Experience the history of organized skepticism during a tour through the headquarters of the Center for Inquiry. CFI's Chief Investigator Kenny Biddle will tell tales of the most intriguing curiosities in the center, and CFI's Director of Libraries Tim Binga will guide you through the building discussing the history and architecture while taking you through CFI's extensive collection of books authored by – and even owned by – the world's greatest mystery solvers, skeptics, and freethinkers.

Presented by

Kenny Biddle

Timothy Binga

Experience the history of organized skepticism during a tour through the headquarters of the Center for Inquiry. CFI's Chief Investigator Kenny Biddle will tell tales of the most intriguing curiosities in the center, and CFI's Director of Libraries Tim Binga will guide you through the building discussing the history and architecture while taking you through CFI's extensive collection of books authored by – and even owned by – the world's greatest mystery solvers, skeptics, and freethinkers.

Presented by

Kenny Biddle

Timothy Binga

Join veteran investigators Jim Underdown and Benjamin Radford as they share their decades of experience in this split workshop focused on mysteries and superpowers! The world is full of mysteries, and with over half our population still holding onto various paranormal beliefs, we need all the tools we can get to investigate, test, and solve them. When it comes to claims of fearsome monsters, extraterrestrials, and haunted houses, where do you start? Benjamin Radford, author of Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries and deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine will go over the methods, tips, and tricks he uses to not only investigate paranormal claims but to solve the mysteries. But what about those individuals who claim to have superpowers beyond those of mortal people? That’s where Jim Underdown shines. He’ll go over the processes and detail-specific methods he and the CFI Investigations Group employ when designing properly controlled tests for the CFIIG $500,000 Paranormal Challenge, which happens to be the largest such prize in the world.

Presented by

Ben Radford

Jim Underdown

Click here to learn more!

Think you’re immune to bias? That’s exactly what a biased person would think! Join Bertha Vazquez and Melanie Trecek-King for a lively, eye-opening workshop on how tribal thinking hijacks our beliefs. Learn how to argue with yourself more productively and catch your inner caveman in the act. You’ll try out critical thinking tools for escaping your echo chamber, practice the fine art of being wrong (gracefully), and even learn how to outsmart your own brain. Bertha Vazquez is the Director of Education at the Center for Inquiry, and Melanie Trecek-King is the founder of Thinking Is Power.

Presented by

Melanie Trecek-King

Bertha Vazquez

Join Richard Wiseman and Raymond Hall as they undertake a journey into the fascinating world of magic and skepticism. In the first part, you will discover the key psychological principles that magicians use to astound their audiences and find out how to perform several mind-blowing miracles. In part two, you will be invited into the mysterious realm of scientific sorcery and learn physics-based stunts that can be used to both educate and entertain. Together we will take a deep dive into deception, psychology, science, skepticism, and the paranormal. This will be a hands-on and highly interactive session in which you will discover how to perform amazing card tricks, read minds, predict the future, transform a tea towel into a chicken, and much more.

Presented by

Raymond Edward Hall

Richard Wiseman

CSICon’s opening reception will include appetizers, a cash bar, and opening remarks from Stephen Hupp (CSI’s executive director), Robyn Blumner (CFI’s president and CEO), and Eddie Tabash (chair of CFI’s board).

Presented by

Robyn Blumner

Stephen Hupp

Eddie Tabash

Mary Roach has authored multiple best-selling nonfiction books, including Grunt, Stiff, and Fuzz. Her most recent best-seller – Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy – explores scientific advances (and ill-advised missteps) related to replacing body parts for medical reasons. She will be joined in conversation with Richard Wiseman, also a best-selling author for books such as 59 Seconds and The Luck Factor. They will discuss the intersection of science communication and skeptical inquiry.

