Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea) are found in all of the world’s oceans except the Arctic. They spend the majority of their lives in the sea, but females return to shore to lay eggs. All seven surviving species of sea turtle are on the endangered species list. Like many marine animals, they are threatened by oil …
Category Archive: science/skepticism
May 18 2013
[#wiscfi liveblog] The History of Atheism, Feminism, and the Science of Brains
Now up: Jennifer Michael Hecht, a poet and author of three books about history. She has a PhD in the history of science from Columbia, and teaches at the New School and Columbia. 4:05: The first thing we can do to forward the goals that we have is to show up. To do what you’re …
May 17 2013
[#wiscfi liveblog] Faith-Based Pseudo-Science
It’s the first panel of WiS2!! The topic is faith-based pseudoscience and the panelists are Carrie Poppy, Sarah Moglia, Rebecca Watson, and (Surly) Amy Roth. The moderator is Desiree Schell. 2:05: Panelists are introducing themselves! Rebecca’s talking about Skepchick: “We also have Teen Skepchick, which is just like Skepchick except without the profanity.” Desiree: We’re …
May 05 2013
[blogathon] Does Anyone Deserve to be Stigmatized?
This is the third post in my SSA blogathon! Don’t forget to donate! Last quarter I took a psychology class called Social Stigma. Social stigma, to quote the great Wikipedia, is: the extreme disapproval of (or discontent with) a person on socially characteristic grounds that are perceived, and serve to distinguish them, from other members …
May 05 2013
[blogathon] Top Ten Reasons I Can’t Wait for Women in Secularism 2
This is the second post in my SSA blogathon! Don’t forget to donate! This post comes from a reader’s request. In less than two weeks, I’ll be off to Washington, DC for the second Women in Secularism conference, to which I get to go primarily thanks to the generosity of an FtB reader who gave …
May 04 2013
Criticizing Psychiatry Without Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater
So, I read this article in The Atlantic called “The Real Problems with Psychiatry” and…I’m torn. The article is an interview with this guy Gary Greenberg, a therapist who has previously written a book called Manufacturing Depression: The Secret History of a Modern Disease and has now followed that up with The Book of Woe: …
Apr 10 2013
SkepTech Impressions
This weekend I was at SkepTech, from which I’m just now recovering (very little sleep or good nutrition happened this weekend). I had a fantastic time. As a disclaimer, most of the SkepTech organizers are good friends of mine, so perhaps I’m biased to some extent in seeing the conference positively. In any case, I …
Apr 03 2013
Busting Myths About Feminism With SCIENCE!
Well, Monday’s April Fool’s joke left such a bad taste in my mouth that I was compelled to hurry up and write this post, which I’ve wanted to write for a while. Feminist activists are invariably compelled to respond to silly, derailing claims about feminists’ supposed appearance, personalities, sex lives, attitudes towards men. You know …
Mar 23 2013
Viewing History Skeptically: On Shifting Cultural Assumptions and Attitudes
I’ve been reading Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, Lillian Faderman’s sweeping social history of lesbians in 20th century America (this is the sort of thing I do for fun). At the beginning of the chapter on World War II, Faderman makes this insight: If there is one major point to be made in a social history …
Mar 18 2013
Come to Skeptech on April 5-7!
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m going to a new student conference in at the University of Minnesota this April. It’s called Skeptech and it’s being organized by Campus Atheists, Humanists, and Skeptics (CASH) at the U of M and the Secular Student Alliance at St. Cloud State University. The lineup of speakers is fantastic and …











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