In the Media

 PRINT & ONLINE

Is the Arizona Cardinals’ Title Drought the Result of a Curse?” The New York Times, January 14, 2022.

download-1  “Tod durch Hypnose” (pd), Neue Zürcher Zeitung, May 2, 2021.

“‘Healing’ crystals are having a pandemic moment. But science says they’re just pretty stones.” Washington Post, April 1, 2021.

download  “Le hasard fait bien des chose” a review of “Pour Quoi Moi? Hasard Dans Tous Ses Éstats” Le Monde, January 15, 2021. [pdf]

New-York-Times-emblem.jpg “Do you believe in magic: I do. New York TimesJuly 1, 2018

icon.1500x1500.png “What Your Ability to Handle Horror Movies Says About You,” The Cut, June 14, 2018.

download.png “Immunity dog: the canine with magical powers protecting Twitter users from death,” New Statesman, August 31, 2017.

New-York-Times-emblem.jpg “Why I Wrote This Article on Malcolm Gladwell’s Keyboard,” New York Times, June 2, 2017.

associated_press_logo_2012-svg “Exorcising the Cubs’ curse and the psychology of baseball superstitions,” Associated Press, October 7, 2016.

imgres  “Why Americans are some of the world’s worst savers,” Marketwatch.com, April 14, 2016.

logo  “Want to get pregnant? Sit here.” Ozy.com, December 4, 2015.

yahoo-health-logo-e1422035820444 “America’s Top Superstitions — And Where They Come From” Yahoo! Health, October 21, 2015.

dribbble_vox_large  ”Charlie, Charlie, are you there?” Why teens are summoning demons, explained.” Vox, June 5, 2015.

imgres  “The Odd Superstition Behind Birthmarks” The Atlantic, April 8, 2015.

imgres-3 “Why that ‘Facebook copyright’ hoax will never, ever die” The Washington Post, January 6, 2015.

imgres “The Enduring Scariness of the Mad Scientist” The Atlantic, October 29, 2014.

imgres-1  “Why You Believe In Ghosts, Even Though You Know Better” Huffington Post, October 30, 2014.

logo_prweb  “Why are Americans Going Broke? A New GoBankingRates.com Investigation Dives into U.S Consumer Spending” PRWeb.com, June 26, 2013.

TELEVISION & VIDEO

p4i-qwxu “Are You Superstitious?” Chronicle, WCBV TV, Boston, October 7, 2016.

imgres-7  “Political Superstitions On Electoral DayHuffPost Live, November 6, 2012.

imgres-4  “Origins of Friday the 13th FearsCBS Sunday Morning, January 13, 2012.

newshour-logo-hires   “Americans” Reliance on Credit Leads Many Into DebtPBS NewsHour, August 18, 2008.

RADIO & PODCASTS

imgres   Triskaidekaphobia and Superstitions, The Show About Science, April 3, 2016.

imgres-6    “Friday The 13th: Are You Superstitious?The Joy Cardin Show, Wisconsin Public Radio, December 13, 2013.

imgres-5    “Science and Pseudoscience,” NPR”s Science Friday, August 29, 2003.

Recent Posts

Biden’s Superstition, Skeptical Inquirer, and Problems with Peer Review

It has been five months since I last posted here, which is an indication of how busy I have

been editing Skeptical Inquirer magazine. At this point, I have edited two issues of the magazine, the  March/April issue, which featured memorials to our late editor, Kendrick Frazier, and the May/June issue devoted to medical pseudoscience from all over the world. The July/August issue is underway now. It has been gratifying to work on the magazine, but I have decided not to put my hat in the ring to be the continuing editor. The search for a new editor is underway now.


On April 25th Joe Biden announced his re-election campaign—exactly four years after announcing his successful run for the 2020 nomination. That bit of superstition was the topic of an op-ed I wrote for the CNN Opinion page entitled “Biden picks a lucky day to launch his campaign. Is it OK that he’s superstitious?” Writing this piece gave me the opportunity to review the colorful history of presidential superstitions—some of which were worse than others.


Although I am busy editing Skeptical Inquirer, I have not entirely given up writing my Behavior & Belief column for the magazine. My most recent column was “Can We Trust Peer Review Journals?” I describe a number of problems associated with open-access journals. I also recount an embarrassing episode involving Frontiers journals, an open-access publisher that has been associated with a number of shoddy practices.


That’s all for now. Happy Spring!

SV

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