Recently a journalist contacted me with three or four questions about dowsing. I've written about dowsing several times, and last year I wrote a CFI blog about a conversation I had with a dowser. Here's a transcript of the interview: 1) Why do you believe dowsing is...
Media Literacy
My article on Seeker (formerly Discovery News) is about the tragic legacy of fake bomb detectors in Iraq... check it out! After years of equipping important security checkpoints throughout Iraq with non-functioning bomb detectors, the Iraqi government has finally...
Solving the Original Pokemon Mystery
As you may know, in 2001 I helped solve the mystery of the bizarre 1997 Pokémon seizure incident. I wrote an article that became a cover story in Fortean Times and co-authored a medical journal article about it. I revisit the puzzling case in my new Seeker article:...
Is Flossing Your Teeth Worthless? Not So Fast…
News stories last week have challenged the conventional wisdom dispensed by dentists for decades: that flossing your teeth regularly helps prevent tooth decay and gum disease. But that's not quite accurate. My article explaining why is HERE! You can...
The Presidential Politics of Vaccinations
My recent article for Seeker (formerly Discovery News) is about the politics of vaccinations... In medicine the benefits of childhood vaccination are widely accepted. The evidence is clear and overwhelming: vaccines do not cause autism (or any other condition),...
Quoted in a Forbes Article on Ghost Hunting Equipment
This is cool.. I was recently mentioned in a Forbes article on ghost hunting science and pseudoscience: There’s no shortage of retailers to provide for your spooky-seeking needs. Products marketed as “Deluxe Ghost Hunting Kit” and “Ghost Hunting Spirit Box” can be...
Victim’s Ghost Seen in Photo? Unlikely…
My new article on a viral ghost photo claimed to show an accident victim's soul leaving his body is now out: A photo taken at the scene of a fatal motorcycle crash in Kentucky has gone viral, with many claiming they can see the accident victim's spirit leaving his...
Reply to a Theory of Everything
About three or four times each year I get an e-mail (or, more rarely, a phone call or handwritten letter in block writing) from someone who wants me to read and carefully evaluate their amazing manifesto, usually involving some quasi-mystical "scientific" theory...
‘The New York Times Magazine’ Praises My Investigative Skills
My mystery-solving investigation skills were praised a recent issue of "The New York Times Magazine," which notes that I "thoroughly debunked" a famous eyewitness encounter with a monstrous Lizard Man. To the best of my knowledge--and despite many articles and even a...
The Myth of ‘The Media’
With all the recent discussion of shootings and how the news media have covered it, I thought I'd revisit a blog I wrote in 2014 about how people often misuse (and misunderstand) the phrase "the media." As a longtime media and science literacy educator (as well as...