New Zealand a sceptical nation?
Readers of the NZ Skeptic may find this a bit hard to believe, but New Zealanders seem to be a fairly sceptical bunch overall (Sunday Star-Times, 11 September).
Victoria University psychologist Marc Wilson’s on-line survey on the paper’s website, based on 5690 usable entries, reports only 40 percent of respondents believed in God, with another 10 percent not sure, and 38 percent believing in or neutral about reincarnation. Levels of paranormal belief were very low by international standards.
Some of us are, however, prepared to entertain the weirdest of notions: 3.3 percent said they thought it was “likely” Elvis Presley had faked his own death.
Looking at the full survey results (accessible via the Sunday Star-Times website), more fascinating details can be gleaned. Almost 80 percent accept evolution, and more than 70 percent accept the Big Bang, but about 32 percent believe there are actual cases of witchcraft, and that some people can predict the future.
And you’d have to be concerned at the standard of science eduction when 64 percent say it’s likely the seasons are caused by the Earth’s elliptical orbit.
The survey itself deserves to be taken with a grain of salt, though. Respondents were far from a representative sample of the population, with more than a quarter of them living in Wellington, and more than half describing their work as professional/managerial. In fact there was a Skeptic Alert about the survey, so skeptics may well have been disproportionately represented.
But Wilson did include some detailed breakdowns of the figures. Women were more likely to express belief in all paranormal phenomena, and were much more positive about alternative medicine.
“They are, dare I say it, more feeling souls,” said New Idea clairvoyant Marlene Marshall in the Star- Times article. “Females are more in tune with their bodies and their feelings.”
Bigfoot fails DNA test
In an announcement that should surprise no- one, a University of Minnesota scientist has declared a DNA test of alleged Bigfoot tissue showed it was a mix of human and opossum material (Sydney Morning Herald, 16 August).
Curt Nelson emailed the results of his tests to Tom Biscardi, who hosts a weekly radio show on Bigfoot in Palo Alto, California. The results were revealed at a press conference which also featured Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, who claim they found a carcass of the legendary creature while hiking in northern Georgia. They shot to notoriety after releasing a photo which appears to show a gorilla suit with a pile of offal on it, crammed into a chest refrigerator. They are also co- owners of a company that offers Bigfoot merchandise.
Biscardi said the DNA samples may not have been taken correctly and may have been contaminated, and that he would proceed with an autopsy of the alleged Bigfoot remains, currently in a freezer at an undisclosed location.
Fuel savers a waste of money
Fuel- saving devices and additives are probably a waste of money, says the Automobile Association (Timaru Herald, 6 August).
AA technical advice manager Jack Biddle said an invitation by the AA in Australia for independent testing of devices and fuel- saving additives saw only one put forward and it did not save fuel.
When it came to spending money there wasn’t hard evidence showing fuel savings. He said the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States had tested more than 100 fuel- saving devices and none was shown to work.
Timaru mechanic Ash Palmersaid he was sceptical of what fuel additives could achieve. When his tyre was worn out he didn’t expect a spray to repair the worn section. When engine parts were worn it was likely they had to be repaired or replaced. He said no customers had ever raved about fuel savings from a product.
Creationist issues $11.7 trillion challenge
A Turkish creationist has offered a multitrillion-dollar challenge to scientists (NZ Herald, 30 September).
Adnan Oktar, who writes under the name Harun Yahya, is the most prominent Islamic creationist. ‘Yahya’ is in fact so prolific that some suspect other writers assist Oktar with his output.
Now Oktar has offered a “call to all evolutionists” promising 10 trillion Turkish lira – about NZ$11.7 trillion – to anyone who produces a single intermediate-form fossil demonstrating evolution.
The 52-year-old former architecture student claims there are no fossils to support Darwinist theories. “Not one [fossil] belongs to strange-looking creatures in the course of development of the kind supposed by evolutionists.”
Dr Kevin Padian at the University of California told the New York Times Oktar “does not have any sense of what we know about how things change through time. If he sees a fossil crab, he says, ‘It looks just like a regular crab, there’s no evolution.’ Extinction does not seem to bother him.”
Oktar found fame in 2006 when 10,000 copies of his Atlas Of Creation were distributed worldwide. The 800-page volume illustrated his claims that for millions of years life forms have not developed, supporting his Islamic creationist beliefs.
This month Oktar won a case in a Turkish court claiming that Richard Dawkins’ website contained blasphemous and defamatory content. Internet users in Turkey can no longer access the site.
LHC panic claims victim
Sensationalist reports that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could bring about the end of the world have led to a 16-year-old Indian girl committing suicide (BBC, 11 September).
Bihari Lal said his daughter Chaya drank insecticide after watching TV reports that the massive European particle accelerator would cause the Earth to crack up.
“We tried to divert her attention and told her she should not worry about such things, but to no avail,” he said.
Chaya was taken to hospital, where she told police before she died that she had been worried by the doomsday predictions.
“She said she could not bear to see the destruction of all that was dear to her and therefore thought it was better to end her life,” said Virendra Singh Yadav, the policeman who took her statement.
Many people throughout India were reported to have rushed to temples the day before the LHC was switched on, fearing the world’s end after watching media coverage.
Royal Society in creationism row
An Anglican clergyman who was the education spokesperson for the Royal Society has been stood down after saying teachers should be respectful to creationist students and be prepared to discuss creationism in science classes (Times On Line, 18 September). Columnist Tom Whipple says Professor Michael Reiss was taken out of context, and was the victim of a culture where all arguments must be expressible in a sentence, and all sentences able to stand on their own. Reiss’s speech is at www1.the-ba.net/bafos/press/showtalk2.asp?TalkID=301
In his Dominion Post World of Science column, Bob Brockie (29 September)ays those who think the cleric was unjustly sacked have a point. The biblical creation story provides a wonderful springboard for teachers to discuss the profound differences between fables, mythology and science, he writes.
The scientists I know think creationism is no more credible than tarot reading. The Earth created in seven days? Talking snakes? Magic apples? Virgin births? The ark marooning 120,000 species of mollusc 4000 metres up Mt Ararat?
The endless barrage of creationist propaganda streaming out of two TV channels and several radio stations and mailed to schools needs to be challenged, he says, adding that our own Royal Society should remind teachers that science progresses by confronting superstitious nonsense and demanding experimental evidence for any claim.
“Some kids and their parents will be offended, but we must balance that with other kids and parents equally offended by the claims of creationists.”
