International Skeptics United

Guest Rogue: George Hrab; Forgotten Superheroes of Science: Earl Palmer; News Items: Pluto Update, New Zealand Illegalizes Trolling, New Seralini Study, Biological Age; Who's That Noisy; Dumbest Thing of the Week: Jim Carrey; Your Questions and E-mails: UFO Cube; Science or Fiction

Whenever Skeptoid does an episode dealing with the separation of history and pseudohistory, there is always some lively feedback. Brian responds to listener feedback about past history episodes.

This week, broadcasting live from the centre of Cambridge, the Naked Scientists delve into the digital age we live in. We look at new, exciting ways to get kids into coding, how big data is changing the world of healthcare, and we take to skies to go drone racing. But what are the problems we face in this technological age? We find out who is using our online data, and explore the dangers of connecting to public Wi-Fi...

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders   0:04:00 The Raw Skeptic Report This week Heidi Robertson interviews Cath Hughes about the sad loss of her son Riley and the positive action she is now taking. Also, Heidi chats with Chrys Stevenson about the Jode Matthews appeal.    0:16:35 Saunders on Psychic Reporter Richard Saunders is asked to define 'skeptic' and what to look out for when visiting a so-called 'psychic'.   0:27:20 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.   0:26:35 Astrology vs..... reality? Back in 2009 Richard Saunders appeared on national TV to debate an astrologer. Did anyone win?

Evangelist Ray Comfort has released a film called "Audacity" with the goal of convincing gay and lesbian viewers to renounce homosexuality. Jessica and I watched the film (so you don't have to) and we give you the play-by-play along with commentary. So there's your spoiler alert! After that, beginning at the 34:44 mark, we have an *exclusive* interview with the film's star Travis Owens. He plays Peter, a very devout Christian who wants to spread the Good Word, but sometimes hesitates because it might be awkward. Because he hesitates, bad things happen -- especially to gays and lesbians who didn't accept Jesus into their lives. In real life, Travis is actually very supportive of LGBT rights, which makes his appearance in this film both questionable and fascinating. We spoke with him about what it's like to work with Ray Comfort, whether he's received more feedback from LGBT viewers or Christians, and why he took on a role that contradicted his personal beliefs.

Welcome, bienvenida, bienvenue TRC’ers! Pat kicks off this week’s show addressing a listener’s email regarding whether there’s any real science behind health applications for mobile phones. Cristina takes a walk down Sesame Street to explore whether exposure to the show leads to improved early educational outcomes in preschoolers. Finally, Adam raises an eyebrow at the Confederate flag.

Forgotten Superhero of Science: Charles H. Townes; News Items: New Sleep Recommendations, A Logic Lesson, Dragon Lizards and Climate; Limits of Phase Change Computer Memory; Who's That Noisy; Name That Logical Fallacy; Your Questions and E-mails: Cruciferous Vegetables, Education and Paranormal Belief; Science or Fiction

This mini-episode is a high level explanation of the basic idea behind MapReduce, which is a fundamental concept in big data. The origin of the idea comes from a Google paper titled MapReduce: Simplified Data Processing on Large Clusters. This episode makes an analogy to tabulating paper voting ballets as a means of helping to explain how and why MapReduce is an important concept.

On this week’s Little Atoms, Dylan Evans on The Utopia Experiment, and Andrew Mueller on his memoir It’s Too Late to Die Young Now. Dylan Evans is an academic, philosopher and journalist. He has written several popular science books, was named by the Independent as one of the 20 best young writers in Britain, and […]

This week Derek talks a little about his upcoming trip to The Amazing Meeting. And, runs some news and updates from the band of Skepticality Contributors.

Solfeggio Frequencies can, according to believers, heal us and even do miracles. They claim that these mystical ancient frequencies were lost when modern music was re-tuned around World War II. How much of this is true? What can we learn from the Solfeggio Frequencies?

Linda LaScola is a research consultant perhaps best known for her work with philosopher Daniel Dennett in which they speak with pastors who may secretly be atheists. She co-founded the Clergy Project -- a site for religious leaders harboring serious doubts about their faith -- and she is about to re-release her book on the topic, "Caught in the Pulpit," with updates and additions. She also blogs on Patheos at Rational Doubt, a site that features several articles by doubting pastors. We spoke with LaScola about how the Clergy Project began, whether coming out as an atheist (when you're a pastor) is a good or bad idea, and the surprising book that finally turned one pastor into an atheist.

In this long-time-in-coming new episode, we talk about Luke: Part II, also known as Acts, or sometimes, the Acts of the Apostles. Crazy stuff abounds, people get healed by shadows, thousands of people convert after a single sermon, tongues are spoken in, and people’s heads catch on fire or something. It’s a little hard to […]

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders   0:07:35 Dr Rachie Reports Maynard chats to Dr Rachael Dunlop to find out what she's up to and what she's doing next.   0:20:10 The Raw Skeptic Report This week Heidi Robertson steps out of her milk bath and gives us an update on the Raw Milk story.   0:31:45 Meet Dr Bob Dr Bob aka Dr Steve Roberts tells us about his trvia quiz.   0:35:50 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.   0:39:47 Maynard's Spooky Action... Maynard heads to Sydney Skeptics in the Pub and finds out what people think of the retirement of James Randi. Then Maynard chats to Dr Karl Kruszelnicki at the JJJ 40th party.

Guest Rogue: George Hrab; Forgotten Superheroes of Science: Charles Drew; News Items: Scientific vs Public Opinion, Ghost Gadgets, Conservapedia Disproves E=MC2, FDA Cracks Down on Supplements, Gravity Waves Update; Who's That Noisy; The Dumbest Thing I Heard This Week; Science or Fiction