In the wake of the leaked Supreme Court draft decision suggesting that Roe v. Wade is imperiled, many took to social media encouraging women to delete apps that help them track their menstrual cycles. Countless messages and memes circulated on social media telling...
Media Literacy
Investigating Ghosts!
The owner of a ghost hunting equipment manufacturing company emailed asking me to update an article I wrote debunking his product. First, the article is from 16 years ago; second, I don't write for LiveScience anymore, and third, even if I did: No. It's here,...
‘Primum Non Nocere’ in Skepticism
About two years ago, around the start of the COVID pandemic, I was looking at a friend’s Facebook page answering her question about how best to protect herself. At the time, masking was just coming to the fore but social distancing was advised and hand sanitizers were...
Squaring the Strange # 177 – Field Trip to Bagansland with Susan and Kenny!
Just in time for Halloween: A look back at a classic Squaring the Strange show! We begin with a look at the continuing danger of online rumors igniting mob violence and the Google engineer who is in the news for his belief that the AI in development there has...
Zoom Talk: ‘America the Fearful: Navigating the Media’s Phantom Fears
I recently gave a Zoom talk titled 'America the Fearful: Navigating the Media's Phantom Fears,' based on my new book: "News and social media provide a steady diet of things to fear: COVID. Vaccinations. Immigrants. Kidnapping rings. Satanists. QAnon. Mass shootings....
Visting the Zak Bagans (Non) Haunted ‘Museum’
During a recent visit to Las Vegas, Nevada, a few friends and I got the chance to visit the Zak Bagans Haunted Museum, said to house some of the most powerful and dangerous objects in the world, curated by the ghost-hunting star of several popular series...
Squaring the Strange # 178: You Don’t Know Jack (alopes)! Michael Branch and the Art of the Hoax
Squaring the Strange features the JACKALOPE EPISODE! Yes, a favorite kitchy cryptid / hoax / souvenir / tall tale from the American West. Professor Michael Branch discusses his new book and brings us so many jackalope facts you may have to listen twice. Check it out!...
Bob Bartholomew on a Phantom Cat Killer in New Zealand
Interesting article in Psychology Today by my colleague and co-author Bob Bartholomew, about the strange case of a phantom cat killer in New Zealand... One feature of human psychology is that people tend to see what they expect to see. As meaning-oriented...
America the Fearful: Parsing America’s Ubiquitous Referenda
In the wake of the July verdict in the dueling defamation lawsuits between actors Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, there was of course much punditry, commentary, and crystal gazing. It was seen not merely as an outcome of one trial between two often-toxic celebrities but...
Squaring the Strange # 179: Deviant Death Rites and Bizarre Burials
Word around the campfire is that there's a new episode of Squaring the Strange! This week we dug up some strange ways people have sent off their deceased loved ones. As a medieval person, how would you keep Aunt Edna from coming back as a vampire or a bitey undead...