Clever Hans's Successors Testing Indian Astrology Believers' Cognitive Dissonance Csicon Nashville Highlights
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SI March April 13 cover_SI JF 10 V1 1/31/13 10:54 AM Page 2 Scotland Mysteries | Herbs Are Drugs | The Pseudoscience Wars | Psi Replication Failure | Morality Innate? the Magazine for Science and Reason Vol. 37 No. 2 | March/April 2013 ON INVISIBLE BEINGS Clever Hans’s Successors Testing Indian Astrology Believers’ Cognitive Dissonance CSICon Nashville Highlights Published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry March April 13 *_SI new design masters 1/31/13 9:52 AM Page 2 AT THE CEN TERFOR IN QUIRY –TRANSNATIONAL Ronald A. Lindsay, President and CEO Massimo Polidoro, Research Fellow Bar ry Karr, Ex ec u tive Di rect or Benjamin Radford, Research Fellow Joe Nickell, Senior Research Fellow Richard Wiseman, Research Fellow www.csicop.org James E. Al cock*, psy chol o gist, York Univ., Tor on to Thom as Gi lov ich, psy chol o gist, Cor nell Univ. Robert L. Park,professor of physics, Univ. of Maryland Mar cia An gell, MD, former ed i tor-in-chief, David H. Gorski, cancer surgeon and re searcher at Jay M. Pasachoff, Field Memorial Professor of New Eng land Jour nal of Med i cine Barbara Ann Kar manos Cancer Institute and chief Astronomy and director of the Hopkins Kimball Atwood IV, MD, physician; author; of breast surgery section, Wayne State University Observatory, Williams College Newton, MA School of Medicine. John Pau los, math e ma ti cian, Tem ple Univ. Steph en Bar rett, MD, psy chi a trist; au thor; con sum er Wendy M. Grossman, writer; founder and first editor, Clifford A. Pickover, scientist, au thor, editor, ad vo cate, Al len town, PA The Skeptic magazine (UK) IBM T.J. Watson Re search Center. Willem Betz,MD, professor of medicine, Univ. of Brussels Sus an Haack, Coop er Sen ior Schol ar in Arts and Massimo Pigliucci, professor of philosophy, Ir ving Bie der man, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Sci en ces, professor of phi los o phy and professor City Univ. of New York–Lehman College South ern CA of Law, Univ. of Mi ami Stev en Pink er, cog ni tive sci en tist, Harvard Univ. Sandra Blakeslee, science writer; author; New York Harriet Hall*, MD, family physician; investigator, Philip Plait, astronomer; lecturer; writer Times science correspondent Puyallup, WA Mas si mo Pol id oro, sci ence writer; au thor; ex ec u tive Sus an Black more, vis it ing lec tur er, Univ. of the West C.E.M. Han sel, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Wales di rect or of CI CAP, It a ly of Eng land, Bris tol David J. Helfand, professor of astronomy, Anthony R. Pratkanis, professor of psychology, Mark Boslough, physicist, Sandia National Laborato- Columbia Univ. Univ. of CA, Santa Cruz ries, Albuquerque, NM Terence M. Hines, prof. of psychology, Pace Univ., Benjamin Radford, investigator; research fellow, Hen ri Broch, phys i cist, Univ. of Nice, France Pleasantville, NY. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Jan Har old Brun vand, folk lor ist; pro fes sor emer i tus Doug las R. Hof stad ter, pro fes sor of hu man James “The Amazing” Randi, magician; CSICOP of Eng lish, Univ. of Utah un der stand ing and cog ni tive sci ence, In di ana Univ. founding member; founder, James Randi Mar io Bunge, phi los o pher, McGill Univ., Montreal Ger ald Hol ton, Mal linc krodt Pro fes sor of Phys ics and Educational Foundation Robert T. Carroll, emeritus professor of philosophy, pro fes sor of his to ry of sci ence, Har vard Univ. Mil ton Ro sen berg, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Chic a go Sacramento City College; writer Ray Hy man*, psy chol o gist, Univ. of Or e gon Wal la ce Sam pson, MD, clin i cal pro fes sor of med i cine, Sean B. Carroll, molecular geneticist; vice president Stuart D. Jordan, NASA astrophysicist emeritus; Stan ford Univ.; ed i tor, Sci en tif ic Re view of for science education, Howard Hughes Medical science advisor to Center for Inquiry Office of Al ter na tive Med i cine Institute, Madison, WI Public Policy, Washington, DC Am ar deo Sar ma*, chairman, GWUP, Ger ma ny Thomas R. Casten, energy expert; founder and Barry Karr, executive director, Committee for Richard Saunders, president, Australian chairman, Recycled Energy Development, Skeptical Inquiry, Amherst, New York