It is not hard to find sacred religious sites; churches, synagogues, shrines, mosques, and other such places dot the landscape, offering a place for followers of one religious faith or another to join with others and worship. There is another kind of secular sacred...
Media Literacy
Guest Speaker This Weekend at CSICon in Seattle
I will be a speaker at this year's Center for Inquiry Summit, talking about skeptical investigation and skepticism. Should examination of religious beliefs remain largely off limits for skeptics? Should secular humanists be as critical of fringe science claims,...
Satan and Scalia: Why Do People Still Believe in the Devil?
In a recent interview in New York magazine, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia acknowledged his belief in Satan: Scalia said that “I even believe in the Devil…..Of course! Yeah, he’s a real person. Hey, c’mon, that’s standard Catholic doctrine! Every Catholic...
Are You Getting Your Doubtful News Fix?
If you're not checking out Sharon Hill's Doubtful News, you're missing out on an excellent skeptical source for weird news!
German ‘Wild Boy’ Sentenced
My Discovery News update on the 'Wild Boy' who appeared in Berlin last year claiming amnesia and that he'd spent 5 years living in the woods. It's a weird story, and you can read it HERE.
“Nothing But Bad News…”
Sometimes when discussing current events I will hear someone say "Oh, I hate the news... I don't follow the news anymore, it's nothing but bad news." It's just a depressing laundry list of death and war and problems, a daily documentation of the world's progress on...
My Discovery News Article on 13 Superstitions
I wrote a piece for Discovery News about superstitions-- Thirteen of them, of course! You can read it HERE.
The Truth Behind the Mysterious ‘Blue Dogs’ of Texas, and the Chupacabra!
A Texas rancher named Phylis Canion believes that a strange, hairless bluish-skinned animal she discovered on her property in 2007 may be the mythical, vampiric beast called “el chupacabra,” said to be responsible for draining the blood from goats, chickens, and other...
My new LiveScience.com article on alchemy is now out!
Most people have heard of alchemy, but many don't know much about it... Alchemy is an ancient practice shrouded in mystery and secrecy. Its practitioners mainly sought to turn lead into gold, a quest that has captured the imaginations of people for thousands of years....
Scientific Paranormal Investigation Workshop at Dragon*Con!
Once again this year I will be offering my in-depth workshop on Scientific Paranormal Investigation at Dragon*Con. It's this weekend! Ever wondered how to scientifically investigate ghosts, Bigfoot sightings, miracles, or crop circles? In movies and on television it...