International Skeptics United

Are you sitting comfortably? You might want to stand up, because we'll be hearing why, in health terms, sitting is the new smoking! We're also taking a look at the science behind weight loss and why shedding extra pounds is so difficult. Plus news of why colds really do prefer the cold, why most of the world's fossil fuels need to stay in the ground if we're to meet climate change targets, and home from home: how scientists have discovered Earth's twin, deep in outer space...

Parisa Tabriz is Google’s self-described “Security Princess,” a euphemism she created in part because “hired hacker” sounds kind of evil. Her job is to figure out the problems with Google Chrome and fix them before the bad guys do. That’s a pretty amazing job for anyone, much less a 31-year-old woman, which isn’t exactly the norm in the tech world. Last July, Elle magazine ran a long profile on her. (Full disclosure: I knew Parisa in high school and we had classes together, though we haven’t talked much since graduating.) We spoke with Parisa about how she gets into the mind of a hacker, how we can get more women into this field, and how ignorance really isn't bliss in her world.

0:00:00 Introduction -- Richard Saunders   0:07:00 Evidence Please... with Jo Alabaster The Tenpenny tour of Australia. What's being done, what the media have reported, what's the #StopTenpenny campaign all about?   0:25:05 A Week in Science The Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) is a national scientific not-for-profit organisation with a mission to bring science to people and people to science.   0:28:20 The Raw Skeptic Report This week Heidi Robertson from the Northern Rivers Vaccination Supporters (NRVS) looks at what happens when you're mentioned in the newspapers.   0:40:50 Maynard's Spooky Action... Maynard chats to Michael Marshall part #1

Happy New Year from TRC!  On this week’s episode, Darren doubles down on whether cancer is mostly the result of bad luck, while Adam looks into his crystal ball for our Annual Predictions. Pat rounds out the show with the raw facts on sushi and wasabi and rings in 2015’s inaugural episode with some ‘Rap Bravado’. Check it…

Interview with Tim Farley; Forgotten Superheroes of Science: Annie Jump Cannon; Psychic Prediction 2014; News Items: The Science of God, Expected Science in 2015; Who's That Noisy; Science or Fiction

This episode introduces a high level discussion on the topic of Data Provenance, with more MINI episodes to follow to get into specific topics. Thanks to listener Sara L who wrote in to point out the Data Skeptic Podcast has focused alot about using data to be skeptical, but not necessarily being skeptical of data. Data Provenance is the concept of knowing the full origin of your dataset. Where did it come from? Who collected it? How as it collected? Does it combine independent sources or one singular source? What are the error bounds on the way it was measured? These are just some of the questions one should ask to understand their data. After all, if the antecedent of an argument is built on dubious grounds, the consequent of the argument is equally dubious. For a more technical discussion than what we get into in this mini epiosode, I recommend A Survey of Data Provenance Techniques by authors Simmhan, Plale, and Gannon.

Dissolving teaspoons, plants that sunbathe, stopping multiple sclerosis, the ARGO floats that monitor the oceans, global warming in Antarctica, and using computers to find Kiwis. Chris Smith and Simon Morton meet some of Wellington's finest researchers, including nanoscientist Nicola Gaston, plant scientist Jason Wargent, MS specialist Anne La Flamme, ocean scientist Philip Sutton, climate researcher Tim Naish and computer scientist Ed Abraham...

Marshall Brain is best known as the founder of the website HowStuffWorks.com. In 2007, Discovery Communications bought the site for a whopping $250 million. He has appeared on Oprah, National Geographic Channel, and CNN, and written several books. His latest one may be the most controversial one yet. It’s called "How 'God' Works: A Logical Inquiry on Faith." We spoke with Marshall about how his book is different from those by the New Atheists, why he's risking his reputation by deconstructing God, and how he'll know if the book is successful.

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders   0:07:25 Maynard's Spooky Action... Maynard chats to Peter Hadfield aka Potholer54.   0:28:35 Evidence Please... with Jo Alabaster Magnetic people? Magnets for health? Jo looks at .... Magnets!

SGU Live from Auckland with guest rogue George Hrab; This Day in Skepticism: Lick Observatory; News Items: Alternative Cancer Treatments, ESPN Twitter Kerfuffle, The Deep Web, Jet lag Pseudoscience, Gender in Education, Orion Capsule Test, Seeing Infrared; Science or Fiction

I had the change to speak with well known Sharon Hill (@idoubtit) for the first episode of 2015. We discuss a number of interesting topics including the contributions Doubtful News makes to getting scientific and skeptical information ranked highly in search results, sink holes, why earthquakes are hard to predict, and data collection about paranormal groups via the internet.

  With half of the regular TRC crew off for the holidays, Pat and Cristina hijack the show for a fourth year running and revisit some of the best parodies and highlights of the year.  

Blake Smith reads aloud An Inhabitant of Carcosa, a story by Ambrose Bierce. The story itself is brief, but its impact on American horror literature is still being felt today.

Happy New Year! Featuring milk, muesli, teddy bears and brown sauce.  Plus ebola, MMS, apples and jaundice. Supplementing milk with cow poo, it’s Skeptics with a K.

We all have an inner voice. Most of us know they're not real. But, for up to 15% of the population at some points in their lives, they can take on a different tone, as a terrifying experience that cannot be distinguished from reality. Where do they come from, and what do they say to sufferers? And how can the symptoms be treated? In this special guest episode, the Wellcome Trust's Chris Chapman hears the stories of schizophrenics affected by voices and explores a new approach to giving sufferers control over their experiences...