NotACon! + Skepticon 2026 tickets available
Tickets for the combined NotACon! and Skepticon 2026 are now available. For this year’s conference Australian Skeptics have partnered with The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe to bring you: Life, The Universe, and Everything! NotACon! + Skepticon’s 42nd conference! The combined event will be held at the Sydney Masonic Centre from July 22-25. NotACon! is […]
Woo Watch! ND = Not a Doctor
Kate Thomas is not impressed by non-doctors. Let’s look at the illusion of regulation and naturopath degrees. And when I say degrees, I’m using that word quite wrongly. Naturopaths use words like “qualified”, “trained”, “degree educated”, even “practitioner”. If you’ve ever wondered how someone with as little as a three-hour online certificate ends up giving […]
Propose a perpetrator of preposterous piffle
Nominations are now open for the 2026 Australian Skeptics Bent Spoon award, one of the least sought-after credits in the Skeptical world … or any world, for that matter. It has been awarded every year since 1982* and it recognises the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle. Luminaries who have […]
Woo Watch! What about wellness patches?
Kate Thomas is not stuck on miracle cures I came upon a product range and, among other things, they have an offering of the “Metabolise Patch”. The website says it supports energy production, fat metabolism and overall wellness. And it contains bladderwrack, 5-HTP, green coffee bean extract, L-carnitine, zinc citrate, zinc pyruvate, yerba mate, gaba […]
Woo Watch! Not Wild About Wild Yam Cream
You’ve probably seen it before, promising to balance your hormones, support menopause, or restore natural progesterone levels. The story goes that wild yams contain a compound called diosgenin, which supposedly helps your body make progesterone. Kate Thomas looks at the wild yam claims of 2025 Bend Spoon award winner, Barbara O’Neill. “Yes, well, we’ve got […]
Banned naturopath Barbara O’Neill wins 2025 Bent Spoon
Barbara O’Neill, the banned ‘naturopath’ – who has no medical qualifications at all – has won the Australian Skeptics’ Bent Spoon award for 2025. The Spoon is given annually to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of pseudoscientific or paranormal piffle. It has been given every year since 1982 and is one of the […]
2025 Bent Spoon – nominations now open
Propose a perpetrator of preposterous piffle Nominations are now open for the Australian Skeptics Bent Spoon award, one of the least sought-after credits in the Skeptical world … or any world, for that matter. It has been awarded every year since 1982* and it recognises the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or […]
Skepticon 2025 tickets available for October
Tickets are now available for Skepticon 2025, the 41st Australian Skeptics Annual National Convention. This is the twelfth Skeptics convention to be held in Melbourne. The event will be held at the Forum Theatre, University of Melbourne, over the weekend of 4-5 October. The venue is a few steps from the new Parkville underground train […]
Restoring Randi – historic Skeptic artefact resurrected
A key artefact of Australian Skeptics’ history, and an important moment in the scientific testing of paranormal claims, has been resurrected after 45 years. In 1980, Dick Smith brought magician James Randi to Australia for a test of water diviners. A TV documentary was made, titled James Randi in Australia, that was screened several times […]
Changes – EO to retire, Skeptic mag moves online
Tim Mendham, executive officer and editor of The Skeptic for Australian Skeptics Inc, has announced that he will retire, effective the end of June 2025. “After 16 years in the job (actually, it’s about 20 years if you count an earlier run in the 1980s), I’ve decided to put my feet up,” he said. He […]
