I was recently a guest on The Big Mad Morning Show on Tulsa’s 97.5 rock station KMOD, talking about the Loch Ness Monster and some of my other lake monster investigations. It’s about 15 minutes long. You can listen to the whole interview here (mp3).
My article on conspiracy theories was referenced in a recent Space.com piece; you can read it HERE.
All sorts of conspiracy stuff out there!
My research on sex offenders and the news media, published in my 2003 book Media Mythmakers: How Journalists, Activists, and Advertisers Mislead Us, was recently quoted in a report from the New York Law School… You can read the full report HERE, it’s actually pretty interesting.
There are several claimed types of psychic powers, including precognition (knowing future events before they happen); pyrokinesis (creating fire with the mind, popularized in Stephen King’s novel and film “Firestarter”); and telepathy (describing things at a remote location). Among the most dramatic of these is telekinesis (also called psychokinesis, or PK), the ability to move objects through mind power. Though many Americans believe in psychic ability (about 15 percent of us, according to a 2005 Baylor Religion Survey), scientific evidence for its existence remains elusive.
I recently wrote about this for LiveScience.com; you can read the story HERE.
I recently wrote about penis-theft panics for LiveScience.com. I’d written about it before, for example in the book I co-authored with Bob Bartholomew, “Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking,” and I included it in a talk I gave last year on mass hysterias at a skeptics conference. It’s an interesting subject that always gets people tittering…
You can read my recent story HERE.
In many countries throughout the world belief in witches is common, and black magic is considered part of everyday life. A 2010 poll of 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa found that over half of the population believe in magic. Witch doctors are consulted not only for healing diseases, but also for placing, or removing, curses or bringing luck….
I recently wrote a piece about this for Discovery News; you can read it HERE.
Sharon Hill, editor and writer of the ever-useful site DoubtfulNews.com, has recently become a writer for the Huffington Post. Congratulations to Sharon, and I’m sure she will be spreading skepticism and critical thinking for a long time to come. You can read her first piece HERE.
My book “Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries” was a finalist for the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards in the Science & Math category. How cool is that?
It’s got some great reviews on Amazon.com and elsewhere; copies are still available from me on this site, or through better bookstores and web sites. (How do you know if they are “better”? If they carry my books!)
The belief that demons exist and can possess people is of course the stuff of fiction and horror films — but it is also one of the most widely-held religious beliefs in the world. Most religions claim that humans can be possessed by demonic spirits (the Bible, for example, recounts six instances of Jesus casting out demons), and offer exorcisms to remedy this threat.
I recently wrote an article on this topic for LiveScience.com, you can read it HERE.