"Challenging Pseudoscience for Fifty Years" Cause & Effect No. 292: May 7, 2026
Cause & Effect is the biweekly newsletter of the Center for Inquiry community, covering a wide range of work that you help make possible. Become a member today!
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Celebrating CSI’s Landmark 50th Anniversary
On Friday, May 1, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) marked the fiftieth anniversary of the organization’s formal creation. CSI’s landmark anniversary coincides with the arrival of the May/June 2026 issue of Skeptical Inquirer, which celebrates the momentous occasion with a group of essays that highlight how CSI has been “Challenging Pseudoscience for Fifty Years.”
Our anniversary celebration culminates in just a few weeks at CSICon 2026 (June 11–14 in Buffalo, New York). -
CSI has announced that bestselling author Mary Roach will receive the Public Education in Science Award at the conference, while Bill Nye will become just the third person in CSI history to receive the Isaac Asimov Award. Read the full announcement here.
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CFI’s hometown newspaper, the Amherst Bee, published a feature to mark the day locally.
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Updates from the Office of Public Policy (OPP)
As many states begin wrapping up their legislative sessions, CFI’s Office of Public Policy (OPP) continues to actively lobby against bills that would undermine secular values and science-based public health policy. -
In Tennessee, CFI submitted testimony opposing HB 47, which authorized the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools. Lawmakers ultimately passed a “scaled back” version of the bill, removing the mandate and leaving it up to individual schools.
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Two Arizona measures CFI called on residents to oppose—HCR 2056 (which would have banned public schools and all other governmental entities from requiring vaccinations) and HB 2110 (which would have allowed prayer during public school board meetings)—failed to pass before the legislative session ended last month.
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LAST CALL: Monday, May 11 Is the Deadline for ScienceSaves’s $10,000 Video Scholarship Contest
High school seniors who are continuing their education this fall only have a few days left to enter ScienceSaves’s 2026 Video Scholarship Contest. The top prize is $10,000, with additional cash awards for other top finishers, and the deadline has been extended to May 11, 2026. Look for your chance to vote for our 2026 People’s Choice Award winner beginning next week!
- Students must submit a twenty- to thirty-second video that answers: How has science helped you or someone you love?
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Students can use CFI Director of Education Bertha Vazquez’s video outlining some helpful do’s and don’ts as a guide.
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| Susan Gerbic’s “Operation Gobble Gotcha” |
Susan Gerbic recaps “Operation Gobble Gotcha,” a 2025 psychic sting operation that brought her back into contact with “America’s Top Medium,” Matt Fraser. Gerbic also laments that her call for Fraser—or any medium—to help with the infamous Nancy Guthrie case appears to have fallen on deaf ears. |
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New “Anticipating CSICon” interviews with Richard Saunders and Andrea Love |
“The Well-Known Skeptic” Rob Palmer has two new “Anticipating CSICon” interviews. Palmer interviewed Richard Saunders, who will lead the special International Panel at CSICon 2026, and biomedical scientist Andrea Love about “Sanitizing Snake Oil Harms Public Health.” |
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| More Facilitated Communication Pseudoscience |
Skeptical Inquirer columnist Stuart Vyse examines the new novel Upward Bound, purportedly written by Woody Brown, a twenty-eight-year-old man with severe autism. Vyse questions the New York Times credulous reporting on the book and the pseudoscience behind the story—criticism echoed in a damning opinion piece later published in the same paper.
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The Greatest Story Seldom Told: The History of Freethought and Skepticism Gallery |
Don’t miss your chance to help us bring to life the new History of Freethought and Skepticism Gallery, set to open this summer at CFI’s headquarters in Amherst, New York. Those interested in becoming a Friend of the Gallery or joining the Founders Circle, with recognition on the Periodic Table of Donors inside the Gallery, are invited to contact Development Director Debbie Allen directly. |
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In a new essay at UnHerd, Richard Dawkins explores some of the questions around AI and consciousness and whether we’ve finally created programs that pass the Turing Test. READ NOW |
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CSI Fellow (and CSICon 2026 presenter) Melanie Trecek-King spoke with Scott Douglas Jacobsen of The Good Men Project about why she wrote her new book, A Field Guide to Spotting Misinformation. READ NOW |
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CSI Fellow Mick West is cited in a recent Talking Points Memo piece, which examines the conspiracy theories surrounding the string of American scientists who have either been reported missing or died. READ NOW |
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ICYMI: The latest episode of SkeptiLab: The Bunk Stops Here! featured excerpts from a discussion with journalist Tom Nichols of The Atlantic. You can watch the full interview with Nichols, who discusses his book The Death of Expertise. WATCH NOW
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Want to connect with fellow skeptics, freethinkers, and nonbelievers? Check out our Find a Group Map to find CFI-affiliated groups in your area! CFI Transnational CFI West (Los Angeles) -
May 17: Gaslighting for God with religious satirist and storyteller Becky Garrison, author of the upcoming book Gaslighting for God: A Satirical Guide to Save Yourself from Spiritual Narcissists
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May 20: Skeptics Book Club: Some Mistakes of Moses by Robert G. Ingersoll. Virtual attendees, join us on Google Meet. Use this link: https://meet.google.com/sqd-ujpn-nhf.
CFI Austin CFI Indiana CFI New York City CFI Portland CFI Western New York |
Thank you!
Everything we do at CFI is made possible by you and your support. Let’s keep working together for science, reason, and secular values! |
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