Tunguska mystery (almost) solved
By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 1240
It was a quiet morning on June 30, 1908. The event occurred in a remote location of heavily-forested Siberia, in the Russian Federation.
Problems with nutritional supplements
By David Annis
Article ID: 1239
Walk into any supermarket, drug store, or health food store and you will find a wide variety of nutritional supplements. People use these as an alternative to “western” or “conventional” medicine. Unfortunately, when taking nutritional supplements, you aren’t treating your disease or keeping yourself healthy. You are using yourself as a human guinea pig in a poorly designed experiment, the results of which will be thrown away.
A field trip to Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment
By Tammy Buchli, Science & Reason in Hampton Roads
Article ID: 1238
When my local skeptic’s organization (Science & Reason in Hampton Roads) announced a field trip to Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, I was eager to attend. We planned a full afternoon at the A.R.E. First, an ESP demonstration, and then an educational film about Mr. Cayce, ending with a tour of the Association building. I knew very little about Mr. Cayce before our field trip, and I opted not to do any preparatory research, deciding instead to let the A.R.E. itself serve as Mr. Cayce’s monument.
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If you can’t prove God doesn’t exist, why not believe?
By David Annis
Article ID: 1237
If you can’t disprove the existence of God, why not believe in Him? This is a question often posed to atheists by believers. The basic answer is that there are a lot of improbable things that I can’t disprove, but believing in them leads to a distorted view of the world. These range from things that nobody else believes, such as the belief that there is an invisible snorg
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What good is half an eye?
By David Annis
Article ID: 1236
One frequent objection that creationists use about evolution is to question how a complex structure could evolve - what good is half an eye? What possible evolutionary path could there be that would lead to such a complex structure?
Psychic stagecraft: how to change from magician to miracle worker
By Peter Booth
Article ID: 1235
Mentalism is a form of performance magic that simulates the paranormal, most commonly mind-reading, predicting the future and psychokinesis. Magicians get involved in skepticism because much of the time the so-called real psychics are doing very standard magic tricks. But what makes the difference between appearing to be a magician and appearing to be the real deal? Here I present a few rules for any half-decent magicians who would like to throw away their morals, break all the mirrors in their houses so they don’t have to look at themselves anymore, and most importantly, start making some real money by making the jump to pseudo-miracle worker. Being a cold reader, for example, has an excellent profit margin! Think of it this way: you can charge the same prices per ticket as David Copperfield, or a world-famous rock band, and you don’t even have all that heavy stuff to carry around! It’s just you on a stage. That’s profit!
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Anecdotal evidence against anecdotal evidence
By Tammy Buchli, Science & Reason in Hampton Roads
Article ID: 1234
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Macro-evolution observed in the laboratory
By David Annis
Article ID: 1233
Evolution can easily be observed in the laboratory and in the world around us. We can see moths evolve their coloring to match the color of soot that covers their habitat, watch bacteria evolve antibiotic resistance in hospitals, and my favorite variety of grapefruit (that’s Rio Star) was made by scientists who exposed seeds to radiation to increase the mutation rate. In the face of such overwhelming evidence - including knowing the exact DNA changes effecting such change - it is impossible for the creationists to deny evolution with a straight face.
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Pascal’s Wager: gambling with an immoral god
By David Annis
Article ID: 1232
The French philosopher Blaise Pascal made a famous argument, today called “Pascal’s Wager“. It says: A person cannot prove God’s existence through reason. Since by believing in God you have nothing to lose - and potentially everything to gain - you should behave and believe as if that God exists.
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Intelligent Design in Michigan
By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 1231
Intelligent Design has come to Michigan. Michigan is my home state, so this gives me motivation to get off my big fat brain and do some research. And I have a child who will be entering the Michigan school system soon. That gives me motivation to write.
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