TIME DECEMBER 12. 1977 - --Science------

Mathematician Maria Reiche has dem­ onstrated that the Nazcans would have Attacking the New Nonsense needed no outside help. Still another pro­ gram showed pictures made by a process A committee ofskeptics challenges claims called Kirlian photography and explained that they showed the "auras" of merica has been saturated in recent people and plants. Scientists have report­ Ayears by tales of the paranormal and ed that the auras are a common electri­ claims of the pseudo scientists. The list cal phenomenon called coronal discharge. seems endless: , the Bermuda NBC is not the committee's only tar­ Triangle, E.S.P., , Jeane Dixon, get. It has challenged the claims by Psy­ Kirlian photography, the Loch Ness mon­ chiatrist-Writer Immanuel Velikovsky ster, , Immanuel Velikov­ that the planet Venus was once a comet sky, thinking ivy plants and now-again that swept close to the earth, causing -flying saucers. flood , plague and other catastrophes in Undoubtedly stimulated by the mov­ biblical times; his scenario violates a num­ ie Close Encounters ofthe Third Kind, UFO ber of physical laws. In the committee's freaks have been deluging the White magazine, a twice-yearly publication House with mail. Most demand that Pres­ called the Zetetic (Greek for skeptic), ident-.Cartei:...rnke good on a campaign - committee-membet=s-have also knocked promise that if there were any secrets UFOiogy, biorhythms and astrology. about the UFOs he would flush them out, One member, Magician James ('The if elected. Carter reported in 1973, while Amazing") Randi, has publicly duplicated Governor of Georgia, that several years Uri Geller's feat~ such as key and earlier he had seen a UFO in the form of spoon bending, without invoking para­ a "glowing light" in the night sky. Now normal forces. He has challenged the Is­ the White House has asked NASA to look raeli illusionist to submit to controlled at the saucer data collected through the tests of his powers, but Geller has not years by the Air Force and others and to responded. decide whether yet another investigation Philosopher Paul Kurtz of the overinvestigated UFOs is in order. A challenge to irrationality. hat the committee members want This action has evoked a collective Wmost is to see claims of paranormal groan from members of a group formed two congressional subcommittees against phenomena subjected to the same stan­ last year: the Committee for the Scien­ the National Broadcasting Co. for mis­ dards of proof that would be required for tific Investigation of Claims of the Para­ leading the public about psychic phenom­ any other scientific discovery. Says Lee normal. Composed of 43 scientists, sci­ ena in an October program, Exploring the Nisbet, the committee's executive direc­ ence journalists, educators and magicians Unknown. According to the complaint, tor: "If we did turn up evidence that a (who can best spot the sleight-of-hand and the show presented "a totally biased point claim was correct, we'd be fools not to other tricks used by ), the com­ of view in a sensationalistic manner get very excited about it." mittee's goal is to rebut what Author arousing gullibility in countless viewers." Until then, the committee plans to Charles Fair calls "the New Nonsense." The committee may have a point. pursue paranormal claims mercilessly; Headed by Paul Kurtz, a philosophy pro­ Though presented as entertainment and leaving them unchallenged, it feels, will fessor at the State University of New York containing periodic disclaimers, the show erode the spirit of skepticism that is in Buffalo, the committee includes such affected a documentary tone and ignored healthy for both science and society. Says luminaries as Astronomer Carl Sagan, some crucial facts. One part reported on Kurtz: "There is always the danger that Psychologist B.F. s_kinner, Philoso.Pher ".Psychic sur er "in which Fili ino heal­ ....Q..nce irrational!!Y_grows, it will s~ill_over Sidney Hook, Author Isaac Asimov. ers supposedly diagnose tumors and other into other areas. There is no guarantee The group made news last month by problems, then use psychic forces-not that a society so infected by unreason will filing a formal complaint with the Fed­ scalpels-to make incisions and treat be resistant to even the most virulent pro­ eral Communications Commission and them. It did not mention that these sorts grams of dangerous ideological sects." • of "miracles" have been rationally ex­ plained. Dr. William Nolen, a Minnesota surgeon, underwent a similar operation himself while researching his 1975 book Healing and reported that the "psychic" incisions were actually made with bits of mica concealed under a fingernail. The excised "tumor" appeared to Nolen to be chicken tissue and had been concealed in the surgeon's fist. The committee has also protested sim­ ilar tactics in the In Search of . . . and The Outer Space Connection programs aired by NBC. Though also broadcast as entertainment, one 'show clearly support­ ed the idea that the huge drawings on Peru's Nazca plains could have been made only with the help of ancient vis­ itors from outer space. It stressed that no one has figured out how else the figures Uri.Geller with twisted spoon could have been created, though German Bird drawing on plains of Peru