The next meeting of the Irish Skeptics Society will take place on Wednesday June 4th at 8.00pm in the Davenport Hotel, Merrion Sq., Dublin 2. We are delighted to host Evelyn Cusack of Met Eireann and RTE’s weather team. Evelyn will address a range of questions concerning the weather and will examine some of the myths surrounding weather forecasting as well as explaining the science. She has kindly sent us the following notes on her talk:

“How do we know what the weather was like hundreds of thousands of years ago?
Is there really Global warming? Are hurricanes really getting stronger? Is the Arctic ice really melting?

Whats the difference between rain and showers? Weather and climate?
Can fauna and flora forecast the weather?
Is the southeast really the sunniest part of Ireland?

This talk will try to answer these questions as well as give an overview of how scientific weather forecasts are made”.

Admission as always to defray costs is: Members €3 Non-members €6

Paul O’Donoghue.

The next meeting of the ISS will take place on Wednesday May 7th at 8.00pm in the Davenport Hotel, Merrion Square, Dublin 2. We have decided to alter the format from a formal lecture and to have a discussion on the above topic. This is an area we have not considered previously although it has been discussed by skeptics groups elsewhere.

The format of the evening will be as follows:

Dr. Gary O’Reilly, School of Psychology, University College Dublin will introduce the topic with an overview of the issues.

Dr. Donal O’Mathuna, a scientist, member of the Irish Skeptics society and a lecturer in the School of Nursing, Dublin City University will present a position paper from the perspective of a believer.

Ms. Ann James, Secretary of the Humanist Association of Ireland will present a position paper from the perspective of a non-believer.

Following the presentations Paul O’Donoghue of the ISS will chair a discussion with audience participation.

We look forward to a lively debate and a large turnout on the night.

Paul O’Donoghue.

As noted at our last meeting the British Psychological Society will host their annual conference in Dublin for the first time in early April. The usual April ISS lecture will not take place as we will be involved with the conference. Instead we will have a lecture in May followed by our usual June lecture. Details of speakers will be posted nearer the time.

Paul O’Donoghue.

Happy New Year to all! The next lecture in our series will take place in the Davenport Hotel, Merrion Square on Wednesday February 6th at 8.00pm. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Con O’Rourke to speak on the above topic. He has sent the following abstract and biographical details. We look forward to seeing many of you on the night.

The talk will cover the basics of plant nutrition and the scientific requirements for valid comparisons between organic and conventional foods. Nutrition and taste, the environment, biodiversity, pesticide residues, socio-economic issues, the hijacking of the term ‘organic’ in advertising, and how genetically-modified (GM) plants could benefit the organic sector will be discussed. The prospects of an ‘Organic island of Ireland’ and of a ‘GM-free Ireland’ will be evaluated.

Dr O’Rourke worked in Teagasc (Agriculture & Food Development Authority), first as a microbiologist and later in research planning and as editor of peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has been active in the science awareness and youth-science programmes of the Institute of Biology in Ireland, the Royal Dublin Society and the Royal Irish Academy. He organizes courses on the natural history of the Aran/Burren region for teachers, students and tourists, and wrote the book Nature Guide to the Aran Islands.

Paul O’Donoghue

On Wednesday next, December 5th at 8.00pm, we celebrate our fifth birthday with a thought provoking lecture by Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Professor Harry Kennedy who is attached to the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum and Trinity College Dublin. His topic is “The Criminal Mind”. Details of the venue and an abstract of the lecture are available on our events page.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our members and interested others for your continuous support over the last five years and we hope to retain your interest and involvement into the future. We also hope to see many of you at the lecture on Wednesday. To those who can’t make it, enjoy the festive season and we wish you all the very best for 2008.

Paul O’Donoghue.

The 13th ECSO congress held last weekend exceeded our expectations. We hosted more than 140 delegates from 13 countries. The quality of the presentations was excellent and the discussions, particularly in the working groups on Sunday morning, were stimulating and productive. I would like to thank all of our contributors for their hard work and great energy.

