Luna sits in for András(!) and we talk about  conspiracy theories  regarding the  earthquake in Turkey  last year, a new study about peoples worldview and in  TWISH  we get into  the curse of Tutankhamun  – what really was going on? Then we have a look at the news: UK : Sexual harassment anyone? Chiropractic council is there for chiropractors, not for patien...

King Charles III  is ill and although we seldom agrees with him we still whish him a speedy recovery.  Marcus Wandt , the Swedish astronaut, took time off his busy schedule and gave a called via link with students at a Swedish school – the teacher setting it up is active in  VoF, the Swedish skeptics . Well done, Philippe! Marcus has been stuck on the ISS for several days but as thi...

We start with some  listener feedback  and ponder the wonders of  European languages  before we turn to  TWISH , where we hear about  Bertrand Russell and his teapot . Then we go into the news: INTERNATIONAL : Measles update SWITZERLAND : Homeopathy in Switzerland AUSTRIA : The Austrian Medical Academy exposed for peddling pseudomedicine INTERNATIONAL : Funding, not t...

This week we interview the fabulous  Anja Harrison  (no relation to any of the hosts) about a great initiative –  The Collaborative Library . Having met Anja at QED last year, we decided we just had to get her on the show. The ambitious plan of the Collaborative Library is to make scientific research much more accessible for the public, by making sure that there is a lay summary of...

By the time this episode comes out,  Sweden  hopefully has its  third and latest astronaut in space!   Marcus Wandt  is schedule for launch on  Wednesday , (nope) Thursday evening, European time. For a little more down-to-Earth skeptical fun, sign up for the  European Skeptics Congress , 30 May – 2 June, in Lyon, France.  Registrations  are now open! No...

Sorry for the delay guys, but we’re back! We have a host of  tips for our listeners  to get engaged in in the new year. In this week’s  TWISH  we hear about  the Basel Massacre  in 1349, gruesome stuff. Then we look at the news: ROMANIA : Measles declared an epidemic after infant death INTERNATIONAL : Large language models validate misinformation UK : King Charles’ “A...

Suddenly Poland emerges as a possible example against  populism in Europe  – strange times indeed. In  TWISH  we hear about  Marconi ‘s groundbreaking  radio transmission over the Atlantic  – not very long ago when you think about it, and pretty cool since he didn’t really know how radio waves work! In the news this week we look at these items: SWEDEN : Supreme C...

First we mention that the prestigious  Heinz Oberhummer Award  has just been given to  Die Sendung mit der Maus  which we recently called out for being  Really Wrong . Annika puts that into perspective for us. It is time to plan the trip to next year’s  European Skeptics Congress , this time  in Lyon France, 30 May to 2 June . We then ask if  Pope Frankie &n...

In  TWISH  this week we hear about  Claude Lévi-Strauss  who put together a structuralist theory to analyze myths. We also hear that  Pope Frankie is sick  but still plans to attend the  COP-28 meeting in Dubai  – we cannot help wondering why. Then it’s time for the news: ISRAEL : Most common rumors related to the  Israel-Hamas war GERMANY : Court dismi...

In this week’s  TWISH  we hear about  Trofim Lysenko  before we look into the news: EU : Glyphosate update INTERNATIONAL : Nostalgia in politics UK : The Good Law Project supports the General Medical Council taking action against harmful misinformation NORTHERN IRELAND : ‘The Hum’ is back! Naturopaths selling  Miracle Mineral Supplements  (MMS) are promoting a life th...

Despite the numerology, this episode CAN be found wherever you get your podcasts. We will give you tips about  The Conspiracy Test ,  the Humanist UK 2024 Convention , the latest  Skeptical Inquirer interview  and  Skepticon 2023 in Australia  – all good things to check out! In  TWISH  we hear about one of Darwin’s buddies, the groundbreaking (pun intended)...

After the normal meet and greet, we have an interview with  Norbert Aust  – German skeptic and one of the initiators of  INH, Information Network Homeopathy . He brings us up to date on what’s going on and reports on the fight to get  fraudulent and incorrect ‘scientific’ papers  retracted. We later get a  ‘TWISH’  about the  ‘Festival of Reason’ , a failed...

– with Paula Dahlberg Full length episode, plus an interesting interview this week. We first note that science has discovered the “Pontus plate” (much to our liking) and also that if you are quick you can still apply to give a talk at SkepKon in Augsburg in May. Then we hear about the sad passing of Peter Olausson, prominent skeptic and former president of VoF. After that we have our interview wit...

