TheESP – Ep. #538 – Happily Biased Towards Science!

Science shows that the heatwave in Europe was made much worse by climate crisis, and in TWISH we hear about an old but classic ‘UFO encounter’ in France. Naturally, we also take a look at the news:

• SWEDEN / INTERNATIONAL: Pontus Pokes the Politicians: Psychologist argues that politicians focus too much on values to explain crimes
• SPAIN / INTERNATIONAL: Boiron shifts to dietary supplements as market for homeopathy is shrinking
• INTERNATIONAL: Are AI tools left, right, or just plainly wrong?
• UK: Conversion practices ban introduced in three out of four parts

We celebrate the success of HPV vaccination program by handing a Really Right Award to – Science!

Enjoy!

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

0:00:51 GREETINGS

• Heatwave follow-up: Record temps all over Europe
  • BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4d2vv935lo
  • CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/01/climate/global-oceans-break-june-temperature-record
  • Omni: https://afp.omni.se/more-than-1-000-heat-related-deaths-in-spain-in-june-public-institute/a/gkpmnB

0:07:55 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 1 July 1965: Valensole UFO incident
  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_sightings_in_France#1965

0:15:04 NEWS

• SWEDEN / INTERNATIONAL: Pontus Pokes the Politicians: Psychologist argues that politicians focus too much on values to explain crimes
  • SVD: https://www.svd.se/a/GxweLV/fokus-pa-individens-varderingar-leder-politiken-fel
• SPAIN / INTERNATIONAL: Boiron shifts to dietary supplements as market for homeopathy is shrinking
  • El País: https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2026-06-19/as-homeopathy-sector-retreats-even-an-industry-giant-is-turning-to-dietary-supplements-instead.html
• INTERNATIONAL: Are AI tools left, right, or just plainly wrong?
  • Omni: https://omni.se/judehat-och-drogtips-hos-musks-ai-tjanst-grok/a/43RgkR
  • Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2026/06/24/are-ai-chatbots-like-chatgpt-politically-biased-we-tested-them/
• UK: Conversion practices ban introduced in three out of four parts
  • Humanists UK: https://humanists.uk/2026/06/25/at-last-conversion-practices-ban-draft-bill-published/
  • Humanists UK: https://humanists.uk/2026/06/30/conversion-practices-ban-bill-introduced-in-northern-ireland/

0:41:18 REALLY RIGHT

• Really Right: For the first time ever, no young women in England died of cervical cancer first half of the year. Go science!
  • University of Minnesota: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/human-papillomavirus-hpv/hpv-vaccination-eliminated-cervical-cancer-deaths-young-uk-women-recent
  • Vaccines Today: https://www.vaccinestoday.eu/stories/hpv-vaccine-cervical-cancer-deaths-plummet-among-young-women-in-england/

0:45:12 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -­ evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition. If it did, you wouldn’t get a shot of penicillin, you’d pop a leech down your trousers and pray.”
/ Ricky Gervais (25 June 1961 – ), English comedian, actor, writer, television producer, filmmaker and former musician. /

0:46:32 OUTRO

0:47:54 OUT-TAKES