Skeptical Briefs
Skeptical Briefs is the quarterly newsletter of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. It is available by subscription. A subscription to Skeptical Briefs is independent of your subscription to the Skeptical Inquirer. It is published four times per year (in March, June, September, and December), and includes articles; news from skeptical groups across the country and around the world; and regular columnists Joe Nickell ("Investigative Files"), Lewis Jones ("Inklings"), Victor Stenger ("Reality Check"), Henry Huber ("Group News"); and Benjamin Radford ("Briefs Briefs"). It also includes a Hidden Messages puzzle in each issue by New Mexico physicist and skeptic David E. Thomas.
Skeptical Activism of the Investigation Network
by William M. London
Volume 25.3, Fall 2015
This is not a group that merely discusses skepticism; it’s a group focused on the intellectual stimulation and fun of skeptical activism in education and investigation.
To Better Understand Science and the Universe: An Interview with Lawrence Krauss
by Felipe Nogueira
Volume 25.3, Fall 2015
Skepticism and Science
Lawrence Krauss is a renowned theoretical physicist at Arizona State University. He was one of the first to suggest that most of the energy of the universe resides in empty space, an idea that today is called dark energy.
Murder in the U.S. Capitol and the Ghost of William P. Taulbee
by Joe Nickell
Volume 25.3, Fall 2015
Investigative Files
After my centennial article on Taulbee’s assassination appeared (Nickell 1990), I learned of a follow-up claim: Taulbee’s unrequited ghost haunts the steps that are still marked with his blood.
Critical and Thinking: The Ian Harris Interview
by Benjamin Radford
Volume 25.3, Fall 2015
A standup comic doing explicitly skeptical material on a regular basis as part of his act is unusual.
Adventures in SkeptiCamp
by Susan Gerbic
Volume 25.3, Fall 2015
We need face-to-face interactions. Some of our people tell me that our meetups are where they can be themselves; they don’t have to guard their language, and no subject is taboo.
Facing Art and Skepticism: Caricaturist Celestia Ward
by Benjamin Radford
Volume 25.2, Summer 2015
Interviews
In 2014, Skeptical Briefs Editor Benjamin Radford attended a caricature conference in Reno, Nevada. Inside a hotel ballroom full of ridiculously talented artists from around the world, he happened to meet Celestia Ward, a caricaturist who’s also a skeptic. Naturally, he had questions for her.
Bigfoot Roundup: Some Regional Variants Identified as Bears
by Joe Nickell
Volume 25.2, Summer 2015
Investigative Files
Having long observed that many Bigfoot sightings seem consistent with bears, I have for some time been expounding on the subject—showing that, when bears stand upright on their hind legs, they become North America’s foremost Bigfoot lookalikes.
Studying Up with A Skeptic’s Guide to Conspiracy
by Gurmukh Mongia
Volume 25.2, Summer 2015
Skeptical Podcasts
Now, in the age of the Internet, Bohler has decided to put his research on these fascinating topics online in the form of a blog and a podcast titled A Skeptic’s Guide to Conspiracy. Since 2011, he’s been putting all his exhaustive and thorough research to good use by providing a valuable resource for anybody looking for skeptical information about conspiracy theories.
You Can Lead Believers to Knowledge, but You Can’t Make Them Think
by Barbara Mervine
Volume 25.1, Spring 2015
“Give a person an answer, they will know Bigfoot isn’t real. Teach a person skepticism, and they’ll think Bigfoot isn’t real, aliens aren’t visiting from Venus, and they’ll vaccinate their children.”
Bitter(s) Medicine
by Joe Nickell
Volume 25.1, Spring 2015
Investigative Files
Bitters bottles are a window into an earlier era of quackery (although sometimes perhaps well-intentioned), as well as into the related worlds of unbridled advertising, liquor sales and consumption, and, of course, the very human need for relief from myriad ailments.
