Archive

Frankie appoints a carnival of Cardinals
András is back and tells us how not to stand on a volcano, we have some listener feedback about YouTube banning videos and the QED conference release ...

We need to fight for abortion rights – again
Monkeypox is coming - is that the new pandemic? Our favourite ESC is the European Skeptics Congress in Vienna in September and we're counting ...

Nessie is back - unless the camera is on
Ukraine wins the Eurovision Song Contest and Putin is not happy about it. On the other hand the other ESC - the European Skeptics ...

Covid death toll is more likely 15 million according to WHO
Annika is back! and after discussing stupid Putin and his failed war a little, we turn our focus to space. We look ...

Russia takes post-truth to new levels
Mostly bad news this week, but on the bright side we have The Skeptic's Guide soon to come out with their new book The Skeptic's Guide to ...

Social Psychology and conspiracy theories
In quick news the Hungarian Skeptics has announced Gábor Varga as their Flat Earth Award winner for 2022 and also we keep reminding all listeners to sign up ...

In other news, don't leave a mark on your pyjamas
In Hungary they are busy preparing for the flat Earth awards and András will be one of many excellent speakers at SkeptiCal in ...

Zelensky is not Soros' cousin
We remind you again to sign up for the European Skeptics Congress! It's going to be great! In other news, Darwin's iconic 'evolution as a tree'-notebook has been ...

Tickets released for the European Skeptics Congress! Sign up!
The Hungarian elections did not go well and that's not a political statement but a skeptical one. Propaganda is everywhere, but we put our ...

Blast from the past: Nobody Silences Simon Singh
The Hungarian election is coming up, with a lot of Russian propaganda polarizing the public. In TWISH we remember the legal decision that cleared up ...

Don't stare into the Sun!
Both of the Earth's poles are going through extreme weather at the moment. Does that mean the end of the planet is already here? In TWISH we hear ...

Don't lose yourself in the bad news
Lots of bad news out there at the moment but try to not let it get to you. A Ukrainian drone flies all over Hungary undetected, ...

War and anti-vaxxers
We comment on some aspects of the war and also how you can best send help. In TWISH we celebrate good skeptic Massimo Polidoro and then we poke Pope Francis, ...

The first line of the Ukraine national anthem translates to ‘Ukraine is not dead yet’
This episode is a special about the Russian war and invasion of Ukraine. No TWISH, no Pope and ...

Also, Benedict works in mysterious ways
We talk about the great new CFI fellows announced, wonder what happens to Ukraine (please note that we recorded this episode one day before the invasion...) and ...

This week we first explore the magnetic properties of covid-19 vaccines and ponder the political meltdown of Alexander Lukashenko's Belarus. Then we celebrate the first publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula, published this week ...

This week Swedish vaccinations are not too well organised, András has debated homeopaths and the Swedish Skeptics have some cool events coming up. Ranga Yogeshwar (check him out!) celebrates his birthday and then ...

This week we wish Annika all the best in recovering from her first vaccine shot, we learn how to properly pronounce Cardinal 'Becchiu' and hear about this week's birthday boy, Edward Jenner. Pope ...

This week we get to hear Marie Curie's birthname properly pronounced, curtesy of listener Max (thanks!). One more of us are getting the vaccine and so do pregnant women in Germany. We hear ...

This week we first chat a bit and celebrate that we finally have new dates for QED, the fantastic skeptical conference in Manchester, before we mark that it is 35 years this week ...

This week we first celebrate the flight of Ingenuity on Mars, the first ever powered flight on another planet. In This week in Skepticism we hear about how Pierre and Marie Curie isolated ...

This week we start by reflecting on the death of Prince Philip and just can't help mention languages again since a listener sent us sound files to help us with the pronunciations of ...

This week we first continue to ponder the strange topic of language and we congratulate the Portuguese Skeptics on the anniversary of founding their organization ComCept. Then we have a Covid-19 update before ...

This week Pontus is still mad at English spelling but we hope our listeners will forgive him. In history René Descartes was born this week, the pope cuts the payroll for his cardinals ...

Just a quick update to give you three extra news items:

• Darwin was a misunderstood fantasy author
• The famous drop bears of Austria not extinct after all
• Skepticism has won and is ...

This week we we mention the Icelandic volcanic eruptions and then a bit randomly reflect upon languages and spelling. Pontus asks people to check out the VoF web site and András informs us ...

This week we we start by checking out some science: travel faster than speed of light(?) and the wonderful 3D-model of the Antikythera mechanism. We look back at the birth of the Hungarian ...

