This week an old friend of ours Brian Eggo from Glasgow Skeptics joins us to bring you a show packed with news, thoughts and curiousities. We talk about how Skeptics in the Pub events are going online, that one time Rupert Sheldrake got stabbed and how Pope Francis has nothing to offer to help with the pandemic. After the usual COVID-19 update we talk about how Sweden takes a different approach to...

We are bringing you a selection of topics this week, some Corona-related and some aren't:QED organisers ask you to hold your travel arrengements at this time...The Vatican issues a decree that makes confessions obsolete, the Good Thinking Society convinces the PSA to impose strict conditions on the Society of Homeopaths, they also team up with Richard Wiseman to support magicians with the Good Mag...

The three of us finally reunite for yet another show featuring an update on the COVID-19 situation and the GWuP cancelling SkepKon 2020. Then, after an interview with Annabel Bligh of the Anthill Podcast, we return with Pontus poking the Pope again for worsening the pandemic with his irrational approach to church-going. Our news segment covers all sorts of topics including a distant world where it...

This week we have no less than two separate interviews, both of which we’ve been looking forward to for some time. First, we talk to Šarūnas Bačiliūnas, the founder of the rather new “Lithuanian Skeptic Youth” Organisation. Started from scratch in 2018 they organize events, workshops international exchanges and educate both the public and even teachers on critical thinking. Impressively they have...

This week it cannot be helped that a lot of the episode is about different aspects on the Coronavirus and Covid-19. But we also want to remind everyone about our SkepKon raffle where we have one ticket to hand out to the conference in Berlin 21 - 23 May! Just send us an email to participate. After the greetings we hear about holocaust denier David Irving, who was declared bankrupt This Week in His...

This week we talk about the John Maddox Prize, the BBC’s new show series about Greta Thunberg and about Darren Brown, born on this day in 1971. Pontus Pokes the Pope and finally we get Francis’ take on celibacy in the Amazon (or do we?), and of course the highlights from the latest sex abuse scandals. In the news we hear the latest regarding the CoViD-19 Coronavirus, more details about dangerous m...

On this episode we interview Australian cognitive scientist and founder of the Skeptical Science website John Cook about his upcoming book 'Cranky Uncle vs Climate Change' that showcases typical climate science denial situations in a cartoon format. We also talk about other projects John has been busy with, including the Cranky Uncle app, The Debunking Handbook and a lot more. Enjoy! Segments:Intr...

This week before we get into the meat of the show, we talk Corona, Greta Thunberg and look forward to Adam Rutherford’s new book, “How to Argue with a Racist”. We also have two good news for our German friends: Natalie Grams have launched her podcast “Grams’ Sprechstunde” and we have a ticket raffle for SkepKon 2020 in Berlin. Tune in to find out how you can win a free ticket! In this week in hist...

This week we interview Finnish activist Iida Ruishalme and talk about nuclear power and green energy. Iida is a biologist specialised in biomedical research, an environmentalist, a writer and a science communicator. She also a mum, taking the future of her children very seriously. She blogs at Thoughtscapism.com. We first met her at the 2019 European Skeptics Congress in Ghent where she gave a fas...

This week we first get the record straight and correct our position on Ocean Cleanup - while we appreciate the sentiment, the whole idea is both damaging and unscientific. Two great Skeptical events are coming up this spring Skepkon 2020 in Berlin 21 - 23 May and the 4th Conference on Science and Pseudoscience 13 -1 4 March in Alicante. In this week in history we hear about Russia’s own Roswell in...

This week we note that the Swedish Skeptics’ article from last week concerning Thomas Erikson’s nonsense personality book “Surrounded by Idiots” has gotten some attention from other skeptics, among other things Pontus was a guest on the last episode of the Skeptic Zone podcast to talk about it. In history this week we talk about Desmond Morris and his role in the Aquatic Ape hypothesis and then Po...

This week we note that at the time of recording, American-Swedish astronaut Jessica Meir is busy preparing and conducting the second ever all-female spacewalk. In history this week in 1964, Italian philosopher, author and skeptic Massimo Pigliucci was born, and we discuss some of his contributions and influences. Pontus Pokes the Pontus to note that old Benedict comes out of retirement to fight fo...

