This week we welcome Annika Merkelbach from Germany back to the show to talk about the upcoming skeptical convention SkepKon, GSoW and her series of interviews on Skeptical Inquirer's website.We also talk about the European Skeptics Congress to be held in Ghent the end of August, plus lots of news items and topics to mention include:The Cancer Act 1939 of the UK, the latest wrongdoings of the Vatican, an Italian politician who's been opposing mandatory vaccination being hospitalised with chicken...
Apr 01, 2019•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we bring you topics and news about SkepKon in Germany and the 38th Anniversary of the premier of Quark, Italy's most famous science show hosted by Piero Angela.Plus we talk about abuse in Poland by catholic priests and Pius XII being referred to as Hitler's pope, how the supplement market is full of bogus claims, the Swedish National Library publishing the cost of accessing scientific studies, how the rise of both vaccine hesitancy and populism might be connected, an update on the stat...
Mar 24, 2019•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast No shortage of interesting topics after two interview episodes in a row!In this episode: ‘canali’ on Mars (or rather not), we catch up on the Pope and especially Cardinal Pell, a huge study that disproves the link between vaccines and autism, Amazon and Facebook take a stand against anti-vaccers, successful Swedish fights against colloidal silver and anthroposophy, the Hungarian government stabs science in the back, Elsevier gets further pushback on their outrageous pricing models and Hungarian ...
Mar 14, 2019•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast We catch up with Pixie Turner who has just released "The No Need to Diet Book". She tells us all about the book, how most people has an unhealthy view on food and how we can become a little more relaxed about this. The book explains the reasons why diets and over exercising don't work; the problems with eating for aesthetic goals; the science behind orthorexia, food anxieties and emotional eating, and other unhealthy habits formed by misinformation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...
Mar 10, 2019•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we're joined by Jay Novella for an interview in which we talk about his new position as a full-time employee of SGU Productions, what it means for the movement and The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe project, how to approach podcasting and other ventures, stuff about writing a skeptical book that hits best-seller lists and a lot of other things including Star Trek and the crew's fun-filled side project, Alpha Quadrant 6. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 04, 2019•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the abscence of Pontus, Jelena and Andras are joined by Brian Eggo to bring you a new show full of news and interesting topics including two events coming up (SkepKon 2019 in Germany and the 3rd Symposium on Science and Pseudoscience in Elche).We also talk about the British Parliament's Science and Technology Committee's milestone Evidence Check documents that is now part of skeptical history, then we move on to discussing Hungary's PM Viktor Orban and how EU leaders now simply call his anti-...
Feb 24, 2019•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast We bring you news and stories from the world of skepticism again this week, including:Rosalind Franklin's namesake rover to go to Mars to look for traces of life, Philippe de Cherisey and the Priory of Sion hoax, a lying pope, a German court rejecting a claim for CAM to be offered as part of a benefit system, Goop to come to Netflix, causing outrage among skeptics, "Vaxxed II - The People's Truth" on its way to make things even worse, while the measles epidemic goes truly global. Meanwhile, Germ...
Feb 17, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The band is back together for a new week of skeptical reports.On this week: Oliver Lodge did not manage to prove psychics right, Pope Francis still believes in celibacy (although his priests do not seem to), Natalie Grams is awarded Die Goldenen Blogger Prize, PSIRAM starts a skeptical blog series, Merseyside Skeptics celebrates 10 years in July and Spanish researchers (nobody expects the Spanish researchers!) tries to convince us about homeopathy.Meanwhile, nobody has noticed(!) that the Macchi...
Feb 08, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we bring you lots news and topics from across Europe including Annika Merkelbach's interview on Skeptical Inquirer's website with Natalie Grams, whose book has just been published in English, Edzard Ersnt' birthday, a praying application issued by the Vatican called "Click to Pray", the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee to deal with reported non-reportings of clinical trials, a great achievement by Ben Goldacre and the AllTrials campaign (one of the great projects of Se...
