DuoLingo

We’re already looking forward to QED and nominations for the Ockham Awards are still open – if you know someone who deserves it nominate them! After some listener feedback we go to TWISH and hear about the Swing Riots. Then, it’s time for the news:

• EUROPE: Spread of mosquitoes in Europe
• UK / EUROPE: Country on a bumpy road of climate U-turns…
• SWEDEN / INTERNATIONAL: Crying nurse goes viral and get tons of support – she doesn’t exist
• INTERNATIONAL: Duolingo calls JK Rowling mean, then backs down and apologises

The UK government has still not acknowledged their part in the tragedy of forced abortions from British ‘Mother and Baby homes’, and for that the get this week’s Award for being Really Wrong.

Enjoy!

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

0:00:51 GREETINGS

• Nomination for the Ockham Awards are still open!
  • Skeptic UK: https://www.skeptic.org.uk/about/the-ockham-awards/ockhams-2025-nomination-form/
• Listener feedback re Steen and Claus

0:09:23 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 28 August 1830: The first agricultural machine destroyed under the ‘Swing Riots’
  • University of Kent: https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/ageofrevolution/riots/the-swing-riots/

0:19:07 NEWS

• EUROPE: Spread of mosquitoes in Europe
  • Sydsvenskan: https://www.sydsvenskan.se/artikel/myggsmittor-sprider-sig-i-europa/
• UK / EUROPE: Country on a bumpy road of climate U-turns…
  • the Conversation: https://theconversation.com/the-uks-year-of-climate-u-turns-exposes-a-deeper-failure-254499
• SWEDEN / INTERNATIONAL: Crying nurse goes viral and get tons of support – she doesn’t exist
  • Källkritikbyrån: https://kallkritikbyran.se/vietnamesisk-klickbetesfabrik-bakom-sommarens-svenska-ai-bluffar/
• INTERNATIONAL: Duolingo calls JK Rowling mean, then backs down and apologises
  • Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/duolingo-jk-rowling-apology/

0:50:48 REALLY WRONG

• Really Wrong: Mother and baby homes and forced adoptions in the UK
  • the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/aug/20/gordon-brown-calls-for-apologies-over-historic-forced-adoptions

0:55:03 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“The trick as an educated citizen of the twenty-first century is to realise that Nature is far stranger and more wonderful than human imagination, and the only appropriate response to new discoveries is to enjoy one’s inevitable discomfort, take delight in being shown to be wrong and learn something as a result.”
/ Brian Cox (3 March 1968 – ), English physicist and musician who is professor of particle physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester[2][3] and the Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement in Science. /

0:56:42 OUTRO

0:58:04 OUT-TAKES