Daniel Loxton

Loxton credits Barry Beyerstein for his interest in skepticism. In several interviews Loxton talks about attending a science fiction conference in British Columbia in 1991 and hearing Beyerstein speak on behalf of the BC Skeptics. "He calmly and kindly fielded questions from the audience—and I was shocked by almost everything he said. This wasn’t the usual fluff: this guy really knew what he was talking about, in a way that I had never encountered before. Even his 'I don’t know's were substantial in a way that I wasn’t used to hearing."{{cite web|url=http://www.geekmom.com/tag/barry-beyerstein/ |title=Interview With Daniel Loxton of Junior Skeptic Magazine |publisher=University of Phoenix - Geek Mom |date=September 1, 2011 |access-date=2011-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313023914/http://geekmom.com/2011/09/interview-with-daniel-loxton-of-junior-skeptic-magazine/ |archive-date=2016-03-13 }}{{cite web|url=http://meettheskeptics.libsyn.com/mts-meet-daniel-loxton|title=MTS: Meet Daniel Loxton|publisher=Christopher Brown|date=March 16, 2011|access-date=2011-09-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326004146/http://meettheskeptics.libsyn.com/mts-meet-daniel-loxton|archive-date=March 26, 2012|url-status=dead}}

Loxton worked as a professional shepherd in British Columbia on the Canadian side of the Alaska Panhandle.{{cite web | url = http://www.skeptic.com/junior_skeptic/meet_the_creators.html | title = Skeptic Magazine 'Meet the Creators'}}

File:Loxton book sign TAM 2013.jpg

File:Loxton at podum TAM 2013.JPG

Loxton has published articles on skeptical activism. In 2007, he wrote "Where Do We Go From Here?" about the direction of the new generation of skepticism,{{cite web |last1=Loxton |first1=Daniel |author-link1=Daniel Loxton |title=Where Do We Go From Here?: Has classic skepticism run its course? |url=https://www.skeptic.com/downloads/WhereDoWeGoFromHere.pdf |website=Skeptic.com |access-date=15 January 2019}} and which helped to inspire the SkeptiCamp community organized conferences on scientific skepticism.{{citation needed|date=June 2014}} Then in 2009, he wrote "What Do I Do Next?" providing ideas for individual involvement in the skepticism movement,{{cite web | url = http://www.skeptic.com/downloads/WhatDoIDoNext.pdf | title = What Do I Do Next?}} which was featured on an episode of the Skepticality podcast.{{Citation | title=Ep. #63 - Where Do We Go From Here?

| date=October 16, 2007 | url=http://www.skepticality.com/where-do-we-go-from-here/

| author=Swoopy | first2=Derek | last2=Colanduno | work=Skepticality | publisher=Skeptic Magazine | access-date=November 27, 2011 }} In 2014, he wrote "Why Is There a Skeptical Movement?" which explores "the roots, founding principles, and purpose of scientific skepticism. Arguing that it is essential for skeptics to "appreciate that we’re caretakers for the work of those who have come before," Loxton carries forward the discussion about the scope and limits of scientific skepticism that has been raised again in recent days".{{cite web | url = http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/13-02-06/#feature | title = Why Is There a Skeptical Movement? | date = February 6, 2013 | access-date= March 19, 2014}}

Loxton is the author of Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came To Be,{{cite book | title = Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came To Be | last = Loxton | first = Daniel | publisher = Kids Can Press | year = 2010 | isbn = 978-1-55453-430-2 | pages = 56 }} which was nominated for the Canadian Children's Book Centre's Norma Fleck Award for Children's Non-Fiction{{cite web |url=http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/06/14/shortlists-for-canadian-childrens-book-centre-awards-released/ |title=Shortlists for Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards released |author=Angela Hickman |date=2011-06-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707114623/http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/06/14/shortlists-for-canadian-childrens-book-centre-awards-released/ |archive-date=2012-07-07 }} and won the Lane Anderson Award (a $10,000 prize).{{cite web | url=http://www.bookcentre.ca/news/evolution_wins_lane_anderson_award | title= Evolution wins Lane Anderson Award| publisher= The Canadian Children's Book Centre| access-date= March 19, 2014}} When pitching Evolution to U.S. publishers, Loxton was told, "‘Well of course I love it, but we just think it’s a little too hot,’... Which is a strange thing to say about fundamental biology." Not so in Canada. About writing a children's book on the topic of evolution Loxton states, "People forget to see kids as thinking beings, as people who have existential questions that they want answered. They just need the best information available," he said. "Keep it simple, but make it true."

