Home : Skeptical Inquirer magazine

Volume 28, Number 4
July/August 2004

• Buy this back issue
• Capital Punishment and Homicide
• Pranks, Frauds, and Hoaxes from Around the World
• Toutatis Threatens Totally
• Book Review: The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

Articles

Capital Punishment and Homicide

Sociological Realities and Econometric Illusions

Does executing murderers cut the homicide rate or not? Comparative studies show there is no effect. Econometric models, in contrast, show a mixture of results. Why the difference? And which is the more reliable method?

Ted Goertzel

Defending Science -— Within Reason

The Critical Common-sensist Manifesto

A noted philosopher of science proposes a “Critical Common-sensist” account of how science proceeds, which she believes can correct the over-optimism of the Old Deferentialism toward science without succumbing to the factitious despair of the anti-scientific New Cynicism.

Susan Haack

Exposing Roger Patterson’s 1967 Bigfoot Film Hoax

New revelations shed light on a world-famous, much-debated film supposedly showing a Bigfoot creature.

Kal K. Korff and Michaela Kocis

Pranks, Frauds, and Hoaxes from Around the World

It’s pretty easy to hoax people. We all want to be deceived, but only up to a point. Some hoaxes are fun and pleasant, others malicious and unpleasant. We’d like a way to tell the difference.

Robert Carroll

Seeing the World Through Rose-colored Glasses

Scotopic Sensitivity / Irlen Syndrome

Helen Irlen and her followers claim that dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism are all associated with “Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome,” and each can be effectively treated using colored lenses and overlays. The scientific evidence suggests otherwise.

Alan D. Bowd and Julia O’Sullivan

Special Reports

PBS ‘Secrets of the Dead’ Buries the Truth about Turin Shroud

Joe Nickell

Columns

Editor's Note

Same Data, Opposite Conclusions: What Gives?

News and Comment

• Mexican Air Force UFOs Likely Equipment Artifacts
• Report: Looming Shortage of Scientists
• Psychic’s False Bomb Tip Cancels Flight
• Jeffrey, the Southern Sham: Ghost Photo Consultant Nonexistent
• Photographs Shown to Trigger False Memories

Investigative Files

Mythical Mexico

Joe Nickell

Thinking About Science

Skepticism, a Philosophical Viewpoint

Massimo Pigliucci

Psychic Vibrations

Toutatis Threatens Totally

Robert Sheaffer

Notes on a Strange World

Down with Darwin!

Massimo Polidoro

New Books

Science Best Sellers

Forum

Fictional Cops Slay Imaginary Giant Critter

Ed Kemmick

Missing Time with Art Bell

Alexander D. Allins

Letters to the Editor

Book Reviews

The Fabric of the Cosmos

By Brian Greene

James N. Gardner

Unintelligent Design

By Mark Perakh

Matt Young

Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity

By David Foster Wallace

The Doctors’ Plague: Germs, Childbed Fever, and the Strange Story of Ignac Semmelweis

By Sherwin B. Nuland

Greg Martinez

The Power of Reinforcement

By Stephen Ray Flora

Peter Lamal