Blasphemy

Deborah Hyde joins us this week, it’s been far too long. We recommend her Youtube series ‘The Green Children of Woolpit‘! The Romanian presidential election is still contentious, and we congratulate Ian Dunt to his position as editor for the New Humanist. In TWISH we learn about the first observational evidences for Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and then it’s time for the news:

• INTERNATIONAL: Is it OK to use AI in scientific papers?
• UK: Are prosecutions for blasphemy coming back to England and Wales?
• UK: Humanists UK Convention 2025 – Deborah among the speakers
• FRANCE / INTERNATIONAL: June 16: World EHS Day – World Day of Intolerance to Electromagnetic Pollution
• EU: ECDC 20 years on
• EUROPE: Measles update
• EUROPE: Research: how did SCAM use change between 2014 and 2023?

Edzard Ernst uses Grok to help us find out who to appoint as the worst proponents of homeopathy. They receive this week’s award for being Really Wrong and they are: Joette Calabrese, Homeopathy Plus and the Indian AYUSH ministry.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote; Outro; Outtakes
 
0:00:27 INTRO

0:00:54 GREETINGS

• Catching up with Deborah Hyde: The Green Children of Woolpit
  • Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWCdTqLDufE
• Romanian presidential election: Did we speak to soon?
  • the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/22/romania-top-court-rejects-george-simion-attempt-to-annul-election
• Congrats to Ian Dunt for being appointed to chair of the editorial board of New Humanist
  • Humanists UK: https://humanists.uk/2025/05/27/ian-dunt-to-chair-new-humanist-editorial-board/

0:21:12 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 29 May 1919: First observational evidence to Einstein’s theory of General Relativity
  • Space.com: https://www.space.com/37018-solar-eclipse-proved-einstein-relativity-right.html

0:30:42 NEWS

• INTERNATIONAL: Is it OK to use AI in scientific papers?
  • Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01463-8
• UK: Are prosecutions for blasphemy coming back to England and Wales?
  • Humanists UK: https://humanists.uk/2025/05/27/blasphemy-trial-to-take-place-in-the-uk-on-wednesday
• UK: Humanists UK Convention 2025 – Deborah among the speakers
  • Humanists UK: https://humanists.uk/events/convention2025/
• FRANCE / INTERNATIONAL: June 16: World EHS Day – World Day of Intolerance to Electromagnetic Pollution
  • CoeursdEHS: http://coeursdehs.fr/june-16-world-ehs-day-world-day-of-intolerance-to-electromagnetic-pollution/
• EU: ECDC 20 years on
  • ECDC: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/celebrating-20-years-ecdc
• EUROPE: Measles update
  • ECSO: https://www.ecso.org/news/measles-and-mmr-vaccination-in-the-uk/
  • ECDC: https://measles-rubella-monthly.ecdc.europa.eu/
• EUROPE: Research: how did SCAM use change between 2014 and 2023?
  • Springer: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-025-02494-1

0:57:59 REALLY WRONG

• Really Wrong: The worst proponents of homeopathy (on X)
  • Edzard Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2025/05/who-are-the-foremost-purveyors-of-misinformation-about-homeopathy-on-x/

1:01:59 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.”
/ William Henry Bragg (2 July 1862 – 12 March 1942), English physicist and X-ray christallographer, recipient of the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics. /

1:03:57 OUTRO

1:05:20 OUT-TAKES