the recent drought I was asked by a friend if I could explain why her cucumbers were growing with such a pronounced bend. Some indeed ... (196 words)

Chances are, you're worried about all the wrong things. What are the chances of slipping on a banana skin, choking on a fishbone or being struck by a meteorite? These are not the sort of unlucky ... (965 words)

Jim Ring takes a look at canonisation and finds the lives of the saints less than miraculous. THERE may soon be a New Zealand saint -- so should we be excited? Canonisation is a process making ... (1353 words)

How TVNZ Turned a Hoax into a Documentary The Skeptics make their first-ever complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority. Few would disagree these days that a great many programmes broadcast on ... (2095 words)

EMILY ROSA of Loveland, Colorado, designed and carried out an experiment two years ago that challenges a leading treatment in alternative medicine. Her study, reported in the Journal of the American ... (840 words)

As a counsellor and psychotherapist also trained in science and in scepticism I have been disappointed in the apparent lack of depth to the sceptical analysis of counselling that seems to be present ... (738 words)

Jay Mann delivered this address with accompanying liquid refreshment (with and without MSG) at last year's conference. A large number of food manufacturers seem to be selling their food on the basis ... (2072 words)

THE YEAR 1909 was a tense time for New Zealanders. For centuries, Britain had the world's unrivalled navy, and an invasion of the motherland was unthinkable. Her colonies and outposts enjoyed similar ... (2121 words)

Annette Taylor spends an afternoon checking out the alternatives. IF THERE was any doubt as to whether we'd found the right place, the music drifting on the wind guaranteed we were approaching ... (844 words)

One of the memorable presentations at the 1997 Skeptics' Conference was David Novitz's assessment of whether organised scepticism has a place in a liberal democratic society. Suppose that we are all ... (2390 words)

I was recently reflecting on my career as a scientist, and realised that this year is the 50th anniversary of my first scientific paper.1 In 1947 I was a "scientific civil servant" in London; I ... (249 words)

IN THE United States, creationists have long waged a strong political campaign to have their ideas recognised by the courts and the educational authorities. But in this part of the world, it seems, ... (647 words)

I have just visited another universe; it seems a much more interesting place than the dull old world we are forced to inhabit. "What is it like?" you ask eagerly, "and how did you get there?" ... (464 words)

Jim Ring continues his investigations into the Fijian paranormal scene. I HAVE previously examined supernatural claims from Fiji [see NZ Skeptic 26 & 35]. Twenty odd years ago a friend described ... (1090 words)

The Bible (or, more precisely, the Torah) is a heavenly word-find puzzle, according to Israeli mathematicians. THE BIBLE CODE, a new book touting the miraculous prophetic nature of the Hebrew Torah ... (1180 words)

AS MOST readers will now be aware, the Ian Plimer/Allen Roberts court case has been adjudicated, and the results for Ian were not as he had hoped. The case was brought under federal Trade Practices ... (1367 words)

IN an article entitled "Unravelling The Indian Rope-trick", in Nature, English researchers Richard Wiseman and Peter Lamont describe their systematic investigation of one of the world's best known ... (265 words)

Following the mass suicide of the Heaven's Gate cult, Alan Hale, co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp, released a statement at a press conference in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. He began by reading from Carl ... (995 words)

THE opening salvos in the US Skeptics' new Council for Media Integrity's campaign to improve the treatment of science in television entertainment programming were fired in Los Angeles -- the heart of ... (435 words)

The largely unremarkable hairless apes of Sol 3 really are largely unremarkable: the myth of the wandering womb. Botulin Saxx Institute for Exobiology, Proxima Centauri 4 Introduction On his ... (1684 words)

EARLY in 1996 Mrs Carol McDonald and her family of Halswell, near Christchurch, were party to an apparent supernatural event, an event that became quite topical at Mrs McDonald's workplace, the ... (800 words)

THE line which sharply demarks mainstream medicine from alternative medicine is the line of science. It is possible to cross that line, however. Any alternative treatment which is tested in a ... (2405 words)

