Archive

We are extremely happy to welcome the first ever ESP Skepti-baby! Annika and her newborn girl are doing very well and they send their regards to the listeners. Whoohoo! We spend the episode ...

This week we start by recommending a German Podcast Christmas Special, we report that Sucharit Bhaktdi won the Goldene Brett award and talk about the Saturn / Jupiter planetary conjunction. Pontus reports the ...

This week we talk about that alt-med and antivaxxers have been visible on TV and how a town in Austria had to change its rather unfortunate name. We celebrate the anniversary of the ...

This week we talk to Nikil Mukerji, a German author, philosopher and skeptic. He has a position at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and academic director of philosophy, politics and economy. He ...

This week we reflect a on the new vaccines that are coming. Annika sings(!) to celebrate the quiz performance of Pontus, Brian and Claire last week and then she tells us about ...

This week we celebrate 250 episodes and five years on the road with the ESP. We invited all guest hosts who ever have sat in for a show and they all joined us ...

UPDATE! The video stream is available on our Youtube-channel! Tonight 22 November 8:00 pm CET Live on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/theespeu/ Last week marked the 5th anniversary of releasing the first episode of the European Skeptics ...

This week Pontus is a bit under the weather so András and Annika send him their "thoughts and prayers" (don't worry, he is fine). Then we mention an interesting documentary about SCAM ...

This week we first chat a bit about Trump, having covid in your family and an opportunity to talk to Swedish MPs. We also mention the Vienna terror attacks and the Hay Winter ...

This week we talk to Stephan Lewandowsky, professor of cognitive psychology and one of the drivers behind the Debunking Handbook 2020, the recently published follow-up to the previous debunking handbook from 2011. A ...

This week we remember James "the Amazing" Randi, a great skeptic and generous person who like no one else influenced the skeptic movement. His legacy lives on. We also reflect a bit ...

This week we notice the new I am Greta movie strangely so far is only in theaters and not online. Covid number are going up, especially in Germany where conspiracy theories are ...

This week we start by celebrating that several women received the Nobel Prize this year. Well deserved and a good trend! We also look at the latest Global warming news delivered by ...

This week we start by urging you to register nominations for the Ockham Awards, handled by The Skeptic. The deadline is 31 October. That's the same date that Skepsis in the Netherlands ...

This week we interview veterinarian Dr. Stefanie Handl from Vienna, Austria. Her special fields are nutrition and diets for pets. She is a member of the “Gesellschaft für kritisches Denken” (“Society for Critical ...

This week we wrap up the year and wish all our listeners a Happy Holiday. We revisit something we got wrong about Das Goldene Brett last week and celebrate the birthday of Johannes ...

This week we start our journey towards episode 300 and first reflect on climate change with Greta Thunberg as Time Magazine's person of the year and Australia heading for a sever heatwave just ...

This week we celebrate our 200th episode and that we continue our journey into our fifth year! We re-unite with our first ever guest, Gábor Hraskó (president of the Hungarian Skeptics) to philosophize ...

This week Claire Kroulik-Klingenberg joins Jelena and Pontus for the 199th episode – we’re into our fifth year, folks! In This week in Skepticism, Jelena tells the story of how a young pre-Sherlock-Holmes ...

This week we have a very interesting interview with Lydia Finch, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness turned skeptic. As a sort of a follow-up from two weeks ago, we felt we wanted to dive a ...

This week we welcome Brian back for an unprecedented two-weeks-in-a-row appearance and then we dive into how the Piltdown Man hoax went undetected for many years, but was revealed this week 66 years ...

This week it’s the return of Brian(!) as we have sent András on a field trip to Malaysia. We celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Glasgow Skeptics and then explore signs that some ...

This week pope Francis is all talk and no show, there was a secret love affaire between a Cardinal and a Queen of Sweden in 1654 and Massimo Polidoro’s book Il Mondo Sottosopra ...

First: A big shout-out to fellow skeptics Claire and Jakub who are getting married on the day of the release of this episode! This week we learn about William Benjamin Carpenter, an early ...

This week we have a very interesting catch up with Ovidiu Covaciu who attended the International Global Vaccination Summit organised by the European Commission and the WHO. But before that we celebrate that ...

