Episode #004, feat. Kirill Alferov

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 this day; What’s on in Europe?; What’s new in Europe?; Interview with Kirill Alferov; Logical Fallacies; Interview with Melissa Highton; Really Wrong; Quote
 
Show notes and segment details:
00:00:00
INTRO music

00:00:24
Introduction and greetings

00:00:54
Listener feedback, etc.

• Edzard Ernst: Medical emergencies over Christmas: yet again, homeopaths prevent the worst
• The Stats Guy: Detox: it’s all a con

00:15:40
Overview of the podcast

00:17:48
On This Day – Died on 30th Dec: Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin

• Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin on Wikipedia

00:25:04
What’s on in Europe:

PAST

1. ComCept 2ndSolstice Conference – Freemasonry (Lisbon, Portugal, 19/12/2015) Conference website (in Portuguese)

FUTURE

1. Czech Skeptics’ Club (Sisyfos) announces 13th Skepticon in Příbram, Czech Republic (20-22 May 2016) 
   • Announcement on the organisation’s website (in Czech)
2. QED – Question, Explore, Discover to be held in Manchester, UK (14-16 October 2016)
   • Conference website
   • About QED on Wikipedia

00:29:08
What’s new in Europe?

1. Supplement VitaePro (Norway) exposed as unnecessary, expensive and potentially dangerous
   • Article in Expressen (in Swedish)
2. Stephen Hawking launches award for Science Communication bearing his name
   • TechTimes: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/117762/20151218/stephen-hawking-launches-award-for-science-communication-bearing-his-name.htm
3. Spanish scientists condemn pseudoscience in medicine
   • El País: Opinión – Contra las pseudociencias y las artes mágicas (in Spanish)
   • Change.org: Petition – Contra Las Pseudosciencias Y Las Terapias Mágicas (in Spanish)
   • Queryonline.it: Il comunicato degli scienziati spagnoli contro le pseudoscienze mediche (in Italian)
4. Swedish Government decides to give Antroposophical “remedies” another six months exception from regulation
   • Dagens Medicin (in Swedish)
5. Holiday Feasts across Europe: Poppy seeds and drug tests
   • Snopes.com: Seeded Results
   • Todayifoundout.com: Can Eating Poppy Seeds Really Cause You to Fail a Drug Test?
   • MythBusters: Poppy Seed Drug Test MiniMyth
   • Poppy seed on Wikipedia

00:40:25
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.

• Skeptic Society on Wikipedia
• Kirill Alferov on LinkedIn

01:13:50
Logical Fallacies: Argument from authority

• Argumentum ad verecundiam on Wikipedia
• Appeal to authority on YourLogicalFallacyIs.com
• Appeal to authority on LogicallyFallacious.com

01:17:59
Interview with Melissa Highton, Director of the Learning, Teaching and Web services division at the University of Edinburgh

• Melissa Highton’s page at the University of Edinburgh’s website

01:30:48
Really Wrong: Pope Francis announces that Mother Teresa is to be canonized.

• Slate: Mommie Dearest
• Mother Teresa on Wikipedia
• Criticism of Mother Teresa on Wikipedia

01:35:17
Quote
“William James used to preach the “will to believe”. For my part, I should wish to preach the “will to doubt” […] what is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.”
 
/Bertrand Russell: Skeptical Essays, 1928/

01:36:19
Outro

01:37:48
Out-takes