In 2011, he wrote Ankylosaur Attack (Tales of Prehistoric Life), which was nominated for a Forest of Reading Silver Birch Express award from the Ontario Library Association.{{cite web |url=http://www.accessola.org/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/Awards_Nominees/Silver_Birch_Express_Nominees.aspx |title=Silver Birch Express 2013 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112222637/http://www.accessola.org/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/Awards_Nominees/Silver_Birch_Express_Nominees.aspx |archive-date=2013-01-12 }} He was featured in an interview on The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast #194, and again in #414.{{cite web | url=http://www.theskepticsguide.org/archive/podcastinfo.aspx?mid=1&pid=194 | title=Episode 194 | work=Official Skeptics' Guide Site}} He also appeared in an interview on the JREF podcast, For Good Reason in the episode dated February 6, 2010 and on Christopher Brown's Meet the Skeptics! podcast.

In 2013, he co-authored Abominable Science!.

In 2015, Loxton was elected a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.{{Cite web|title = Ten Distinguished Scientists and Scholars Named Fellows of Committee for Skeptical Inquiry - CSI|url = http://www.csicop.org/si/show/ten_distinguished_scientists_and_scholars_named_fellows_of_committee_for_sk|website = www.csicop.org|access-date = 2015-10-15|archive-date = 2019-01-30|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190130180821/https://www.csicop.org/si/show/ten_distinguished_scientists_and_scholars_named_fellows_of_committee_for_sk|url-status = dead}}

• {{Citation | last =Loxton | first = Daniel | title = Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be | publisher = Kids Can Press | year = 2010 | pages=56 | isbn = 978-1554534302 }} (translated into Slovenian, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, and, in a modified form as the separate book Evolução, Portuguese).
• {{Citation | last1 = Loxton | first1 = Daniel | last2 = Smith | first2 = Jim W.W. | title = Ankylosaur Attack | series = (Tales of Prehistoric Life) | publisher = Kids Can Press | year = 2011 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/ankylosaurattack0000loxt/page/32 32] | isbn = 978-1554536313 | url = https://archive.org/details/ankylosaurattack0000loxt/page/32 }}
• {{Citation | last1 = Loxton | first1 = Daniel | last2 = Smith | first2 = Jim W.W. | title = Pterosaur Trouble | series = (Tales of Prehistoric Life) | publisher = Kids Can Press | year = 2013 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/pterosaurtrouble0000loxt/page/32 32] | isbn = 978-1554536320 | url = https://archive.org/details/pterosaurtrouble0000loxt/page/32 }}
• {{Citation | last1 = Loxton | first1 = Daniel | last2 = Prothero | first2 = Donald R | title = Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids | author2-link = Donald Prothero | publisher = Columbia University Press | year = 2013 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/abominablescienc0000loxt/page/432 432] | isbn = 978-0231153201 | url = https://archive.org/details/abominablescienc0000loxt/page/432 | url-access = registration }}
• {{Citation | last1 =Loxton | first1 = Daniel | last2 = Smith| first2 = Jim W.W.| title = Plesiosaur Peril |series = (Tales of Prehistoric Life)| publisher = Kids Can Press | year = 2014 | pages=32 | isbn = 978-1554536337 }}

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://www.skeptic.com/junior_skeptic/ Junior Skeptic]
• [https://www.skeptic.com/author/daniel-loxton/ Daniel Loxton's posts]

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Category:Canadian science writers

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