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Jan 10 - Ghosts, Elves, and the Man from Mars: Two Decades (Skeptically) Investigating the Paranormal by Jerry Drake

You can’t turn on your television today without seeing a group of “Ghost Adventurers” or someone “Finding Bigfoot,” but investigating the so-called “paranormal” is not just a passion for the credulous and uncritical.  In this talk Jerry Drake cracks open his casebook of investigations to illustrate that some of our greatest unsolved “mysteries” have a perfectly rational explanation.  You will learn the “tricks of the trade” to conducting a skeptical investigation of claims of the paranormal.  From the Aurora, Texas Martian, the Elves of Iceland, and the Bell Witch of Tennessee to the Loch Ness Monster, the Ghosts of Gettysburg, and the Screaming Woman of Niagara Falls, Jerry will take you on a globe-trotting tour of his first-hand exploration of these fascinating phenomena.

Shadow of a Doubt - December 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • Dec 13 NCAS Lecture: Threats to Validity: What You Should Know to Interpret Research Findings, Fran Featherston, Ph.D.
  • 2014 NCAS Philip J. Klass Award Presentation 
  • Torn From Today's Headlines By Scott Snell, The American University Hosts a UFO Panel of 4 Believers and 0 Skeptics
  • Amazon Smile
  • Shadow Light
  • Wed Dec 10 Drinking Skeptically in MD and VA!
  • Skeptic Line Number
  • Time to Renew?

Dec 13 - Threats to Validity: What You Should Know to Interpret Research Findings, Fran Featherston, Ph.D.

Fran Featherston, Ph.D.


Shadow of a Doubt - November 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • Nov 15 NCAS Lecture: Skeptical Journal Club: How to Read a Medical Study, John Cmar, MD
  • 2014 NCAS Philip J. Klass Award Presentation
  • December NCAS Lecture
  • Nov 12 American University Panel Discussion on Unidentified Flying Objects
  • Nov 19 Bill Nye at Lisner Auditorium 
  • Amazon Smile
  • Shadow Light
  • Nov 12 Drinking Skeptically in MD and VA!
  • Skeptic Line Number
  • Time to Renew?

Nov 15 - Skeptical Journal Club: How To Read A Medical Study John Cmar, MD

One of the most important aspects of being a healthy skeptic is knowing that just because a scientific study was done on a topic does not mean the study was done well, or that the conclusion the authors reach is supported by what they actually did. But when someone states that a particular study has major flaws or was well-done, what precisely does that mean?

Join us as we analyze two different journal articles in detail, focusing on the good, the bad, and the ugly of how studies are done and interpreted. Saturday, November 15, 2014

Shadow of a Doubt - October 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • Oct 11 NCAS Lecture: Not your Parents' Gospels: Historicity, Literary License, and the Crafting of the Gospels.  Natalie K. Houghtby-Haddon, PhD, Associate Director of The George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership, and an Associate Professor in the GW College of Professional Studies
  • 2014 NCAS Philip J. Klass Award Presentation
  • Amazon Smile
  • Shadow Light
  • Oct 8 Drinking Skeptically in MD and VA!
  • Skeptic Line Number
  • Time to Renew?

Oct 11 - Not Your Parents' Gospels: Historicity, Literary License, and the Crafting of the Gospels - Natalie K. Houghtby-Haddon, Ph.D.

In this talk we will explore how the Christian gospels came to be written, what their purpose might have been, and how ancient communities may have understood the "truth" of the gospels, in comparison to modern audiences. For example, how might the first followers of Jesus understood his role as “miracle-worker”? We will also consider how myth-making and social formation go together, as a way to create new or alternative communities of interest. ...

Shadow of a Doubt - September 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • Sep 13 NCAS Lecture: The Secrets of Alchemy: Rethinking the Scientific Revolution. Walter F. Rowe, PhD Professor, Department of Forensic Sciences, The George Washington University
  • October NCAS Lecture: Not your Parents' Gospels: Historicity, Literary License, and the Crafting of the Gospels.  Natalie K. Houghtby-Haddon, PhD, Associate Director of The George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership, and an Associate Professor in the GW College of Professional Studies
  • Amazon Smile
  • Shadow Light
  • Sep 10 Drinking Skeptically in MD and VA!
  • Skeptic Line Number
  • Time to Renew?

Sep 13 - The Secrets of Alchemy: Rethinking the Scientific Revolution - Walter F. Rowe, PhD, Department of Forensic Sciences, The George Washington University

Alchemy is commonly viewed as the quintessential pseudo-science. Historians of science have derided it as mystical science, a pathology of thought and the greatest hindrance to the development of chemistry. Its practitioners have been viewed as cranks and charlatans obsessed with finding the Philosopher’s Stone – that magic “something” that would transmute base metals into gold. However, since the 1970s scholars of the history of science have come to re-assess alchemy. ...

Jun 21 - NCAS Special Event: Maryland Premiere: "An Honest Liar"

Shadow of a Doubt - June 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • June 21 Special Event: "An Honest Liar"
    Maryland Premiere of documentary film about
    James "The Amazing" Randi
  • NCAS officers selected
  • Amazon Smile
  • Shadow Light
  • Jun 11 Drinking Skeptically in MD and VA!
  • Skeptic Line Number
  • Time to Renew?

