The Skeptic (UK magazine)
Encyclopedia
The Skeptic is a British
magazine
and is billed as "the UK’s longest running and foremost sceptical magazine, which examines science, scepticism, secularism, critical thinking and claims of the paranormal."
, and subsequently edited from 1988 to 1998 by Toby Howard (The University of Manchester, UK
) and Professor Steve Donnelly (University of Salford
, UK
).
The magazine is now edited by Professor Chris French
(Editor-in-Chief) and Deborah Hyde (Managing Editor) from the Anomalistic psychology
research unit of Goldsmiths, University of London
. It is a quarterly publication which aims to serve "journalists, teachers, psychologists, and inquisitive people of all ages".
There are eleven regular columnists and authors contributing articles to the publication; Julian Baggini, Jon Cohen, Mark Duwe, Chris French, David Allen Green, Wendy M Grossman, Mike Heap, Tracy King, Paul Taylor and Mark Williams.
The magazine is also supported by an Editorial Advisory Board consisting of the following individuals: James Alcock
, Julian Baggini, Susan Blackmore
, Derren Brown
, Scott Campbell, David Clarke, David Colquhoun
, Brian Cox
, Richard Dawkins
, Sergio Della Sala, Philip Escoffey, Edzard Ernst
, Richard J. Evans, Stephen Fry
, David Allen Green, Wendy M. Grossman, Simon Hoggart
, Bruce Hood
, Ray Hyman
, Robin Ince
, Paul Kurtz
, Stephen Law
, Andy Lewis, Scott Lilienfeld, Elizabeth Loftus
, Richard McNally, Tim Minchin
, PZ Myers
, Mark Newbrook, Charles Paxton, Phil Plait, Massimo Polidoro
, Benjamin Radford
, James Randi
, Ian Rowland
, Karl Sabbagh
, Simon Singh
, Karen Stollznow
and Richard Wiseman
.
became The Official Podcast of The Skeptic Magazine. New episodes of the show are released on an almost weekly basis. The show has been produced by Neil Denny, Padraig Reidy, Anthony Burn and Richard Sanderson since September 2005.
, along with Prof Chris French's Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit lectures at Goldsmiths.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
and is billed as "the UK’s longest running and foremost sceptical magazine, which examines science, scepticism, secularism, critical thinking and claims of the paranormal."
History, format and structure
It was founded in 1987 by Wendy M. GrossmanWendy M. Grossman
Wendy M. Grossman is a journalist, blogger, and folksinger. She graduated from Cornell University in 1975 and Riverdale Country School in 1971...
, and subsequently edited from 1988 to 1998 by Toby Howard (The University of Manchester, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
) and Professor Steve Donnelly (University of Salford
University of Salford
The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
).
The magazine is now edited by Professor Chris French
Chris French
Christopher C. French, is a British psychologist and vocal skeptic specialising in the psychology of paranormal beliefs and experiences, cognition and emotion.-Career:...
(Editor-in-Chief) and Deborah Hyde (Managing Editor) from the Anomalistic psychology
Anomalistic psychology
In psychology, anomalistic psychology is the study of human behaviour and experience connected with what is often called the paranormal, without the assumption that there is anything paranormal involved....
research unit of Goldsmiths, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. It is a quarterly publication which aims to serve "journalists, teachers, psychologists, and inquisitive people of all ages".
There are eleven regular columnists and authors contributing articles to the publication; Julian Baggini, Jon Cohen, Mark Duwe, Chris French, David Allen Green, Wendy M Grossman, Mike Heap, Tracy King, Paul Taylor and Mark Williams.
The magazine is also supported by an Editorial Advisory Board consisting of the following individuals: James Alcock
James Alcock
James E. Alcock is a Professor of Psychology at York University . He has been a professor at York since 1973. Alcock received his BSc from McGill University and a PhD in Social Psychology from McMaster University...
, Julian Baggini, Susan Blackmore
Susan Blackmore
Susan Jane Blackmore is an English freelance writer, lecturer, and broadcaster on psychology and the paranormal, perhaps best known for her book The Meme Machine.-Career:...
, Derren Brown
Derren Brown
Derren Victor Brown is a British illusionist, mentalist, painter, writer and sceptic. He is known for his appearances in television specials, stage productions and British television series such as Trick of the Mind and Trick or Treat...
, Scott Campbell, David Clarke, David Colquhoun
David Colquhoun
David Colquhoun, FRS is a British pharmacologist at University College London . He has contributed to the general theory of receptor and synaptic mechanisms of single ion channel function. He previously held the A.J. Clark chair of Pharmacology at UCL, and was the Hon. Director of the Wellcome...
, Brian Cox
Brian Cox (physicist)
Brian Edward Cox, OBE , is a British particle physicist, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and a professor at the University of Manchester. He is a member of the High Energy Physics group at the University of Manchester, and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at...
, Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
, Sergio Della Sala, Philip Escoffey, Edzard Ernst
Edzard Ernst
Edzard Ernst is the first Professor of Complementary Medicine in the world, at the University of Exeter, England....
, Richard J. Evans, Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, David Allen Green, Wendy M. Grossman, Simon Hoggart
Simon Hoggart
Simon David Hoggart is an English journalist and broadcaster. He writes on politics for The Guardian, and on wine for The Spectator. Until 2006 he presented The News Quiz on Radio 4...
