502 Conversations - Science, Skepticism, Pseudoscience, Philosophy, and more.

Carlos Orsi is an award-winning journalist with more than thirty years of experience in science writing. He is a director and cofounder of IQC, a Brazilian NGO dedicated to promoting science-based public policies, critical thinking, and scientific skepticism. Carlos is the chief editor of Revista Questão de Ciência, and his writing has also appeared in The Skeptical Inquirer and The Skeptic (UK)....

Dr. William Matthew London is professor emeritus, Cal State LA, Department of Public Health. He is the editor of Center for Inquiry’s Quackwatch e-newsletter Consumer Health Digest, is content curator for Quackwatch's HHS Watch pages and is the online Consumer Health columnist for Skeptical Inquirer. Dr. London is also a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. This episode is also avail...

Dr. Joe is director of the McGill Office for Science and Society, which aims to separate sense from nonsense. Dr. Joe holds a PhD in chemistry and is well known for his informative and entertaining public lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to the science of aging. © 2026 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. A video version of th...

A rebuttal, of sorts, to episode 134 of The Body of Evidence, "Medical Cannabis: Where Are We?". Dr. Labos is a cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology. He writes for the Montreal Gazette, makes regular appearances on CBC radio and TV, and is host of The Body of Evidence podcast, where he takes a skeptical eye at health claims and looks at the body of evidence on a varietyof health to...

Timothy Redmond, PhD teaches high school history, government, and critical thinking and is an adjunct professor at Daemen College. He is a Jackson Center fellow, the recipient of the 2019 Toby Ticktin Back Award for excellence in Holocaust education, and an associate director of the Human Rights Academy. He is the author of Political Tribalism in America: How Hyper-Partisanship Dumbs Down Democrac...

Dr. Crouch, or Dr. Dad as he is known online, is a psychologist, former meditation teacher, and author. He has published research in peer-reviewed academic journals, written therapy workbooks for children, and is the author of the  Beyond Belief  book series, which teaches children critical thinking skills using fun paranormal mysteries. © 2025 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason,...

Dr. Joe Pierre is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco; and the Unit Chief of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital Adult Inpatient Unit. He has extensive clinical experience working with individuals with psychotic disorders, substance use disorders, and those with “dual diagnosis.”Dr. Pierre has authored over 100 pape...

A video version of this show is available at ⁠⁠https://youtu.be/jNo6479P3C4 Stuart Vyse is a behavioral scientist, teacher, and writer, with a PhD in psychology. He is an expert on superstition and irrational behavior, and has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times. Dr. Vyse has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN International, the PBS NewsHour, and NPR’s Sc...

A video version of this conversation is available at https://youtu.be/uJ-ufcTJQnY Bernie Garrett, PhD, is a professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) School of Nursing with over 35 years of experience in both critical care nursing and nursing education in the UK and Canada. He holds a PhD in information science, and has a number of specialist clinical and educational qualifications. Be...

Katharine Beals has a PhD in linguistics, is adjunct assistant at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and is an adjunct professor at both the Drexel University and Temple University schools of education. Dr. Beals specializes in language and literacy acquisition in autism, language technologies for autistic individuals, educational challenges for students with autis...

Cholesterol denialism Dr. Christopher Labos is a cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology. He spends most of his time doing things for which he does not get paid, like research, teaching, podcasting, and speaking with me. He writes for the Montreal Gazette, makes regular appearances on CBC radio and TV, and is co-host of The Body of Evidence podcast, where he and Jonathan Jarry take a skeptical...

Dr. Offit is a pediatrician; a professor of both pediatrics and vaccinology; director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is an expert on vaccines, immunology, and virology and is a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee and has published hundreds of papers in medical and scientific journals. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reaso...

Adrienne is a skeptical activist, and serves as a board member for the nonprofit organization About Time. Additionally, she holds positions as a board member, presenter, and educational consultant for the Tourette OCD Alberta Network. Adrienne actively contributes as an editor for Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia; reports for The Skeptic Zone podcast; writes for Skeptical Inquirer magazine in the...

