Joe Nickell’s final “Investigative Files” column critically examines the canonization of Carlo Acutis, a tech-savvy teen dubbed the first millennial saint. Nickell explores Acutis’s fascination with Eucharistic miracles and challenges the legitimacy of the “miraculous” healings attributed to him, arguing instead for rational, evidence-based explanations.

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://skepticalinquirer.org/2025/06/miracle-boy-the-first-millennial-saint/

About the Author:

Joe Nickell, PhD, was senior research fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and “Investigative Files” columnist for Skeptical Inquirer. A former stage magician, private investigator, and teacher, he authored numerous books, including Inquest on the Shroud of Turin (1983), Pen, Ink and Evidence (1990), Unsolved History (1992) and Adventures in Paranormal Investigation (2007). He has appeared in many television documentaries and has been profiled in The New Yorker and on NBC’s Today Show. His personal website is at joenickell.com.

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Skeptical Inquirer Audio Edition is a production of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the Center for Inquiry.

Foster and Miller travel to Summer 1979, volume 3 number 4 of Skeptical Inquirer in the latest edition of The Time Warp!

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://skepticalinquirer.org/2025/06/full-moon-full-wards-how-science-craters-that-lunar-link/

About the Authors:

Craig A. Foster is a CSI fellow and the director of research and evaluation at Northshore School District in Bothell, Washington.

Kate Miller is a certified healthcare simulation operations specialist (CHSOS) at SUNY Upstate Medical University and a graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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Skeptical Inquirer Audio Edition is a production of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the Center for Inquiry.

Talia Felix, a contributor to the Online Etymology Dictionary, explores the widespread misunderstanding of etymology—not just as a confusion with "entomology," but as a belief that words contain hidden, mystical truths. This outdated notion assumes language was divinely assigned and that etymology can unlock secret meanings, a view long discarded by modern linguistics.

Felix critiques the pseudolinguistic use of etymology by occultists and conspiracy theorists who claim words are "spells" designed to manipulate people. She debunks examples like the false idea that "week" and "weak" are related, showing that such claims ignore real historical language development and cross-linguistic differences.

Read this article and find accompanying references at:

https://skepticalinquirer.org/2025/06/pseudo-etymology-do-words-have-hidden-meanings/

About the Author:

Talia Felix is the assistant editor of the Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com).

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Skeptical Inquirer Audio Edition is a production of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the Center for Inquiry.