This week we first have a look to see if it was really the President of Finland who said he preferred reindeer to Trump before we congratulate the Spanish Skeptics for ceasing the ...

This week we declare that we’re fans of Brian Cox and we deliberate some more on the book ‘Shoot for the Moon’ by Richard Wiseman (see ep. 190) and how we can apply ...

This week we first have a brief follow-up on German Health Minister Jens Spahn’s failure do defund bogus homeopathy and how the IHN (Informationsnetzwerk Homöopathie) has published an open letter to the minister ...

This week we first hear from the fantastic Massimo Polidoro who tells all about CICAP Fest from two weeks ago. We then look forward to a new film which is a fictional tale ...

This week the team is all together at last! András us tells a bit about his adventures at the incredibly exiting CICAP Fest in Padua, more on this to follow next week ...

A bit of a different episode this week, released on the last day of the year to remind our listeners (and ourselves) of the most important things that happened in 2018. Lots of ...

Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Pontus Pokes the Pope; News; Skeptical Christmas Songs; Farewell and Quote; Outro; Out-takes Show Notes:
00:00:00 Intro 00:00:28 Greetings 00:06:36 This Week in Skepticism

• Sir Isaac Newton (25 ...

Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Pontus Pokes the Pope; News; Really Right; Farewell and Quote; Outro; Out-takes Show Notes:
00:00:27 Intro 00:00:55 Greetings

• Event page for ESC 2019
• Announcement of CICAP Fest ...

On this Episode: This week Pontus and Jelena talks to German Science Communicator and Skeptic Julia Offe. Julia Offe has a PhD in molecular biology and is active within GWUP, the German Skeptics ...

Segments: Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Pontus Pokes the Pope; Interview with Antonia de Oñate; News; Really Wrong; Farewell and Quote; Outro; Out-takes Show Notes: 00:00:55 Greetings 00:05:14 This Week in ...

This week our three hosts discuss a great number of things including how a delusional German physician got away with killing people, and how Pope Francis thinks right to tackle poverty. Loads of ...

On this Episode: On this week's episode Jelena and Andras interviews British biochemist, nutritionist, blogger, author and public speaker Pixie Turner, to talk about the science-based approach to healthy eating, dietary and lifestyle ...

András and Pontus join ranks to talk about Massimo Polidoro, Elsevier vs. open access and a film that drives Polish disapproval of the Catholic Church. Plus why people don't trust science and other ...

Join us to hear about Pope Francis' failing October synod, Galileo and how homeopathy is getting a really hard beating in Spain. In other news the Good Thinking Society fights Goop, EU tries ...

Segments: Intro; GreetingsThis Week in Skepticism; News; ; Really Wrong; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-takes This episode is the first of its kind as it is the live recording from QED 2018 that ...

On this Episode: On this week's episode Jelena interviews Aron Ra - atheist activist, former president of Atheist Alliance of America, host of Ra-Men podcast. He is a current regional director of the ...

Segments: Intro; GreetingsThis Week in Skepticism; ; News; Really Wrong; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-takes This week we look at the history of the Ig Nobel Prize, try to find out (Spoiler alert: ...

On this Episode: This week we welcome Massimo Polidoro back to our show. This time he tells us about how the latest edition of CICAPFest went (it was a great success in Padova, ...

Segments: Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; News; Really Right; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-takes Claire Klingenberg sits in for András on this episode where the Pope blames the devil for revealing all ...

On this Episode: This week's episode features an interview that Andras recorded in Budapest with Canadian skeptic and host of The Reality Check podcast Darren McKee, who talks about Effective altruism and why ...

In our final episode for 2017 we look back at a skeptical year in Europe. We talk about smallpox, how measles continues to spread and how a prominent skeptic becomes head of the ...

On this episode: Segments Intro; Greetings; Interviews; Farewell; Song; Outro Show notes: 00:00:00 INTRO music 00:00:27 Greetings 00:07:12 Interview with Dr. Gleb Tsipursky about the Pro-Truth Pledge and why it is important ...

