We are pleased to announce that Massimo Pigliucci will join the NYC Skeptics board of directors, effective immediately. Professor Pigliucci has been an advisor to NYC Skeptics since October of 2008 and is a fixture in the New York City skeptical scene. We are thrilled that he will continue his involvement with NYC Skeptics in a more active role as a member of the board.

Massimo Pigliucci is a Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York-Lehman College. His research is concerned with philosophy of science, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the relationship between science and religion.

He received a Doctorate in Genetics from the University of Ferrara in Italy, a PhD in Botany from the University of Connecticut, and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee. He has published over a hundred technical papers and several books. His most recent technical book is Making Sense of Evolution: Toward a Coherent Picture of Evolutionary Theory (co-authored by Jonathan Kaplan, University of Chicago Press). Prof. Pigliucci has been awarded the prestigious Dobzhansky Prize from the Society for the Study of Evolution. He has been elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science "for fundamental studies of genotype by environmental interactions and for public defense of evolutionary biology from pseudoscientific attack."

In the areas of outreach and critical thinking, Prof. Pigliucci has published in national magazines such as Skeptic, Skeptical Inquirer, Philosophy Now, The Philosopher’s Magazine, Secular Nation and American Atheist magazine. He has also been elected as a Consultant for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Pigliucci pens the "Rationally Speaking" blog, and has authored the popular science book Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism and the Nature of Science (Sinauer). His forthcoming book is Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell the Difference Between Science and Bunk (University of Chicago Press).

[editor's note: Last weekend, NYC Skeptics and the Connecticut Drinking Skeptically Meetup organized a joint field trip to the American Museum of Natural History. NYC Skeptics member Mitch Lampert sends us the following report of the day's events. Photos of the trip are available here.]

A Day at the Museum
By Mitchell Lampert

A fun and instructive time was had by all, last weekend, at the the American Museum of Natural History. Over 30 folks took advantage of the all-inclusive, group-discount tickets, in this field trip organized by the New York City Skeptics.

The day started with a guided your of the Climate Change exhibit. But, honestly, I think we could have done without the tour guide. She was a little dull, and occasionally got her facts wrong (such as the origin of oil in the middle east, and the safety of nuclear power plants). However, the exhibits themselves were right on the mark when communicating the problems associated with climate change, and what we can do about them.

Unfortunately, we did not stay as a solid group for very long after that. When it came time for lunch, we sort of splintered into several sub-groups. But, at least everyone seemed to be with friends.

The show at the Hayden Planetarium was Cosmic Collusions, (which I had already seen roughly two years ago). It demonstrates how collisions of celestial objects could be both a destructive and a constructive force: from rocks hitting a planet, all the way up to whole galaxies "dancing" in each others arms. It's a very good show, even if the projected resolution of stars is not as sharp as most other planetarium shows I have seen.

The new Extreme Mammals exhibit was cool. Just when you thought you knew everything about our biological class, they manage to raise your eyebrows with fascinating tidbits about the wide variety of features found among them. Since this was "DIY" and not guided, we got a lot more out of it, in both education and in fun discussions.

The Butterfly Conservatory is always fun to visit. If you are lucky enough, one them might just land on you!

Dinosaurs Alive, now playing in their IMAX theater, was quite interesting. We have all seen dinosaurs "come alive" using computer animation, before. What makes this show special is how they meld the animations with actual fossils.

The trip, for some of us, ended with a perusal of the various gift shops the museum has to offer. As far as I could tell, every item sold in there promoted genuine science, in one way or another.

Taking a trip to the AMNH is definitely something I would recommend we do again, perhaps once a year or so. (Though, that depends on trip planning management.) Perhaps next time we'll decline the tour guides and also develop plans for some sort of group activity after the museum visit.

The audio from Val Jones' recent Public Lecture "Taking The Science Out Of Medicine: Online Health Fiascos Revealed" is now available in streaming and downloadable format here

How and Why We Staged the Great UFO Hoax of 2009

When: Saturday July 18th @ 1:00PM

Where: New York Public Library, Jefferson Market Branch - 425 Avenue of the Americas @ 10th St. - Click here for map.

Admission is free and open to the public.

In January 2009 a series of strange lights appeared over the backwoods of Morris Plains, New Jersey. For days afterward, the town was abuzz over the mysterious lights, which would soon be dubbed the "Morristown UFO."

The mysterious lights continued to appear, and the story was soon picked up by the local papers, radio, television, and was eventually featured on the Fox News Channel and the History Channel show UFO Hunters. Time after time, UFO enthusiasts confidently stated that the lights could not have been faked...or could they?

Join NYC Skeptics as we learn how Chris Russo and Joe Rudy "set out on a mission to promote rational thinking" and ended up fooling UFO "experts," the media, and the world.

Click here to view a printable flyer for this event.