Dr. Katharine Beals has a PhD in linguistics, is lecturer at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and an adjunct professor at both the Drexel University and Temple University schools of education. She is the author of numerous books and articles on language, literacy, math instruction, and problems with current practices in K–12 classrooms. She recently authored the...

This episode may be viewed as a video here: https://youtu.be/9t_wwXRo4j0 Welcome! As I mentioned in the 502 Conversations Brain Training episode with Dr. Indre Viskontas, I did a prior show on brain supplements. The show is The Dr. Dennis Show, which I co-host. I thought it might be a good idea to excerpt the brain supplement segment and make it available on 502 Conversations. Enjoy! © 2024 Dedham...

This episode may be viewed as a video here https://youtu.be/YIkCs1XCPWo Dr. Viskontas has a PhD in cognitive neuroscience and a masters of music in voice performance. She is currently an associate professor of psychology at the University of San Francisco where she directs the creative brain lab; and she has a cross appointment at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she applies neurosci...

This episode may be viewed as a video here https://youtu.be/7FuWSjf2YEQ Dr. Joe Schwarcz is Director of the McGill Office for Science and Society. He is well known for his informative and entertaining public lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to the science of aging and is fondly referred to as Dr. Joe. He hosts "The Dr. Joe Show" on Montreal's CJAD radio; writes t...

This episode may be seen as a video here: https://youtu.be/-8n9ZVV9M5E Dr. Paul Offit is a pediatrician; a professor of both pediatrics and vaccinology; and he is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is an expert on vaccines, immunology, and virology and co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine RotoTeq, and is a member of the FDA Vaccines and...

A video version is available at https://youtu.be/_VdNPIoajSc David Samson, PhD., is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Toronto, and Director of the Sleep and Human Evolution Lab. He is the author of “Our Tribal Future: How to channel our foundational human instincts into a force for good”. His research directly addresses the central anthropological question of...

This episode may be viewed as a video here https://youtu.be/wGlswKJMHTU Anthony Magnabosco is from San Antonio, Texas and is a founder and the current Executive Director of the nonprofit Street Epistemology International (SEI). SEI is an educational organization committed to addressing dysfunction in public and private discourse by encouraging rationality through civil conversation. SEI's goal...

This episode may also be viewed here. Remember when we were young and chocolate was good for us? And red wine too, the more the better? Dr. Christopher Labos is here once again to set the record straight. He talks more about his book - plot and character development; the French Paradox; Mendelian randomization; this year in Cardiology, and more! A cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology, he spe...

This episode is also available as a video here: https://youtu.be/o7Jc2OKpa5o Dr. Wilson is a molecular biologist and science communicator. Dr. Wilson got his Bachelor's degree in molecular biology and biotechnology from Clarion University and his PhD in Biological Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University. After getting his PhD he began working for Eurofins as a process analytical scientist, and is...

This episode may be viewed as a video here: https://youtu.be/gPuAxnoBaIA Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. The recipient of several teaching awards, he has taught philosophy at Colgate University, Boston University, Tufts Experimental College, Simmons College, and Harvard Extension School. Formerly Executive Director of the...

This episode may be seen as a video here https://youtu.be/NK6QxIdhueQ Dr. Young is a Professor of Communication and Political Science at the University of Delaware where she studies the content, audience, and effects of nontraditional political information. She has published over sixty academic articles and book chapters on the content, psychology, and effects of political information, satire, and...

This episode is also available as a video here: https://youtu.be/hK9DaPsYgNA Writer, folklorist, and research fellow, and paranormal investigator Benjamin Radford discusses a history of Halloween; urban legends including organ theft and bad clowns; investigating ghosts and the paranormal; and more, much more! Benjamin Radford is one of the world’s few science-based paranormal investigators, and ha...