This article is inspired by reading Nexus, a science fiction thriller by Douglas E. Richards and Joshua Calvert. I won't ruin the story, but it's a page turner for sure, and draws on a bunch of dubious pseudoscience including the origin of the pyramids, near death experience (particularly the well-known Pam Reynolds case), and something called 'tukdam'.
What a headline! MSN and the Daily Mail Online report that a former NASA-affiliated scientist, Ivo Busko, supports claims that unusual light flashes seen in 1950s sky photographs could indicate “non-human intelligence.” They report that his argument builds on earlier research by astronomer Beatriz Villarroel, who identified mysterious “transient” lights in archival images taken before satellites existed. This suggests the phenomenon is real and not a data error. Some of these lights appeared reflective or rotating, leading to speculation they could be objects in orbit. Because the observations predate the 1957 launch of Sputnik, proponents argue they cannot be human-made and may point to extraterrestrial technology. Here's that headline:
It's always interesting to read (or in my case stream) a book that really challenges my assumptions and reality. This book sure did!
A research paper published in February 2025 by Carrie Leonetti from the University of Auckland (UoA) School of Law looked at how judges, lawyers and psychologists use social science research in the New Zealand Family Court. This was published in the Indiana Health Law Review. In the abstract it states:
Some recent research has pointed to some potential health impacts for those on the keto diet long-term. I wrote about the keto diet in the newsletter in May 2023, so I was interested to see this update as we are sorely lacking long term data on the impacts of this diet on healthy people. Although the diet has been used since the 1920s as an intervention for some specific health conditions such as epilepsy, I am more interested in whether it is an unnecessary risk for those who do not have a specific medical condition.
It was announced this week that RFK Jr. has hired David Geier as an analyst on a new study into the links between Autism and vaccines. A link that was debunked years ago, which even its most profitable holdout, American charity Autism Speaks, disavowed about a decade ago. This decision is just another in a series of attacks the White House has made against the disabled, and against science in general.
In a previous article on Men in Black (MIB), I referred to the frightening experience of New Zealander John Stuart that caused him to abandon his UFO research. The above book is an account of those apparent experiences. (The cover above has nothing much to do with the tale)
I went to the Go Green Expo in Wellington on the 2nd of November, along with Mark, Bronwyn and my two tiny sidekicks. Mia had a great time having her own little disco on the power company's display, and they both enjoyed all the free samples. However I had to steer them clear of the booze, and there was a surprising amount of that. That and mushrooms. I think I must have missed a memo somewhere – when did mushrooms become a thing?
MDMA assisted psychotherapy is looking a little rocky lately. The Journal of Psychopharmacology has recently retracted three research papers supporting the treatment over data integrity concerns, and the FDA has rejected it as a treatment for PTSD.
Reading some of the latest research on chronic pain management led me down a rabbit hole of further reading, and the discovery of just how damn weird and counterintuitive pain is.
When we started the NZ Skeptics Calendar project last year, the first place Mark Honeychurch and I turned to was our own archive. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as fruitful as it could have been, as editors past had removed all references to dates and newspapers from the clippings published. Still, there was one story that intrigued me…
Having been a follower of Byron Clark since I became aware of his work exploring Aotearoa New Zealand's far-right and alt-right extremism landscape, I have had this book on pre-order for a few months, and have been looking forward to cracking the spine and getting stuck in. While Aotearoa has a long history of far-right groups operating at the edges, what was new, that emerged following the horrific Christchurch terrorist attacks at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre and during the COVID-19 response, was something that we'd not seen before in our country. Fringe groups coordinating with each other, increased reach through online channels, faster cycles of the widespread adoption of conspiratorial ideas, and increased media attention as the movement created its local “influencers”.
No, I'm not talking Skynet here or robots overrunning the earth. I'm talking about the more subtle tools in the background that tend to do a bunch of boring administration. You probably haven't even thought of them overly much. But they might be responsible for what your doctor decided to prescribe you on your last visit, that job you never got shortlisted for, your acceptance into a programme of study, or the reason your bag was searched at the airport.
