October 2025
NCAS Public Lecture Series
A Skeptic's Guide to Mythbusting AI
James E. Harris, Jr., CISSP
Jim Harris is a board member of NCAS. He graduated in 1994 from North Carolina State University with a BS in Physics. Since that time, he has worked as a hardware engineer for IBM and Silicon Image, a Special Agent for the FBI, a cybersecurity consultant, a tech startup executive, and a Distinguished Engineer and Model Risk Officer for Capital One Financial.
Teaser: https://www.youtube.com/live/cKKfu6RCx4o?si=i8Ja2o8Dj8vAWKFP&t=2484
1:30 pm, October 4, 2025Connie Morella Library7400 Arlington Road
Bethesda, MD [map] [directions]
(Bethesda Metro station)
FREE admission – Everyone welcome, members and non-memberslivestreamed: https://youtube.com/live/5CScIB7wiLY?feature=share
Bethesda, MD [map] [directions]
(Bethesda Metro station)
FREE admission – Everyone welcome, members and non-members
livestreamed: https://youtube.com/live/5CScIB7wiLY?feature=share
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Three Exciting Upcoming Events
1. Special Spooky Event for NCAS Members
Our friends at Rorschach Theatre have commissioned a séance-themed rock opera perfect for the Halloween season: "So Late Into The Night." In fact, it's more than just a séance -- it is a supernatural twist on the weekend when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein!
Rorschach is offering NCAS members a special 40% discount for the show on Sunday, October 12 at 3 PM. Instructions are available in an e-mail sent to members on Saturday, September 13 (Subject: Special spooky event for NCAS members).
2. "I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost" SkepTour 2025
The next NCAS SkepTour will take place on Wednesday, October 22 (rain date October 23) at 7 PM:
What is the origin of the "Demon Cat of DC?"
Where in Washington did Houdini hang upside-down, while escaping from a straitjacket?
Where was the skeleton of a prominent Bigfoot researcher–and his dog–on display?
The National Capital Area Skeptics will answer these questions and more on our (approximately) 2-hour stroll to a dozen or so spooky and sciencey spots in the heart of Washington, DC.
Tickets for the general public are $10, but NCAS members can get tickets for $5! Instructions are available in an e-mail sent to members on Saturday, September 13 (Subject: "I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost" SkepTour 2025 tickets on sale!).
NOTE: 17 TICKETS ARE REMAINING FOR THIS TOUR
What is the origin of the "Demon Cat of DC?"
Where in Washington did Houdini hang upside-down, while escaping from a straitjacket?
Where was the skeleton of a prominent Bigfoot researcher–and his dog–on display?
The National Capital Area Skeptics will answer these questions and more on our (approximately) 2-hour stroll to a dozen or so spooky and sciencey spots in the heart of Washington, DC.
Tickets for the general public are $10, but NCAS members can get tickets for $5! Instructions are available in an e-mail sent to members on Saturday, September 13 (Subject: "I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost" SkepTour 2025 tickets on sale!).
NOTE: 17 TICKETS ARE REMAINING FOR THIS TOUR
3. Save the Date: Saturday, November 15 at 8 PM at Capital Hilton, "Mesmerized: An Immersive Experiment in Science & Magic"
The field of experimental psychology arose during a time steeped in wonder and mystery. Spiritualism gained widespread influence, proposing that death was not an end but a transition. Mesmerists claimed to heal all ailments through the laying-on of hands. Early psychologists did not merely react to these remarkable phenomena—they incorporated them into their investigations of the human mind.
In this performance, cognitive scientist & magician Anthony Barnhart, alongside occult aficionado Joe Diamond, explore these mid-19th century curiosities through interactive experiments, psychological illusions, and compelling storytelling.
Ticket information will be provided in mid-October.
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Peter Hotez and Michael Mann at Politics and Prose
Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, and Michael Mann, PhD, Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, recently discussed their new book, Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World. The recorded livestream is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?
October Bay Area Skeptics Lecture
The [San Francisco] Bay Area Skeptics will host their next online event on Thursday, October 9 at 10:30 PM ET. New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer will discuss his new book, Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe, which examines how the nature of the aerobiome was discovered over the centuries, beginning with aerobiology pioneers who stretched the limits of science and were doubted for generations. Zimmer contextualizes the recent pandemic as part of a bigger, largely untold story and explores how the aerobiome is an essential part of a living world—a highway through the sky for many species—of which we become a part with every breath we take. This will be livestreamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Shadow Light
Some members and contacts of NCAS receive a postal notification of this and every new monthly Shadow of a Doubt. The Shadow Light postcard announces the monthly lecture and highlights of the electronic Shadow of a Doubt, which is available online at ncas.org/p/shadow.html. NCAS thereby reduces Shadow production and postage costs. To further reduce costs, members and contacts can opt out of postal notification altogether, while continuing to receive Shadow of a Doubt via e-mail. To opt out, send us an e-mail at ncas@ncas.org.
Time to Renew?
Be sure to check your renewal date above your postal address on the Shadow Light postcard. Send any queries to ncas@ncas.org. Use the online membership form to renew.
https://www.ncas.org/p/shadow.
Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, and Michael Mann, PhD, Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, recently discussed their new book, Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World. The recorded livestream is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?
October Bay Area Skeptics Lecture
The [San Francisco] Bay Area Skeptics will host their next online event on Thursday, October 9 at 10:30 PM ET. New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer will discuss his new book, Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe, which examines how the nature of the aerobiome was discovered over the centuries, beginning with aerobiology pioneers who stretched the limits of science and were doubted for generations. Zimmer contextualizes the recent pandemic as part of a bigger, largely untold story and explores how the aerobiome is an essential part of a living world—a highway through the sky for many species—of which we become a part with every breath we take. This will be livestreamed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Shadow Light
Some members and contacts of NCAS receive a postal notification of this and every new monthly Shadow of a Doubt. The Shadow Light postcard announces the monthly lecture and highlights of the electronic Shadow of a Doubt, which is available online at ncas.org/p/shadow.html. NCAS thereby reduces Shadow production and postage costs. To further reduce costs, members and contacts can opt out of postal notification altogether, while continuing to receive Shadow of a Doubt via e-mail. To opt out, send us an e-mail at ncas@ncas.org.
Time to Renew?
Be sure to check your renewal date above your postal address on the Shadow Light postcard. Send any queries to ncas@ncas.org. Use the online membership form to renew.
https://www.ncas.org/p/shadow.
For any assistance with this email list please contact ncas-email-manager@ncas.org . For assistance with other NCAS matters please contact ncas@ncas.org . Thank you.
