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by Center for Inquiry
Skeptical Inquirer Audio Edition brings the insightful articles from Skeptical Inquirer magazine directly to your ears. Covering topics in science, skepticism, and critical thinking, each episode features narrated versions of our most thought-provoking content. Perfect for those on the go, SI Audio Edition allows you to stay informed and inspired wherever you are. Support our work and subscribe to the print magazine at skepticalinquirer.org Skeptical Inquirer Audio Edition is produced at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, NY.
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Brian Kerby reviews Limitless: Live Better Now. National Geographic Docuseries, 2025, arguing that the National Geographic docuseries is less a serious exploration of science than a celebrity's "midlife crisis" built around Chris Hemsworth's personal experiments with brain health, chronic pain, and risk-taking. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/08/one-mans-midlife-crisis-in-a-natgeo-docuseries/ About the Author: Brian Kerby is producer and host of the nationally syndicated public access show 502 Conversations. He has an MMus as well as an MEd in Science and the Public. Subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer: https://skepticalinquirer.org/subscribe/
Katie Suleta reviews Everyone Else Is Lying to You: How Our Medical Establishment Weaponized Doubt to Spread COVID, Normalize Quackery, and Undermine Public Health by Jonathan Howard. Redhawk Publications, 2025. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/08/sounding-the-alarm-about-medical-misinformation/ About the Author: Katie Suleta is a public health researcher and science writer. Suleta is known for her work in countering medical misinformation and pseudoscience within the wellness industry. Her research and writing often focus on health literacy, clinical research, and policy and regulation. She holds a doctorate of health sciences from George Washington University, an MS in health informatics from Boston University, and an MPH from DePaul University. Subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer: https://skepticalinquirer.org/subscribe/
Christopher B. Steiner traces the history of nineteenth-century "spirit photography," focusing on William H. Mumler's famous photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln with the supposed ghost of Abraham Lincoln. By having students recreate the image using an iPhone long-exposure app, Steiner demonstrates how photographic effects and digital technology can reproduce seemingly supernatural images, highlighting the continuity between Victorian photographic trickery and modern digital manipulation. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/08/the-ghost-in-the-iphone/ About the Author: Christopher B. Steiner is the Lucy C. McDannel '22 Professor of Art History and Anthropology at Connecticut College, where he teaches courses on the history of photography, the anthropology of secrecy, and the visual culture of the invisible. He is currently writing Hustling Pictures: An Economy of Photographs, a history of American vernacular photography told through the entrepreneurs, hustlers, and wheelers-and-dealers who transformed photographs into one of America's most successful consumer products. Subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer: https://skepticalinquirer.org/subscribe/
Andrea Love argues that direct-to-consumer "food sensitivity" tests are a lucrative form of pseudoscience that misrepresents IgG antibodies—markers of exposure and immune tolerance—as evidence of disease. She explains how these unvalidated tests can lead to unnecessary dietary restrictions, health anxiety, and delayed medical care, and argues that the broader lesson is how wellness marketing can strip legitimate science of its context to create and sell solutions to problems consumers don't actually have. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/08/selling-immune-tolerance-as-disease/ About the Author: Andrea Love, PhD, is an immunologist and microbiologist and works full-time in life sciences biotechnology. She is an award-winning science communicator and the founder of ImmunoLogic, a science education and consulting organization. Love is also the executive director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation and teaches CME courses for medical professionals. Find her on social at @dr.andrealove (YouTube/Meta) | @dr_andrealove (X/Twitter) or at www.immunologic.org. Subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer: https://skepticalinquirer.org/subscribe/
Melanie Trecek-King argues that the current panic over generative AI is largely a symptom of a much older media literacy crisis, not the root problem itself. She calls for replacing outdated tools like the CRAAP Test and blanket restrictions on information with stronger habits of lateral reading, calibrated skepticism, and understanding how algorithm-driven feeds blur the lines between reliable information, misinformation, advertising, and entertainment. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/08/our-ai-crisis-is-just-a-symptom-its-time-to-fix-the-root-cause/ About the Author: Melanie Trecek-King is an associate professor of biology at Massasoit Community College. Her website is www.ThinkingIsPower.com. Subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer: https://skepticalinquirer.org/subscribe/
Mick West argues that skeptics should help people distinguish between legitimate risks and unfounded worries without simply replacing one anxiety with another. Using examples ranging from UFO and alien-invasion fears to sharks and the supposed significance of 2027, he emphasizes that facts and statistics alone may not overcome emotionally driven fears, and concludes that practical skepticism should prioritize reassurance, understanding, and reducing worry rather than shaming people or redirecting them toward potentially more distressing concerns. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/08/why-worry-unwarranted-concerns-and-what-a-practical-skeptic-can-do/ About the Author: Mick West is a writer, investigator, and debunker who enjoys looking into the evidence behind conspiracy theories and strange phenomena and then explaining what is actually going on. He runs the Metabunk forum, tweets @mickwest, and is the author of the book "Escaping the Rabbit Hole". Subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer: https://skepticalinquirer.org/subscribe/
Carlos Orsi recaps LiliCon 2026 at California State University Fresno. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/08/critical-thinking-as-a-collective-endeavor-the-2026-lilicon/ About the Author: Carlos Orsi is a journalist and writer, the director of Instituto Questão de Ciência, and author of What Science Says about Astrology (Columbia University Press, 2026). Subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer: https://skepticalinquirer.org/subscribe/
Malorie Mackey and Michael Maldonado explain how the ideomotor response provides a neurological and psychological explanation for Ouija boards and other divination tools. They argue that our desire for control and our expectations can trigger tiny, unconscious movements—likely involving brain regions associated with anticipated actions and agency—that move planchettes, pendulums, and dowsing rods without conscious awareness, creating the compelling illusion of supernatural forces. Read this article and find accompanying references at: https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/08/the-science-behind-the-ouija-board-the-neuropsychological-basis-of-the-ideomotor-response/ About the Authors: Malorie Mackey is an investigative journalist who studies anthropology with a specialization in mythology, occult studies, and folklore. As a member of the Explorers Club, host of the show and podcast Weird World Adventures, and creator of MaloriesAdventures.com, she is always excited to investigate the unknown. Michael Maldonado, MD, is a physician subspecializing in neuroradiology with over sixteen years of experience in medicine. Regularly publishing in academic medical literature and presenting at multiple international medical conferences, he is no stranger to delving deeply into a topic and conveying a specialized knowledge to a wider audience. He is an expert in advanced neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Subscribe to Skeptical Inquirer: https://skepticalinquirer.org/subscribe/
Skeptical Inquirer Audio Edition brings the insightful articles from Skeptical Inquirer magazine directly to your ears. Covering topics in science, skepticism, and critical thinking, each episode features narrated versions of our most thought-provoking content. Perfect for those on the go, SI Audio Edition allows you to stay informed and inspired wherever you are. Support our work and subscribe to the print magazine at skepticalinquirer.org Skeptical Inquirer Audio Edition is produced at the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, NY.
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