Regular readers of our newsletter will have seen the “adverts” for our official podcast - Yeah... Nah!, which we record on a fortnightly basis. Mark, Bronwyn and I discuss recent skeptical topics, usually in a sort-of pub chat format. We enjoy recording it, and we hope that listeners enjoy hearing it.
As I write this there's news breaking about a new variant of concern of the COVID virus, now named as Omicron.
It's been revealed this week that you can wash disposable masks, and reuse them. The current advice from the Ministry of Health is that disposable masks should be used once then thrown away.
There are many kinds, and some are, frankly, full of bulldust! So what am I, and what are the members of the NZ Skeptics?
There is an increasingly vocal sub-set of farmers around the country who are buying into conspiracy theories. A group called the Agricultural Action Group - AAG - have been touring the country in recent months warning people about what they consider to be the real issues facing not just farmers but all citizens of our country:
I can't say we'll be having this every week, but I found this amusing little joke on social media this week:
There were many false claims made on 14th January, by Billy Te Kahika and his supporters outside the Beehive in Wellington. The most dangerous claim was that Covid-19 is no more deadly than the flu (2 million people have died worldwide at the time of writing). Among other strange things, they claimed that Jacinda Ardern is a communist who wants to keep putting New Zealand into lockdown, including organising one again on 15th January, the day after the protest.
There was an interesting item this week on research by Kiwi scientists showing that Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, is a real thing and not psychosomatic.
SleepDrops is a New Zealand company which sells small vials of liquid drops which are supposed to help you get to sleep and stay asleep. Their ingredients are a mixture of small doses of herbs and very small (homeopathic) doses of herbs. A look at the Scientific Research page on their website shows that there's a dearth of research for any of the ingredients in the SleepDrops products, and absolutely no research on the SleepDrops formulation.
President Trump will be promoting Dr Mehmet Oz to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, which is a little worrying. Trump's no stranger to making what look like very bad staffing decisions, and this one is no exception. Dr Oz is well known in the US, having risen from the Oprah show to having his own show. On his show, the Dr Oz Show, he's promoted so many nonsense treatments that he's been told off by the FTC and summoned to talk in front of a senate sub-committee.
His research interests include genetics and evolution, including the effects of stress (particularly induced by antibiotics and agrochemicals), risk assessment and the influence of language on science and eugenics.
There's been some interesting local research on people with health conditions doing their own research. The Southern Cross Health Society has looked into whether people look up their symptoms on google before visiting their GP. They talked to GPs about their patients, and found out that an increasing number of them are coming into their practices with knowledge taken from the internet of what is wrong with them.
Do you skip words or lines while reading?
Siouxsie is frequently to be found blogging or on the TV or radio, explaining in a down-to-earth manner current developments in science, or why she is skeptical of certain claims whenever they appear in the media. In 2016 alone she took on MPs, anti-vaxxers and Mike Hosking, as well as tackling topics such as e-cigarettes and the Zika virus. She regularly appears in the “Skeptical Thoughts” radio slot with Graeme Hill on Radio Live, and she also has a fortnightly slot on Radio New Zealand's "Nine to Noon" show, talking about science. She was nominated for the Denis Dutton award in recognition of her outstanding communication skills and sustained efforts to demonstrate critical thinking, skepticism and the scientific method.
Tom DeLonge, the guitarist of a rock band in the US which was popular in the early 2000s has denied rumours that he's quit the band to focus on research into UFOs and aliens.
Research is coming to light that antioxidants in food and drinks are not useful to aid health, and may actually be damaging to us.
The Government is hoping to attract more private money into science and improve how public science grants are spent. Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce released the Government's National Statement of Science Investment, its first national science strategy, in Wellington on Monday.
Matthew Willey finds Skeptics in the Pub hasn't been as much fun lately
… then there's little hope for the world, says Alison Campbell, who attends far too many meetings. Fortunately however, that may not be the case.
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 presentation to the NZ Skeptics conference in Wellington, 27 September 2009.