, Bruce Hood
Bruce Hood (psychologist)
Bruce Hood is a Canadian-born experimental psychologist who specialises in developmental cognitive neuroscience and is Director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre, based at Bristol University....
, Ray Hyman
Ray Hyman
Ray Hyman is a Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, and a noted critic of parapsychology.-Career:...
, Robin Ince
Robin Ince
Robin Ince is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for presenting the BBC radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage .-Stand-up comedy:...
, Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz
Paul Kurtz is a prominent American skeptic and secular humanist. He has been called "the father of secular humanism." He is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, having previously also taught at Vassar, Trinity, and Union colleges, and the New School for...
, Stephen Law
Stephen Law
Dr. Stephen Law is a philosopher and senior lecturer at Heythrop College in the University of London. He also edits the philosophical journal Think, which is published by the Royal Institute of Philosophy and aimed at the general public. Law currently lives in Oxford, England, with his wife and two...
, Andy Lewis, Scott Lilienfeld, Elizabeth Loftus
Elizabeth Loftus
Elizabeth F. Loftus is an American psychologist and expert on human memory. She has conducted extensive research on the misinformation effect and the nature of false memories. Loftus has been recognized throughout the world for her work, receiving numerous awards and honorary degrees...
, Richard McNally, Tim Minchin
Tim Minchin
Timothy David "Tim" Minchin is a British-Australian comedian, actor, and musician.Tim Minchin is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in six CDs, three DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has also appeared on television in Australia,...
, PZ Myers
PZ Myers
Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and the author of the Pharyngula science blog. He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM, works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology , and also cultivates an...
, Mark Newbrook, Charles Paxton, Phil Plait, Massimo Polidoro
Massimo Polidoro
Massimo Polidoro is an Italian writer, journalist, television personality, and the co-founder and executive director of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal .-Early life and career:...
, Benjamin Radford
Benjamin Radford
Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of the science magazine Skeptical Inquirer, former editor-in-chief of the Spanish-language magazine Pensar, which was published in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a columnist for Skeptical Inquirer magazine Skeptical Briefs newsletter, Discovery News, LiveScience.com...
, James Randi
James Randi
James Randi is a Canadian-American stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation...
, Ian Rowland
Ian Rowland
Ian Rowland is a writer and entertainer who lives in South Croydon, just outside London, England. He is the author of The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading.He regularly gives lectures where he debunks paranormal phenomena....
, Karl Sabbagh
Karl Sabbagh
Karl Sabbagh is a Palestinian-British writer, journalist and television producer. His work is mainly non-fiction: he has written books about historical events and produced documentaries for both British and American broadcasters....
, Simon Singh
Simon Singh
Simon Lehna Singh, MBE is a British author who has specialised in writing about mathematical and scientific topics in an accessible manner....
, Karen Stollznow
Karen Stollznow
Karen Stollznow is an Australian writer, linguist, podcaster and skeptic. She is a columnist for both Skeptic and Skeptical Inquirer magazines and is host on two different skeptic podcasts...
and Richard Wiseman
Richard Wiseman
Richard Wiseman is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.Wiseman started his professional life as a magician, before graduating in Psychology from University College London and obtaining a Ph.D...
.
Official podcast
In 2008, an independent, rationalist talk show airing on London's Resonance FM called Little AtomsLittle Atoms
Little Atoms is a radio chat show broadcast weekly from London on Resonance FM 104.4. It is hosted by Neil Denny, Richard Sanderson, Padraig Reidy, Becky Hogge and special guest presenters...
became The Official Podcast of The Skeptic Magazine. New episodes of the show are released on an almost weekly basis. The show has been produced by Neil Denny, Padraig Reidy, Anthony Burn and Richard Sanderson since September 2005.
Lecture series
It is also linked to the long running London based monthly lecture series, Skeptics in the PubSkeptics in the Pub
Skeptics in the Pub is an informal social event designed to promote fellowship and social networking among skeptics, critical-thinkers, and other like-minded individuals...
, along with Prof Chris French's Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit lectures at Goldsmiths.
See also
- Critical thinkingCritical thinkingCritical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...
- FactCheckFactCheckFactCheck.org is a non-partisan, nonprofit website that describes itself as a consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics." It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University...
- FreethoughtFreethoughtFreethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas...
- PseudosciencePseudosciencePseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
- Scientific skepticismScientific skepticismScientific skepticism is the practice of questioning the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence or reproducibility, as part of a methodological norm pursuing "the extension of certified knowledge". For example, Robert K...
- Skeptical InquirerSkeptical InquirerThe Skeptical Inquirer is a bimonthly American magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry with the subtitle: The magazine for science and reason....
- SkepticismSkepticismSkepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...
- Skeptic (U.S. magazine)Skeptic (U.S. magazine)Skeptic is a quarterly science education and science advocacy magazine published internationally by The Skeptics Society, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs...
- Snopes.com
- The Freethinker (journal)The Freethinker (journal)The Freethinker is a British secular humanist magazine, founded by G.W. Foote in 1881. It is the world's oldest surviving freethought publication.It has always taken an unapologetically atheist, anti-religious stance...
- The Skeptic's Dictionary
- The Straight Dope