Shadow of a Doubt - May 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • May 10 Special Event: NCAS SkepTour 2014, DC 
  • May 14 Drinking Skeptically in MD and VA!
  • Board of Directors Election Results
  • Amazon Smile
  • Torn From Today's Headlines: President Clinton Discusses UFOs, the Roswell Incident, and Area 51
  • Shadow Light
  • Skeptic Line Number
  • Time to Renew?

May 10 - NCAS SkepTour 2014 -- A Skeptic's Field Guide to the National Capital Area (Reservation Requested)

Shadow of a Doubt - April 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • April 5 NCAS Lecture: 
    The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory, Jesse Walker
  • May 10 NCAS SkepTour 2014: A Skeptic's Field Guide to the National Capital Area
  • Bad Astronomy Features NCAS Philip J. Klass Award 2013
  • March NCAS Lecturer Interviewed on MSNBC
  • AmazonSmile - Your purchases support NCAS at no extra cost
  • Torn From Today's Headlines, By Scott Snell, Ken Ham and "Ardent Creationist" Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
  • NCAS Board Elections 2014: Electronic Voting
  • Shadow Light
  • Drinking Skeptically in MD and VA! 
    Wed Apr 9 at 7:00 p.m.
  • New Skeptic Line Number
  • Time to Renew?

Apr 5 - Jesse Walker - The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory

Conspiracy theories aren't just a feature of the fringe. They've been a potent force across the political spectrum, at the center as well as the extremes, from the colonial era to the present. In The United States of Paranoia, Jesse Walker explores this rich history, arguing that conspiracy stories should be read not just as claims to be believed or debunked but as folklore. When a tale takes hold, it reveals something true about the anxieties and experiences of those who embrace it, even if the story says nothing true about the objects of the theory itself. In his talk, Walker will lay out five conspiracy narratives that keep recurring in American politics and popular culture.

Jesse Walker is an editor at Reason magazine and the author of Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and many other venues. He lives in Towson with his wife and two daughters.

Shadow of a Doubt - March 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • Mar 8 NCAS Lecture: Evaluating Alternative Sources of Energy:Solar Energy from Space, Paul Jaffe, PhD
  • Mar 8 NCAS Philip J. Klass Award Presentation 2013
  • Mar 12 Drinking Skeptically, now in MD and VA!
  • Apr 5 NCAS Lecture: Author Jesse Walker discusses his book, The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory.
  • NCAS YouTube Channel - new videos
  • New Martin Gardner Web Site
  • Torn From Today's Headlines: Looking for Travelers from the Future, by Scott Snell
  • NCAS Board Elections: Electronic Voting
  • Shadow Light
  • New Skeptic Line Number 
  • Time to Renew?

Mar 8 - Evaluating Alternative Sources of Energy: Solar Energy from Space, Paul Jaffe, Ph.D.

Concerns about global climate change have focused attention on a range of alternative energy sources that have minimal or greatly reduced carbon emissions when compared with conventional energy sources. Assessing how feasible and economically viable these alternative energy sources might be is important from a public policy standpoint in order to ensure taxpayer money is invested wisely.

For decades, proponents of Space Solar Power (SSP) have advocated for the development of satellites that would collect and transmit energy for use on Earth essentially 24 hours per day, all year round. This approach is billed as a way to overcome the shortcomings of terrestrial solar, wind, and other energy sources which suffer from intermittency, locale dependence, and other problems.

Feb 8 - Steven Salzberg, Ph.D. - Bad Medicine: How Alternative Medicine Has Infiltrated U.S. Medical Schools

The video of this talk is now on NCAS YouTube

Alternative medicine has become very popular over the past two decades, thanks to relentless promotion by the media, politicians, and a few highly visible celebrity doctors. Since the early 1990s, the NIH has spent over $2 billion studying complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), but has yet to show that any “alternative” treatment is effective. Part of this funding has been dedicated to establishing training programs in U.S. medical schools. Through these programs, doctors-to-be today learn about treatments based on acupuncture and homeopathy that are little more than magical thinking. In the middle of an intensive training program, most medical students do not have time and are not encouraged to question these practices. These same academic medical centers that host these training programs also offer CAM therapies to
unsuspecting patients.

This talk will review ...

Shadow of a Doubt - February 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • Feb 8 NCAS Lecture: Bad Medicine: How Alternative Medicine Has Infiltrated U.S. Medical Schools,  Steven Salzberg, Ph.D., Center for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University
  • Feb 12 Drinking Skeptically, now in MD and VA!
  • March NCAS Lecture: Evaluating Alternative Sources of Energy: Solar Energy from Space, Dr. Paul Jaffe of the US Naval Research Laboratory
  • NCAS Skeptical Crowdsourcing Project: Dowsing
  • NCAS Board Elections: Call for Candidates
  • Shadow Light
  • New Skeptic Line Number 

Shadow of a Doubt - January 2014

The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics
  • Jan 11 NCAS Lecture: Moses Schanfield, PhD,Where Did We All Come From?
    Tracing Human Migration Using Genetic Markers
  • Torn from today's headlines: UFO Activist Joins White House Staff as a Counselor to the President
  • Feb 8 NCAS Lecture: Professor Steven Salzberg,
    Bad Medicine: How Alternative Medicine has Infiltrated U.S. Medical Schools.
  • Jan 8 Drinking Skeptically - New Maryland Location

Jan 8 - Drinking Skeptically in MD & NoVA
New Maryland Location