November 6, 7:00 pm - The Latest Evidence for the Apollo Landings -cancelled due to illness

 YouTube Live Event for Q and A 

Marty McGuire
Amateur Astronomer ("Backyard Astronomy Guy")

Wednesday, November 6, 7pm US/Eastern (UTC-05:00)
NCASVideo YouTube Channel:

 

Due to the illness of our speaker, the talk that was scheduled for 7:00 pm tonight has been canceled.  We will let you know if and when we are able to reschedule.

A 2021 poll* of US adults asked, “In your opinion, how likely is it that the following [scenario is] true? The 1969 landing on the moon didn’t occur and was actually staged somewhere in Arizona.

The results showed that 27% answered with “not sure,” “probably true,” or “definitely true!”

This poll isn’t an outlier.  It’s consistent with another poll** taken that year, showing 29% with similar responses!

Especially concerning is that these beliefs are more prevalent among younger generations, those born after 1980.

We skeptics have seen this situation play out again and again--an evidence-based rational claim is rejected by a sizable portion of the public, which instead supports an apparently absurd alternative explanation for the evidence.  What can we do?

Our next speaker has stepped up to the challenge.  On his own initiative, Marty McGuire (the “Backyard Astronomy Guy” of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) examined the publicly available online science data compiled by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).  ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has surveyed the Moon’s surface from orbit for several years.  In April 2021, it flew especially close to the Apollo 11 and 12 landing sites, obtaining the best images of those historic sites since 1969.


Mr. McGuire will demonstrate how he was able to (as anyone who wants to have a look for themselves can) obtain the raw images from ISRO and process them.  He’s shared the instructions and images across social media for the benefit of any other “do it yourself” researchers.  He and NCAS President Scott Snell (an engineer for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) will discuss this and other evidence of the Apollo landings.

Mr. McGuire, a marketing director for a community bank by day, is also a “NASA Solar System Ambassador” volunteer, communicating the science and excitement of NASA's space exploration missions and discoveries with people in his community.  By night he is an amateur astronomer, known online as the “Backyard Astronomy Guy.”

* The Economist/YouGov Poll, “Belief in Conspiracy Theories,” https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/w2zmwpzsq0/econTabReport.pdf
** University of New Hampshire, Carsey School of Public Policy, “Conspiracy vs. Science: A Survey of U.S. Public Beliefs,” https://scholars.unh.edu/carsey/448/

 

In Search Of... Skepticism in Science Museums

 Presented by

Bruce Behrens, PhD

YouTube Live Event with Q and A 

Wednesday, August 21, 7pm US/Eastern (UTC-04:00)
NCASVideo YouTube Channel:


 

Are science museums skeptical? Science museums are great at presenting scientific facts, but what about the scientific method, critical thinking, and scientific skepticism? In this draft of my presentation for the Sunday Morning Papers session of CSICon Las Vegas 2024, I examine science museum exhibits in search of skeptical content.

After Dr. Behrens completes his short presentation, NCAS members will be invited by email to join the online Zoom meeting to ask questions and provide constructive feedback. 


Bruce Behrens
studied High Energy Physics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, receiving his Ph.D. in 1995. Following postdoctoral research at Cornell University, Dr. Behrens became a research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses, the US Navy's Federally Funded Research and Development Corporation, where he provides evidence-based advice to military leaders.  In 2023, he founded the Behrens Science Museum to teach critical thinking and the scientific method through exhibits about pseudoscience and the paranormal.


Shadow of a Doubt - May 2024

 

  • Lecture May 4 - The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories, presented by Prfessor Emerita Zelda Gilbert
  • Eldrich investigations and a discount for NCAS
  • May NCAS Lecture -Zelda Gilbert will present the "Psychology of Conspiracy Theories".
  • May Bay Area Skeptics LectureThe [San Francisco] Bay Area Skeptics will host their next online event on Thursday, May 9 at 10 PM ET.  William & Susan Trollinger, authors of Righting America at the Creation Museum (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016) will provide an update on the activities of the creationist organization "Answers in Genesis."
  • More videos from CSICon 2023 
  • NCAS Elections - Electronic voting
  • NCAS membership
  • Shadow Light
  • Time to Renew
See the complete May 2024 Shadow

The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories

Presented by Zelda Gilbert, Retired professor of psychology

May 4, 2024, 1:30pm

Central Library
Barbara M. Donnellan Auditorium
1015 North Quincy Street
Arlington, VA [map] [directions]
(Virginia Square-GMU Metro station)
FREE admission – Everyone welcome, members and non-members


 Also a YouTube Live Event with Q and A 

NCASVideo YouTube Channel:

https://youtu.be/Du5JWbvSAjc  (corrected URL)

Dr. Gilbert will discuss how the tools of modern psychology can be used to explore the prevalence, motivations, and content of historical and contemporary conspiracy theories. This will include conspiracy theories concerning such things as Lincoln’s assassination, chemtrails, the destruction of the battleship Maine, election fraud, and space lasers from orbit. Concepts such as existential, epistemic and socio-psychological motivations will be defined and applied to various theories, providing the audience with the tools to do their own analyses. Finally, audience members will be invited to create and evaluate their own conspiracy theories.


Zelda Gilbert is a retired professor of psychology with over 40 years experience in higher education. She currently lectures on  political psychology, conspiracy theories, and other topics, mostly for the continuing education Silver Frogs program at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. She completed a doctorate in counseling psychology at the University of Kentucky and studied political psychology at UCLA.