Exposing PseudoAstronomy

Episode 170 - Interlude, and Another Podcast Endeavor Jul 14, 2018

After being gone for a bit of time, I return to discuss where I have been, what to expect for the future (when more episodes will air), and if you need your fix of Dr. Stu, there is a new podcast that I have released with two of the co-hosts of The Reality Check podcast, entitled: 5 Minutes with an Astronomer. In this episode, I play four of the twenty-eight shows we have released so far.

Episode 169 - Modern Eclipse Lunacy, Part 3: Richard Hoagland's Claims Dec 22, 2017

In the final regular episode in the three-part Solar Eclipse of August 2017 series, several of the claims made by Richard Hoagland are addressed. Three types of claims are examined: Whether shadow bands indicate there are glass structures on the Moon, whether the Accutron watch readings indicate there is a hyperdimensional physics, and alleged disinformation.

Episode 168 - Common (and False) Fine-Tuned Universe Beliefs, Discussed Nov 27, 2017

An exploration into four groups of fine-tuning arguments used by some to say that we are special: Solar outbursts, habitable zone, lunar origin and effects, and giant planets and impacts on Earth.

Episode 167 - Modern Eclipse Lunacy, Part 2: Flat Earth Nov 14, 2017

The August 2017 total solar eclipse was seen by hundreds of millions of people, and yet some of them have tried to use it to promulgate pseudoscience. In this Part 2 episode, I discuss ideas about the eclipse promoted by proponents of the idea that Earth is flat.

Episode 166 - Stellar Evolution, Age of the Universe, and Young-Earth Creationism Oct 18, 2017

The half-truth and misconception addressed in this episode is whether the age of a star with error bars that overlap with the age of the universe means all of science is wrong and the universe was created 6000 years ago.

Episode 165 - Little Things in Space Oct 01, 2017

Three separate topics all tied together by a commonality: A little bit of something that you tend to only experience in space. First up is microgravity, then near-vacuum, and then what it means to have a temperature in space.

Episode 164 - The World Didn't End on September 23, 2017 Sep 24, 2017

The world did not end, again, on September 23, 2017. However, the story behind this latest doomsday prognostication may surprise you -- it did me as I investigated it.

Episode 163 - Modern Eclipse Lunacy, Part 1 Sep 01, 2017

This past eclipse on August 21, 2017, was perhaps one of the most-hyped and most-viewed solar eclipses in human history. As with any such mass-sighted event, pseudoscience is bound to rear its ugly head. In this episode, I address doom and gloom, earthquake predictions, astrologic predictions, Planet X predictions, and other topics related to the eclipse.

Episode 162 - Geocentrism, Take 2 Apr 16, 2017

Young-Earth creationists who are not geocentrists - those who accept the Copernican Revolution so far as Earth's place in the universe - have a vested interest in combatting some forms of pseudoscience, including geocentrism. In this episode, I lay out some of their more convincing arguments against geocentrism and point out that their methods of argument are very similar to scientists, which leads one to wonder about hoe much cognitive dissonance one mind can hold.

Episode 161 - Water on Earth— Coriolis and Tides Apr 01, 2017

Inspired by one of the longest-running primetime television shows in history, and frustration with late-night radio hosts pretending they can Science, this episode addresses two common misconceptions about the forces from and on water on our planet and their effects on human scales. I first discuss whether Coriols makes toilet bowls swirl in opposite directions in opposite hemispheres, and then whether the moon's tides are strong enough to affect the water in your body.

Episode 160 - Apollo Hoax: The US Flag Waving, and the Moon of No Return Mar 16, 2017

A return to a tried-and-true subject of skepticism: the Apollo Moon Hoax. In this shorter episode, I discuss two of the most common claims that you may hear: Why does the US flag appear to be waving in photographs, and if we went to the moon, why haven't we been back?

Episode 159 - A Proposal for the Geologic Definition of Planet, Interview with Kirby Runyon Mar 01, 2017

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union sparked an uproar and furious debate among scientists and non-scientists alike when they voted for a definition of the word, planet. Numerous proposals since that time have been made for the definition of that term. Eleven years later, a new proposal has gotten a lot of media attention and in this episode, we discuss that new proposed definition. This is closer to a friendly debate style because the host of this podcast and the guest have different points of view on this issue.

