Sample the Skeptic's Dictionary

Amy Eliza Tanner (1870-1956)

“The real tendencies of women cannot be known until they are free to choose, any more than those of a tied-up dog can be.”--Amy Tanner

Amy Tanner earned her doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1898. She graduated magna cum laude, but was unable to secure a research or teaching position elsewhere. She stayed on as an associate of the university's philosophy department for the next four years.

The final decade of the 19th century, when Tanner entered graduate school at Chicago and attempted to secure an academic position, was a tumultuous one for American women. This era witnessed the creation of a new social type, the “New Woman”: a college-educated, middle-class female who sought personal fulfillment in the form of public philanthropy or salaried work....>>more

sample Mysteries and Science (for kids 9 and up)

natural

In a nutshell: Some natural things are good, but so are some unnatural things, like vaccines. Some natural things are harmful, like poisonous mushrooms. Knowing that something is natural doesn't tell you anything about whether it's good or bad for you.

Many people think that if something is natural it must be good. They might try to have you take a medicine because it's natural. They might even try to get you to not take a medicine because it'snot natural. Just remember that some natural things are poisonous, so if a medicine is good for you it isn't good because it's natural. It's good because it does something to make you better. Also, if a medicine is bad for you, it isn't because it's not natural. It's because it does something that makes you worse off.>>more

a blast from the past

Fake Healing

[Part I of this essay first appeared on the Skepticality podcast July 3, 2012.]

I

One of the more interesting fake healers debuted in Paris in the eighteenth century. Franz Anton Mesmer had many ladies convinced he could heal them of their various complaints by using magnets to tap into a new force that he called animal magnetism. He eventually figured out that he didn’t need the magnets. Just waving his hands did the trick. Modern day nurses practicingtherapeutic touch seem to have hit upon the same formula, though they have replaced animal magnetism with a mysterious energy called chi or prana. Aura healers, chakra healers, and various types of energy healers have been practicing a similar craft under different names in different countries for centuries. In Japan, for example, the practice is known as reiki.>>more