Presented by

Mary Roach

Richard Wiseman

A half-century ago, a rising tide of pseudoscience and paranormal belief swept the Western world. In response, a small group of scholars, magicians, science writers, and others alarmed by the dearth of reaction from the scientific community banded together to found the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), now the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). This marked the beginning of the modern skeptical movement. While the Committee’s survival for fifty years is in itself a signal accomplishment and reason for celebration, one cannot fully appreciate the passion and urgency with which it was founded, nor comprehend the magnitude of its achievements, without first understanding the societal context in which it took form. James Alcock knows that context well; he was there.

Presented by

James Alcock

In 1987, the Bay Area Skeptics (BAS) conducted an exposé of faith healer W.V. Grant in San Francisco and Oakland. Eugenie Scott played a character named Victoria Patmore, who was there with her arthritic uncle, John, hoping to be healed of blindness. Victoria’s secret, of course, was that she was maybe a little nearsighted but was far from blind. Nonetheless, Grant employed a crowd-pleasing bit of theater to “cure” Victoria of her blindness. How did BAS pull off this exposé, and what were the repercussions? What lessons should skeptics take away from exposés of charlatans and scam artists?

Presented by

Eugenie Scott

Following the historical presentations by James Alcock and Eugenie Scott, these speakers will be joined on the stage by Barry Karr (the longtime executive director of the Committee for Skeptical Inquirer) and Ruth Frazier (the widow of Skeptical Inquirer’s longest-running editor, Kendrick Frazier). Together this panel will discuss fifty years of struggles and successes.

We all see it: an AI-driven scampocalypse is coming … and it looks an awful lot like we’re not prepared. In this session, Brian Brushwood and Perry Carpenter will briefly outline two important concepts to understand as part of a defensive arsenal: myth-direction, where scammers embed their payload inside familiar stories and worldviews, and wolfmasking, Brian’s deceptive roleplay technique that reveals the narrative tricks of fraudsters. With quick, surprising examples, they reveal how easily even careful, skeptical thinkers can be steered off course. You’ll leave with a sharper sense of how these tricks work—and a stronger instinct for resisting them.

Presented by

Brian Brushwood

Perry Carpenter 

From pandemics to the climate crisis, humanity faces tougher challenges than ever. Whether it’s the health of our people or the health of our planet, we know we are on an unsustainable path. But our efforts to effectively tackle these existential crises are now hampered by a common threat: politically and ideologically motivated opposition to science. Michael Mann discusses his collaboration with public health scientist Peter Hotez, examining the five forces—plutocrats, pros, petrostates, phonies, and the press—behind the modern-day anti-science movement, informed by their decades of experience on the frontlines of the battle to convey accurate, reliable, and trustworthy information about science in the face of determined and nihilistic opposition. Focusing in this first talk on the climate crisis, Mann will discuss how we can be empowered to promote scientific truths, shine light on channels of dark money, dismantle the corporations poisoning the planet, and ultimately avert disaster.

Presented by

Michael Mann

For a second talk on pandemic denialism, we have seen how antivaccine activism that first accelerated in the early 2000s finally erupted to cause widespread COVID-19 deaths in America. This was especially apparent in states, such as Texas, where the antivaccine movement combined with libertarian “health freedom” rhetoric. In all, at least 200,000 Americans needlessly perished because they refused COVID-19 vaccines during waves of the delta and BA.1 variants in 2021–2022. They became victims of a coordinated health and science disinformation campaign championed by the Murdoch media, their allied podcasters, and even some extremist members of the U.S. Congress. This went beyond protesting vaccine mandates; they falsely discredited the effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines and then targeted COVID-19 scientists to portray them as public enemies. Piling on was a wellness and influencer industry that pedaled anti-parasitic drugs (e.g., ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine) as viable alternatives even though they do nothing to prevent or treat COVID-19. This dark aspect of the wellness influencers now pervades the U.S. government’s current Make America Healthy Again agenda. Yet there’s still time to fix this and rescue our national biosecurity.