Episode 158 - Getting Beyond the Photograph: Image Tricks with Dr. Tod Lauer Feb 16, 2017

In past episodes, I have talked about how you can't get any more information out of an image than what is in a single pixel. Dr. Tod Lauer is an astronomer who has worked on all kinds of telscopes and instrument data and has developed numerous image processing techniques over his career. In this episode, we discuss some of those and how to correctly - versus incorrectly - apply them to image data to get to the best representation of the original object, or what the image was trying to capture.

Episode 157 - Special Cross-Over Episode with The Reality Check, Astronomy Edition Feb 04, 2017

In a special cross-over episode, the cast of The Reality Check (Cheque?) podcast come over and we all did short-ish segments on astronomy-related topics: Do we live in a black hole, the Drake equation, are aliens likely to be hostile, did Earth's magnetic field recently collapse, and lunacy. I also did a quiz and learned how difficult it is to make quiz questions that work over a podcast.

Episode 156 - The Scientific Method: How We Get to What We Know Jan 29, 2017

The scientific method is the process through which most modern science is done. Whether done explicitly in its formalized steps or not, it underlies the very basics of how we know what we know, why science is inherently a self-correcting process, and why when there exists a long-standing scientific consensus with broad support, it should not be taken as a political whim by a few motivated people.

Episode 155 - New Science: Evidence for the Mandela Effect? Jan 01, 2017

Magic mirror on the wall, when will reality shifts affect us all? A phenomenon known as the Mandela Effect has been making the rounds of paranormal shows for the last year or so, and it seems silly until they start to use real science to back it up. Then, I get mad, and you don't want to see me get mad. In this episode, we learn about our changing knowledge about the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Episode 154 - Impact Crater Pseudoscience Mishmash Dec 16, 2016

Impact craters form the basis of, or fit into the claimed evidence for, several different kinds of pseudoscientific claims. In this episode, I review two of them and also discuss some sensational headlines and why those headlines were wrong.

Episode 153 - What Is Radiation? Dec 01, 2016

Radiation is a mechanism for a large array of pseudosciences out there today, almost on par with quantum mechanics. The purpose of this episode is to provide a primer of radiation - what it is, what it isn't, why some is scary, and why some isn't. In going through this discussion, I also address numerous pseudosciences, including claims by proponents that the Apollo missions were hoaxed, that granite countertops are deadly, that microwave ovens are irradiating your food, and that cell phone and wifi signals are harming you in some way.

Episode 152 - Modern Flat Earth Thought, Part 3 (Young-Earth Creationists Debunking Flat Earth) Nov 16, 2016

This podcast show most often focuses on refuting pseudoscience with real science, but it rarely sets out to make a positive case for real science. This episode is one of those rarer ones where I have used an unlikely source - youn-Earth creationists - to explain the case for why Earth is round and not flat.

Episode 151 - The Fake Story of Planet X, Part X - Nancy Leider Redux and Planet Nine Claims of 2016 Nov 01, 2016

Planet X is one of those topics that keeps coming up in pseudoscientific circles, in part because people who have been claiming it will come by and cause destruction continue to do so, making up new excuses as to why their last prediction failed. In this episode, I delve into the latest claims by Nancy Leider, one of the originators of the Planet X causes doom mythology, and I discuss some of the supposed discoveries and announcements in 2016 in the scientific community about a real extra, as-yet-unseen planet in our solar system.

Episode 150 - Is Dark Matter Liberal Pseudoscience? Oct 16, 2016

Moving away from the Earth-centric episodes since The Return of the podcast, this epsidoe addresses the concept of dark matter and claims that it is pseudoscience (and liberal pseudoscience at that!). Throughout the episode, we explore the history of the concept, how it arose, and why it arose, and then some alternative explanations. I make the case that it is not pseudoscience at all, but real, genuine, Grade-A science.

Episode 149 - Modern Flat Earth Thought, Part 2 (U.N. Flag and Airplane Flights) Oct 01, 2016

Flat Earth proponents have numerous claims that they use to promote the concept that Earth is flat. In this episode, we examine two of the claims that are somewhat related: The world looks like the United Nations flag (therefore "they" are "giving it away"), and airplane flights somehow prove Earth is flat.

Episode 148 - BONUS: X-Rays from Pluto Sep 26, 2016

When a NASA press released announced that scientists had observed x-rays coming from Pluto, my knee-jerk reaction was that certain people would use this to claim that Pluto was built by aliens. A later thought was that some might use it to bolster their ideas of the electric universe. Conveniently, I was going to be seeing one of the main study authors, Dr. Casey Lisse, just a day later at a conference, so I interviewed him about the find to really figure out what was going on, what was expected, what was unexpected, and if aliens built everything.