This week we geek out some more about space, mention the demonstrations in Stockholm and the upcoming Cologne virtual skeptics in the pub. Some German children's stories from the past are absolutely horrible ...

This week we first marvel at the on-going Mars missions, mention Germany's need to get a new haircut and are fascinated by the Mount Etna eruptions. If you want to know where to ...

This week we geek out a bit about the landing of Perseverance on Mars, we (again) ponder the chances to become an ESA astronaut. Facebook stupidly believes Europe is a place in Australia ...

On this week's episode we celebrate the new era of commercial space flight brought about by SpaceX, then a bit of skeptical history, talking about Gérard Sède and the Priory of Sion hoax ...

This week Pontus and Andras try their best to keep your spirit up while talking about the saddening advent of conspiracy theories and an ever growing antivaccination sentiment. We talk about the great ...

On this week's episode we start by the funny PA of Deutsche Bahn then turn towards the story of psychic Peter Hurkos who was born on this day. The latest from the Catholic ...

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 ...

The three of us are back to bring you the latest from Europe. We're saddened by the (not so surprising) news that QED 2020 is now postponed to 2021, but whenever it is, ...

This week, in the absence of Jelena, Annika Harrison joins us to bring you news and curiosities from all over Europe. We start by mentioning Pontus guest-hosting The Skeptic Zone with Richard Saunders, ...

This week Deborah Hyde joins us to bring you news and interesting topics to cover with us. We start by mentioning how VoF (Sweden), the GWUP (Germany), ComCept (Portugal) and ARP-SAPC (Spain) make ...

This week we bring you news and topics from all over Europe again. We start by talking about the unfortunate death (probably of Covid-19) of a board member of VoF. After that we're ...

ECSO President Claire Kraulik-Klingenberg joins us for this week's episode to bring you news and topics from all over the continent. Skeptics in the Pub Online is now a thing, popping up everywhere, ...

This week an old friend of ours Brian Eggo from Glasgow Skeptics joins us to bring you a show packed with news, thoughts and curiousities.
We talk about how Skeptics in the Pub events ...

We are bringing you a selection of topics this week, some Corona-related and some aren't: In the meantime, QED organisers ask you to hold your travel arrengements at this time... The Vatican issues ...

The three of us finally reunite for yet another show featuring an update on the COVID-19 situation and the GWuP cancelling SkepKon 2020. Then, after an interview with Annabel Bligh of the Anthill ...

This week we have no less than two separate interviews, both of which we’ve been looking forward to for some time. First, we talk to Šarūnas Bačiliūnas, the founder of the rather new ...

This week it cannot be helped that a lot of the episode is about different aspects on the Coronavirus and Covid-19. But we also want to remind everyone about our SkepKon raffle where ...

This week we talk about the John Maddox Prize, the BBC’s new show series about Greta Thunberg and about Darren Brown, born on this day in 1971. Pontus Pokes the Pope and finally ...

In this week's episode we have some remarks about the EU Elections, before we hear about the Beringer hoax and his lying stones. The pope has outrageous views on abortions and thinks that ...

On this Episode: This week we welcome back Latvian activist Austra Muizniece, fearless fighter against the fake 'cancer treatment’ Rigvir. Shamelessly and corruptly approved in Latvia just two days before Latvia joined the ...

In this week's episode we talk about ‘kwakzalverij’, the Pope’s new Olympic ambitions (and female football team) and other papal adventures. There are steep fines coming for German vaccination dodgers and a study ...

In this week's episode we announce the winner of our SkepKon raffle! We also invite you to take GapMinder's test to see how well you know the state of the world before we ...

This week we first discuss the scientific method and remember Louis Pasteur, plus we anticipate Pope Francis’ upcoming Vatican revolution. Then in the news we talk about Ukraine election results, a homeopathic remedy ...

This week we discuss the Notre-Dame fire before we celebrate this week’s icon, the Hungarian astronomer and skeptic Iván Almár. The Measles epidemic is getting even worse with the WHO showing a 300% ...

This week we celebrate the first picture of a black hole, Samuel Hahnemann’s birthday and the fact that we can poke two Popes in one week. HPV vaccination is shown to really work, ...

This week we talk about some great April Fools’ pranks, we look at the Vatican’s new child abuse law, mumps outbreak in Madrid, climate change models being validated in new observations. We get ...

This week we welcome Annika Merkelbach from Germany back to the show to talk about the upcoming skeptical convention SkepKon, GSoW and her series of interviews on Skeptical Inquirer's website. We also talk ...

