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 papers, abstracts, and book chapters and has been featured in numerous articles; media interviews, and t...
Apr 26, 2025•56 min
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 Science Friday. Dr. Vyse is the author of several books, including Believing in Magic: The Psychology ...
Mar 23, 2025•59 min
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. Bernie Garrett has authored several science and clinical textbooks; chapters in edited books; and nume...
Feb 21, 2025•59 min
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 autism, evidence based instruction, and the problems with FC as an intervention in autism. © 2025 Dedham ...
Feb 04, 2025•58 min
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 eye at health claims and look at the body of evidence on a variety of health topics. He is also the ...
Jan 01, 2025•53 min
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 reason, without permission, is prohibited. Video version here https://youtu.be/83vqu3_BbRw 00:00 Intro 00...
Dec 07, 2024•45 min
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 US and Australia’s The Skeptic Magazine; and co-chairs the Western Canadian Reason Conference (WeCa...
Oct 13, 2024•53 min
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 article “Should schools dedicate time to grit and growth mindset”. Video version available at https:...
Oct 08, 2024•51 min
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 TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Links to reports m...
Jun 19, 2024•21 min
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 neuroscience to musical training. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permis...
Jun 13, 2024•53 min
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 the newspaper column The Right Chemistry for the Montreal Gazette; and has authored the best-selling books such as ...
May 07, 2024•1 hr 5 min
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 Related Biological Products Committee. He has published hundreds of papers in medical and scientific jou...
Mar 02, 2024•38 min
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 human uniqueness. In other words, the question he asks is what is it about our species that has mad...
Feb 23, 2024•1 hr 9 min
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 is to provide people with the resources needed to develop, practice, and promote Street Epistemology, a...
Jan 22, 2024•50 min
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 spends most of his time doing things for which he does not get paid, like research, teaching, and podca...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr 39 min
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 currently working on gene therapies. In his spare time he produces and hosts Debunk the Funk, his Y...
Dec 10, 2023•57 min
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 Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, he has also served as a policy advi...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 8 min
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 misinformation. She is a Research Fellow with the University of Delaware's Center for Political Com...
Oct 16, 2023•55 min
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 has done first-hand research into mysterious phenomena in sixteen countries on four continents. His re...
Oct 09, 2023•1 hr 42 min
This episode may also be viewed as a video here https://youtu.be/A564BmrXTAo Andy Norman has a PhD in Philosophy from Northwestern University and is the award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. andynorman.org His research illuminates the evolutionary origins of human reasoning, the norms that make dialogue fruitful, and the workings of the mind’s immune system. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the ...
Sep 18, 2023•57 min
This episode may also be viewed as a video here: 502 Conversations with Dr. Christopher Labos . Dr. Christopher Labos is a cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology, and the author of the new book "Does Coffee Cause Cancer? and Eight More Myths About the Food We Eat" at doescoffeecausecancer.com He writes for the Montreal Gazette, and makes regular appearances on CBC radio and TV. He is also the co-host of The Body of Evidence podcast, where he and Jonathan Jarry take a skeptical eye at health ...
Jul 08, 2023•1 hr 31 min
This episode may also be viewed as a video here , or at 502conversations.com Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. He is the author of several books, including How to Talk to A Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason; The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience; The Art of Good and Evil; and Post Truth. Lee McIntyre’s popular essays have...
May 08, 2023•1 hr 31 min
This episode may be viewed as a video here 502 Conversations with Melanie Trecek-King . Melanie Trecek-King is the creator of ThinkingIsPower.com, an online resource that provides critical thinking education to the general public. She is currently an Associate Professor of Biology at Massasoit Community College, where she teaches a general-education science course designed to equip students with critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy skills. An active speaker and consultan...
Mar 10, 2023•59 min
This episode may be viewed as a video at 502 Conversations . Todd Stiefel is founder and president of the Stiefel Freethought Foundation and he is also president of Heretical Reason Productions and the founder and chair of the ScienceSaves campaign. He is an activist and philanthropist, and has gifted over $8.7 million to charitable causes. When not raising funds and advocating for the principles he is passionate about, Todd executive produces independent movies such as the documentary "Shot in ...
Feb 24, 2023•44 min
A conversation with Dr. Naomi Oreskes, professor of the History of Science, and author of Why Trust Science, and Merchants of Doubt. This episode may be viewed as a video here. Dr. Oreskes is a world-renowned earth scientist, historian and public speaker, as well as a leading voice on the role of science in society, the reality of anthropogenic climate change, and the role of disinformation in blocking climate action. She is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science; and Affiliat...
Nov 25, 2022•50 min
This episode may be viewed as a video here Dr. Paul Offit on 502 Conversations Dr. Paul Offit reappears on 502 Conversations for a Covid vaccine update, including a discussion of the bivalent booster. He also speaks about the flu 2022; a potential RSV vaccine; tips for budding writers; and more. © 2022 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission is prohibited. Dr. Paul Offit is a pediatrician, and a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Di...
Sep 22, 2022•43 min
When his daughter was diagnosed with anorexia, Craig Good got an up close look at how important it is to have a healthy relationship with your food. As the author of Relax and Enjoy Your Food, he’s put on his science communicator hat to untangle the myths that keep us anxious and less healthy than we could be. Craig Good spent thirty one years at Pixar (and Lucasfilm before that) where he worked on movises such as Toy Story; A Bug’s Life; Finding Nemo; and Cars; among dozens of others. He is now...
Aug 23, 2022•53 min
Dr. Paul Offit discusses his book "Overkill: When Modern Medicine Goes Too Far". Brian Kerby and Dr. Offit talk about current studies regarding Vitamin D; mammographies; stents; supplements; and more. This episode may be viewed here. Paul A. Offit, M.D., is a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is an expert on vaccines, immunology, and virology. The co-inventor of RotoTeq, a rot...
Jul 13, 2022•27 min•Ep. 19
Joe Uscinski, PhD, is a Political Scientist at the University of Miami. He studies public opinion and mass media, with a focus on conspiracy theories and related misinformation. He received his bachelor's degree from Plymouth State University, his Master's from University of New Hampshire, and his Doctorate from University of Arizona. His research has appeared in Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Critical Review among other scholarly outlets. He has written for the Atlantic,...
Jun 15, 2022•50 min•Ep. 17
Rob Palmer, aka The Well Known Skeptic. Rob is a former spacecraft designer, aerospace project engineer, programmer, and software engineer. An erstwhile believer in biorhythms, ancient aliens, ESP and all kinds of pseudoscientific nonsense, he is now the eponymous author of the Skeptical Inquirer column "The Well Known Skeptic", in which he writes book reviews, conducts interviews with skeptics and public figures, and investigates such topics as psychics and psychic fraud, and the purported soni...
Jun 08, 2022•38 min
