International Skeptics United

Andrew McConnell Stott is Professor of English at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. His book The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi, a history of theatre and comedy told through the story of Britain’s greatest pantomime clown, was published by Canongate in 2009 and won the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction, the Sheridan Morley Award for […]

Episode #279 of TRC arrives with a whole bunch of numbers.   First Elan tries to explain infinity and why it is important to skeptics.    Next, Darren revisits placebo and finally Adam looks at whether Canada was recently colder than Mars.  

If Bigfoot is real, would a $10,000,000 bounty be enough to bring the beast down? That’s the premise of a new show on Spike TV. In this episode, MonsterTalk interviews two of the scientists who are working on the show to find out if this is a serious search for Bigfoot, or just folks out in the woods raising cane. READ the episode notes

The Naked Scientists tackle your questions, from how hail storms come about to why the Mediterranean Sea has such small tides. And why do people often favour walking on one particular side of the road? Plus, we look at what science might hit the headlines in 2014, from China's ambitions for manned spaceflight, to new graphene-based electronics.

The Earth produces a diverse array of living creatures. Some are immensely big, some incredibly old, and some frighteningly lethal.

The gang (minus Elan) rings in the new year with episode 278 of The Reality Check. Darren starts things off by reviewing the book "This Will Make You Smarter". This is followed by an analysis of the predictions the guys made last year as well as a new round of predictions for 2014. Pat closes things out with a look into whether females can sing falsetto. Happy new year!

Interview with Hai Ting and Matthew; This Day in Skepticism: Topsy the Elephant; Predictions 2013; News Items: Atmosphere of a Super Earth, Reverse Ageing, Magnetic Pooping, Virgin Births; Who's That Noisy, Science or Fiction

Introduction Richard Saunders 0:02:40 An interview with Dr Eugenie C. Scott Eugenie Scott is a physical anthropologist who has been the executive director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) since 1987. She is a leading critic of young earth creationism and intelligent design. 0:37:00 A stoll around Google Richard Saunders chats to Chris who work at Google HQ. 0:42:40 Maynard's Spooky Action...  Interviews with delegates and guests at the Australian Skeptics Convention. This week Maynard chats to...  Dr Steve Roberts Shelley Stocken 0:53:35 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.

Ever think about all the bits of yourself that you leave behind everywhere you go? We all leave behind traces of genetic material pretty much each time we visit any location. Derek's latest guest, Heather Dewey Hagborg, is an artist who had a massive curiosity about just how much of our personal information we leave behind in the form of DNA evidence. Heather went on a personal mission to find out if she could artistically replicate portraits of people from the DNA they leave behind everywhere you go.

Pseudoscience runs rampant in the food marketing industry. This week we answer questions sent in by students inquiring about the validity of six food myths.

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders 0:02:50 Maynard's Spooky Action...  Interviews with delegates and guests at the Australian Skeptics Convention. This week Maynard chats to...  Shane Greenup Jo Alabaster Peter Bowditch 0:26:10 Predictions for 2013 from Skeptics Maynard in January 2013 asking Skeptics for their predictions

2013 Year in Review; Guest Rogue: George Hrab; This Day in Skepticism: Birth of Cinema; SGU Year in Review; Science News 2013; Who's That Noisy; In Memoriam; Science or Fiction

With most of the regular crew enjoying a week off, Pat and Cristina hijack the show for a third year to revisit some of the best parodies of the last 12 months.  Listener and host favourites are highlighted while counting down to the #1 fave parody of the year.

Derek convinces Swoopy to sit down and do a short holiday episode.

Stories persist claiming the infamous outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were not killed in Bolivia, as is popularly believed, but actually survived to return to the United States.