Twelve years after it induced panic among parents world-wide, a paper linking the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism has been withdrawn (NZ Herald, 4 February).
One thing that activates my BS-meter is a miracle treatment with too many claims. Consider the following extract from an article, The Nutritional Benefits of Potassium Citrate, by John Gibb, from ezinearticles.com (search for "potassium citrate").
Four Papua New Guinea women, believed by fellow villagers to have used sorcery to cause a fatal road crash, were tortured with hot metal rods to confess, then murdered and buried standing up in a pit (Stuff, 25 January).
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 different.
In George W Bush's America, it's okay to throw human embryos in the trash, but not to use them as a source of stem cells.
Nessie's an elephant, says a leading British palaeontologist (Dominion Post, 7 March).
Research scientist Hamish Campbell spoke of his experiences as Te Papa's museum geologist at the 2005 NZ Skeptics conference.
The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is gaining a reputation as a Mickey Mouse government organisation that harms the reputation and integrity of New Zealand's tertiary institutions.
A WHANGAREI computer programmer is spearheading an expedition to prove Noah's Ark exists, and that it lies about 2000 metres above sea level in Turkey (NZPA, 17 August). Ross Patterson is convinced that a mound of earth about 12km from Mt Ararat in Turkey contains the remains of the Ark, and says there is strong evidence that the events depicted in the Bible occurred. He had twice visited the site, almost 2000m above sea level and said a need to prove the theory and the associated religious implications had taken over his life.
Two fortune tellers apparently failed to foresee the end of their alleged scam in Christchurch (The Press, January 29).
It is hard to be sure what Mike Houlding is on about in his rather opaque letter but I gather that he is lumping the use of clairvoyants, homoeopathic remedies and ADHD under some collective rubric of quackery.
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.
Skepsis's last article on Menopause Madness [Skeptic 53] reminded me of my recent prescribing of progesterone cream for a well informed patient at her request. The good GP I am (I have faith, sometimes in evidence-based medicine!), I looked up the evidence on such creams and also perused the articles given to me by my patient. There was one Randomised Control trial, review article by a gynaecologist plus a lot of very biomedical in vitro research which was of little use to me. Not much in the Cochrane database and a little on MEDLINE. One clinical trial of reasonable quality showed some results in terms of symptom improvement. Safety issues hadn't really been researched but then again wild yam cream must be natural and therefore OK huh?
As a follow-up to inspiring comments made by David Russell at the recent conference, we are looking for someone with possibly a little legal training (or a lot of enthusiasm) to undertake some research on behalf of the Skeptics.
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.
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 Canterbury Agriculture and Science Centre at Lincoln. This centre is home to a number of Crown Research Institutes, including the home offices of Landcare Research Ltd. and Crop and Food Research Ltd., branches of AgResearch and HortResearch, and a number of smaller organisations.
My feeling after having read the report is that when it was ready for the printer, the authors had in fact reached the point where they were about ready to consult with people experienced in such research, as a necessary preliminary to the main investigation. I would have suggested a smaller pilot sample. This should have disclosed the pitfalls that lay in wait for them. By taking such steps they could have avoided the traps that they later fell into.
We need to immunise ourselves against this virus too.
Dr J.F. De Bock gave the 1992 Conference an update on the study of UFOs.
Television New Zealand says it will axe an Earth Care advertisement claiming that burnt possum testes can keep possums at bay, if the biodynamic technique turns out to be no more than quackery.
By KINGSLEY FIELD and FIONA BARBER
NEW research dismissing the role of tinted lenses in treating reading difficulties has sparked an angry reaction from special education experts.
The University of Edinburgh announced on Saturday 18 May that Dr Robert Morris had been invited and accepted an offer to become the first holder of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh. Dr Morris, who is expected to take up his post at Edinburgh by 1 January 1986 is currently Senior Research Scientist in the School of Computer and Information Science at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York State, USA.
Reprinted from June 1987 issue of University of Edinburgh Graduates Journal
Copyright © 1986, Journal of Irreproducible Results