Category: Press Releases
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NZ Skeptics put their Money where their Mouth is
From April 1st 2023 the NZ Skeptics, along with the NZ Association of Rationalists and Humanists, are offering a one hundred thousand dollar (NZ $100,000) prize as part of the NZ Skeptics Challenge – and this is definitely not an April Fool’s joke! Until recently the well known skeptic Stuart Landsborough, of Wanaka’s Puzzling World,…
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New study shows psychic predictions are useless
Skeptics study proves psychics fail … again and again and again. The results of the Great Australian Psychic Prediction Project, a 12-year study by Australian Skeptics, have revealed that so-called psychics’ predictions are correct only 11% of the time. And when something momentous or calamitous happens, they are unlikely to have foreseen it. In fact,…
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NZ Skeptics Announce their 2021 awards, and Dr Simon Thornley wins the Bent Spoon
Every year the New Zealand Skeptics presents its awards to people and organisations who have impressed us or dismayed us, and this year it’s been hard to pick our winners because there have been so many choices! The Bent Spoon Award is given to the organisation or individual which has shown the most egregious gullibility…
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Palm Reading claims – our response
We were asked today to comment on an article on Stuff about palm reading, and how seeing the letter M on your non-dominant hand is a sign of future success. Luckily, despite it being Christmas Eve, our new Media Spokesperson (and Secretary) Craig Shearer was able to put together a solid response on short notice! Here’s…
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Herman Petrick’s Ghost-busting Claims
The Taranaki Daily News published an article about Herman Petrick, who claims to be able to help people by removing harmful negative energy. The author of the article, Taryn Utiger, asked the NZ Skeptics to respond to five questions about Herman’s claims. Here are our responses in full: Is there any scientific proof that negative energy…
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NZ Skeptics announce 2015 Awards
The Pharmacy Council has been awarded the 2015 Bent Spoon Award from the NZ Skeptics for proposing a change to their Code of Ethics that would allow the sale of healthcare products that have not been shown to work. The Pharmacy Council is responsible under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act for setting standards of…