Articles

This page links to articles originally published in The Connecticut Skeptic and the New England Journal of Skepticism – print publications of the NESS prior to moving our publishing all online. It also reproduces articles by NESS members published elsewhere in print.

Science and Medicine

Alternative Engineering (Steven Novella, 10/99)
Bee Venom Therapy (Steven Novella, 2/02)
Bloodletting Works (Steven Novella, 5/02)
Blue-Green Algae – Nature’s Perfect Scam (Steven Novella 10/01)
EMDR and Fad Therapies (Stuart Losen, 1/01)
EMDR: Science or Pseudoscience (Bunmi O. Olatunji, 1/01)
Energy Crisis – Vitalism Pseudoscience (Robert Novella, 10/00)
Enter the Snake Oil Zone (Steven Novella, 1/97)
Fear Not: Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism (Steven Novella, 6/05)
Herbal Mythology (Steven Novella, 10/97)
Homeopathy (Steven Novella, 7/96)
A Neuroscientist Investigates Acupuncture (Robert Drysdale, 10/98)
Psychomotor Patterning (Steven Novella, 10/96)
Scientific Research in a Mystical World (Steven Novella, 1/98)
Selling Supplements (Steven Novella, 5/03)
The Skeptic’s Diet (Steven Novella 1/05)
Therapeutic Touch (Steven Novella, 10/98)
What Is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Steven Novella, 1/96)
What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You (Steven Novella, 4/98)
Why Is Someone Called ADHD (Mark Fineman, 2/01)
Defending ADHD (Steven Novella, 7/01)

Pseudosciences and Belief Systems

911-Pseudoscience in the Rubble (Robert Novella, 10/01)
A Brief Analysis of Mysticism (Hamed Vahidi, 1/01)
The Christian Science Holocaust (Gerald Bergman, 10/01)
Conjunction Assumption (Robert Novella, 4/00)
The Cultiversity of Bridgeport (Perry DeAngelis, 1/97)
Dowsing in Connecticut (Perry DeAngelis, 10/96)
The Grand Unified Woo-Woo Theory (Marc Berard, 4/00)
Holocaust Denial (Hajime Tokuno, 4/96)
Levitating Frogs and Free Energy (Steven Novella, 6/05)
Magnetic Attraction (Dave Shapiro, 10/99)
NESS Takes On Free Energy Guru – Dennis Lee (Perry DeAngleis, 7/01)
Phrenology: History of a Pseudoscience (Steven Novella, 4/00)
The Physics of ESP (Robert Novella, 10/98)
The Prey of Cults (Perry DeAngelis, 10/98)
A Skeptic Joins Scientology (Perry DeAngelis, 7/99)
Smoke and Mirrors – Spontaneous Human Combustion (Steven Novella, 1/06)
Speed of Light Repealed? (Robert Novella, 7/01)
Stock Market Pseudoscience (Jon Blumenfeld, 9/97)
Y2Krazy (Robert Novella, 1/01)

Evolution and Creationism

Buchanan’s Inane Rant Against Darwin (Steven Novella, 7/06)
Creationists, Mechanical Engineers, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics (Steven Novella, 4/01)
Creationists Run Aflow of the Evidence (Steven Novella, 1/99)
Evolve This! – Why We Should Care About Evolution and Creationism (Steven Novella, 10/04)
The Design Interference (Steven Novella, 10/02)
Intelligent Design – Response to Behe (Robert & Steven Novella, 11/05)
Non-Science in Dating the Earth (Chuck Roche, 5/04)
Responding to Behe and Irreducible Complexity (Steven Novella, 4/99)

Ghosts, Demons and Spiritualism

Demonic Possessions (Perry DeAngelis (4/98)
Ghostbusting in Hamden (Robert Novella, 7/96)
Ghosts of Union Cemetery (Perry DeAngelis, 4/96)
Hunting the Ghost Hunters (Perry DeAngelis & Steven Novella, 7/97)
Medium Dead (Jon Blumenfeld, 7/00)
A Message of Love from the Seventh Dimension (Steven Novella, 6/09)
Out-Of-Body Experiences (Robert Novella 5/03)
Satanism in Newtown (Perry DeAngelis, 1/96)

Myths and Misconceptions

90% of a Brain is a Terrible Thing To Waste (Steven Novella, 1/98)
Confusion About Coriolis (Robert Novella, 7/00)
Quantum Confusion (Robert Novella, 7/97)
Scientists Report: Bumblebees Can’t Fly (Robert Novella, 9/99)
The Physics and Fantasy of Firewalking (Robert Novella, 7/99)
The Year 1000 A.D. and the Millennial Panic (Edward Wallner, 7/98)

Psychology, Deception, Illusion and Memory

Believing Is Seeing (Robert Novella, 1/01)
Blind Spots (Jon Blumenfeld, 7/99)
Cold Reading (Robert Novella, 4/97)
Conspiracy Theories – Out of the Matrix (Steven Novella 3/06)
Hypnagogia (Robert Novella, 4/96)
Memories: Constructed, Confused and Confabulated (Robert Novella, 7/98)
Mother Mary Comes to Me (Perry DeAngelis, 10/99)
Photographic Fakery (Robert Novella, 1/98)
The Power of Coincidence (Robert Novella, 10/96)
Two Mass Delusions in New England (Robert E. Bartholomew, 4/98)

Skepticism and Philosophy of Science

A History of Skeptical Philosophy (Jon Blumenfeld, 4/98)
Anatomy of Pseudoscience (Steven Novella,  12/00)
Being Too Open-Minded (Steven Novella, 11/04)
How To Argue (Steven Novella, 3/09)
The Proper Targets of Skepticism (5/04)
The Razor in the Toolbox (Robert Novella, 4/01)
Skepticism and Denial (Steven Novella, 5/02)
Skepticism in Talk Shows (Robert Novella, 1/96)

UFOs and Alien Phenomena

About Face for Mars (Robert Novella, 4/98)
Baby Remember My Name (Sheila Gibson, 1/01)
Cereal Killers (Steven Novella, 7/05)
Long Live Science and Reason (Sheila Gibson, 10/99)
Look, Up There! – What Are UFOs? (Steven Novella, 2/05)
NESS Executive Director Abducted by Aliens (Perry DeAngelis, 7/00)
Sightings: UFOs and Visual Perception (Mark B. Fineman, 7/98)
The Starchild Project (Steven Novella, 2/06)
UFO Convention in North Haven CT (Steven Novella & Perry DeAngelis, 10/96)
UFOs: The Psychocultural Hypothesis (Steven Novella, 10/00)
Unidentified Flying Objections (Perry DeAngelis, 10/97)

Commentary and Miscellaneous

Carl Sagan: A Journey’s End (Robert Novella, 1/97)
The Hero Myth: Transcendence and Joseph Campbell (Jon Blumenfeld, 4/01)
How Strong are Your State’s Science Standards? (Sheila Gibson, 4/00)
Is Magic Real? (Perry DeAngelis and Robert Novella, 4/02)
NESS Participates in Million Dollar Psychic Challenge (Steven Novella, 5/04)
The Problem With Being Too Open-Minded (Steven Novella, 11/04)
Reflections on Skeptical Parenting (Merriol Almond, 7/98)
Teller – Magic’s Silent Man of Mystery (Sheila Gibson, 4/98)
Where the Women Aren’t (Sheila Gibson, 10/99)
X-Files and X-Fictions (Sheila Gibson, 1/00)