In this episode: ‘This week we bring you topics and news about SkepKon in Germany and the 38th Anniversary of the premier of Quark, Italy's most famous science show hosted by Piero Angela ...

No shortage of interesting topics after two interview episodes in a row!

In this episode: ‘Canali’ on Mars (or rather not), we catch up on the Pope and especially Cardinal Pell, a huge study ...

On this Episode: We catch up with Pixie Turner who has just released "The No Need to Diet Book". She tells us all about the book, how most people has an unhealthy view ...

On this Episode: This week we're joined by Jay Novella for an interview in which we talk about his new position as a full-time employee of SGU Productions, what it means for the ...

In the abscence of Pontus, Jelena and Andras are joined by Brian Eggo to bring you a new show full of news and interesting topics including two events coming up (SkepKon 2019 in ...

We bring you news and stories from the world of skepticism again this week, including: Rosalind Franklin's namesake rover to go to Mars to look for traces of life, Philippe de Cherisey and ...

Segments: Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; News; Really Right; Quote; Outro; Out-takes Show Notes: 00:00:27 Greetings

• Massimo Polidoro's book on the Colosseum
• Massimo Polidoro's new YouTube series 'Strange Stories'
• CICAP Fest ...

On this Episode: We talk to Swedish renowned Psychologist and Skeptic, Dan Katz. Dan specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and has a very cool book out which is on its way to ...

On this Episode: It was Homeopathy (and Chiropractic) Awareness Week, but wee had a lot of other stuff like anniversaries and awards to talk about on this episode, including 2 years of Information ...

On this Episode: This week Brian Eggo sits in for Jelena as we talk about Hungarian elections, a medium shocked to discover that people sometimes commit fraud, HIV deniers in Russia, Hans Rosling's ...

On this Episode: This week we talk to Marko Kovic, social science researcher and former President of the Swiss Skeptics (Skeptiker Schweiz). We discuss his recent blog post "Some problems of the skeptic ...

Segments: Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; News; Really Right; Quote; Outro; Out-takes Show Notes: 00:00:27 Greetings

• BBC Radio 4's Analysis: How dictators survive

00:06:40 This Week in Skepticism

• The ...

On this Episode: Diana Barbosa is back to the show after two years to bring us up to date with skepticism related issues in Portugal. She talks about regulations regarding alternative medicine, the ...

Segments: Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; News; Really Wrong; Quote; Outro; Out-takes Show Notes: 00:00:27 Greetings

• Upcoming book by Steve Novella and the SGU rogues: (available for pre-order) Skeptics' Guide to ...

On this Episode: This week we had Ovidiu Covaciu back on the show to talk about his assessment of the situation in Romania regarding vaccinations and the spread of vaccine preventable diseases as ...

Segments: Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; News; Quote; Outro; Out-takes Show Notes: 00:00:26 Greetings

• New book out by Sharon Hill Ernst: 'Scientifical Americans'
• First two episodes of Radio CICAP out

...

On this Episode: This episode features Slovenian skeptics Maja, Nejc and Mark who run the monthly Ljubljana Skeptics in the Pub and the website skeptik.si. Please also check out our event page at ...

Segments: Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; News; Really Wrong; Quote; Outro; Out-takes Show Notes: 00:00:26 Greetings

• New book out by Sharon Hill Ernst: 'Scientifical Americans'
• First two episodes of Radio CICAP ...

Segments: Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; News; Analysis; Really Wrong; Quote; Outro; Outtakes Show Notes: 00:00:26 Greetings

• More Harm than Good
• The Pope condemns fake news and snake-tactics

00:07:15 This ...

This week we bring you some good news about Britt Hermes' crowd funding campaign run by the Australian Skeptics, a bit of an update on LSD and what a good trip is then ...

On this Episode: This week we bring you an interview with Britt Marie Hermes and Eran Segev regarding the lawsuit against Britt Marie. Britt Marie has been taken to court in Germany by ...

This week's episode brings you a lot of news and interesting topics from the world of skepticism across Europe. Firstly, please, consider helping Hayley Stevens raise money to help others attend QED 2017. Then ...

Segments Intro; Greetings & Feedback; Interview with Teddy Winroth; Farewell; Out-takes Show notes: 00:00:00 INTRO music 00:00:31 Greetings & feedback Please, visit our 'Events in Europe' page to see what's going on across the ...

This week brings you a segment on Florence Nightingale, events across Europe and skeptical news including the latest success story of the Good Thinking Society with getting eBay to remove a dangerous product (Black ...