Episode 147 - The Hollow Earth According to David Icke Sep 16, 2016

After 139 episodes, a return to some of the claims that Earth is hollow, this time as presented by David Icke. An examination into how gravity works, the structure of comets, magnetic fields, icebergs, and muskox migration patterns wrapped in an atmosphere of conspiracy that everything in our lives is run by fourth-dimensional reptilian aliens from Planet X.

Episode 146 - BONUS: Tracking Failed Planet X Predictions of Marshall Masters Sep 14, 2016

Sometimes, things just get to you. A Planet X proponent who has been preaching catastrophe for years, keeps saying the doom will happen in about a year, and yet is objecitvely proven wrong each time, got to me. This episode is a documentation proving that Marshall Masters' Planet X timeline is wrong, that for years he's been saying it's about a year away and will be obvious to everyone, and that his latest statements for December 2017 will just be more of the same: NOTHING.

Episode 145 - Modern Flat Earth Thought, Part 1 Sep 05, 2016

A beginning examination of some of the modern claims put forth by the very recent resurgeance of Flat Earth proponents. This episode focuses on common (or not-so-common) sense, Earth's curvature, and the overall shape of the planet. It has three additional segments past the main one: Logical Fallacy, Feedback, and Announcements.

Update Apr 04, 2016

A ten-minute update and apology for delay in new episodes, and an announcement that the podcast is now officially on hiatus for another few months.

Episode 143 - Round-Table Discussion with New Horizons Early Career Scientists Nov 01, 2015

On July 7, 2015, one week before the New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto and Charon, I sat down with six other early career scientists and interviewed them about several different topics related to the mission and just being a planetary scientist or scientist in general. And, for those listeners who stay to the end, there is a bonus of over 3 minutes of outtakes!

Episode 144 - Why We Know About Things Far Away but Not Nearby, and Lots of New News Dec 01, 2015

A close examination of why astronomers claim that they know about things on the other side of the universe, but they can't figure out what's going on in our own backyard. Since this episode comes out two months after my previous, there are also three New News stories where I discuss a recent exosystem mystery, space law, and, conveniently, the new most-distant known object in our solar system.

Episode 142 - Who's on First? Origin of Ideas in Science Oct 01, 2015

From an ego standpoint, it's nice to get credit if you're the first to do something or figure something out. But from a scientific standpoint, it's also important to remember what has been known so we don't waste resources rediscovering something. And, from a pseudoscientific standpoint, many people like to take credit for imaginary claims about discovering something before scientists. On this episode, I explore all of these.

Episode 141 - The Physics of the A=440 Hz Conspiracy Sep 16, 2015

A conspiracy idea is that part of Nazi Germany propaganda was to redefine the musical standard for the world, moving it up in pitch from a standard A4 note that vibrates at 432 Hz to the more jarring 440 Hz which allows mind control and agitates people to be more war-like. I look into this claim from a physics and physical standpoint to determe if it could have any validity.

Episode 140 - Doomsmonth: September 2015 Sep 01, 2015

There are a lot of rumors going around that September 2015 is going to result in doom and gloom, with the destruction of financial markets, or maybe the world will end in a Christian New Testiment way, or we'll just get whacked by an asteroid. I talk about five different rumors in this episode and I put them in context with other, past claims, and other, past claims of the exact same thing that (obviously) did not result in doomsday.

Episode 139 - New Horizons Pluto Encounter Conspiracies, Part 2 Aug 16, 2015

A look at many of the conspiracies related to the New Horizons mission through the Pluto-Charon system. This Part 2 episode focuses on anomaly-hunting -based conspiracies, including the alleged secret space program and a lot of image analysis.

Episode 138 - New Horizons Pluto Encounter Conspiracies, Part 1 Aug 01, 2015

A look at many of the conspiracies related to the New Horizons mission through the Pluto-Charon system. This Part 1 episode focuses on some of the more mundane conspiracies, such as those related to naming conventions, the data download plan, and young-Earth creationism.

Episode 137 - Why Earth Is Old, Without Radiometric Dating Jul 16, 2015

Most often when discussing the age of the Earth or the solar system, scientists refer to radiometric dating. In kind, young-Earth creationists will try almost exclusively to poke holes in radiometric dating. But, before radioactive decay was discovered over one century ago, scientists in many different fields had already concluded that Earth was at least millions, if not hundreds of millions of years old. This episode discusses the reasoning they used.

Episode 136 (BONUS) - How Science Journalists Go from Scientists to the Public Jul 09, 2015

I briefly spoke with two of the science journalists who are embedded within NASA's New Horizons team for the spacecraft's flyby of the Pluto-Charon system. I asked them how they work to convert the complicated and technical science into something the public can digest and get excited about.

Episode 135 - How New Horizons Takes Photographs, Interview with Dr. John Spencer Jul 01, 2015

I bring you an interview with Dr. John Spencer, head of the hazards search for NASA's New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto, and co-deputy of the Geology and Geophysics Investigation team for New Horizons. We discuss how spacecraft images are processed, unique challenges for New Horizons, and some of the things we're doing to try to avoid creation of anomalies that some people might try to claim are evidence for a conspiracy.

Episode 134 - Big Bang Denial Jun 16, 2015

The Big Bang is the model that is used to explain what happened just after the origin of the universe. No more, and no less. But there are different kinds of arguments that people make to argue that the Big Bang never happened. In this episode, we go through some of these arguments and the arguments made by scientists to support Big Bang cosmology.

Episode 133 - Element 115 and the Credibility of Bob Lazar's Claims Jun 01, 2015

Bob Lazar is often credited - at least in part - with re-energizing the UFO field in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Unfortunately for the field, most who have looked into his claims have found them lacking in veracity. In this episode, I look specifically into his claims about ununpentium, also known as Element 115, which is supposed to be the source of propulsion for UFOs and work in their energy production.

Episode 132 - In Search Of Planet X (Live from Denver ComicCon) May 16, 2015

On May 24, 2015, I presented a live talk at the Denver ComicCon modeled after Leonard Nimoy's "In Search Of" televsision series. The session title was, "Skeptical Science." The topic was Planet X, chosen because it has grown into a large class of different claims all under the moniker "Planet X," and so an exploration of it can explore a wide variety of critical thinking -based concepts.

Episode 131 - Clip Show #3: Blood Moons, Ceres' Bright Spots, MESSENGER's Death, and Funding in Science Follow-Up May 01, 2015

A lot of small threads are discussed in this episodes: The latest lunar eclipse and its relation to the Blood Moons phenomenon, the bright spots on Ceres and conspiracies surrounding them, MESSENGER's crash landing into Mercury, and a follow-up to the Pamela Gay interview about funding in science. Also in this episode is my - and listeners' - tribute to Leonard Nimoy.

Episode 130 - Dealing with Pseudoscience at Scientific Conferences Apr 16, 2015

Who can present at a scientific conference is often shrouded in mystery to non-scientists, and it is viewed as an Ivory Gate by pseudoscientists. In this episode, we hear from the program committee chair of the largest planetary science conference in the world, Dr. Dave Draper, about how selections are made and what happens when ideas against the mainstream are submitted for presentations at these meetings.

Episode 129 - The Saga of Comet Hale-Bopp and its Fugacious Companion, Part 3 Apr 01, 2015

Comet Hale-Bopp put on a fantastic display for Earth-bound skywatchers for over two years, often considered "the" comet of the 20th century. But, conspiracies and fear marred the event and led to the suicide of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult. In this Part 3 of 3 episodes, I discuss the cult's belief system, their suicide, and the continued pseudoscience about Comet Hale-Bopp after their deaths.

Episode 128 - The Saga of Comet Hale-Bopp and its Fugacious Companion, Part 2 Mar 16, 2015

Comet Hale-Bopp put on a fantastic display for Earth-bound skywatchers for over two years, often considered "the" comet of the 20th century. But, conspiracies and fear marred the event and led to the suicide of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult. In this Part 2 of 3 episodes, I discuss how decidedly unceientific claims and methods were used to divine information that became a key component of the mythology.

Episode 127 - The Saga of Comet Hale-Bopp and its Fugacious Companion, Part 1 Mar 01, 2015

Comet Hale-Bopp put on a fantastic display for Earth-bound skywatchers for over two years, often considered "the" comet of the 20th century. But, conspiracies and fear marred the event and led to the suicide of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult. In this Part 1 of 3 episodes, I discuss the photographic claims of a companion object and their eventual reveal as a misunderstanding and fraud.

