This week we first chat about András lending his voice acting skills to a sketch in the Skeptic Zone, Pontus teases the coming release of his sci-fi novel the Dooma and then we talk about the upcoming Italian CICAPFest. This year the conference takes place online for the three weeks(!) between 25 September and 18 October. There will be over 150 meetings and 185 speakers, and it will all be for fre...

This week we interview Hungarian researcher and virologist Gábor Kemenesi. He is a research fellow at the Virological Research Group within the Szentágothai Research Centre of the University of Pécs in Hungary, specializing in zoonoses, or viral diseases that spread from animals to humans. He’s also a member of Hungary’s COVID-19 Task Force for the research of the virus and in the last few months....

This week we start off with having a quick chat with our old buddy Michael (“Marsh”) Marshall regarding the relaunch of the UK magazine called the Skeptic. In this week’s history segment we talk about the LHC that powered up 12 years ago this week without the world vanishing into a black hole, and then Pope Francis gets poked for several things, including his claim that gossip is worse than covid....

This week we interview none other than Brian Deer, the investigative journalist that spent years digging up how the discredited ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield misled the public about the safety of vaccines. We dig deep into how Wakefield through dishonesty and deceit became the poster boy of the anti-vaxx movement and how his misinformation made it as big as it is today. Deer’s new book “The Doctor Wh...

This week András returns to the mothership to hear us discuss the UFO sighting in Cussac in France. Francis gets a pass this week and then we dive into the news:- Covid-19 update- Children in Germany are falling behind their vaccination schedules- Does flu claim more deaths the covid-19?- People who react negatively to rules and recommendations use more SCAM (so-called alternative medicine)- Does...

This week we interview molecular biologist, science communicator and overall cool guy Martin Moder, who is one of the Austrian “Science Busters” and who is also active in the Austrian “Society for Critical Thinking”. We found ourselves discussing everything from the dangers of farting Coronavirus to GMO, philosophy, designer babies, how to make booze out of toilet paper and the optimal way of cutt...

This week Brian is back(!) as András has gone missing(?) We chat again about the wonderful online events out there: you should definitely check out the Edinburgh Skeptics on the Fringe productions. We then talk about the Wow! signal that was recorded this week in 1977 and also find that Francis seems to have done something good for once. In this week’s news:- Two outbreaks in Mamming, Bavaria- Dan...

This week we first chat about some of the great current skeptical online events, like NECSS and Skeptics in the Pub. We also enjoy the good news that the worlds largest fusion reactor is now being assembled in the South of France. In this week in history we learn about “Lysenkoism” which Stalin decided should replace all other science. In current affairs Pope Francis has issues with Chinese infilt...

This week starts with the wonderful news that Annika is now a full time ESP member and co-host. We couldn’t be happier! We start with a minor correction to a story from last week and then chat a bit about the latest astronomy news before we celebrate this week in history: Happy birthday to the great skeptic and parapsychology researcher Susan Blackmore! (Also see our episode #088 when we had her a...

This week we welcome Annika back and first chat a bit about comets and astronomy and about some of the excellent online skeptical events there now is to follow, like the UK Skeptics in the Pub Online, the new Cologne events and Susan Gerbic’s About Time project. In this week in history we hear about Carl Jung, who was born on 26 July in 1875. Just like Freud he got a lot of things terribly wrong,...

This week we are joined by the brilliant British geneticist, broadcaster, science journalist and author, Dr Adam Rutherford. He’s written several books of international acclaim like “Creation: The Origin of Life and the Future of Life”, “A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived”, “The Book of Humans: The Story of How We Became Us” and “Humanimal: How Homo Sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical...

This week Europe has lost a star in the sky and we hear about how Louis Pasteur managed to create a rabies vaccine back in 1885 (he wasn’t even a medical doctor). Pope Francis seizes even more control about the Vatican’s finances and appoints an “extraordinary commissioner” to raid the entity looking after St Peter’s Basilica. Apparently, someone has been cooking the books. In the news this week:–...

This week we can't help but mention the Polish presidential elections and Susan Gerbic's latest interview with Pontus. We commemorate Ignaz Semmelweis on his birthday before moving on to deliberating over the future of the papacy. In the news:- Was the Tönnies incident with COVID19 due to a church service- Didier Raoult doubles down on hydroxychloroquine- Hungary's new curriculum and history textb...