On this episode: We start with some corrections this week before we turn towards things like Nostradamus, vaccination rates in Romania, Peter Boghossian touring Europe, German Minister of Agriculture getting threats over glyphosate, ...

On this episode: Segments Intro; Greetings & Feedback; Interviews; Outro Show notes: 00:00:00 INTRO music 00:00:27 Greetings and Feedback Check out the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia project at https://www.facebook.com/GSoWproject/ 00:09:12 Interview with Andreas ...

On this episode: The brilliant Brian Eggo ("Eggman") joins us from Glasgow as guest host and tells all about the Skeptics in the Pub movement in the world. Then we dig into Belgian ...

On this episode: Segments Intro; Greetings & Feedback; Interviews; Outro Show notes: 00:00:00 INTRO music 00:00:34 Greetings and Feedback We jump right into the interviews 00:03:52 Interview with Gábor Hraskó 00:13:43 Interview ...

On this episode: This week we talk about Massimo Polidoro’s new book, the latest Heinz Oberhummer Award and the origins of the Spanish skeptic movement, then move on to discuss Prince Charles who ...

On this episode: We check out Skepticism in Latvia with an interview with Austra Muizniece who talks about the Rigvir scam. We also get two shorter interviews from the Ratio Conference in Bulgaria: ...

On this episode: This week, while DenkFest and Ratio are both on, we release two interviews that Andras recorded in Zürich when they stopped there during the About Time Tour 2017 with Susan ...

A massive shout-out to Richard Saunders for dedicating such a great chunk of the latest episode of The Skeptic Zone Podcast to us winning the Ockham Awards 2017. Then you can listen to ...

This episode is a post QED show that features interviews with Rüdiger Ludwig from GWUP (German Skeptics), James Williams, Natalie Newell and Geoff Whelan. Segments Intro; Greetings & Feedback; Interviews from QED Show ...

This episode is a post European Skeptics Congress show that features interviews with Eran Segev, president of Australian Skeptics Inc. andMartin Mahner, who runs the office of the German skeptical organisation,gwup | die skeptiker ...

On this episode: On this episode we have a guest: Claire Klingenberg, who was the chief organiser of ECS 2017 and is the newly elected chair of ECSO. Than we talk about Marie ...

We are checking in from Wroclaw, where we attended the 17th European Skeptics Congress and recorded a show sitting in a hotel room together. You can listen to a couple of our short ...

On this episode: Before we head out to the 17th European Skeptics Congress, we bring you news from Germany, Denmark, Italy and the UK, talk about Sigmun Freud and his weird theories. We ...

This time we talk events, quacks, Christmas, the PISA test, how skeptics sometimes get it wrong, how widespread the belief in alternative medicine is in Hungary and so much more. Segments Intro; ...

This is a shorter episode with no long interview, but 3 shorter ones, along with the usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week. The last run of QED reports ...

  This time our team is joined by foreign liaison of the Czech Skeptics Club Sisyfos, Claire Klingenberg who talks about the 17th European Skeptics Congress. Then we talk events, quacks, UFOs, OpenTrialsFDA, ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with former naturopath Britt Hermes who recently received the 2016 Ockham's ...

  On this episode, you'll find news, events and interesting topics, including Skepsis, the Norwegian skeptical organisation revitalised, the status of homeopathy in the Czech Republic, AllTrials starts TrialsTracker, an automated tool to ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with parapsychology professor Chris French. You can also listen to three short ...

  On this episode, you'll find news, events and interesting topics, including 1023 in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria and Germany, Edzard Ernst's new book, The Golden Board 2016 Awards in Germany, unlicensed blood ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with science educator, author, journalist and founder of the Good Thinking ...

  This show is a special QED & Skepticamp report combined with some of the usual segments featured on odd-numbered episodes. We talked about the highlights of this wonderful festival of rationalism in ...

We recorded this show at QED - Question. Explore. Discover. in Manchester, UK. Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to ...

On this episode, you'll find news, events and interesting topics, including QED, Rosetta, ComCept officially instituted, ECSO website launched, The Good Thinking Society winning another battle, Spanish pharmacists taking action against selling homeopathy, ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with ex homeopath Dr Natalie Grams, who's the founder and leader ...