AROUND 40 years ago, at Hull Fair in England, I saw a man dip his fingers in molten lead. He also poured it into his palm and ran it through his fingers. He seemed to suffer no harm although it was ... (883 words)

This article is abridged from a paper prepared for the "Day of Contrition-Revisited Convocation," convened by The Justice Committee, Salem, Massachusetts, January 13-14, 1997. THIS TRICENTENNIAL ... (3753 words)

About the time this issue makes it to the letterbox, those Americans not glued to chat-shows or the latest update on alien abductions will be treated to a documentary on recreations of ancient ... (852 words)

Home water treatment systems are often promoted on the basis of the purported health (rather than aesthetic) benefits of using them. This is particularly in relation to urban drinking water given the ... (1480 words)

Britain's The Skeptic magazine celebrated its tenth anniversary with a Top-Ten survey of paranormal phenomena of the decade. In reverse order: Most irrelevant use of astrology: Sky Sports hiring ... (405 words)

NZCSIOP does not take a stand against religious belief, per se, and many Christians are committed Skeptics. While Mr van der Lingen's essay may appear to contradict this stance, he is not arguing ... (1915 words)

The social vision associated with the name Walter Nash, or for present purposes Jack Marshall, has crumbled. The most secure and decent high culture, which flowered for some decades, is now on almost ... (2317 words)

_A crown-of-thorns starfish can cause severe pain if the spines penetrate your skin. Local remedies include placing the offending animal over the injury, presumably in the belief that the sucker feet ... (406 words)

_1996 was an interesting year. Rush Limbaugh became the Republican nominee for President; Roseanne killed off her popular TV character; cures for baldness, arthritis, and AIDS were _ Gene Emery _ If ... (643 words)

Names have been concealed to protect them from the international legume conspiracy. Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 To: letters@nytimes.com Subject: Faked picture I fear the New York Times is the victim of a ... (3469 words)

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... In the 4 May 1996 ... (2594 words)

A skeptical look at the Natural Law Party provided to journalists in preparation for the election. Dear Journalist, The Natural Law Party, the political party that makes McGillicuddy look really ... (1085 words)

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. Most people are ... (859 words)

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 ... (371 words)

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 ... (1036 words)

Yes, it is frustrating, even positively nauseating. There you are struggling day in day out, doing your best and striving for the real breakthrough in science. Yet the real breakthrough never comes. ... (898 words)

_The Mysterious Origins of Man showed earlier this year on TV3 as a "documentary". It is likely to be a contender for this year's Bent Spoon Award. The following article is excerpted from a piece by ... (1603 words)

This is the second half of the article begun in the last NZ Skeptic Representativeness Seemingly unusual events must be considered for their representativeness of that class of phenomena. In the case ... (4400 words)

Some police are still guilty of scepticism, but retraining is on its way At the recent DSAC conference on rape (DSAC Inter-disciplinary Conference: "Rape: 10 years' progress?", Wellington 27-30 ... (299 words)

_A physicist with hidden motives writes something unexpected for a "cultural studies" journal. Was it a churlish hoax or a valuable exposure of nonsense?_ The Nando Times Voices recently published ... (932 words)

This article originally appeared in the excellent US magazine Skeptic, edited by Shermer, (Vol 2 No 3) and also forms Chapter 4 of Shermer's book Hope Springs Eternal: How Pseudoscience Works and Why ... (3873 words)

When I received through the mail a coloured brochure from Time/Life advertising a series of videos and cassettes titled "Growing Younger", I was surprised to see that I could learn from Time/Life via ... (616 words)

It is rare that Nelson interests the world's news media. The "sheep suspended from pine trees" story was sufficiently bizarre to get their attention. For those who missed the story: Some people ... (420 words)

Folie-a-deux can be defined as a paranoid disorder in which the same delusion is shared by two (or more) persons. The delusion is thought to be transmitted from a dominant but paranoid person to his ... (3800 words)

Since the call for responses to the awarding of the Bent Spoon to the Justice Department's Hitting Home report, we've received responses from 16 people, some of which of which have been published in ... (464 words)