Jan 31, 2019•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we're back to bring you news and info about a wide range of topics including Francis Bacon and his importance in the development of science, how the 'good pope' John Paul II was a misogynist, why we admire the works of Sense about Science so much and how they came up with yet another campaign that deserves much attention ('Evidence Hunter Activity Pack'), how facilitated communication is a thing in Sweden despite all the evidence that suggests it does not work at all, why we should be ...
Jan 24, 2019•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast We interview Turi Munthe, the creator of a new web site aiming to "map the World's opinions".In 2008, Turi launched Demotix - born as a global free-speech platform, it became the largest network of photojournalists in the world and exited to Bill Gates’ Corbis. He now runs a Venture Capital with a focus on media and media tech, and sits on the boards of Index on Censorship, OpenDemocracy and The Signals Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 17, 2019•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the first episode of the year 2019, with the team together again, we are bringing you topics related to the New Year, including resolutions and hangovers, plus some science history and how James Ussher determined the age of the world (incorrectly), how Pope Francis tries to talk about families when the church is in turmoil over sex abuse scandals, a design company standing up for science in Italy, where the resigning head of the National Institute of Health slams the anti-science government, ...
Jan 13, 2019•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast A bit of a different episode this week, released on the last day of the year to remind the listeners (and ourselves) of the most important things that happened in 2018. Lots of interesting stuff and also what to look forward to in 2019.We wish you all a really Happy New Year, and we’ll be seeing you!Segments:Intro; Greetings; Checking in with András; Woo in 2018; Skeptical initiatives 2018; Skeptical Awards 2018; QED; The ESP highlights of 2018; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...
Dec 31, 2018•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Pontus and Andras host this slightly Christmas-themed episode with the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton and the New Style Calendar, Pope Francis promising no more sexual abuse cases covered up by the catholic church, CICAP launching a new chapter in Pordenone, although reality somewhat better than previous estimates, measles still being on the rise in Europe, Spanish chiropractors reacting to new government plan to tackle pseudoscience and how there is no need to fear for Christmas being renamed in ...
Dec 26, 2018•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast This time Claire Klingenberg sits in for Jelena again, who's out travelling. We bring you updates on the European Skeptics Congress 2019 in Ghent plus the good news that CICAP Fest will be held again in Padova in 2019.We then talk about the Apollo program, Cardinal Pell finally getting in the hands of the judicial system, while Pope Francis is acting like nothing's wrong.Plus some news about the new Italian government's support for dubious health claims, a Russian homeopathic product under the n...
Dec 20, 2018•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week Pontus and Jelena talks to German Science Communicator and Skeptic Julia Offe. Julia Offe has a PhD in molecular biology and is active within GWUP, the German Skeptics. We talk about the recently announced "Das Goldenes Bretts"-awards and other GWUP activities, as well as the Science Slam events that Julia is promoting in many different places with huge turnouts.Segments:Intro; Greetings; Interview with Julia Offe; Closing remarks; Wikipedia spot; Farewell; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on A...
Dec 12, 2018•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we first hear about John Tyndall who understood climate change over a 100 years ago and talk about how Francis get things wrong while in Poland.We then have a short catch up with Spanish skeptical activist Antonia de Oñate, before we dig into the regular news. In here we lean about homeopathy getting a beating in both Hungary and Austria, about a Swedish quack who is also a sex offender, a pro-vaccine campaign in Italy and a rather depressing measles update.At the end the Daily Mail ge...
Dec 05, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week our three hosts discuss a great number of things including how a delusional German physician got away with killing people, and how Pope Francis thinks right to tackle poverty.Loads of good news this week:The John Maddox Prize goes to Britt Hermes and Terry Hughes this year, ARP-SAPC reaches 20 years of activity, the Spanish government moves against pseudo-therapies in health care, the BBC upholds the Good Thinking Society's complaint about a homeopathy-related phone-in and ComCept awar...