Join NYC Skeptics and the Connecticut Drinking Skeptically Meetup for a visit to the American Museum of Natural History!

When: Sunday May 17, 2009 from 11AM-5PM.

We have secured a special group rate, which includes museum admission and a full day of activities and events, including:

11:00 - Guided Tour of Climate Change
12:00 - Free time/Lunch
01:00 - Hayden Planetarium Space Show
01:30 - Extreme Animals
02:45 - Butterfly Conservatory
03:30 - IMAX Dinosaurs Alive

If you are interested in attending this event, please contact Margey at margeyhi@yahoo.com by May 2nd.

In order to secure the special group rate we will need to purchase the tickets two weeks in advance. Tickets will be mailed to Margey and distributed at the front door of the museum between 10and 10:30am.

The cost is $26.50* and payment may be made via the following:

• Join and pay through the CT Drinking Skeptically Meetup (joining is free and you can always remove yourself)
• Pay via Paypal to Margey at margeyhi@yahoo.com
• Send a check for $26.50 to Margey directly (please contact Margey for address information)

NOTE: Tickets must be paid for 2 weeks in advance.

*If payment is made online, there is a transaction fee of $1.10. If you would rather not pay the transaction fee you can contact Margey, who will give you the instructions for payingby check.

Museum Members:

AMNH members are welcome to join us, but will need to make separate reservations to the shows and events, as we will be attending as a group tour. Please contact Margey with any questions.

On April 19th, NYC Skeptics welcomed JREF President and Bad Astronomer Dr. Phil Plait at a special wine and hors d'oeuvres reception in Manhattan. Also in attendance were skeptical superstars Rebecca Watson, John Rennie, Sid Rodriguez, and George Hrab.

Ever the entertainer, George Hrab made his entrance in a particularly showstopping manner...by climbing onto the second-story balcony where the reception was taking place. (Be sure and check out George's version of the story on the latest Geologic Podcast.)

A great time was had by all. If you couldn't make this event, stay tuned...NYC Skeptics is planning similar events for the future!

Here are a few pics from the event:

Many thanks to Marit Simonsen for the pictures!

by Jake Dickerman

On March 21 the New York City Skeptics Public Lecture Series hosted journalist and author Nina Burleigh, who spoke to us about her new book, Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed, & Forgery in the Holy Land. Ms. Burleigh is an intelligent, energetic, and incredibly good-natured speaker (she even handled a few "rabble-rousing" members of the audience with aplomb).

The genesis of Ms. Burleigh's investigation into Biblical fraud and forgery was the infamous "James Ossuary" (an ancient Hebrew coffin, but just for the bones). In 2002 the ossuary, inscribed "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" was found in Israel, shipped off to the States, and touted as the first extra-biblical reference to Jesus Christ.

Ms. Burleigh's research led her to interview the key players involved in the ossuary saga: the archaeology collector, Shlomo Moussaieff; the seller of ancient wares, Oded Golan; and her Israeli "Hercule Poirot" Amir Ganor (ok, a Poirot that works for the government…maybe not so Poirot after all). The ossuary was eventually exposed as a fraud by examining the patina that had been cleverly applied to the box's cover, and through the syntax of the supposedly "ancient" Hebrew, which revealed that the letters were actually inscribed by a modern hand.

Ms. Burleigh's lecture highlighted how nationalism, religion, and greed can spoil a noble historical science like archeology, but also how solid scientific investigation and skeptical inquiry can expose the forgeries and bring the hoaxers to justice.

Unholy Business is on the shelves now. It's a great story, but it's even more fun when told by the author. Thank you, Nina!

The next NYC Skeptics Public Lecture will be Val Jones on May 9, 2009. The lecture will take place at 1:00PM at University Settlement (184 Eldridge St. at Rivington St. - click here for map.

Dr. Jones' talk is titled "Taking The Science Out Of Medicine: Online Health Fiascos Revealed"

She will discuss her personal experiences with consumer health websites, and deconstruct their "good intentions" from a scientific perspective. She will review specific online tools meant to "empower consumers" and follow their misguided algorithms to their illogical conclusions. Dr. Jones will then remind the audience of the most common biases that are introduced into data analyses (from the Hawthorne effect to the placebo effect), and argue for redoubled efforts in health literacy (especially online), and improved science training in medical schools.

Admission is free and open to the public.

NYC Skeptics has recently introduced a new membership structure. We have also added new thank you gifts for donating, including:

• A limited edition "James Randi: I Doubt That!" 11x17 art print (suitable for framing).
• An NYC Skeptics logo baseball cap.
• The first of (hopefully) many NYC Skeptics Public Lecture Series DVD's.

As an all-volunteer, community-based nonprofit, we are dependant upon the support of our donors. If you have not yet joined NYC Skeptics or renewed your membership for 2009, please do so today!

Julie at the Science of Running has a short summary of Carl Zimmer's recent NYC Skeptics Public Lecture.