Peter M. Nardi

Various ways of assigning numbers to events, people, and actions is an ancient parlor game, but let’s not take it beyond that.

Full moons appeal to our imaginations and contribute to our mythologies, but ascribing too much power to them appears to be a continuing form of lunacy.

The placebo effect’s ability to influence human healing and human behavior is well documented, but we must be careful to make sure this fakery does no harm.

Professional skeptic D.J. Grothe explores the difference between skepticism and cynicism and describes how fooling some of the people some of the time is a bad idea all of the time.

Reparative or conversion therapy’s efforts to “pray away the gay” come a cropper when examined with a skeptical eye.

The idea that legions of psychics are helping police solve crimes around the world is based on, well, nothing.

When superfoods like blueberries, pomegranates, açai, green tea sound a little too amazing, it might be time to take a closer look.

Scams targeting the elderly are among the most common, but a little skepticism can keep their years golden.

A couple of prominent end-of-the-world predictions may or may not come to pass, but lots of people promoting them are betting your bottom dollar they won’t.

Conspiracy theorists have already emerged from the woodwork asking if bin Laden is really dead, or if he was dead already. Don’t be fooled.

While “figures lie and liars figure,” that’s no reason not to pay attention to some basic facts about common numerical comparisons.

Professional skeptic James Randi’s offer to pay a million dollars to the maker of any homeopathic remedy that actually works points out the logical fallacies in this branch of ‘medicine.’

Surely wrapping a hologram around my wrist in a neoprene band has got to allow me to maximize my greatest potential.

Every January we’re treated to a display of superstitious rites that lie forgotten the rest of the year.

Our resident skeptic takes a look at some of the mythologizing that has arisen around the West’s winter holidays, from poison plants to phantom Der Bingles.

Miller-McCune.com’s resident skeptic, just as you might expect of a Scorpio, will have no truck with horoscopes or astrology.

Mythology aside, not everyone who listened to that famous ‘War of the Worlds’ radio broadcast went bonkers.

There are a lot of shoddy polls out there. Some are frank about their shortcomings and some aren’t. Here are some ideas for getting an accurate picture of what a poll can tell you.

When the world turns its mean side to the public, rumors amplified in the Internet/cable news age often slip past our critical thinking skills.

Whether chain letters or Bernie Madoff, scams that rely on ever-greater numbers of gullible people eventually founder.

In honing your home logic skills, try reducing any argument to its basic premise at the extremes of its subject.

How you ask, what you ask and when you ask can all affect what you get in conducting polls.

As the globe catches World Cup fever, our Peter Nardi sees a little hidden scamming among the confetti.

The apparent connection between vaccines and autism didn’t reveal much about medical safety but did reveal lots about thinking.

Working magicians conjure up rationales — both beneficial and baneful — for why so few women perform magic.