Nov 27, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week's episode Jelena and Andras interviews British biochemist, nutritionist, blogger, author and public speaker Pixie Turner, to talk about the science-based approach to healthy eating, dietary and lifestyle choices and how she turned from a person suffering from orthorexia to a public figure educating people into following the science instead of falling for popular, but absolutely useless diets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 21, 2018•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Andras and Pontus join ranks to talk about Massimo Polidoro, Elsevier vs. open access and a film that drives Polish disapproval of the Catholic Church. Plus why people don't trust science and other news and tidbits from across Europe and the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 11, 2018•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Join us to hear about Pope Francis' failing October synod, Galileo and how homeopathy is getting a really hard beating in Spain. In other news the Good Thinking Society fights Goop, EU tries (but fail) to get statistics about the anti-vaxx movement and how science is hard: Contrary to what you have heard humans have not wiped out 60% of all vertebrates and an organic diet has not been proved to prevent cancer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 04, 2018•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode is the first of its kind as it is the live recording from QED 2018 that happened in Manchester in the middle of October. In the unfortunate abscence of Jelena, Pontus and András are joined by Claire Klingenberg, Brian Eggo and Jay Novella to discuss local confectionery, booze and topics like the Shroud of Turin, Leukemia and how a new finding can lead to sensational but untrue headlines, a Danish cancer quack that sites his long deceased patients as his success stories, a couple of ...
Oct 28, 2018•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week's episode Jelena interviews Aron Ra - atheist activist, former president of Atheist Alliance of America, host of Ra-Men podcast. He is a current regional director of the American Atheists and founder of the phylogeny explorer project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 19, 2018•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we look at the history of the Ig Nobel Prize, try to find out (Spoiler alert: without success) why pope Francis thinks rosaries are the best way to defend the church from the "Great Accuser" and bring you a ton of news, including: the Romanian referendum on the inclusion or exclusion of same sex marriage in the constitution, a Hungarian cancer quack who boasts likely made-up qualifications, Hans Rosling's 'Factfulness' to become available for free to Swedish students, hundreds of Spani...
Oct 10, 2018•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we welcome Massimo Polidoro back to our show. This time he tells us about how the latest edition of CICAPfest went (it was a great success in Padova, Italy). We also asked him about his upcoming books and more.We also announced our participation in QED where we will record our first ever live show on the Podcast Track in Manchester. Stay tuned! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 29, 2018•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Claire Klingenberg sits in for András on this episode where the Pope blames the devil for revealing all the bad stuff he is responsible for.This week in 1895: The birth of ChiropracticAlso, fake cancer cures take several hits, an overlooked astrophysicist finally gets the recognition she deserves and a brave pharmacist in Germany takes a stand against homeopathy. We learn that cannibalism is bad for you and then celebrate the newly announced Ig Nobel prizes.Short random announcement: Please note...
Sep 20, 2018•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week's episode features an interview that Andras recorded in Budapest with Canadian skeptic and host of The Reality Check podcast Darren McKee, who talks about Effective altruism and why it's the real thing for skeptics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 17, 2018•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we talked about Susan Gerbic's new interview with Massimo Polidoro, a court case over calling someone a Holocaust denier, new teams doing science communication, coconut and the undecided public enemy state, homeopathy and whether it's unethical for pharmacies to sell it, HPV vaccination for boys, 'Inoculated', a new movie in Germany that might be twice as dangerous as Vaxxed, SkepKon 2019, fake Twitter accounts, an Austrian photographer's encyclopaedia of bogus claims and how religion ...
Sep 10, 2018•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast QED in Manchester is drawing closer!We speak to Jay Novella of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe (the SGU) whose total cast will be there in October. Hear about what we can expect from the SGU in Manchester, what they will be up to in the future and about their book which is due to be released on 2 October. We also get into our views on lobbying, children's education and about being a parent.Enjoy!Please also check out our event page at http://theesp.eu/events_in_europeSegments:Intro; Greetings...
Aug 30, 2018•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast While unfortunately Jelena is not present, this week we talk about an ET healer in the Netherlands before we share the latest updates on measles. The comes the outrageous fact that Germany has no official plan for a first contact situation and how religious taboos can cause trouble. El escéptico's 50th issue is out now, while wet cupping is gaining ground in Amsterdam. Also, the pope gets poked again while pastafarianism doesn't get recognised as a religion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...
Aug 27, 2018•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
