Melbourne Skeptics

American nurses recently published an intriguing study with bizarre conclusions. They recruited almost 200 patients who were receiving chemotherapy for cancer. This is, of course, a difficult time for most cancer sufferers. There may be side-effects such as hair loss, nausea, fatigue, depression etc. All of these are bound to decrease patients’ wellbeing. So the nurses tested whether a session of reiki healing would improve the general wellbeing of their patients.

Reiki involves channelling “healing energy” into the body. Lots of people swear by it, but does it really work?

We covered the Sally Morgan incident on the Melbourne Skeptics blog a couple of weeks back, and there has since been a steady stream of press coverage in the British media about the allegation that Sally was receiving information from an offstage “helper” during a recent show.  Sally Morgan has publicly commented on the issue [...]

British psychic Sally Morgan has been accused of employing some not-so-psychic techniques when it comes to giving readings during her live tour. Irish newspaper, The Independent, reported today that several audience members at “Psychic Sally” Morgan’s Dublin show on September 11th claim to have overheard a male voice at the back of the auditorium prompting Sally as she gave her “readings”.

I received an e-mail earlier this week from Sid Rodrigues (from the UK’s Skeptic Magazine) recommending that the Melbourne Skeptics check out a comedian named Tom Binns, who will be performing at the 2011 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.  I hadn’t heard of Binns before, but a quick Google search led me to a video which [...]

Earlier this week a number of our Skeptics In The Pub attendees took part in an interview with Richard Saunders for The Skeptic Zone podcast.  Chris Higgins, Lucas Randall, Linley Kissick, Matthew Kippen, Ed Brown, Ilijas Milisic and Kieran Dennis all chatted to Richard for what became a feature segment of the February 4th episode. [...]

Last night saw the official launch of the Melbourne Skeptics at our very first Skeptics In The Pub event, and I think it’s safe to say it was an overwhelming success!! A crowd of around forty skeptics from all across Melbourne came together to drink, eat and be skeptical. So now it’s over to you [...]

Tomorrow night is the official kick off of the shiny new Melbourne Skeptics In The Pub event. We’ll be at the James Squire Brewhouse at Docklands from 6:30pm drinking and doing our best to be skeptical. Come on down and attempt to be skeptical with us. Details over at the Melbourne Skeptics In The Pub [...]

For the past twenty years, psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman has immersed himself in the weird world of supernatural science; testing telepaths, spending nights in haunted castles, and attempting to talk with the dead.

Astrologers in the UK have demanded an apology from the British Broadcasting Corporation after Professor Brian Cox and comedian Dara O’Briain stated on a recent television program that astrology is “rubbish”.

Hi, and thanks for visiting our website.  The Melbourne Skeptics is an exciting, new initiative aiming to promote critical thinking and skeptical activism in Melbourne, across Australia and around the globe.  We’ll be holding our official launch party on January 31st 2011 at James Squires Brewhouse in Docklands.  Check out the Skeptics In The Pub [...]