The world's best psychics seem to have cracks in their crystal balls, says the Skeptical Inquirer. Top psychics who published their prognostications in US supermarket tabloids such as the National ... (887 words)

Skeptics can take an active stance in their daily lives, according to this abridged version of the Chair-entity's after-dinner speech from the Conference. It's been four years since I stood before a ... (2409 words)

Australian creationist Peter Sparrow toured New Zealand recently. Peter Sparrow is a black-bearded, bespectacled, bear of a man. He is cheery, articulate, and an excellent spokesman for the Creation ... (1476 words)

We have made a big mistake. Hitting Home is careful, thorough, mainstream scientific research. It may be alarming, but it is not, as we said, "alarmist". It is a serious attempt to measure men's ... (1528 words)

This is a copy of a presentation given to the New Zealand Skeptics 1995 Conference in Auckland When Denis Dutton asked me to prepare some comments on this topic he gave me a very wide brief covering, ... (5405 words)

A sceptical mini-history of the crashed flying saucer saga Carl Wyant Sceptics will be amused to hear that the Great Roswell UFO Cover-up has just gained a new lease on life. Yes, as if the almost ... (1409 words)

For those of you who have not been involved in selection of a Bent Spoon, here's how it is generally done and how this year's selection was made. Throughout the year, people propose likely candidates ... (388 words)

Back in March, when the police seemed to be making no progress in hunting down South Auckland's serial rapist, a community newspaper ran a story effectively chiding the police in general and ... (380 words)

This year's Bent Spoon Award has ruffled a few feathers. In a controversial decision, what the Skeptics described as an "alarmist" Justice Department report on domestic violence in New Zealand has ... (729 words)

Surprising results from a US study of the effectiveness of counselling on reducing juvenile crime. In the March NZ Skeptic, Dr John Welch's excellent column mentioned an article in the British ... (832 words)

At the Festival of Possibilities in Nelson, all the usual New Age paraphernalia were on display. A current vogue is "pulsing" which is already available in at least two varieties, holistic and ... (656 words)

For a host of reasons which the NZ Skeptic will examine further in a later issue, the so-called "natural health" industry is enjoying a remarkable resurgence. One cannot refute the argument that we ... (1618 words)

National Radio has scored a first by becoming the first public, non-commercial radio service in the English-speaking world to feature regular astrological advice. Every Monday evening around 8:40 pm ... (585 words)

Recently I had a UFO experience in the comfort and privacy of my own home. Or rather, I would have had a UFO experience if it had been a UFO. Unfortunately, however, I found a rational explanation ... (1162 words)

Recent issues of the Skeptic have contained expressions of puzzlement at some subjects being taught to tertiary students in New Zealand. The worst example is the Degree in Naturopathy planned for ... (895 words)

Visitors to Fiji are still being told that village people have the hereditary ability to walk on white-hot stones. This is quite untrue (see Hot Footing it in Fiji,Skeptic 26). A tourist promotion ... (502 words)

We need to immunise ourselves against this virus too. Abridged by Owen McShane from Creationism: Why the Controversy by Brian Henderson "Scientific" creationism claims to have every bit as much ... (671 words)

An abridged version of the Skeptical Enquirer's report of the session dealing with "alien abductions" at the Seattle CSICOP Conference on "The Psychology of Belief" Many of us have been reading ... (474 words)

This is a Feynman Commencement Address given by Richard Feynman at Caltech in 1974. This message is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago, especially for those who add their committed "science" to ... (3640 words)

Lately -- my last few airline flights -- I've been listening to the in-flight comedy channels. This was how I discovered Bob Newhart and his monologues. These are things where he takes one side of a ... (841 words)

Picking Winners? When the short list for the Booker prize was announced there was much chortling about the fact that Jill Paton Walsh had been unable to find a publisher in Britain for Knowledge of ... (1351 words)

Seeing shouldn't always be believing, as a Nelson skeptic discovered thirty years ago. One night nearly thirty years ago, three men were driving back to Nelson from French Pass after a fishing trip. ... (892 words)

