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Ideas rule our world

Timothy Snyder is Housum Professor of History at Yale University, and has written and edited a number of critically acclaimed and prize-winning books about twentieth-century European history: Bloodlands won the Hannah Arendt Prize, the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding, the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award in the Humanities and the literature …

Flying saucers hold a special place in American folklore, and it's one that's more intimately interwoven than you knew.By sal@stodge.org

We take on your science questions: Can animals feel guilty? Could drones detect landmines? What's the furthest a paper plane could fly, and why don't spiders get stuck on their webs? Plus, a look at this week's science news - a development for Europe's Extra Large telescope, and the health challenges faced at the Rugby World Cup.…

0:00:00 Introduction Heidi Robertson 0:03:12 Knowing Animals We chat to Dr Siobhan O'Sullivan from the 'Knowing Animals' podcast who gives us her perspective on animal politics and so-called animal communicators. 0:23:30 A Week in Science The Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) is a national scientific not-for-profit organisation with a mission …

PodcastBy sal@stodge.org

PodcastBy sal@stodge.org

PodcastBy sal@stodge.org

Forgotten Superheroes of Science: Ruth Rogan Benerito; News Items: Predatory Pharmaceuticals, Ocean Populations Declining, Election Graphology, Conspiracy Thinking; Who's That Noisy; What's the Word: Efferent; Your Questions and E-mails: Proof of God; Science or FictionBy sal@stodge.org

TRC brings you a hella diverse show this week! First, Pat sidles up to the bar code to determine whether the 666 conspiracy theory holds any weight. Next, Adam takes a facts-based look at the recent controversy around 14 year old Ahmed Mohamed’s homemade clock. Finally, Darren points his skeptical lense at the political argument that small business…

Our episode this week begins with a correction. Back in episode 28 (Monkeys on Typewriters), Kyle made some bold claims about the probability that monkeys banging on typewriters might produce the entire works of Shakespeare by chance. The proof shown in the show notes turned out to be a bit dubious and Dave Spiegel joins us in this episode to set t…

Hello Listeners. I hope you can hear me, because if you can’t we’re in trouble! In this accidental special episode of Skeptics with a K, Marsh talks about what happened when he went to see Peter Popoff in London earlier this year.By sal@stodge.org

The last of three episodes of Little Atoms in association with the 2015 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, ahead of the award ceremony on Thursday 24th September. This week Neil Denny talks with Matthew Cobb, and there’s a repeat of our interview with Alex Bellos from May 2014. The show also includes a short […]…

This episode features a live recording of Derek and James Randi on stage at Skeptrack 2015 this past Labor Day weekend at Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA. Derek and Randi discuss the origins of The Amazing Randi and his work exposing fakers and other harmful charlatans over the years.By sal@stodge.org

Incredibly, the number of people who deny the Holocaust never seems to diminish. We discuss why this is, and what to do about it.By sal@stodge.org

This week we find out what it takes to save a life, from doctors performing open chest surgery in the street to helping people recover in the longer term from severe brain injuries. Plus, news of a real invisibility cloak, how caffeine gives us a boost, and why scientists need you to quiz your dog.By sal@stodge.org

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders 0:04:50 Fly me to the moon... or Pluto... or Mars! We chat to Dr Pamela Gay who gives us her perspective on the recent misson to Pluto. Also what's happening on Mars and what's all this about a blood moon? 0:29:00 A Week in Science The Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) is a national scientific not-for-prof…

Dumbest Thing of the Week: Stone UFO; Forgotten Superheroes of Science: Hedy Lamar; News Items: Solar Hydrogen, Homo naledi, Terraforming Mars, Metallic Glass; What's the Word: Anosmia; Your Questions and E-mails: Fibromyalgia; Science or FictionBy sal@stodge.org

An action packed show this week! Susan Gerbic joins the crew to discuss Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia. Next, Cristina tells us about an industry funded study on butter with surprising results. Lastly, Darren looks into facts and stats about deaths from heat and cold.By sal@stodge.org

There are several factors that are important to selecting an appropriate sample size and dealing with small samples. The most important questions are around representativeness - how well does your sample represent the total population and capture all it's variance? Linhda and Kyle talk through a few examples including elections, picking an Airbnb, …

Our series on the Founding Fathers of the world concludes with this episode on John MF Adams, Thomas MF Jefferson, and James MF Madison, all intellectuals and all to varying degrees heterodox or even (in the case of Jefferson) an outright heretic. Also we cover a few skunk dicks, including Planned Parenthood which seems to be slicing up babies for …

The second of three episodes of Little Atoms in association with the 2015 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. This week Neil Denny talks with David Adam, and there’s a repeat of our interview with Gaia Vince from August 2014. This show also marks the 10th anniversary of Little Atoms. We first broadcast on […]…