This week Pontus and András bring you the latest from all over Europe mixed with some history and a little bit of Poking the Pope(s).This week marks the 646th anniversary of the onset of the Aachen Dancing Plague. After exploring that phenomenon, we move on to how Pope Francis regards women and weather Palpatine is up to no good on his visit to his homeland Germany. Then, in the news:- COVID-19 su...

This week we first learn about how the 1854 cholera outbreak led to advances in the knowledge about diseases and outbreaks thanks to the clever and rigorous work by the physician John Snow, now regarded as one of the founders of modern epidemiology. Pope Francis is getting closer to his vision of “a poor church for the poor”, perhaps just a little bit faster than he bargained for as the pandemic i...

A bit less COVID-19-heavy episode this week with the news that May 2020 saw the highest concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere ever recorded and it was also the hottest May ever.6 years ago, creationism as science in schools was banned in the UK and hallelujah, the Vatican is launching their new channel 'VatiVision' and a documentary series 'The Great Popes'.In the news this week:- Nicotine replac...

On this week's episode we celebrate the new era of commercial space flight brought about by SpaceX, then a bit of skeptical history, talking about Gérard Sède and the Priory of Sion hoax. After poking the Pope we bring you an update on the latest issues with COVID-19, including vaccine hesitancy on the rise, the fear from the second wave versus those who deny the existence of the pandemic, survail...

This week Pontus and Andras try their best to keep your spirit up while talking about the saddening advent of conspiracy theories and an ever growing antivaccination sentiment. We talk about the great and controversial scientist, the father of glaciology, Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz, try to make sense of the Pope's latest actions as part of the Vatican's financial reform, bring you a bit of the la...

On this week's episode we start by the funny PA of Deutsche Bahn then turn towards the story of psychic Peter Hurkos who was born on this day. The latest from the Catholic Church reveals conspiracy theories and Pope Benedict XVI. trying to influence current affairs. We talk about how grounded aeroplanes mean less reliable weather forecasts, the Czech government trying to outrun COVID-19 by themsel...

This week our team welcomes Susan Gerbic back to the show to talk about her and Mark Edward's sting operations to reveal psychics and their techniques in conning people and why Wikipedia is probably the most important asset in the hands of skeptics in the never-ending fight against pseudoscienc and quackery. And this is also a call for new editors from around the world to join the international te...

The three of us are back to bring you the latest from Europe. We're saddened by the (not so surprising) news that QED 2020 is now postponed to 2021, but whenever it is, we are looking forward to it. In the meantime check out Christian Lehmann's series of guest posts on Edzard Ernst's blog about the hydroxychloroquine controversy. Jelena tells us the story of an alleged alien abduction in Poland mo...

This week, in the absence of Jelena, Annika Harrison joins us to bring you news and curiousities from all over Europe. We start by mentioning Pontus guest-hosting The Skeptic Zone with Richard Saunders, then move on to discuss what an idiot Trump is and how Satanic Ritual Abuse is on the rise in Germany. Annika then investigates whether women are indeed better leaders with special regards to how t...

This week Deborah Hyde joins us to bring you news and interesting topics to cover with us. We start by mentioning how VoF (Sweden), the GWUP (Germany), ComCept (Portugal) and ARP-SAPC (Spain) make efforts to provide their readers with accurate and reliable information in the times of COVID-19.Then Deborah gives us a brief overview of the history of quarantines, before we turn into discussing Cardi...

This week we bring you news and topics from all over Europe again. We start by talking about the unfortunate death (probably of Covid-19) of a board member of VoF.After that we're looking back at the history of LSD and how 19 April marks a special day in it, before we discuss how Cardinal Pell walks freely after the High Court of Australia overturns the previous verdict on his child abuse case. In...

ECSO President Claire Kraulik-Klingenberg joins us for this week's episode to bring you news and topics from all over the continent. Skeptics in the Pub Online is now a thing, popping up everywhere, while power grabbing by authoritarian governments seems to be the new, concerning trend. We talk about whether Alfred Nobel read his own premature obituary, prompting him to start the awards named afte...