On this episode we interview Alan Henness, co-director of The Nightingale Collaboration, a UK-based group focusing on questionable claims in healthcare. Segments Intro; Greetings & Feedback; Interview with Alan Henness; Farewell; Out-takes Show notes: ...

This week brings you March for Science, a correction from Bethania Palma regarding last weeks interview, Catherine of Siena, more bad measles news in Europe, BBC and homeopathy and new fact checking tools on ...

This week’s episode is entirely dedicated to our interview with Snopes.com fact checker and journalist, Bethania Palma. We also talked about March for Science across Europe. Segments: Intro; Greetings & Feedback; Interview with ...

This week we are bringing you an episode packed with news, important events and topics from all over Europe: Autism Acceptance Month, World Homeopathy Awareness Week, poppy seeds causing false positive drug tests, public ...

The episode was almost entirely dedicated to our interview with the Director of Sense about Science EU, Sofie Vanthournout. We talked about their upcoming project, Evidence Matters EU, the expansion of the Ask ...

This week we talked about how fake news are a bit more complicated than that, Vaxxed still growing its audience, Rudolf Steiner and his anthroposophy and schools, Massimo Polidoro having a new book out, ...

This week we interviewed award-winning blogger and paranormal investigator Hayley Stevens. We talked about becoming a skeptic after believing, how applying the right way of thinking and the best methods can help us ...

This week we're back with the regular segments discussing lots of different topics ranging from Chickenpox, SpaceX, Newton and Fake News to what happened #LastNightInSweden after all, how Bild is fighting falsehoods, March for ...

This week we interviewed Florent Martin, who's one of the founders of the French organisation Observatoire Zététique that investigates unusual claims in Grenoble and all over France. Segments: Intro; Greetings & Feedback; Interview ...

On this week's episode we talk about the antivax movement and what we can do about it, then move on to talking about Derren Brown's work, whether fortune tellers will be out of Hungarian ...

This episode is entirely dedicated to one topic, which is the latest wrongdoings of the antivaccination campaign, namely the screenings of the pseudo-documentary "Vaxxed - From Cover-up to Catastrophy". Our guests, with whom we ...

This week we are talking about well known quack and discredited doctor Andrew Wakefield and his campaign promoting 'Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe', a pseudo-documentary that promotes the false idea of vaccines causing autism ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with Amardeo Sarma, who is the co-founder and chairman of the German ...

On this episode, you'll find news, events and interesting topics, including trends in the perception of climate change, Prince Charles promoting quackery again and a small infant in Hungary dying of malnutrition with the ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with Sanal Edamaruku, founder, president and editor of Rationalist International, author of ...

On this episode, you'll find news, events and interesting topics, along with an interview, featuring Norwegian blogger, podcaster, science educator and skeptical activist, Marit M. Simonsen, who's also the former president of the Norwegian ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with Chris Peters, the scientific affairs manager at Sense About Science, the ...

On this episode, you'll find news, events and interesting topics, along with an interview, featuring Dr Julia Offe, board member of the German skeptical organisation GWUP (Society for the Scientific Investigation of Parasciences), head ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with Italian psychologist, author and investigator Massimo Polidoro, who's co-founder and executive ...

Featuring a short interview with Marko Kovic, president of the Swiss skeptical organisation Skeptiker Schweiz. We talked about the recent developments of the status of alternative medicine in Switzerland. Segments: Intro; Greetings & Listener ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with the “Face of the skeptical movement” (quote from Ray Hyman): James ...

Featuring a short interview with Antonia de Oñate, CEO of the Spanish skeptical organisation Spanish Rational Alternative to Pseudoscience – Society for the Promotion of Critical Thinking (ARP-SAPC) Segments: Intro; Greetings & Listener feedback; ...

Along with a usual run-through of feedback and events across Europe in the coming week, this episode is dedicated to our interview with Belgian skeptic and co-founder of SKEPP, Professor Willem Betz. We talk ...

Featuring a short interview with Vassilena Valchanova and Liubomir Baburov, founders of the Bulgarian organisation called Ratio and organisers of Sofia Skeptics in the Pub. Segments: Intro; Greetings & Listener feedback; On this day; ...

Featuring skeptic events in the coming week across Europe and an interview with Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association and President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, former director of ...

Featuring a short interview with Raffaella Vitali, the only Italian editor of the international Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) project, lots of skeptic events across Europe and much more. Segments: Intro; Greetings; Listener feedback; ...

Featuring skeptic events in the coming week across Europe and an interview with Professor Edzard Ernst, researcher of complementary and alternative medicine, the first ever Professor of Complementary Medicine in the world, author of ...