Tertiary institutes around the country are beginning to offer courses, and even entire degrees, in subjects that are pure pseudoscience. The Aoraki Polytechnic has applied to the New Zealand ... (1859 words)

From a Skeptics' mailing list comes a record of psychic slip-ups for the previous year. If you thought 1994 has already featured some amazing events, wait until you see what's in store for the final ... (871 words)

The New Zealand Herald of 5 September carried the headline "Ozone gap to lift skin cancer 7 per cent". Then followed a report from Dr Richard McKenzie of the National Institute of Water and ... (522 words)

A friend of mine once visited a faith-healer, one of the religious variety from the United States who periodically come to New Zealand to swell their bank balances. She attended the meeting because ... (827 words)

One of the perpetrators told the story behind the Grand Interplanetary Hoax of 1952 to the 1994 Skeptics' Conference. Hoaxes have probably been a part of life for thousands of years, ranging in ... (4545 words)

In a landmark case on September 30, a 59-year-old man, Bill1, was acquitted by a jury in the Auckland High Court on charges of sexually abusing three of his daughters about 20 years ago. The ... (900 words)

What is the link between chemicals and cancer? Forty years ago, Bruce Ames was a young microbiologist working at NIH in the day and enjoying Scottish country dancing in the evening, when he had an ... (2498 words)

The media were quick to cry "Wolf" when concerns were raised about the fungicide Benlate. On 9 December, 1993, the people of Canterbury read an alarming headline in the Christchurch Press: "Herbicide ... (1077 words)

Can traditional Maori knowledge be considered scientific? The idea of a separate indigenous science, practised by Maori before European settlement and passed on to their descendants, is an appealing ... (1874 words)

What can events 100 years ago tell us about a modern disorder? Students often ask me whether multiple personality disorder (MPD) really exists. I usually reply that the symptoms attributed to it are ... (1364 words)

What is it that keeps superstitions going in the face of our increasing knowledge about the world? There is no easy, let alone absolute, way of telling the difference between a true belief and a ... (1713 words)

Vicki Hyde suggests (Skeptic 30) that we are in for a lot more doomsday predictions as we approach the year 2000. I am afraid she is right, but why should fundamentalists get so excited about a round ... (637 words)

Attempts to interpret the results of quantum mechanics in ways people can understand can themselves lead to confusion. Some physicists and philosophers conspire to waste intellectual resources on ... (743 words)

A detective with long experience in tracing missing persons gave the 1993 Skeptics Conference the word on how useful psychics are in police work. During the last 25 years a number of police ... (1424 words)

Award-winning author and long-time Skeptic Margaret Mahy delivered the after-dinner speech at the 1993 Skeptics Conference. This is an abridged version of her talk. I was a sceptic with a "c", before ... (3605 words)

A couple of weeks before my medical finals late last year I sat down in the waiting area of the Christchurch rheumatology clinic. I struck up conversation with the only other person there, a man in ... (1033 words)

Lights in the sky are not always aliens on the lookout for earthlings to abduct. Sometimes they are mostly a load of hot air. On Wednesday afternoon we saw a UFO. My wife, Fleur, did not say,"Look -- ... (748 words)

For those of you who didn't notice, the end of the world came and went on November 14th. It also ended on November 24th, and is set to do so at the end of this year. If you've got a Christmas trip to ... (615 words)

On Thursday, 19 August 1993, the Christchurch Press carried a full-page advertisement for the initial New Zealand opening of the "Matrol Opportunity". The product, Matrol-Km, was described as "a ... (1897 words)

There is a worldwide epidemic of satanic child abuse allegations. Are they true? Has satanic child abuse happened here in New Zealand? The most extensive child sex abuse case to be heard in a New ... (1616 words)

The _New Internationalist Review, a magazine not normally known for gullibility beyond the political, decided not all that long ago to examine the paranormal. Our intrepid reporter Peter Lange ... (865 words)

Rejuvenation! The wish of many a tired old man, and not so old: to regain the physical and sexual vigour of youth. During the early decades of this century it was widely though not universally ... (1692 words)

