The Skeptic Podcast

From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.

On this episode:

• Time Team's archaeologists showed us how experts can ruthlessly unpick a hoax, by Paul Duncan McGarrity, from November 2020

• The story of Phineas Gage's accident is well-known; what happened to him afterwards is not, by Kat Ford, from January 2024

• Have we seen the last of the vanishing phantom hitchhiker?, by Deborah Hyde, from January 2021

• The meaning crisis, and how we rescue young men from reactionary politics, by Aaron Rabinowitz, from November 2024

Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic

From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.

On this episode: 

• How to spot medical misinformation in a pandemic, by Brian Eggo & Matt Kemp, from December 2020

• Therapy on tap: Thought Field Therapy offfers superficial solutions to deep disturbances, by Peter Panayi, from November 2020

• Could ASMR be a possible explanation for some new age and spiritual experiences?, by Mark Horne, from March 2024

• Real in what sense?, by Aaron Rabinowitz, from November 2020

Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic

From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.

On this episode: 

• Ethics for Skeptics, by Aaron Rabinowitz, from September 2020

• Brazil's government throw their weight behind Creationism and Intelligent Design, by Carlos Orsi and Natália Pasternak, from November 2020

• When it comes to science, the standard has to be truth and accuracy - not false balance, by Hayley Stevens, from September 2024

• I'll take the COVID-19 vaccine, and here's why I'm telling you, by Matthew Reynolds, from January 2021

Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic 

From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.

On this episode: 

• When you understand 5G technology, the conspiracy theories simply don’t add up, by Sean Slater, from November 2020

• How to start having better arguments, according to the evidence, by Mark Horne & Matt Kemp, from November 2020

• "But it's just a joke!": why comedy's right to offend doesn't include the right to harm, by Brian Eggo, from August 2024

• Has the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an increase in ghostly encounters?, by Chris French, from October 2020

Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic 

From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020. 

On this episode: 

• Conspiracy theories around the ‘feminisation’ of Western men shield believers from examining their own prejudices, by Thiago Vahia, from April 2021

• By invoking 'Spirit of the Blitz' nostalgia, we do a disservice to what was achieved on the home front, by Victoria Stiles, from October 2020

• The wealthy, conservative American Christian groups pushing anti-abortion protests in the UK, by Michael Marshall, from September 2024

• Institute of Biomedical Science falls for the Traditional Chinese Medicine hype, by Brian Eggo, from October 2020

Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic 

From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020. 

On this episode:

• Headlines calling HPV swabs “home smear tests” risk putting people off cervical screenings, by Alice Howarth, from February 2021

• Rectal ozone therapy: Brazil’s latest COVID-19 pseudoscience, by Carlos Orsi and Natália Pasternak, from October 2020

• The “child identifies as wolf” story was only ever about bullying, not ‘species confusion’, by Brian Eggo, from October 2024

• Anti-fluoride activists may disagree, but fluoridation is social justice in dental care, by Shaun Sellars, from October 2020

Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic

From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020. 

On this episode: 

• Why we should listen to Flat Earth believers (even though they’re completely wrong), by Michael Marshall, from February 2021

• Are digital pregnancy tests simply taking the pee?, by Alice Howarth, from September 2020 

• Chiropractors love to claim their treatments are ‘individualised’, but they’re wrong, by Sarah Hearne, from September 2020

• First do no harm? Treatments don't need to be harmless, as long they do good, by Edzard Ernst, from November 2024

Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic

From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.

On this episode: 

• The Atacama mummy: putting together the pieces of an “Archaeology bombshell”, by Paul Duncan McGarrity, from August 2020

• Conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and alt-med quackery put our pets in harm's way, by Danny Chambers, from September 2020

• Putting some skeptical mantras to bed, by Jonathan Jarry, from January 2021

• Exploding the myth of the longevity “Blue Zones”, where people live beyond the age of 100, by Carlos Orsi, from September 2024

Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic 

From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020. 

On this episode:

• Coronavirus, conspiracy, challenges and compassion, by Michael Marshall, from September 2020

• Hydroxychloroquine: When bad science goes mainstream, by Carlos Orsi and Natália Pasternak, from September 2020

• ‘Mask Mouth’: A real dental phenomenon, or merely a confection?, by Shaun Sellars, from September 2020

• The Battersea Poltergeist, and the role of the paranormal investigator, by Deborah Hyde, from May 2021

Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic