I was particularly interested in some feedback from Dr Mike Joy, for whom I have the greatest respect as a scientist who is prepared to talk truth to politicians. He took me to task for being overly enthusiastic about the green energy revolution. He mentioned that the revolution is not occurring, and that with renewables we are currently only adding energy to the amount we already consume. In this he is quite correct.
I was President of the WA Skeptics for over 25 years before we wound up a few years ago. During this time, we offered a substantial amount of money for any proven claim involving the paranormal and junk science. None was demonstrated. Before we wound up the WA Skeptics, we distributed 750,000 AUD to various skeptical groups and science research projects we deemed appropriate. The Perth Skeptics has never had any link with the WA Skeptics and I'm not surprised they believe in anthropogenic global warming, or is that now climate change or extreme weather.
Over the past few months, I've been contacted a few times by one of our members sending information about Covid from the popular podcast TWiV - This Week in Virology. The podcast is hosted by Dr Vincent Racaniello with a number of co-hosts. Dr Racaniello has spent 40 years in virus research at Columbia University.
Welcome to the NZ Skeptics newsletter.
This week it's been reported that University of Auckland scientists Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles and Professor Sean Hendy have taken a case to the Employment Relations Authority. They're claiming that their employer - the university - hasn't done enough to protect them from attack by people upset with their science communication and public comment on COVID-related issues. They describe their attackers as “a small but venomous sector of the public”.
Late last week NZ Skeptics published a spoof website built (NZ Skeptics Secretary and past Chair, and alternating newsletter author).
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.
A new astronomy paper suggests that the strange object named Oumuamua that passed through our solar system a couple of years ago was probably a thin disc of planetary matter, and not a piece of alien technology.
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.
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:
As a society, we generally recognise science as the best source of information about the world we live in and the choices we must make as individuals and societies. And yet, we also find ourselves in a time where, for certain specific claims, scientific evidence is routinely ignored and rejected by certain groups.
How to be a Global Warming Skeptic
Where: www.stuff.co.nz
Although there is a history in skepticism of people being "skeptical" of climate change, modern skepticism understands that there is a broad consensus amongst scientists that climate change is both real and caused by humans.
I went to see Creation Ministries International speaker Jonathan Sarfati give a couple of talks in Wellington last week. Jonathan was brought up in New Zealand, and was once the national chess champion.
Martin Bridgstock worries about a new trend which might, in the long run, threaten both science and skepticism.
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.
Alison Campbell finds the creationists are still trying to get into our schools.
Alison Campbell looks at some words that cause scientific misunderstandings.
If students are to pursue careers in science, they need to be able to see themselves in that role. One way to encourage this may be through the telling of stories. This article is based on a presentation to the 2008 NZ Skeptics Conference in Hamilton.
It's often said that scientists long rejected the idea of meteorites, but the evidence for this assertion is far from convincing.
The disappearance of UFOs and little green men has been reported on once more, this time by the Dominion Post (3 April - see NZ Skeptic 77).
Skepticality is a hugely entertaining podcast that explores rational thought, critical thinking, science and the de-bunking of the supernatural and pseudo-science. It features interviews with favourite skeptics such as James Randi and Tom Flynn, as well as scientists, such as Phil Plait and Michael Shermer. The podcast also features general discussion of all things sceptical with its two intelligent hosts Swoopy and Derek.
Demands for equal time cut both ways.
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 Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in California, was in New Zealand briefly and took the opportunity to give a public lecture on the mission at Waikato University. Afterwards he spoke to NZ Skeptic.
This article is drawn from interviews with Allan Coukell on the NZ National Radio science programme "Eureka!" in 2001.
Is there anything on television worth watching? Maybe.
It's often claimed either that science doesn't have the tools to identify ESP, or that scientists have a prejudice against the whole idea. But American researchers have recently confirmed that certain individuals are indeed able to detect an energy field given off by living creatures in the absence of any other sensory cues. The only thing is, those individuals are young paddlefish.
It was a Ngatea farmer who finally got to Doug Edmeades on an Autumn day in 1985.
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.
LET us be clear. We think skeptics are the most witty, pithy and intelligent of people. The type who can get their profound insights across in 300 lively, well-chosen words. We insist you prove us right by flooding us with splendid examples of the genre. The author of the best contribution in each issue will receive a suitable telepathic gift. The worst example will earn an unsuitable telepathic gift. Here are the rules
Post-mortem on the autopsy or autopsy on the post-mortem?
The Geller case has ended -- the "psychic" is to begin a court-ordered payment of up to $120,000 to CSICOP USA.
Richard Milton has written this book as a "hang on a minute" reservation about Darwinism and its apparent unquestioned acceptance by mainstream science from geology through to biology (and in one chapter political science) in the manner of the small boy who questioned the reality of the Emperor's new clothes -- "Look Mummy, all those university professors, all those Nobel Prize winners, have got no actual proof to cover their hypotheses with".
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.
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.
Creationists are winning hands-down in the publicity stakes, despite, one presumes, no real assistance in the form of Divine Guidance.
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.
NZSCICOP now has a videotape library in the capable hands of Alastair Brickell, RD 2 Kuaotunu, Whitianga. Tapes may be hired for the cost of packaging and posting, around $5 (more will be gratefully received). If anyone has something interesting on video, Alastair would, no doubt, be delighted to receive a copy. There are already three under request: the Oprah Winfrey show on UFOs, a programmne on European tests which showed scientific backing for homeopathy, and one from a few years back involving James Randi and Australian water diviners. In the meantime, here are the current titles.
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.
A very short note this time as space is limited.
The Creationists' tactics in getting their ideas accepted are not to promote their own (the biblical) version of creation but to attack the "orthodox" scientific view. A constant barrage of criticism of evolutionary theory and of geological theories on age and origin of the earth (and universe) is levelled with the aim of discrediting the theory or theories. Then, with a nimble leap sideways, it is concluded that "The Alternative" explanation is just as likely to be true, "the alternative" being of course the Genesis account. This ploy cleverly presents the biblical account as a viable alternative to an existing scientific theory thereby conferring upon the account the status of an "alternative scientific theory" and obscuring its real nature—that of a religious notion. This constant attack forces scientists into a defensive position—defending their theories by rebutting the creationist arguments.