Projects
Current NCAS Projects
NCAS members wishing to participate should contact ncas@ncas.org.
- Middle school and high school science fairs
Each year during March and April NCAS members serve as adjunct judges at school science fairs in the national capital area. Science projects from middle school and high school students are judged as to their effectiveness in applying scientific principles and critical thinking to the problem they are studying. NCAS awards are in addition to those given by the school systems.
- NCAS Speakers
Bureau
If you represent an organization in the Washington DC area and would like a speaker for a meeting on a topic related to NCAS's goals, let us know at ncas@ncas.org. We have members who can speak on a variety of topics.
- NCAS Lecture Series
Each year since our founding in 1987, NCAS has presented usually nine monthly free public lectures on topics of skeptical interest (September through May). Check our Shadow of a Doubt archives for past topics.
Noteworthy Projects by Others
- University of
Maryland Honors 228a, "Science & Pseudoscience"
This course by Chip Denman, Assistant Director for Research Support
OIT-Policy & Planning, University of Maryland, College Park, lets students conduct hands-on investigations into what distinguishes scientific methodology from pseudoscience. Chip is a founding and continuing NCAS board member, and a past, long-time president of NCAS. - Darwin Day
February 12 each year is Darwin Day, the goals of which are:
1. To increase the number of people and places celebrating Darwin Day on or around Charles Darwin's birth date of February 12th.
2. To educate others about the life and work of Charles Darwin, the importance that the theory of evolution by natural selection has and continues to have upon our understanding, and the central role that science plays within civilization.
3. To champion science and critical inquiry within our global community and to promote and advance the public's understanding of the same.
Past NCAS Projects:
- 2005:
NCAS presented APRIL
ANTI-FOOLS (See April
2005 Shadow of a Doubt)
A day-long seminar with:
Jamy Ian Swiss, magician: "The Honest Liar";
Todd Robbins, sideshow historian and performer;
James Taylor, sideshow historian/curator;
Brian Morton, Baltimore City Paper columnist and magician;
Dr. Eileen Abels, University of MD, Information Studies
And an evening of prestidigitation, mentalism and skepticism by
Jamy Ian Swiss
- 2002:
Skepticism 2002:
Beyond the Basics, special guest James Randi.
See March 2002 Shadow of a Doubt.
- 2001:
Understanding Belief: How We Know What Isn't So, a 2-day
Workshop
See May 2001 Shadow of a Doubt.
- 2001: NCAS Board Member Jim Giglio and five other NCAS members scanned, proofed and created web pages to put the 1887 "Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania to Investigate Modern Spiritualism" on the NCAS.org web site. See the NCAS Library.
- 2001: NCAS presented Jamy Ian Swiss, the Honest Liar, an evening of prestidigitation, mentalism and skepticism. See Skeptical Eye Vol 13-1.
- 2001: NCAS Board Member Jim Giglio and two others scanned, proofed and created web pages to put Paul E. McCarthy's "Politicking and Paradigm Shifting: James E. McDonald and the UFO Case Study" (December 1975) on the NCAS.org web site. See the NCAS Library.
- 2000-2001: NCAS Board Member Jim Giglio and six NCAS members scanned, proofed and created web pages to put the proceedings of the July 29, 1968 "Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects: Hearings Before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives" on the NCAS.org web site. See the NCAS Library.
- 2000: NCAS Board Member Jim Giglio and Mary Pastel scanned, proofed and created web pages to put the National Bureau of Standards 1986 "Report of Tests on Joseph Newman's Device" on the NCAS.org web site. See the NCAS Library.
- 1999: Ghostbusting 101, day-long workshop. See Oct 1999 Shadow of a Doubt and Skeptical Eye vol 11-4 and Skeptical Eye vol 12-1 and Skeptical Eye vol 12-2.
- 1999: Millennium Madness, two-day workshop. See May 1999 Shadow of a Doubt and Skeptical Eye vol 11-3.
- 1999: NCAS Board Member Jim Giglio lead a team of six NCAS members, who scanned, proofed and created web pages to put the "Cold Fusion Research: Report of the Energy Research Advisory Board to to the United States Department of Energy (Nov 1989)" on the NCAS.org web site. See the NCAS Library.
- 1998-1999:
NCAS Board Member Jim
Giglio obtained copyright permission from the
University of Colorado and lead a team of 10
NCAS
members, who worked for several months to scan and proof the
text of the 1465-page
"Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects", and created web pages to put it on the NCAS.org web site. Also known as "The Condon Report", it remains the largest (and arguably the only) truly scientific examination of the UFO issue ever conducted. This landmark reference, of value to all who are interested in UFO claims, had long been out of print and difficult to find. See the NCAS Library.
- 1994-1996: NCAS operated an electronic bulletin board for NCAS members and the public.
- 1990: NCAS hosted the CSICOP national conference, Critical Thinking and Scientific Literacy in Arlington, VA. See Skeptical Eye vol 4-1 and Skeptical Eye vol 4-2.
- 1989: Penn & Teller held a special after show dialog with NCAS members at the National Theater. See Skeptical Eye vol 3-3.
- 1989: NCAS presented Jamy Ian Swiss, An Evening with an Honest Liar. See Skeptical Eye vol 3-2.
- 1988: NCAS hosted a forum of leading experts on medical quackery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Services. See Skeptical Eye vol 2-4.
- 1987: In the Halloween season, NCAS produced and performed Séance: Or Things that Go Bump in the Night, an original theatrical séance created and performed by Jamy Ian Swiss and Chip Denman. The show ran for 12 performances at the Silver Spring, MD Armory. See Skeptical Eye vol 2-1
- 1987: NCAS hosted a public debate between internationally recognized Skeptic and Aeronautics Journalist Phil Klass and UFOlogist Bruce Maccabee, moderated by James Sharp, Director of the Albert Einstein Planetarium. See Skeptical Eye vol 1.1
- 1987: NCAS was founded in March, 1987. See Skeptical Eye vol 1-1.