Benjamin Radford
Center for Inquiry — Albuquerque, NM
Benjamin Radford is managing editor of the science magazine Skeptical Inquirer and editor of the Spanish-language magazine Pensar, published in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has written hundreds of articles on a wide variety of topics, including urban legends, the paranormal, critical thinking, film, and media literacy. He is author of three books: Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking (with sociologist Robert E. Bartholomew); Media Mythmakers: How Journalists, Activists, and Advertisers Mislead Us, examining the ways in which deception is used in various media to influence decision making and public policy; and Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World's Most Elusive Creatures (with Joe Nickell), a scientific examination of lake monsters around the world. Radford is also a columnist for Skeptical Inquirer magazine and the Skeptical Briefs newsletter, as well as the "Bad Science" columnist for LiveScience.com.
In his work with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Radford is one of the world's few science-based paranormal investigators, and has done first-hand research into mysterious phenomena including psychics, ghosts and haunted houses; exorcisms, miracles, Bigfoot, stigmata, lake monsters, UFO sightings, reincarnation, and crop circles, and many other topics. Radford also writes on many other topics, including world travel, science literacy, jungle hiking, sex offender panics, and popular fallacies. Radford has appeared on CNN, The History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the Learning Channel, CBC, BBC, and others. He also served as a consultant for the MTV series "The Big Urban Myth Show" and the CBS series "CSI: NY."
Watch part one of Ben's talk about psychic detectives:
