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A web column by Chris Mooney.
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- The Next Big Storm: Can Scientists and Journalists Work Together to Improve Coverage of the Hurricane-Global Warming Controversy?
- Welcome to
Science Court
The ruling in the Dover evolution trial shows what the legal and scientific processes have in common--intellectual rigor
- Upping the Anti
Tom Bethell takes the modern political right's "war on science" to a whole new level.
- Abductive Reasoning
In her brilliant first book, Susan Clancy successfully explains how normal Americans--who are neither psychotic nor fabricators--can nevertheless devoutly believe they were kidnapped by aliens.
- Science Wars II
Where does the debate now stand over science and the Bush administration?
- Less than Miraculous
If there's a silver lining to the recent widespread promotion of the paranormal on television, its that some of these shows are downright embarrassing--and many audiences are smart enough to know it.
- Out of Balance
Even with respect to extraordinary and absurd claims, ABC and Peter Jennings listen to "both sides."
- Bad Science, Bad Fiction
In Michael Crichton's work, the two are intimately connected.
NOTE: ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS
- State Your Case
Anti-evolutionist activism, inspired and rejuvenated by the Intelligent Design movement, is spreading across the country. Get ready for lawsuits.
- Déjà vu All Over Again
How did the Intelligent Design movement publish in a peer reviewed biology journal? A similar--and notorious--story from climate science sheds light on the question.
- IDing ID
Is "Intelligent
Design" theory really "Creation Science" version 2.0? Not
exactly, but the parallels are certainly suggestive.
- Wake Up Call
Leading scientists say climate change must finally receive the attention it deserves. True skeptics should agree with them.
- Learning from Nonsense?
Hollywood's new disaster blockbuster, The Day After Tomorrow, presents
climate change cataclysms that no respected scientist considers realistic. But
can the hoopla surrounding the film actually educate about the real global warming
issue?
- Don't Listen to Those Pesky Scientists
Why science adviser John Marburger's defense of the Bush administration's science policies fails.
- The New Science Wars
Is George W. Bush's the most anti-science administration in modern times?
- It Just Takes One
How an advertisement for Intelligent Design theory made its way into the Harvard
Law Review.
- The Politics of Peer Review
Expert review of scientific information is usually a good thing. But as a recent White House proposal to expand peer review of government regulatory science shows, there are big exceptions.
- Abuses of Skepticism
Doubting is a powerful tool, but it can definitely be taken too far.
- Not Too "Bright"
Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett are smart guys, but their campaign to
rename religious unbelievers "brights" could use some
rethinking.
- Polling for ID
The latest pro-Intelligent Design Zogby poll is just one in a series of
questionable surveys.
- King of the Paranormal
What's up with the Larry King Show's outrageous promotion of UFOs, psychics,
and spiritualists?
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Exonerating the Friedmans
Skeptics of hypnosis and "recovered memory therapy" will know that
Arnold and Jesse Friedman were probably innocent. So did the documentary
filmmaker who captured their story: He just decided not to say it.
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Creationist U.
Anti-evolutionists have just won two important victories on American university
campuses - one legal, one in public relations.
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The Skeptic's Message Lab
Some thoughts on new ways to critique alternative medicine.
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Dini is Served
A spat at Texas Tech provides a new wrinkle on Darwinism and science education.
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Happy Old Year
When it comes to the media's human cloning coverage, we're still in 1997.
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Conversion Fantasies
In paranormalist fiction, the "skeptic" character always comes
around in the end.
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Skeptics
Why doubters should celebrate J.K. Rowling's tales of magic and wizardry.
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About the Author
Chris Mooney
is Washington correspondent for Seed Magazine and author of The Republican War on Science, due out in September from Basic Books.
Chris was born in Mesa, Arizona, and grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana; he
graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in English in 1999. Before becoming
a freelancer, Chris worked for two years at The American Prospect as
a writing fellow, then staff writer, then online editor (where he helped to
create the popular blog Tapped).
Chris has contributed to a variety of other publications in recent years, including
Slate, Salon, Mother Jones, Legal Affairs, Reason,
The American Scholar, The Washington Monthly, The Utne Reader,
Columbia Journalism Review, The Washington Post, The Washington
City Paper, and The Boston Globe.
Besides contributing to magazines and newspapers, every month Chris writes
an online column for Skeptical
Inquirer magazine, where he serves as a contributing editor. Chris is also
a senior correspondent for the American Prospect magazine.
To see a more comprehensive list of Chris's various writings, click
here. To contact him or to receive e-mail updates about his recent articles,
send an e-mail to moonecc@yahoo.com.
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