Starting off our next 400 episodes, we interview the amazing Cara Santa Maria of Talk Nerdy and Skeptic Guide to the Universe fame. We get into things about her that you may not be aware of – how she rebelled against her Mormon upbringing, her passion for social injustices, and why she cannot always be allowed to speak her mind on the Skeptics Guide. A brilliant science communicator with a backgro...

The band is back together for episode 400! Watch out for Gerson therapy, confusing Synods and of course, this week’s news:UK: Phones in schoolsPOLAND: End of the PiS party reign(?)BELGIUM: Catholic University of Leuven stops UFO ‘conference’SWITZERLAND: Another tumor ‘treated naturally’UK: ‘Relaxed’ climate change policies in the UK, but also elsewhereUK: University of Exeter offers degree in Magi...

SkepKon 2024 is coming up in May 2024! It will be held in Augsburg and there is a call for papers out, see link in the show notes. This episode comes out on Friday the 13th, so in TWISH we explore where this superstition comes from. We have an interview with Dr Holm Hümmler who tells us what really went down at the presentation of Das Goldene Brett Award in Vienna last week, and then we take a loo...

This is the second part of our reporting from QED 2023. Before we get into the interviews we comment on the brand new Nobel Prizes in Medicine, Physics and Chemistry, all awarded for fascinating progress in science! Then we have four new interviews to share from QED.Enjoy! Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Additional Interviews; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...

Last week was QED, and boy did we enjoy it! Fantastic talks, great happenings and wonderful people! This episode is part 1 of our interviews with some of the people we met. Enjoy! Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; About Qed; Additional Interviews; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

…science communicator extraordinaire! This week we are talking to Florian Aigner, an Austrian physicist, science editor, author, science communicator and skeptic. He lives in Austria and works at the TU Vienna (Technical University). He is also on the jury of Das goldene Brett. He has written three popular science books and held the keynote speech at the European Skeptics Congress in 2022 in Vienn...

Annika has been to the esoteric fair and gives a report and dowsing is apparently used by employees at Scottish Water. In TWISH we celebrate the International Day of Democracy, and boy do we need it. And then there is the news:INTERNATIONAL: Toddlers can reason! SWEDEN / UK: Believing in personal gut feelings and falling for conspiracy theoriesGERMANY: New developments regarding Satanic PanicSWEDE...

Several awards and gatherings to be on the look-out for: the Ockham Award, the Rusty Razor, the Bent Spoon and Das Goldene Brett. The feast of Santa Rosalia is the topic for TWISH and Pope Frankie is nostalgic about the Mongolian invasion (wtf?). Then, we have this week’s news:GERMANY: Follow-up on the Reichsbürger movementINTERNATIONAL: Prediction of 1 billion+ deaths related to climate change by...

…and Nessie goes ‘gloop’ We’re happy to announce that the ESP Shop is now available in the US, Canada and Australia. We also want you to know that nominations for Das Goldene Brett is still open. In TWISH we hear about an encounter of the third kind and Frankie insists India don’t look the congregation in the eye more than half of the time. Then we get into the news:SCOTLAND: Nessie hunters hear s...

…sleep restriction for insomnia? A lot of great talks are coming up for Skepticamp at QED in September – with András, Pontus and Claire among the speakers! In TWISH we hear about an almost 200 year old fake news about the moon and then we take a look at the news:UK: Asparagus fails to predict the futureSCOTLAND: Loch Ness might be ‘home to spirit entity’ that can be disturbed by searchUK: Meghan M...

…Uri Geller strikes again… There are now streaming tickets for QED! In TWISH we hear about the three wise guys, sorry, the three wise men, and how they ended up in Cologne in Germany. No pope this week, so we head right in for the news:UK: Voter databank hacked and according to experts can potentially be used to target voters with disinformationINTERNATIONAL: YouTube starts mass takedowns of video...

…and the deep fakes grows deeper We start with listener feedback regarding burning the Quran and the best ways to boil a frog… We also announce our newly created merch store and there is still time to get your ESP t-shirt before QED. 15% off if you hurry!. In TWISH we hear about Sea Org day celebrated by scientologists and the pope gets poked for his “excluded but-not-excluded policy” towards wome...