Episode 126 - The Facts and Misconceptions Behind Funding in Science, with Dr. Pamela Gay Feb 16, 2015

The issue of funding in science is near and dear to my heart ... or, perhaps to my grocery, rent, and utility bills. Most people who are not in science do not know - and have many misconceptions about - how research scientists get funding and what they do with it. In this episode, I interview and discuss with Dr. Pamela Gay this significant issue and why it is a larger issue than many realize.

Episode 125 - The Black Hole Conspiracy Feb 01, 2015

Black holes seem like a given in popular culture: They exist, they have to, right? Well, some people claim they don't. In this episode, we go through the theoretical underpinnings for black holes, some of the observational evidence for their existence, and examine some of the claims made by credentialed and practicing physicists who state that black holes cannot exist.

Episode 124 - The Astronomical Distance Ladder Jan 16, 2015

Measuring distance in every-day life requires some basic tools like a ruler. But who holds the other end when we want to measure the distance to the next galaxy? In response to young-Earth creationist claims, this episode delves into some of the science of how we measure distances across the cosmos and how all those different measurements fit together in what we call the Astronomical Distance Ladder.

Episode 123 - The Science and Pseudoscience of Communicating with Aliens Jan 01, 2015

Lingust, Dr. Karen Stollznow, discusses some of the communication problems on our own planet and how that translates to the huge potential problems of communicating with any type of intelligent creature who originated off our planet. We used this information to discuss some claimed contactees and how linguists have debunked their claimed communication with aliens.

Episode 122 - Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and Rosetta Conspiracies Dec 16, 2014

The Rosetta mission with a destination of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has faced numerous conspiracies circulating throughout the internet (and even more mispronunciations of its target). In this episode, I talk about a few of them.

Episode 121 - James McCanney's Views on Other Stuff in the Universe, Part 2 Dec 01, 2014

I've listened to Coast to Coast AM for many years, and one of the repeating guests I have not yet talked about on this show is James McCanney. His ideas can broadly be classified as falling into the Electric Universe model, and he is best known for his ideas about comets. While Part 1 dealt with those cometary ideas exclusively, this Part 2 deals with his ideas regarding Venus, the Big Bang, the Apollo moon landings, Planet X, weather, and conspiracies in general.

Episode 120 - James McCanney's Views on Comets, Part 1 Nov 16, 2014

I have listened to Coast to Coast AM for many years, and one of the repeating guests I have not yet talked about on this show is James McCanney. His ideas can broadly be classified as falling into the Electric Universe model, and he is best known for his ideas about comets. It is these cometary ideas that are the focus of this Part 1 episode.

Episode 119 - The Norway Spiral Nov 01, 2014

On December 9, 2009, a strange spiral anomaly appeared in the skies over Trondelag, Norway, and Northern Norway, a day before President Barack Obama arrived to accept his Nobel Peace Prize. As with other weird, unexplained events, this gigantic blue- and yellow/or/white-glowing spiral has become a pet example of many different fill-in-the-blank paranormal phenomena.

Episode 118 - The Big Mars Hoax / The Two Moons Hoax Oct 16, 2014

"Come one, come all! See the never-before-seen and never-to-be-seen again phenomenon of two moons in the sky, when Mars appears as large as the moon! This August 27 ... don't miss it!" So the paraphrased claim goes. And goes around every August. I don't seem to recall seeing Mars as big as the Moon in the sky, so in this episode I explore the origins of the claim and why it can never be true.

Episode 117 - Eyewitness Accounts and UFOs, Interview with Dr. Elizabeth Loftus Sep 01, 2014

The majority of UFO = aliens reports today - if not in quality then at least in quantity - come from simple eyewitness testimony. People often point to "trained observers" as being key witnesses, such as police officers or pilots. But, skeptics tend to dismiss these reports, and in this episode, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus shares her research into the fallibility and manipulability of human memory, with implications for why this kind of testimony is not considered good evidence.

Episode 116 - The Electric Universe, Part 2, with Dr. Tom Bridgman Jul 21, 2014

Continuing from Part 1 which was a broad introduction to the Electric Universe concept, in this episode we delve into four different Electric Universe models for the Sun and explore whether the direct predictions made based upon those models bear out in observations.

Episode 115 - The Electric Universe, Part 1, with Dr. Tom Bridgman Jul 11, 2014

When originally formulated, the Electric Universe umbrella of ideas was a serious area of investigation. And Dr. Tom Bridgman describes many of the early tests that were done ... and why they failed. In this Part 1, we discuss a lot of these early ideas, tests, and a general overview of the Electric Universe.