Presented by

Peter Hotez

The cohosts of The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe (SGU) podcast—Steven Novella, Jay Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Bob Novella and Evan Bernstein—will be joined by Geroge Hrab (host of the Geologic Podcast) for a live recording of the show. The SGU recently celebrated twenty years of podcasting and was featured on a recent cover of Skeptical Inquirer.

You may know Banachek from Project Alpha, when he teamed up with Michael Edwards and James Randi to deceive parapsychologists into believing he and Edwards had real paranormal abilities. Or perhaps you know Banachek from the last CSICon, where he performed his mentalism show called “Mind Games.” During the 2026 CSICon, attendees will be amazed by his other show called “Telepathy.” Banachek includes audience participation in his shows, so be ready to have your mind read (and blown).

Presented by

Banachek

A Skeptical Extravaganza of Special Significance is an interactive stage show from the award winning Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast. With musician and fellow podcaster George Hrab as your host, the team uses improv games, illusions, and playful challenges to reveal how easily perception and memory can be fooled. The audience takes part throughout, solving puzzles, joining experiments and trying to beat the SGU at trivia. Expect sharp improv, live music, and counterintuitive tests to see just how easily their brain can fool them. Suitable for curious minds and families with older kids. Typical runtime is about two hours. The cast includes the co-hosts of The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe podcast – Steven Novella, Jay Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Bob Novella and Evan Bernstein. Admission for this event is $99.

Wellness misinformation didn’t explode just through the actions of influencers and profiteers; it’s been helped by health and science professionals who have conflated neutrality for diplomacy. Neutrality isn’t neutral; it is permission to deceive. Minimizing health misinformation delays diagnoses, increases healthcare costs, legitimizes dangerous wellness ideology, and causes real and tangible harm. Sanitizing snake oil in the name of “balance” doesn’t educate the public; it emboldens the very people eroding science and public health for profit.

Presented by

Andrea Love

A quarter of the way through the twenty-first century, we’re in an age of unprecedented scientific progress. Yet as humanity bathes in a sea of scientific and technological abundance, we’re somehow drowning in pseudoscience. Nowhere is this paradox sharper than in the United States: a global leader in research and innovation that also tops the world in sales of dietary supplements, alternative therapies, spiritual “wellness,” and even tarot cards. What is it about American values that allow pseudoscience to thrive? Is there something in the nation’s cultural DNA that makes it uniquely susceptible to baseless claims? Join Rina Raphael and Nick Tiller as they pull back the curtain on the trillion-dollar wellness con and its implications for public health. Together, they’ll trace the roots of the American ideals that foster wishful thinking and examine how cultural diversity, political division, and religiosity shape health habits and policy. In the land of opportunity, has “irrational optimism” become a recipe for success or delusion?

Presented by

Rina Raphael

Nick Tiller

Researching the paranormal is often seen as a fringe activity. However, this pioneering work has changed the course of science, uncovered exciting insights into how we think, and been a catalyst for many famous experiments. Celebrate the impact of critical thinking and discover why skepticism matters.

Presented by

Richard Wiseman

Richard Saunders (Chief Investigator of the Australian Skeptics) will host Leo Igwe (from Advocacy for Alleged Witches organization in Africa), Alejandro Borgo (from CFI Argentina in South America), and Amardeo Sarma (CSI’s representative in Europe) to discuss organized skepticism from an international perspective.

Join this VIP luncheon featuring special guests Bill Nye, Michael Mann, and Peter Hotez. After the meal, CFI President and CEO Robyn Blumner will host a once-in-a-lifetime conversation with this panel of award-winning science communicators.

Presented by

Robyn Blumner

Peter Hotez

Michael Mann

Bill Nye

There are many varieties of skepticism, from the philosophical skepticism of David Hume and Paul Kurtz to the pop culture skepticism of Penn & Teller and South Park. But just as important is the investigative skepticism embodied by Harry Houdini, James Randi, Joe Nickell, and others. CFI Research Fellow Benjamin Radford will reflect on his own decades of in-the-trenches work in investigative skepticism.

