26 July 2021
Mahin Khatami looks at first blush to be a respectable scientist - she has a long history as a scientist spanning decades, she used to work for the NIH (National Institutes for Health) in the US as a program director, and has not only been published in respectable peer reviewed journals, but has also been a journal editor.
9 November 2020
The Luminate festival, held each year outside of Nelson, has always been a little out of touch with science. But, as David Farrier shows, things appear to be getting worse. The festival has been flirting with conspiracy theories and woo peddlers, in a list they published on the Luminate website called the “13 Crystal Seeds of Positive Change”. The list included the names of people who have inspired the festival's organisers. You get one point for each of the following names you recognise:
1 November 2019
How to be a Global Warming Skeptic
1 August 2018
Who: Unknown When: 05/04/2018
1 May 2014
Martin Bridgstock worries about a new trend which might, in the long run, threaten both science and skepticism.
1 May 2010
Alison Campbell looks at some words that cause scientific misunderstandings.
1 May 2004
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.
1 November 2000
It was a Ngatea farmer who finally got to Doug Edmeades on an Autumn day in 1985.
1 February 1998
Two Nobel prizewinners are being sued for libel by Jacques Benveniste, the controversial French scientist whose research on the "memory of water", first published in 1988, appeared to provide a scientific basis for homeopathic medicine.
1 February 1994
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.
1 February 1992
In the arguments for and against being definitively skeptical, the social climate and moral responsibilities of skepticism are often overlooked. This is an abridged version of the after-dinner speech given at this year's NZCSICOP Conference.
1 May 1990
You may be aware that 'crop circles' have been much in the news recently in the UK. In case you have not seen them, they are perfect rings or discs of flattened crops which apparently form overnight, sometimes in groups.
1 August 1989
A very short note this time as space is limited.