Skeptics; educator; investigator; podcaster; Westmont, IL Law rence M. Krauss, foundation professor, School Sydney, Australia John R. Cole, an thro pol o gist; ed i tor, Na tion al of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Dept.; Joe Schwarcz, director, McGill Office for Science Cen ter for Sci ence Ed u ca tion director, Origins Initiative, Arizona State Univ. and Society K.C. Cole, science writer; author; professor, Harry Kroto, professor of chemistry and Eu ge nie C. Scott*, phys i cal an thro pol o gist; ex ec u tive Univ. of Southern California’s Annenberg biochemistry, Florida State Univ.; Nobel laureate di rect or, Na tion al Cen ter for Sci ence Ed u ca tion School of Journalism Ed win C. Krupp, as tron o mer; di rect or, Rob ert Sheaf fer, sci ence writer Fred er ick Crews, lit er ary and cul tur al crit ic; pro fes sor Grif fith Ob ser va to ry, Los Angeles, CA emer i tus of Eng lish, Univ. of CA, Berke ley El ie A. Shne our, bi o chem ist; au thor; president and Law rence Kusche, sci ence writer research director, Bi os ys tems Re search In sti tute, Rich ard Dawk ins, zo ol o gist, Ox ford Univ. Le on Le der man, emer i tus di rect or, Fer mi lab; La Jol la, CA Ge of frey Dean, tech ni cal ed i tor, Perth, Aus tral ia No bel lau re ate in phys ics Seth Shostak, senior astronomer, SETI Institute, Cor nel is de Ja ger, pro fes sor of as tro phys ics, Scott O. Lil i en feld*, psy chol o gist, Emory Univ., Mountain View, CA Univ. of Utrecht, the Neth er lands Atlanta, GA Simon Singh, science writer; broadcaster; UK Dan i el C. Den nett, Aus tin B. Fletch er Pro fes sor Lin Zix in, former ed i tor, Sci ence and Dick Smith,film pro duc er; pub lish er; Ter rey Hills, of Phi los o phy and di rect or of Cen ter for Cog ni tive Tech nol o gy Dai ly (Chi na) N.S.W., Aus tral ia Stud ies, Tufts Uni v. Je re Lipps, Mu se um of Pa le on tol o gy, Univ. of CA, Keith E. Stanovich, cognitive psychologist; Ann Druyan, writer and producer; CEO, Berke ley professor of human development and applied Cosmos Studios, Ithaca, NY Eliz a beth Loft us*, pro fes sor of psy chol o gy, psychology, Uni v. of Toronto Sanal Edamaruku, president, Indian Rationalist Univ. of CA, Ir vine Vic tor J. Sten ger, emer i tus pro fes sor of phys ics Association and Rationalist International Da vid Marks, psy chol o gist, City Univ., Lon don and as tron o my, Univ. of Ha waii; ad junct pro fes sor Edzard Ernst, professor, Complementary Medicine, Mar io Men dez-Acos ta, jour nal ist and sci ence writer, of phi los o phy, Univ. of CO Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Mex i co City Karen Stollznow*, linguist; skeptical investigator; Plymouth, Exeter, UK Kenneth R. Miller, professor of biology, writer; podcaster Ken neth Fed er, pro fes sor of an thro pol o gy, Brown Univ. Jill Cor nell Tar ter,as tron o mer, SE TI In sti tute, Cen tral Con nec ti cut State Univ. Marv in Min sky, pro fes sor of me dia arts and sci en ces, Moun tain View, CA Barbara Forrest, professor of philosophy, M.I.T. Car ol Tav ris,psy chol o gist and au thor, Los Ange les, CA SE Louisiana Univ. Da vid Mor ri son, space sci en tist, NA SA Ames Re search Da vid E. Thom as*, phys i cist and math e ma ti cian, An drew Fra knoi, as tron o mer, Foot hill Col lege, Cen ter Per al ta, NM Los Al tos Hills, CA Rich ard A. Mul ler, pro fes sor of phys ics, Univ. of CA, Neil de Gras se Ty son, as tro phys i cist and di rect or, Kend rick Fra zi er*, sci ence writer; ed i tor, Berke ley Hay den Plan e tar i um, New York City SKEP TI CAL IN qUIR ER Joe Nick ell, sen ior re search fel low, CSI Indre Viskontas, cognitive neuroscientist, tv and pod- Christopher C. French, professor, Department Jan Willem Nienhuys, mathematician, Waalre, cast host, and opera singer, San Francisco, CA of Psychology, and head of the Anomalistic The Netherlands Ma ri lyn vos Sa vant, Pa rade mag a zine Psychology Research Unit, Goldsmiths con trib ut ing ed i tor College, Univ. of London Lee Nis bet, phi los o pher, Med aille Col lege Yv es Gal i fret, executive secretary, Steven Novella*, MD, assistant professor Stev en Wein berg, pro fes sor of phys ics and as tron o my, l’Union Rationaliste of neurology, Yale Univ. School of Medicine Univ. of Tex as at Aus tin; No bel lau re ate Luigi Garlaschelli, chemist, Università di Pavia Bill Nye, sci ence ed u ca tor and tel e vi sion host, E.O.