History doesn't always record the accomplishments of women in science as thoroughly as it does for men. This episode helps straighten the record.By sal@stodge.org

Climate change - and concerns about rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - are often in the headlines. However, looking back in the history of the earth, it's clear that this isn't the first time carbon dioxide levels have risen. So why should we worry now? We delve into the past to explore the effects climate change can have on the oc…

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders 0:04:10 Dragon*Con report We chat to Angie Mattke who reports on the Skeptrack at the recent Dragon*Con in Atlanta. 0:18:35 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. 0:21:40 T…

Three interesting segments this week. First, Cristina addresses a listener email ‘aboot’ cultural stereotypes and subjective judgments based on people’s accents. Next, the gang is once again joined by Dina Tsirlin who looks into some shocking facts about electroconvulsive therapy. Lastly, Adam takes aim at recent headlines suggesting that a cat ‘to…

Forgotten Superheroes of Science:Fritz Haber; News Items: Night Skies, Thinking Style and Paranormal Belief, Psychic Detectives; Special Report: Time Travel; What's the Word; Science or FictionBy sal@stodge.org

There's an old adage which says you cannot fit a model which has more parameters than you have data. While this is often the case, it's not a universal truth. Today's guest Jake VanderPlas explains this topic in detail and provides some excellent examples of when it holds and doesn't. Some excellent visuals articulating the points can be found on J…

Slippers, collagen, football, and boiled eggs. Plus mincing proteins, bleeding deer, and what happened in Amsterdam. Standing on the Devil, it’s Skeptics with a K.By sal@stodge.org

The first of three episodes of Little Atoms in association with the 2015 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. This week Neil Denny talks with shortlisted authors Jim Al-Khalili & Johnjoe Mcfadden, and Jon Butterworth. Professor Jim Al-Khalili, OBE is an academic, author and broadcaster. He is a leading theoretical physicist based at the [……

These important scientists are virtually unknown, even though their accomplishments are among the greatest in science. Let's see if we can fix that.By sal@stodge.org

This week we're asking whether scientists and technologists are in short supply, and how the way that we teach science in schools is changing: some classrooms are pumping out published papers! Plus, in the news, a 2 metre-long scorpion, seabirds with stomachs stuffed with plastic, and the facts behind fat - is butter really all that bad for you?…

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders 0:05:40 Maynard's Spooky Action.. Maynard chats to pubbers at Sydney Skeptics in the pub including Ken McLeod and Dr Elena Kupriyanova. 0:32:20 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 t…

The Reality Check celebrates its 7th birthday! This week we’re bringin’ the science and the sci-fi with two fact-filled segments. First, Darren kicks things off with an analysis of the Reproducibility Project which looks at experimental and correlational studies published in the field of Psychological Science. Adam dives head first into recent DNA …

In Memoriam - Oliver Sacks; Forgotten Superheroes of Science: Granville Woods; News Items: Reproduction in Psychology, Brain Booster Drug, Defying the Standard Model, Rock Art Pterodactyl Debunked; Who's That Noisy; Science or FictionBy sal@stodge.org

There are many occasions in which one might want to know the distance or similarity between two things, for which the means of calculating that distance is not necessarily clear. The distance between two points in Euclidean space is generally straightforward, but what about the distance between the top of Mount Everest to the bottom of the ocean? W…

Or specifically, one clerk in particular named Kim Davis, who refuses to perform the basic duty of issuing marriage licenses because she’s a bigot. Bereft of any legal grounds, out of appeals, and in direct violation of the specific court order of a federal judge, she continues to refuse, citing “God’s authority” and ends up in contempt of court. S…

Petina Gappah is a Zimbabwean writer with law degrees from Cambridge, Graz University and the University of Zimbabwe. Her debut story collection, An Elegy for Easterly, won the Guardian First Book Prize in 2009. Her debut novel is The Book of Memory.By sal@stodge.org

This episode Derek digs into a recording which he conducted out in California at the Skeptic Society "I The Year 2525" conference. It is a recording Derek did with Dr. Donald Prothero not long after he finished his talk which was about the current state of the climate, how we know that humans are causing massive change, and what we might be able to…

The fate of Franklin's Lost Expedition provides a unique lesson in the value of different types of evidence.By sal@stodge.org

This week is a very special, edition of the Naked Scientists as we dedicate a whole hour to the world's favourite dwarf planet - Pluto. But how did it get there in the first place? What has the New Horizons probe uncovered? And what's beyond Pluto? Graihagh Jackson puts the mission under the microscope, talking some of the leading scientists from t…

Dr. Stu is back to talk about participating in the New Horizons mission to Pluto and various conspiracies.By sal@stodge.org