Scientific skepticism

Questioning of claims lacking empirical evidence

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2025
Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries
The 11th edition of 'Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries' was published, demonstrating the book's ongoing relevance and continued updates in the field of archaeological skepticism.
2025 Jelani Cobb was named Humanist of the Year.
April 2025
RationalWiki
The RationalMedia Foundation was hit with multiple defamation lawsuits and announced potential dissolution due to lack of legal funding and absence of pro bono legal representation.
2024 The Satanic Temple partnered with the Secular Student Alliance to support After School Satan Clubs.
2024 Columnist Charles M. Blow was recognized by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
2024 Christchurch journalists Martin Van Beynen, Sinead Gill, Tatania Gibbs, and Philip Matthews received Bravo Award for team reporting on local cults and supporting the Decult conference
2024
Books about skepticism
John O'Connor published 'The Secret History of Bigfoot', exploring skepticism around cryptozoological claims
2024
Books about skepticism
Jonathan N. Stea released 'Mind the Science', addressing mental health and wellness industry skepticism
2024 Amy Goodman receives the Humanist of the Year award.
December 2024 Criticized King Charles for appointing a homeopathy-supporting doctor as head of the royal medical household, undermining evidence-based medicine.
December 29 2024 Jerry Coyne resigned from the FFRF honorary board, following earlier resignations by Steven Pinker and Richard Dawkins, leading to the dissolution of the honorary board.
December 27 2024 FFRF published a statement retracting Jerry Coyne's article and stating it did not reflect their values.
November 15 2024 Joint conference of NZ Skeptics and New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists (NZARH) held at the Fickling Convention Centre in Auckland, featuring a diverse range of speakers.
November 7 2024 Kat Grant published an article titled 'What is a woman' on Freethought Now!, sparking a controversy about gender definition.
July 2024 The Satanic Temple and the Freedom From Religion Foundation settled with Memphis-Shelby County Schools, recovering over $15,000 in improperly charged fees and securing equal access and treatment for the After School Satan Club.
June 2 2024 Continuation of the SkeptiCamp event, which included panel discussions and a screening of 'The UFO Movie THEY Don't Want You to See' by Brian Dunning, featuring speakers such as Dave Thomas, Susan Gerbic, Ben Radford, Adrienne Hill, Celestia Ward, Larry Barker, Frank Etscorn, and Kurly Tlapoyawa.
June 1 2024 New Mexicans for Science and Reason hosted their first SkeptiCamp, featuring multiple presenters discussing various skeptical topics including 9/11 conspiracy theories, spirit photography, Flat Earth, The Blue Whale Game, memory fallibility, Bigfoot, Roswell UFOs, facilitated communication, medical quackery, and pseudoarchaeology.
May 30 2024 20th European Skeptics Congress scheduled to take place in Lyon, France, organized by Association Française pour L'information Scientifique
2023 The Moline-Coal Valley Board of Education attempted to move the After School Satan Club off campus for the 2023–24 school year, while keeping the Good News Club on campus.
2023 Felinton, alongside other parents, students, and the FFRF, settled a lawsuit against the Cabell County Board of Education to ban teacher-run religious events during school hours.
2023 Comedian and writer Lizz Winstead was honored by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
2023 Facebook groups Debunking Conspiracies Aotearoa, Skeptical Kiwi, and YouTube channel New Zealand Conspiracy Loons received Bravo Award for identifying and calling out conspiracy theories in New Zealand
2023 NZ Skeptics awarded themselves the Bent Spoon Award for their lack of critical thinking regarding a 1995 award to the Ministry of Justice, publicly apologizing for their previous unjustified criticism.
2023 Michael E. Mann is named Humanist of the Year.
December 2023 Moises Esteves, executive director of Child Evangelism Fellowship, publicly commented on the After School Satan clubs, suggesting they often fail to sustain themselves.
November 2023 The Satanic Temple settled a lawsuit with the Saucon Valley School District in Pennsylvania after the district initially forbade the After School Satan Club from meeting on school grounds. A federal court had previously ordered the district to allow the club meetings and to pay $200,000 in attorney's fees.
November 24 2023 NZ Skeptics Conference held at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin, featuring speakers like Susan Gerbic and including a discussion with an acupuncturist about alternative medicine and skepticism.
February 2023 The Satanic Temple (TST) and the Virginia ACLU reached a legal agreement with Chesapeake Public Schools to permit an After School Satan Club at B.M. Williams Primary School, requiring equal treatment and mandating the refund of illegally imposed charges.
2022 Samuel Felinton, a high school junior at Huntington High School, was forced to attend a Christian revival assembly and was unable to leave.
2022 Author John Irving received recognition from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
2022 The Disinformation Project (Kate Hannah and Dr. Sanjana Hattotuwa), Byron Clark, and Marc Daalder received Bravo Award for documenting and combating misinformation, studying alt-right movements, and science-based reporting on diverse issues including COVID-19 and far-right nationalism
2022 No Humanist of the Year award is given.
December 6 2022 Joseph Richardson delivered a secular invocation on behalf of non-religious citizens at a Lake County, Florida commission meeting.
September 11 2022
European Skeptics Congress
The European Skeptics Congress concludes after three days of presentations by notable speakers including Massimo Pigliucci, Stephen Law, Franck Ramus, and others, covering topics such as conspiracy theories, science-based decision making, and skepticism in various fields.
September 9 2022
European Skeptics Congress
The 19th European Skeptics Congress (ESC 19) begins in Vienna, Austria at the Billrothhaus, featuring multiple sessions and panels on scientific skepticism, conspiracy theories, education, and science communication.
January 2022 After School Satan Clubs were relaunched, with the first club established in Moline, Illinois.
2021 Ann Druyan, science writer and producer, was recognized by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
2021 Published book 'Electrohypersensitivity The New Belief: How media and associations made the electrohypersensitives', an independently edited work exploring the topic of electrohypersensitivity.
2021 Denounced the OPECST recommendation (chaired by Cédric Villani) to study electromagnetic fields' effects on biology in the agricultural world, calling it a 'charlatan network' and a 'profitable business with political relays'.
2021
Books about skepticism
Julia Galef published 'The Scout Mindset', examining critical thinking and cognitive perspectives
2021 Honored as a Knight of the French Legion of Honour, a prestigious recognition of his distinguished work in historical scholarship.
2021 Richard Dawkins made a controversial tweet about gender identity and Rachel Dolezal, which sparked significant criticism.
2021 Anthony Fauci receives the Humanist of the Year award.
2021 Richard Dawkins' 1996 Humanist of the Year award is revoked.
2021 Junior Skeptic section ceased publication following the death of Skeptic magazine co-founder Pat Linse.
2020
Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin
Bryan Walsh & Larry Schwalbe published a paper analyzing the statistical heterogeneity of the Shroud data, proposing potential explanations for the variations in the original radiocarbon dating results.
2020 The website was updated, and the journal was discontinued, replaced by an emailed newsletter and a fortnightly podcast called the Yeah... Nah! podcast.
2020 Awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, highlighting his international scholarly recognition.

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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles NZ Skeptics, Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin, New Mexicans for Science and Reason, The Skeptics Society, After School Satan, European Council of Skeptical Organisations, RationalWiki, Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries, Lucian Boia, Sébastien Point, List of books about skepticism, European Skeptics Congress, Scientific skepticism, American Humanist Association, Freedom From Religion Foundation & Launceston Skeptics, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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