One of my favorite blogs is The Emoluments of Mars. It's the brainchild of "Expat," who has committed himself to the mind-numbing task of critiquing the conspiratorial pseudo-science behind ideas like the "face" on Mars, glass domes on the moon, and esoteric meanings...
pseudoscience
MUFON and Its Credibility Gap
Jack Brewer has posted the thoughts of those who have contributed to his request for opinion on whether MUFON should ban the parties associated with the Roswell Slides fiasco: The UFO Trail: UFO Community Members Weigh in on Dubious MUFON Speakers It's worth your time...
Scientists (Again) Saying Junk DNA Isn’t Junk
One of the claims of ancient astronaut theorists is that the "non-coding" DNA in the human genome is alien -- allegedly proving the intervention of extraterrestrials in human evolution in the ancient past. It's a wonderful non sequitur: "Some of this DNA doesn't...
The Science and Pseudo-Science of Extraterrestrial Communication
That's the gist of this interesting and informative episode of Exposing PseudoAstronomy. Here's the episode's abstract: Linguist, Dr. Karen Stollznow, discusses some of the communication problems on our own planet and how that translates to the huge potential...
H2 Serves the Public with More Ancient Astronaut Racism
All who have read The Portent, the sequel to my novel, The Facade, know that one of the research threads in the sequel is the inherently racist nature of ancient astronaut theory -- that is, it articulates the idea that the white European race (and even more narrowly...
Ancient Astrology as a Common Root for Science and Pseudo-Science
That's the title of this essay from the Electronic Journal of Folklore. The essay is from vol. 15 (published in 2000). It's also available in PDF. It's a good overview of ancient astronomy / astrology and gets into familiar concepts and themes that will be familiar to...
More Nephilim-Bigfoot-Mound Builder-Peruvian Cone-Heads Flim-Flam
This would all be discouraging were not Jason Colavito's lengthy reviews of this stuff so entertaining. Both of these essays were posted this month. Annotations are mine. Creationist "Bigfoot" Veterinarian Wants Cash to Sequence Nephilim "Giant" DNA Readers will...
Did the Times of India Just Endorse the Ancient Astronaut Theory?
Kind of . . . sort of . . . well, not really . . . maybe. Actually, it depends on what one wants to read into what's said and isn't. I can hardly wait for the ancient astronaut crowd to think this means something. They are truly desperate for validation. But let's be...
Ancient Aliens Researcher Calls the Show’s Content “Absurdity” and Her Job “Ridiculous”
No kidding. I encourage readers to read this post by Jason Colavito, which chronicles the admissions. If this is news to you, here's another news flash: pro wrestling outcomes are scripted. At least someone associated with the Ancient Aliens bunkum can be honest about...
Are UFOlogists Scientists?
That's the question Antonio Paris asked on the Aerial Phenomenon blog. Have a look - a nice graphic illustrating the difference between science and pseudoscience. Editor's note: added the image:
The Paracas Elongated Skulls: More Boneheaded Nephilim Claims
If you're interested in phony DNA research to prop up ancient alien hybrids and alleged nephilim skulls, you're in luck. Two recent posts came to my attention today. They're both long, but well worth the time. First, there's the essay by Frank Johnson at the Ancient...
The Starchild Skull and Its DNA Testing: No Proof of an Alien Hybrid
Frank Johnson of the Ancient Aliens Debunked (AAD) blog recently posted this lengthy essay concerning alleged DNA evidence that the Starchild Skull was that of a human-alien hybrid child: "A Bone to Pick with the Starchild Skull." It's well worth the read, and you...
Another Ancient Alien Fail: Moving 300 Ton Stones to Build China’s Forbidden City
The Live Science blog reported recently that Jiang Li, an engineer at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, has successfully translated an ancient Chinese document that reveals how stones in excess of 300 tons were moved over 70 miles without the wheel to...
Ancient Aliens Malpractice
Jason Colavito just posted a review of the Ancient Aliens episode "Alien Operations." As usual, the review is informed and insightful, while the episode was disturbingly dumb --another ode to incoherence. My favorite paragraph: Tsoukalos adopts Thomas Aquinas’s...
Has a UK Scientist Discovered Extraterrestrial Life?
The news of the recent experiment by Prof. Milton Wainwright of the University of Sheffield has been making news of late. In case you haven't read about it, here's a synopsis of the experiment (from the provided link) and why it has garnered interest: British...