Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[SkeptInq@aol.com]

 Skeptical Inquirer Electronic Digest 12-10-99

 Visit the CSICOP and Skeptical Inquirer Magazine website at
http://www.csicop.org. Receiving over 200,000 hits per year, the CSICOP site
was rated one of the top ten science sites by HOMEPC magazine.

  In this week's SI DIGEST:
 --PREVIEW: Skeptical Inquirer Jan./Feb. 2000
 --Center for Inquiry West to Cash in on the Apocalypse
 --NY TIMES on Global Cooling
 --Scientific American "End of the Millennium" Special Issue
 --NPR on Doomsday Predictions, Mars Mission, Science Funding

 PREVIEW: SKEPTICAL INQUIRER JAN/FEB 2000

 Arriving to subscribers and in bookstores in the next several weeks:

 ARTICLES

 The Ten Outstanding Skeptics of the Twentieth Century

 Two Paranormalisms or Two and Half?  An Empirical Exploration
 Erich Goode

 Most researchers have found an inverse negative correlation between
religious traditionalism and paranormal beliefs.  It is possible that the two
dimensions share a great deal more in common than previous surveys suggest.
A new study supports that view.

 Anna Eva Fay: The Mentalist Who Baffled Sir William Crookes
 Massimo Polidoro

 The Pseudoscience of Oxygen Therapy
 John M. Allen

 Confessions of a (Former) Graphologist
 Robert J. Tripician

 COLUMNS

 Notes of a Fringe Watcher
 The Second Coming of Jesus
 Martin Gardner

 Investigative Files
 Canada's Mysterious Maritimes
 Joe Nickell

 Commentary
 The Congressional Censure of a Research Paper
 Kenneth K. Berry and Jason Berry

 CENTER FOR INQUIRY WEST TO CASH IN ON THE APOCALYPSE

 For Immediate Release
 Contact James Underdown at 310-306-2847

 SCIENCE PUTS ITS MONEY WHERE ITS MOUTH IS...

 LOS ANGELES, CA--In an unprecedented move for a not-for profit organization,
the Center for Inquiry-West in Los Angeles is offering $.10 on the dollar for
cars, houses, and other valuables to people who believe that the world will
end on January 1, 2000.

 "Scientifically, there is no reason to believe that the planet earth will
behave any differently on January 1st, 2000, than on any other
day--regardless of what the so-called prophets say. We are giving those who
do believe such nonsense a chance to quickly cash-in and enjoy their last
days with some extra funds," says James Underdown, Executive Director, Center
for Inquiry West. "If people really believe in the apocalypse, they should
have no hesitation to sell their belongings. They won't need them if the
world ends, will they?"

 The Center for Inquiry-West will consider any available property and stands
by with ready cash to act on the proposal. Our confidence is in logic,
reason, and science.

 How confident are those who think the end is near?

 The Center for Inquiry-West serves as the Los Angeles-area bureau for Skeptic
al Inquirer magazine, and sponsors lectures and activities that promote
science, reason, and critical thinking.  Visit the Center for Inquiry-West at
http://www.cfiwest.org.

 NY TIMES ON GLOBAL COOLING

 On Tuesday, Dec. 7, the NY TIMES highlighted the prospect of global cooling
brought about by a disruption of ocean currents.  Some skeptics might be
familiar with the topic as it was a feature presentation by University of
Washington Professor William Calvin at the 1998 World Skeptics Congress in
Heidelberg, Germany.

 For more on the topic, visit Calvin's webpage at
http://www.williamcalvin.com/atlantic/index.htm, and read a World Skeptics
Congress summary at http://www.csicop.org/si/9811/conference2.html.

 For the full NY TIMES article go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/120799sci-environ-climate.html

 By William K. Stevens
 Evidence continues to accumulate that the frozen world of the Arctic and
sub-Arctic is thawing, and the findings are spotlighting two increasingly
important questions: Can what is happening in the Great White North touch off
sudden shifts in climate that will transform weather and disrupt life
throughout the Northern Hemisphere? Is the Arctic a key to the way in which
global warming might be translated into region-by-region climatic changes?
The answers, many experts believe, may depend on how much fresh water flows
into the North Atlantic Ocean as a result of melting Arctic ice and the
runoff from an increase in Northern Hemisphere precipitation that some
scientists say is already resulting from global warming. The theory behind
this view holds that the climate of the North Atlantic region, including
Europe and eastern North America, is controlled by great ocean currents that
transport heat northward from the tropics. This oceanic conveyor belt is set
in motion when saltier, and therefore heavier, surface water sinks to the
deep ocean in the vicinity of southern Greenland. It is replaced by warm
water from the tropics that warms the North Atlantic region. Without it, the
relatively mild climate of England, for instance, might be as cold as that of
northern Canada.  The worry is that a great influx of fresh water from the
thawing Arctic might dilute the salty current and so either halt or weaken
the heat-bearing conveyor belt. This could result in a sudden, long-term drop
in the North Atlantic region's temperature, a climatic disruption that would
probably reverberate around the hemisphere by altering large-scale
atmospheric circulation.

