The March 2024 issue of The Skeptic has been published, with a special feature on how to cope with science: teaching students skills as much as facts; the positives and negatives of media coverage and how culpable the media are in spreading sometimes dangerous pseudoscience; and understanding that famous Razor. There is also an in-depth look at the Bermuda Triangle, the “mystery that refuses to die”, despite years of detailed investigation and debunking. Plus the litany of dodgy health gadgets you can find in the marketplace, the acid/alkali dilemma, and a lot more.   You can read a sampl ..read more

We’re happy to announce that this year’s Australian Skeptics Annual National Convention – Skepticon 2024 – will be held at the Guthrie Theatre in the University of Technology, Sydney, from November 23-24. This is our 40th consecutive convention; we haven’t missed a year since 1985, which we feel is quite an achievement. We’ll announce the line-up as soon as we can, and in-person and online tickets should be on sale about July. There will be a welcome function on November 22, the Friday preceding the convention. Stick those dates in your diary, and stay tuned for more info ..read more

Ross Coulthart, who has won five Walkley awards (including the top Gold Walkley) during his career as a journalist, can now add another prize to the list – the Australian Skeptics Bent Spoon award. The Spoon is given annually to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of pseudoscientific or paranormal piffle. The Spoon has been given every year since 1982 … except for 1988, which was apparently the year when nothing happened. Coulthard was the unanimous choice of Skeptics groups across Australia. He joins such past winners as former celebrity chef Pete Evans (who has actually won twice ..read more

Nominations for the 2023 Bent Spoon award are now open. The Spoon is awarded annually to the “perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle”. Past winners of this most unwanted award have included the Australian Vaccination Network, the ABC, SBS, Wollongong University, RMIT, and Paleo Pete Evans (the only person to win it twice). Nominations for this year’s award so far are Walkley award winner Ross Coulthart for his ongoing espousing of UFO conspiracies; naturopath Barbara O’Neill for continuing to promote dangerous quack cures; SBS (again) for promoting ..read more

Apparently, all of them, according to their own descriptions. Following a recent flurry of self-promotion among the psychic community, Australian Skeptics decided to look at a number of the key players (according to themselves) and see how they rate. And the result is shocking – they’re all the best! We first did this some 18 years ago, but since then we’ve added a few more mystics, astrologers and psychics who give themselves a superlative score. The criteria they use for such celebrity is not certain. Unless we have an amazing dead-heat, they can’t all be using the same measures. We know it ..read more

UPDATE: NDIS Minister Bill Shorten has told the media that only one case of psychic services being offered under the NDIS system could be found, and that that one case actually dated from the period of the previous government’s time in power. In response to a question at the National Press Club on April 18, he said that, at the risk of receiving hate mail, “tarot reading is out”, adding that he didn’t actually have any examples of  it ever being offered. “There shouldn’t be junk therapies.” The story below indicates that Shadow Minister Michael Sukkar made claims about the NDIS funding ps ..read more

The 2022 Bent Spoon award – the least coveted prize in the skeptical world – has gone to Queensland fake-medical doctor Maria Carmela Pau for distributing COVID-related exemptions and reportedly pocketing about $120,000 for issuing 1200 useless certificates. Pau pleaded guilty in Southport Magistrates Court in July to pretending to be a doctor and aiding people trying to dodge coronavirus restrictions. “She actually has a doctorate in professional research studies and also a master’s degree in public health, but that doesn’t qualify her to act as a medical doctor, despite her barrister saying ..read more

Tickets for the dinner at the 2022 Annual Australian Skeptics National Convention – Skepticon – are now available. The $85-per-person price covers a 3-course meal, with bar tab and guest speaker and, of course, the opportunity to meet and mingle with real-live non-Zoomed Skeptics. The dinner will be on the evening of December 3 at the Hellenic Club in the city. Tickets are available on the Skepticon site. Buy Tickets The dinner is open to all, although numbers are limited. But for an extra treat, why not wrap the convention around the dinner to hear and see from a bevy of leading skeptics an ..read more

The South Australian Skeptics are inviting new members to take over the running of its committee. When the SA Skeptics were formed in 1984, Laurie Eddie took on the role of secretary, and has continued in that position ever since. He has been running the organisation on his own for some time, and he is now retiring and looking for new committee members to hand over the administration and ensure the continuation of the group. SA Skeptics ran two Skeptics conventions, the last being in 2008, and previously awarded an annual student award supported by the Australian Skeptics Science & Educati ..read more

Australian Skeptics Inc is once again offering its annual award for the best piece of skeptical journalism. The Barry Williams Award for Skeptical Journalism recognises the best piece of journalism (in any medium) that takes a critical and skeptical approach to a topic that falls within our remit, which is the scientific investigation of pseudoscience and the paranormal. It is awarded annually, with a citation and $2000 prize. Previous winners have been Jane Hansen (News Ltd); Liam Mannix (The Age/Sydney Morning Herald); Norman Swan (ABC Health Report) and ABC Radio National’s Science Friction ..read more