This week András is back and we start by philosophizing a bit about what a new decade really means and look forward to a few nice skeptics meetings coming up. We also talk about the future for Golden Rice and why it is so important despite what Greenpeace and EU politicians think. From history we hear about the so-called ‘psychic’ Doris Stokes who was born this week in 1920 and Pontus Pokes the Po...

This week Brian is back again and we look forward to the new year. One thing to note about 2020 is the Ratio conference in Sofia in Bulgaria in June and that the super early bird tickets already are released. Chris French is going, so why don’t you? Then Jelena tells us a ghost story from this week in 1762 that took place in Cock Lane, believe it or not. In Pontus Pokes the Pope we hear about shad...

This week we wrap up the year and wish all our listeners a Happy Holiday. We revisit something we got wrong about Das Goldene Brett last week and celebrate the birthday of Johannes Kepler. For Pontus Pokes the Pope we examine what the Pontifical Secret is all about and what it may mean when Francis now has declared it cannot be used to hide sex abuse. We also deliver our first ever film review, on...

This week we start our journey towards episode 300 and first reflect on climate change with Greta Thunberg as Time Magazine’s person of the year and Australia heading for a sever heatwave just in time for Christmas. Johan Nevil Maskelyne, skeptic, magician (and inventor of the pay toilet) was born on 22 December 180 years ago. Pontus Popes the Pope who has been very busy over the year and seems to...

This week we celebrate our 200th episode and that we continue our journey into our fifth year! We re-unite with our first ever guest, Gábor Hraskó (president of the Hungarian Skeptics) to philosophize a little about Skepticism and what has changed over time. And throughout the show we hear fantastic congratulation greetings from dear friends from across the world! We go on to bring up the eradicat...

This week Claire Kroulik-Klingenberg joins Jelena and Pontus for the 199th episode – we’re into our fifth year, folks! In This week in Skepticism, Jelena tells the story of how a young pre-Sherlock-Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle fictionalized the real story of a ghost ship, creating a modern legend. Pontus Pokes the Pope and goes through some of the main on-going abuse scandals, while Francis himself c...

This week we have a very interesting interview with Lydia Finch, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness turned skeptic. As a sort of a follow-up from two weeks ago, we felt we wanted to dive a little more into what it really means to grow up as a JW and then eventually leave. Leaving voluntarily is difficult enough, but in Lydia’s case she was kicked out for “behaving badly” and for a long while she lived in fea...

This week we welcome Brian back for an unprecedented two-weeks-in-a-row appearance and then we dive into how the Piltdown-man hoax went undetected for many years, but was revealed this week 66 years ago. Then we poke the pope for trying to put the blame for his sex abuse scandals on Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, while Cardinal Pell, believe in or not, may get one more day in court. In the news we...

This week it’s the return of Brian as we have sent András on a field trip to Malaysia. We celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Glasgow Skeptics and then explore signs that some bishops in the Catholic Church at least seem to be trying do the right thing regarding the abuse scandals, however without much help from Francis. He may instead worry that he has opened Pandora’s box by allowing discussio...

This week pope Francis is all talk and no show, there was a secret love affaire between a Cardinal and a Queen of Sweden in 1654 and Massimo Polidoro’s book Il Mondo Sottosopra is now in the shops. New study finds that measles resets your whole immune system in a very bad way, homeopathic nonsense should absolutely not have a Royal warrant of appointment and Swedish CAM proponents claim CAM is saf...

First: A big shout-out to fellow skeptics Claire and Jakub who are getting married on the day of the release of this episode! This week we learn about William Benjamin Carpenter, an early skeptic and describer of the Ideomotor effect, back in 1870s. Then we ponder the results of the Synod for the Amazon and what decisions Pope Francis will have to make of those. Also, the renewal of the Pact of th...

This week we have a very interesting catch up with Ovidiu Covaciu who attended the International Global Vaccination Summit organised by the European Commission and the WHO. But before that we celebrate that Jelena singlehandedly (not really) made sure that the new Center for Population Health in her home city of Seattle was dedicated to Dr. Hans Rosling, the Swedish professor and science communica...

This week we first have a look to see if it was really the President of Finland who said he preferred reindeer to Trump before we congratulate the Spanish Skeptics for ceasing the opportunity of the Nobel week to point out what the ‘Nobel decease’ is in the mainstream media. We also remember the mockumentary ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ that premiered this week 17 years ago. Social media is tough to ha...