John Cole, editor of Creation/Evolution, recently wrote of his tendency toward hair-pulling, in the National Centre for Science Education Reports, Vol 12 No 2 (Summer 1992). Anti-evolutionists ... (292 words)

This article is an abridged version of the fourth article in a series on philosophy and the paranormal. Here Dr Grey discusses David Hume's analysis of miracles and his view that belief in miraculous ... (2324 words)

On open access computer bulletin boards, any entity with a theory can expound on it at length. Many do -- usually to a very unappreciative audience. A seemingly-large proportion of such expositions ... (321 words)

A Sprite in your Spirit, a Bogle in your Benzine, a Fury in your Fuel, a Greyhound in your Gasoline. With acknowledgement to the oil company which, many years ago, urged us to "Put a Tiger in your ... (500 words)

The British Independent recently ran an editorial not worth reproducing in the Skeptic. The editorial did, however, generate a vigorous response from Richard Dawkins which is worth thinking about. ... (461 words)

In the medical magazine Patient Management, Denis Dutton last year presented a tongue-in-cheek account of how GPs might incorporate alternative techniques into their practices. The article generated ... (910 words)

President Bush was not re-elected. Madonna did not become a gospel singer, and a UFO base was not found in the Mexican desert. These were just a few of the many predictions that had been made for ... (1145 words)

_Where'er you be Don't drink comfree For drinking such tea Could be the death of thee!_ John R. L. Walker Our everyday "cuppa" comes from the plant Camellia sinensis and it, together with a number ... (742 words)

Many people will remember Dr Bill Morris's entertaining autobiographical talk at the last Skeptics' conference in Wellington. From his presentation, we extract this discussion of what is still the ... (1651 words)

Lewis Jones Can a cotton wristband and a plastic button alleviate seasickness? The British Consumer's Association thinks so, but scientific evidence indicates otherwise. The sea has always brought ... (1288 words)

This is a summary of a talk given at the 1992 Skeptics conference by Dr Eric Geiringer. [An E-meter is a device used by members of the Church of Scientology, and some related groups or individuals, ... (398 words)

Dr J.F. De Bock gave the 1992 Conference an update on the study of UFOs. The study of UFOs (UFOlogy) started out as research on unidentified atmospheric (or aerial) phenomena, but rapidly became ... (243 words)

New Zealand Skeptics walk happily on red-hot embers, protected by the laws of physics. Fijian firewalkers, however, are said to stroll across white-hot stones. How do they do it? Fijian firewalking ... (1124 words)

Brew up a miracle for fun and profit, in the comfort of your own kitchen. The blood, in a phial in a church in Naples, is reverently turned over several times during services every few months. It has ... (593 words)

After seeing a demonstration of cold reading at the Skeptics Conference in 1989 I thought this was something I could have fun with, so I boned up on the list of commonplaces provided at the time: ... (636 words)

Not surprisingly, the awarding of the Bent Spoon to Consumer magazine saw a vigorous defence mounted by the Consumers' Institute. David Russell, chief executive of the institute, has said on a number ... (1056 words)

Do horses really have a distinct set of personality types or is it just a load of equine excreta? There are times when I think all taxonomy is pseudoscience. It certainly seems to have a ... (760 words)

The Bent Spoon Award this year created more controversy than usual when it was awarded to Consumer magazine. Why did we feel it necessary to bite our consumer watchdog? I was pleased when my copy of ... (2632 words)

At the Skeptics Conference in Christchurch in 1989, Denis Dutton mentioned that women's magazines offered horoscopes but men's magazines did not. There were two significant exceptions: the feminist ... (342 words)

A colouring book for young patients of chiropractors says "A is for alligator and adjustment. B is for bells and for back. C is for caterpillar and for chiropractor. D is for dog and for doctor." The ... (2876 words)

Creationists are winning hands-down in the publicity stakes, despite, one presumes, no real assistance in the form of Divine Guidance. Volumes of perceptive articles by competent scientists and ... (1047 words)