Investigating the Impossible: A Skeptical Approach

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For over 20 years, psychologist Richard Wiseman has delved deep into the mysterious world of the paranormal, carrying out high profile, and often controversial, investigations into the impossible. In this talk, Wiseman describes some of his more colourful adventures, presenting a scientific look at a range of seemingly paranormal phenomenon, including fire-walking, ghostly encounters, and ESP. Discover whether such phenomena really exist, what the future holds for parapsychology, and why we are all attracted by the lure of strange stuff. Free packet of peanuts for the best question.

Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman started his working life as a professional magician and currently holds Britain's only Professorship in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He frequently appears on the media, and has written over 60 academic articles and several books, including The Luck Factor and Quirkology.

Richard Wiseman's web site is at www.richardwiseman.com

Is it Creative to Believe in the Paranormal?

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Madness and creativity are often considered together. This claim seems supported by personal reports and insight into the mental health of famous artists. Studies will be presented that link language processing in the two hemispheres to associative word processing, paranormal belief and creativity. The audience is invited to consider the idea that these links could explain the wide prevalence of paranormal beliefs in the general population.

Christine Mohr did her PhD on the “neuropsychology of magical belief” at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and has continued working in this field ever since. In 2004, she joined the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Bristol as a lecturer where she teaches Neuropsychiatry. With respect to paranormal belief, she mainly investigates and publishes on the neuropsychological correlates of these beliefs, and aims to understand why some individuals with such “bizarre” beliefs are considered by most as absolutely healthy (but spiritual), while in others it is considered pathological (psychotic). This is particularly relevant, because the dimensional, or rather quasi-dimensional view of psychosis would indicate that the healthy expression might have evolutionary advantages.

"45 Minutes From Attack!": WMD and other state-sponsored conspiracy theories

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In Don't Get Fooled Again, Richard Wilson argues that conspiracy theories aren't the exclusive preserve of dodgy men with blogs. Dodgy politicians often embrace them too – from South Africa's catastrophic dalliance with “AIDS denial”, to the UK government's theory that Saddam Hussein was secretly harbouring Weapons of Mass Destruction, and unfounded US claims about a covert alliance between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

Given the disasters – human and financial - that can result when politicians lose their grip on reality, conspiracy theories are arguably at their most dangerous when they take hold in government.

Richard Wilson studied philosophy at UCL. Don't Get Fooled Again is his second book. More information can be found at www.richardwilsonauthor.com

Bad News - What's Wrong with the Media.

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A veteran reporter blows the whistle on his own profession, exposing the scale and origin of falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the news.

Nick Davies has been named Journalist of the Year, Reporter of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year for his investigations into crime, drugs, poverty and other social issues. Hundreds of journalists have attended his masterclass in the techniques of investigative reporting. He writes regularly for The Guardian and also makes TV documentaries; he was formerly an on-screen reporter for World In Action. His four books include White Lies (about a racist miscarriage of justice in Texas) and Dark Heart (about poverty in Britain). He was the first winner of the Martha Gellhorn award for investigative reporting for his work on failing schools and recently won the award for European Journalism for his work on drugs policy. Flat Earth News, his investigation into the origins of falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media, was published in February 2008.

The Psychology of Alien Contact and Abduction

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Thousands of people around the world claim to have directly experienced contact with extraterrestrials and in many cases to have been abducted by aliens and taken on board spaceships and subjected to medical examination. How are we to explain such claims? With a few notable exceptions, those making such claims do not appear to be deliberately lying. Neither do they appear to be suffering from serious psychopathology. However, there are good reasons for doubting that such accounts are accurate reflections of events taking place in objective reality. A number of psychological factors have been implicated in attempts to explain such claims including sleep paralysis, personality factors such as fantasy proneness and possibly unusual activity in the temporal lobes of the brain. It seems likely that alien contact and abduction claims are examples of false memories.

Chris French is a Professor of Psychology and Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit in the Psychology Department at Goldsmiths College, University of London (www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/apru). Anomalistic psychology may be defined as the study of extraordinary phenomena of behaviour and experience, including (but not restricted to) those which are often labelled “paranormal”. It is directed towards understanding bizarre experiences that many people have without assuming a priori that there is anything paranormal involved. He has edited the (UK) Skeptic magazine since 2001. He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the British False Memory Society and the Advisory Board of the Center for Inquiry, London. He has published over 100 articles and chapters covering a wide range of topics within psychology. His main current area of research is the psychology of paranormal beliefs and anomalous experiences. In addition to academic activities, such as conference presentations and invited talks, he frequently appears on radio and television casting a sceptical eye over paranormal claims.

What Makes a Successful Alternative Medicine?

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Why is there such a thing as alternative medicine? Whether you believe in alternative medicine or not, its very existence needs some explaining. Why should there be a large body of therapies, where many people testify to their effectiveness, yet remain outside of mainstream practice? Andy will explore some of the reasons why alternative medicine exists, why it remains largely separate from mainstream medicine, and how we can spot the complete nonsense from potentially useful treatments, and importantly,what characteristics does a successful alternative therapy have?

Andy Lewis is the creator of the Quackometer, a web site that explores health beliefs, pseudo-science and the impact of alternative medicine in society. 

Science and Uncommon Sense II

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Kevin spoke at Skeptics in the Pub in May 2009 and gave an extremely interesting talk - but had more content than there was time for.  In Feb 2010 he completes the talk with more examples of unintuative science experiements.

Many ideas in science do not, and in some cases cannot make sense. The phrase 'counter-intuitive' has been coined to describe such concepts. Whilst some ideas no longer appear counter-intuitive with the emergence of new knowledge, others, such as quantum theory, fail to make any rational sense irrespective of years of progress aimed at understanding them. This presentation will aim to describe the counter-intuitive in thought, feeling and action with some interactive challenges and demonstrations. The implications for making rational sense of other aspects of life will be left for discussion.

Kevin Byron received his Ph.D in Physics from the University of Hull and spent many years in telecomms research. In 2001 he was awarded a NESTA fellowship for studies in creativity in science education. He is currently based at the University of Leicester, where he is involved in research skills training with postgraduates in the sciences.

Science in the Media

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After completing a PhD in particle physics, Simon Singh joined the BBC and worked as a director and producer on programmes such as Tomorrow’s World and Horizon. He has also presented programmes on Radio 4, BBC4 and Channel 4. He is best known as the author of Fermat’s Last Theorem, The Code Book and Big Bang.

Simon will speak on science reporting in the media.