Presented by

Ben Radford

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Western New York State—including the city of Buffalo—was the breeding ground for a surprising number of new religious movements, utopian communities, and superstitious ideas. The Fox sisters launched spiritualism in the Rochester area, but several other threads of the spiritualist movement stem from Western New York. Finally, long before the Center for Inquiry was founded, this area provided early examples of skeptical tests of paranormal beliefs. Stuart Vyse will take you on a tour of this fascinating burned-over district.

Presented by

Stuart Vyse

In this cinematic talk, Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy will be speaking on his two powerful and prescient documentaries, Food Evolution and Shot in the Arm, both of which foreshadowed what has become Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement. He will share clips, candid insights, and concrete tactics to counter misinformation and science denial with mankind’s greatest tool for solving difficult challenges: storytelling.

Presented by

Scott Hamilton Kennedy

Brian Brushwood will interview Banachek and Michael Edwards about their experience working with James Randi on Project Alpha. From 1979 to 1983, as teenagers, Banachek and Edwards convinced researchers at the McDonnell Laboratory for Psychical Research that they had paranormal abilities. The revelation that these untrained mentalists were using tricks to pull off the deception had important implications for parapsychological research and all the people involved. This conversation will serve as the latest chapter in the story as it's told in season 3 of Brushwood’s World’s Greatest Con podcast.

Presented by

Banachek

Brian Brushwood

Michael Edwards

Over dinner, drinks, and song, experience a celebration like never before for the fiftieth anniversary. Find out who will win our most coveted awards and behold the amazing talents of CSICon’s spectacular speakers. The evening will be filled with mystifying magic, skeptical comedy, celebratory music, and genuine appreciation for science communication. CFI West Executive Director Jim Underdown will host Leighann Lord, Richard Wiseman, George Hrab, Malorie Mackey, Daniel Reed, Peter Hotez, Michael Mann, and a few other surprise guests. Dress up like it’s 1976, 2026, or even 2076. The choice is yours! Dinner options will be chicken or vegan. Open Seating is $99; Preferred Seating is $199 and also extends to the subsequent presentation by Bill Nye.

Through the show Bill Nye the Science Guy, Nye has taught millions of children the value of science and critical thinking. His other shows—including The Eyes of Nye, Bill Nye Saves the World, and The End Is Nye—reached even more generations of emerging critical thinkers. From books, such as Everything All at Once, to his advocacy work, such as his role as the CEO of The Planetary Society, Nye’s enthusiasm for science always shines bright. The year 2025 was a big one for Bill Nye: in addition to guest editing a special issue of SI, Nye also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was even awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Experience the passion, beauty, and joy—or PB&J, as he calls it—of science with this one-of-a-kind champion of skeptical inquiry. He’ll be joined on stage by Stephen Hupp, the executive director of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and editor of Skeptical Inquirer.

Presented by

Stephen Hupp

Bill Nye

The schedule for the 2026 CSICon is almost full, but there’s still room for you to present. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry is delighted to announce our annual call for speakers and our new call for posters. Selected applicants will have the opportunity to present during the Sunday Speakers Session (June 14) or the Thursday Poster Session (June 11).

These sessions aim to recognize new voices and new ideas. If you have had success in communicating scientific skepticism, combating pseudoscience, or furthering the mission of CSI in a significant way, we encourage you to submit a proposal. Appropriate topics are those which support the mission of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and which reflect the type of material typically published in Skeptical Inquirer.

Susan Gerbic and Rob Palmer will moderate the Sunday Speakers Session

Click here to learn more!

Presented by

Susan Gerbic

Rob Palmer

Experience a special screening of the new documentary Heathens. In small-town America, where belief defines belonging, five former Protestants boldly come out of hiding – not for who they love, but for what they no longer believe. Facing estrangement, job loss, and retaliation, they risk everything for honesty. Drawing on groundbreaking research on religious trauma, Heathens reveals the hidden costs of leaving faith – and the contagious courage of those who refuse to stay silent. Richard Dawkins has called Heathens “A deeply moving, even shocking film.” After the screening, the film’s creators, David Cowan and Shawn Hardin, will participate in an enthralling Q&A session.