On this episode, you'll find news, events and interesting topics, including Nessie, Bayer buying Monsanto, the European Skeptics Congress Facebook page launched, as well as Paul VI’s legacy, the Good Thinking Society ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with skeptical blogger, podcaster and science educator Isil Arican, who's the ...

On this episode, you'll find news, events and interesting topics, including Mother Theresa, Susan Gerbic and GSoW, John Needham and the theory of spontaneous generation, the European Congress for Homeopathy, a new ...

Interview with Kirill Alferov, founder of the Russian Skeptic Society, host of the Skeptic podcast and chief organiser of the first Skeptic Society Conference in Moscow in 2014. Segments: Intro; Listener feedback; On ...

Interview with Michael Marshall, project director at the Good Thinking Society, co-founder of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and co-host of its official podcast, 'Skeptics with a K'. Segments: Intro; Listener feedback; What's on ...

Interview with the Chair of the Dutch Association Against Quackery and board member of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO) Segments: Intro; Listener feedback; On this day; What's new in Europe?; Interview ...

Interview with the Chairman of The European Council of Skeptical Organisations (ECSO) Segments: Intro; On this day; What's new in Europe; Interview with Gábor Hraskó; FAQ to Skeptics; Logical Fallacies; Really Wrong; True ...

The ESP - European Skeptics Podcast · TheESP – Ep. #288 – Fake! with Annemarie Bon In this episode we interview Dutch writer, science populariser and educator Annemarie Bon, who’s many works focus on helping ...

The ESP - European Skeptics Podcast · TheESP – Ep. #283 – Pavel Šmejkal In this week's episode we start with an update on the successful Virgin Galactic flight and congratulate Natalie Grams for getting ...

This week we talk to Philipp Schmid about the COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook. Philipp is a behavioural scientist at the Psychology and Infectious Diseases Lab at the University of Erfurt in Germany. He is also ...

This week we talk to Nikil Mukerji, a German author, philosopher and skeptic. He has a position at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and academic director of philosophy, politics and economy. He studied economy, ...

This week we talk to Stephan Lewandowsky, professor of cognitive psychology and one of the drivers behind the Debunking Handbook 2020, the recently published follow-up to the previous debunking handbook from 2011. A great resource ...

This week we interview veterinarian Dr. Stefanie Handl from Vienna, Austria. Her special fields are nutrition and diets for pets. She is a member of the “Gesellschaft für kritisches Denken” (“Society for Critical Thinking”) which ...

This week we interview Hungarian researcher and virologist Gábor Kemenesi. He is a research fellow at the Virological Research Group within the Szentágothai Research Centre of the University of Pécs in Hungary, specializing in zoonoses, ...

This week we interview none other than Brian Deer, the investigative journalist that spent years digging up how the discredited ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield misled the public about the safety of vaccines. We dig deep into ...

This week we interview molecular biologist, science communicator and overall cool guy Martin Moder, who is one of the Austrian Science Busters and who is also active in the Austrian Society for Critical Thinking. We ...

This week we are joined by the brilliant British geneticist, broadcaster, science journalist and author, Dr Adam Rutherford. He’s written several books of international acclaim like “Creation: The Origin of Life and the Future of ...

This week our team welcomes Susan Gerbic back to the show to talk about her and Mark Edward's sting operations to reveal psychics and their techniques in conning people and why Wikipedia is probably the ...

On this episode we interview Australian cognitive scientist and founder of the Skeptical Science website John Cook about his upcoming book 'Cranky Uncle vs Climate Change' that showcases typical climate science denial situations in a ...

This week we interview Finnish activist Iida Ruishalme to talk about nuclear power and green energy. Iida is a biologist specialised in biomedical research, an environmentalist, a writer and a science communicator. She also a ...

This week we have a very interesting interview with Lydia Finch, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness turned skeptic. As a sort of a follow-up from two weeks ago, we felt we wanted to dive a little more ...

This week we have a very interesting catch up with Ovidiu Covaciu who attended the International Global Vaccination Summit organised by the European Commission and the WHO. But before that we celebrate that Jelena singlehandedly ...