The social events were lively and most enjoyable and we had about 90 people at the congress dinner on Saturday night. Everything ran very smoothly and I would like to express our sincere thanks to all who helped out during the congress and in the time leading up to it. It was hard work, but well worth the outcome. We will publish a detailed report on the congress in the next issue of Skeptical Times and will also post a shorter report on this site in the near future.

Paul O’Donoghue.

Registration for the 13th ECSO congress has been brisk. If you have not yet registered and intend coming, please register now. We need this information as we want to have as much work as possible completed in advance of the opening. Registration is possible on the day but please avoid this if you can. Some places are still available for dinner but final numbers need to be with the hotel well in advance. If you want to avail of this opportunity to dine with like minded skeptics and to chat with our top notch speakers let us know now!

The congress programme is now available. Everything is in place for what should be a great weekend. We look forward to welcoming our many visitors from abroad and expect an enthusiastic Irish contingent to help make their stay in Dublin a memorable one.

Preparations for the 13th ECSO congress to be hosted by the Irish Skeptics Society are well under way and we are looking forward to a stimulating event from Friday Sept 7th to Sunday Sept 9th next.

The conference theme is “The assault on science: constructing a response” and we are delighted to have gathered together such an impressive lineup of national and international speakers. As well as presentations from ten invited speakers there will be a range of free papers that have been selected by the conference committee.

We were all deeply shocked and saddened by the recent sudden death of one of our keynote speakers, Barry Beyerstein. We are pleased however to announce that Barry’s wife Suzi and daughter Lindsay will attend the congress. Lindsay will present a paper on behalf of her Dad that will consider the distinctions between science and pseudoscience, a topic which greatly interested Barry and on which he intended to speak.

Dr Ben Goldacre, well known writer of the Bad Science column in the Guardian newspaper, is among the invited speakers and will receive the Robert P. Balles prize from the USA based Committee for Skeptical Inquiry at the congress.

Another invited speaker, Professor Vic Stenger, will present two papers. One will address the misrepresentation of quantum mechanics by alternative practitioners and “gurus” such as Deepak Chopra while the other will be based on his latest book “God: The Failed Hypothesis: how science shows that God does not exist” which was recently in the New York Times bestseller list.

Among the Irish presenters we are proud to have Professors John Crown and David McConnell and Dr Brian Hughes. They will consider challenges within medicine, genetics and health psychology respectively.

Professor Willem Betz from the University of Brussels will address the issue of CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) propaganda with particular reference to attempts to influence the European Parliament and the World Health Organisation.

This is but a small sample of what to expect and a detailed programme with titles and abstracts will be published shortly.

We want this to be a successful and invigorating congress and look forward to lively presentations and debate. We will host an opening reception on the Friday evening and the congress dinner on Saturday evening. This is a great opportunity to hear and to meet prominent scientists and skeptics from across Europe and further afield and we would urge you to register as soon as possible to contribute, through your presence, to what is sure to be a memorable occasion.

Paul O’Donoghue.

Barry Beyerstein (1947 – 2007)

My wife Noirin and I heard last night of the tragic death of Barry Beyerstein. Words cannot express our shock and distress at the news. We have had the great pleasure of meeting Barry and his wife Suzi at a number of skeptics conferences across Europe. They were a charming and deeply commited couple, full of fun and enthusiasm.

Barry was to present a paper at the ECSO congress in Dublin in September and we have been in regular e-mail contact lately. He and Suzi were due to arrive in Dublin a week or so prior to the congress and we had planned to spend some time together viewing the sites and enjoying the restaurants and pubs. He was very much looking forward to this visit.

Barry has written extensively on a wide range of topics. He was a staunch defender of the integrity of science and travelled the world promoting science and critical thinking. In Dublin he was to address the issue of science versus pseudoscience, a topic on which he has expressed strong and incisive views.

We have lost a great man at a tragically early age. He had so much more to contribute and we will miss his leadership and example.

On behalf of myself, Noirin and all the members of the Irish Skeptics Society I extend our deepest condolences and heartfelt sorrow to Suzi and the family and to their relatives and close friends who have been devastated by this awful event.

To view some of Barry’s writings go to www.csicop.org.

- Paul O’Donoghue