13 April 2026
It's always good when we get feedback to this newsletter, and it doesn't even have to be positive! Unlike many groups, we're the kind of organisation that relishes constructive criticism and correction - and so this week's first three articles are great to have received. Firstly Mike Joy has taken the time to expand on the concerns he had about an area of climate change and fossil fuel dependence that he thought we haven't covered very well in the past. Patrick Medlicott has responded to Mike's concerns, agreeing with him that renewable energy sources aren't currently replacing fossil fuels - they're just being added on top of fossil fuel use. On a tangentially related topic, Tyler has written about Katrina's treatment of microplastics, arguing that although we don't yet know if microplastics are a problem, it may be prudent to treat them as if they are.
19 July 2021
The drug Ivermectin is an anti-parasite drug (used on worms and head-lice), and has been touted as a treatment for COVID-19. On the anti-vaxx Facebook groups I monitor, it's frequently cited as the favoured treatment for COVID-19, along the same lines as Hydroxychloroquine - though that seems to have faded a little now.
10 May 2021
NZ Skeptics were recently contacted by a journalist in response to an Official Information Act request which revealed the numbers of people and their occupations entering the country under the guise of being a critical health worker.
4 January 2021
As you'll no doubt know, 2020 ended seeing the successful and record-setting development of a range of vaccines for COVID-19 from various companies.
1 February 2016
Retraction Watch is a great website. As the name implies, it focuses on a key aspect of quality control in science: the retraction of scientific papers that have already passed peer-review and were published when serious concerns about those papers come to light.
1 May 2005
When it comes to environmental issues, it's not always easy for a skeptic to decide where to stand