Presented by

David Cowan

Shawn Hardin

Comedian Justin Robert Young hosts a new event called Skeptical Inquirer Presents: The Fast Talkers, in which presenters will zip through lightning-fast presentations that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

1. Meagan Ankney: Monsters in the Machine: The Rise of Algorithm-Enhanced Folklore: Meagan Ankney, cohost of the Spooky Science Sisters podcast, reflects on the word folklore, which traditionally evokes thoughts of ancient tales told around campfires, passed down and reshaped across generations. But in the age of the internet, we’ve traded the campfire for comment sections, and we’ve fundamentally changed how new legends emerge and spread. This talk will explore the rise of digital folklore, from early creepypasta-era beings such as the Black-Eyed Children to newer phenomena such as the Not Deer and so-called “rules” for living in Appalachia. It will also examine the challenges skeptics face when these modern legends are mistaken for truth in online spaces, where rapidly shifting narratives and confirmation biases are fueled by powerful social-media algorithms.
2. Dan Wilson: Moving Forward in the Fight against the Anti-Vaccine Movement: The anti-vaccine movement has more power in America now than ever before. The scientific community needs to use every tool and opportunity available to push back. Over the past five years, Dan Wilson, host of the Debunk the Funk YouTube channel, has been in the trenches of vaccine misinformation online. He’ll share what he’s learned and his perspective on how we can do better in educating the public and debunking unscientific claims.
3. Malorie Mackey: Chasing Shadows: When Hope Blinds the Modern Explorer: Explorers venture into the unknown seeking discovery, but what happens when hope becomes our compass? Drawing from cases of collecting hard data and fieldwork in remote communities, this presentation examines how our desires—especially in emotionally charged scenarios such as species extinction or in delicate situations such as in dramatically different cultural settings—can subtly skew observations and corrupt data. Malorie Mackey will explore the delicate balance between maintaining scientific skepticism and respecting cultural knowledge, showing how the best exploration requires us to recognize when we’re chasing shadows instead of truth. Mackey recently coauthored a Skeptical Inquirer cover story about Wicked, in which she and her husband coauthor explored this delicate balance.
4. Katie Suleta: Skeptical Mentorship: Recruiting the Next Generation of Critical Thinkers: Every movement aspiring to sustain cultural influence and staying power must dedicate substantial resources to youth outreach and education. Amid a landscape marked by regressive leadership and policies in crucial areas such as science and health, the need for the skeptical community to proactively focus on cultivating and empowering young critical thinkers has never been more urgent. Skeptical mentorship is necessary and is a critical investment for safeguarding rational discourse in the future and training the next generation of critical thinkers. Katie Suleta recently appeared on the cover of Skeptical Inquirer (along with Bill Nye, Michael Mann, Peter Hotez, Bertha Vazquez, and Dan Wilson) to discuss disturbing attacks on science.

Presented by

Meagan Ankney

Malorie Mackey

Katie Suleta

Dan Wilson

Justin Robert Young

Experience breathtaking views of Niagara Falls from the deck of the Maid of the Mist as the boat ferries from the American side to the “basin of Horseshoe Falls — the dramatic passage leading you through the roiling waterfall whitewater and massive rock formations” (you don’t even need a passport). Test your knowledge of science-themed trivia during the 30-minute bus ride to (or from) the falls with Brian Dunning – host of the Skeptoid podcast and leader of the Skeptoid Adventures tours – and some spooky trivia with Kenny Biddle – CSI’s Chief Investigator of Paranormal Claims. Discover Houdini’s connection to Niagara Falls while you explore the roar! Which CSICON speakers will join the journey? There’s only one way to find out! Admission for this event is $125 and includes travel to and from Niagara Falls.

Presented by

Kenny Biddle

Brian Dunning