Our year in NZ Skeptical History is still moving along, with the goal of getting it finished (or as close as possible) by the end of 2022. December 5th to December 11th is surprisingly full of interesting skeptical events.
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 2013.
Prominent physicist and science commentator Sir Paul Callaghan is resorting to vitamin C megadoses and Chinese medicine to treat his terminal cancer (Dominion Post, 22 September).
David Shanks' report on Mr Beta and Filippino psychic surgery reminded me of Brian Edwards' investigations of this on his Saturday night TV show many years ago. He used a Filippino magician to present a very convincing demonstration of the bloodless removal of offending growths from a sufferer. He then revealed the true identity of the "surgeon" and they gave a detailed demonstration of the trickery used in the operation. It was a very powerful presentation and must have been seen by thousands of viewers.