 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN "END OF THE MILLENNIUM" SPECIAL ISSUE

 The December 1999 Scientific American "End of the Millennium" Special Issue
features essays on the future of science by CSICOP fellows John Maddox,
Steven Weinberg, and Jill Tarter.

 Go to http://www.sciam.com/1999/1299issue/1299quicksummary.html

 "What Science Will Know in 2050"

 Today's top scientific authorities speculate on the great questions that
further research will answer within the next five decades

 The Unexpected Science to Come
 Sir John Maddox
 The most important discoveries of the next 50 years are likely to be ones of
which we cannot now even conceive.

 A Unified Physics by 2050?
 Steven Weinberg
 Experiments should let particle physicists complete the Standard Model, but
a unified theory of all forces may require radically new ideas.

 Exploring Our Universe and Others
 Martin Rees
 In the 21st century cosmologists will unravel the mystery of our universe’s
birth--and perhaps prove the existence of other universes as well.

 Deciphering the Code of Life
 Francis S. Collins and Karin G. Jegalian
 With a complete catalogue of all the genes in hand, biologists will spend
the next decades answering the most intriguing questions about life.

 The End of Nature versus Nurture
 Frans B. M. de Waal
 Arguments about whether our behavior is shaped more by genetics or
environment ought to yield to a more enlightened view.

 The Human Impact on Climate
 Thomas R. Karl and Kevin E. Trenberth
 The magnitude of our species’ effect on climate could be clear by 2050, but
only if nations commit to long-term monitoring now.

 Can Human Aging Be Postponed?
 Michael R. Rose
 No single elixir or treatment will do the trick. Antiaging therapies of the
future will need to counter many destructive biochemical processes at once to
maintain youthfulness.

 How the Brain Creates the Mind
 Antonio R. Damasio
 The origin of the conscious mind might seem eternally mysterious, but a
better understanding of the brain’s workings should explain it.

 Is There Life Elsewhere in the Universe?
 Jill C. Tarter and Christopher F. Chyba
 Scientists’ search for life beyond Earth has been less thorough than is
commonly thought--but that is about to change.

 Rise of the Robots
 Hans Moravec
 By 2050 robotic “brains” based on computers that execute 100 trillion
instructions per second will rival human intelligence.

 NPR ON DOOMSDAY PREDICTIONS, MARS MISSION, SCIENCE FUNDING

 From NPR's Morning Edition, Wed. Dec. 8:

 Doomsday Predictions -- NPR's Barbara Bradley reports on some of the
millennial doomsday scenarios that are portrayed on television, in movies and
in popular music. The idea is that the world will undergo a cataclysmic event
at the turn of the millennium. (7:20)

 To listen to the segment on RealAudio go to
http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=12/08/1999&PrgID=3
 ----

 From NPR's Science Friday, Dec. 3:

 HOUR ONE: Mars Landing

 GUESTS:
 MARSHA PRESLEY
 Member of the Deep Space-2 Mars Microprobes Science Team
 Faculty Research Associate, Department of Geology
 Arizona State University
 Phoenix, Arizona

 JIM BELL
 Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy
 Cornell University
 Ithaca, New York

 RICK KASUDA
 Lockheed Martin Astronautics
 Denver, Colorado

 Right now, an intrepid explorer is nearing the end of a 470-million-mile
space odyssey. Mars Polar Lander is scheduled to arrive at the red planet on
Friday, after eleven long months of travel. Scientists hope it will answer
questions about the soil, weather, and water on Mars. In this hour, we'll
take a look at this latest Mars mission.

 HOUR TWO: Science Funding- A Conversation
 With Rita Colwell and Harold Varmus

 GUESTS:
 RITA COLWELL
 Director
 National Science Foundation
 Arlington, Virginia

 HAROLD VARMUS
 Director
 National Institutes of Health
 Bethesda, Maryland

 This year, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of
Health together will distribute close to $20 billion in research money. In
this hour, we'll talk with the heads of these two powerful scientific
institutions about their institutions' goals and the future of science
funding.

 To listen to the show on Real Audio go to:
 http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=12/03/1999&PrgID=5



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 SI Electronic Digest is the biweekly e-mail news update of the Committee for
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 CSICOP publishes the bimonthly SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, The Magazine for Science
and Reason.  The Nov/Dec. 1999 issue features articles on Carl Sagan, the
 Physics behind amazing feats, famous curses, and the Star of Bethlehem.

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