Episode 114 - Ethics in Science, with Special Guest Interview, Dr. Jeffrey Robbins Jul 01, 2014

This episode was spurred by the #FacebookExperiment where researchers tried to influence moods of about 700,000 people, without their explicit knowledge or consent. Using that as a starting point, I interview my father (Dr. Jeffrey Robbins) about ethics in science and especially in human research. I then talk about my take on the subject and bring it back to ethics in general, and contrast that with pseudoscientists.

Episode 113 - The Blue-Haze Limb of Mars Jun 21, 2014

The True Color of Mars conspiracy was dispelled in Episode 74, but a niggling part remained: What about the haze of blue around the limb of Mars seen in many photos of it from Earth orbit, especially from the Hubble Space Telescope? This part of the conspiracy has a surprising result -- it's true!

Episode 112 - Is Mercury's Magnetic Field Decaying? Does that Prove Recent Creation? Jun 11, 2014

In 2008, and ever since, young-Earth creationists have claimed that MESSENGER spacecraft results from the planet Mercury indicate that Mercury's magnetic field has been decreasing, in-line with creationist Russell Humphreys' prediction back in 1984. Find out if the data support this, and if there are other explanations. Or, if we need to throw out an old Mercury for a recently created one.

Episode 111 - The Cydonia Region of Mars Jun 01, 2014

Explores claims made by "Mars anomalists" that the Cydonia region of Mars (the region with the "Face on Mars") was constructed, designed, or arranged by intelligent aliens. This episode takes you through the context of the claim, some of the math behind it, an exploration of the "null hypothesis" (what the results would be if it were purely random), and draws conclusions based on the latest orbital imagery of Mars. (Note: This episode is inended as a companion to the video, also in the podcast feed and on YouTube, by the same name. It is stand-alone, however.)

Movie Episode 1 - The Cydonia Region of Mars May 31, 2014

Also released to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_C4bFfATGY Explores claims made by "Mars anomalists" that the Cydonia region of Mars (the region with the "Face on Mars") was constructed, designed, or arranged by intelligent aliens. This episode takes you through the context of the claim, some of the math behind it, an exploration of the "null hypothesis" (what the results would be if it were purely random), and draws conclusions based on the latest orbital imagery of Mars.

Episode 110 - Solar System Mysteries "Solved" by PseudoScience, Part 2 - The Pioneer Anomaly May 21, 2014

Imagine, if you will, that NASA sent two spacecraft out into the solar system, launched in 1972 and 1973. Their sexy encounters with Jupiter and Saturn over a mere two and six years later, respectively, they were alone and pretty much forgotten by most of the world that had watched their launch, though they continued to return data to interested scientists. It was only when something weird was observed, first as early as the 1980s, but not seriously investigated until 1994, that the world began to again take notice, and as is often the case of something unexplained, everyones' pet idea came out of the wood work.

Episode 109 - The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 9 - Marshall Masters May 11, 2014

This is the story of a time in the present, a time of myth and legend. When the ancient tales are petty and cruel, and they will return to plague mankind with suffering. Only one group dared to challenge the disinformation machine, led by a man named Marshall Masters. Masters possesses an intellect the truth movement rarely sees, being a member of Mensa, an intellect surpassed only by the power of his heart to get the word out. He journeyed the internet and late-night radio programs, battling the minions of the evil disinformationers, and the all-powerful NASA.

Episode 108: Practical Application of Uncertainty - Getting Around the Solar System May 01, 2014

Episode 94 was probably kinda boring, learning about error, uncertainty, accuracy, precision, and all that stuff. Well, it's back, but this time more interesting! Learn all about what our inability to make perfect measurements means for how we get around the solar system - from Superman flying to Mars to satellites orbiting to asteroids hitting Earth to observing objects with spacecraft.

Episode 107: Clip Show #2 Apr 21, 2014

It's that time again when several small bits of pseudoscience have accumulated to the overflowing point, and I've put them together into another clip show. This one discusses whether gravity is a force (or if we've been lied to about it), whether the moon is a hologram (put up there by Illuminati aliens?), and something weird about rainbows and chemtrails and evil.

Episode 106: A Fission Origin for the Planets, Part 2 Apr 11, 2014

From forming the moon by budding it off Earth in the last episode, we go to forming the planets by them budding off the Sun. This is mainly an idea by the late Tom van Flandern, and I go through his model, his evidence for it, and the evidence against it, and there is a discussion of some of his surviving advocates.

Episode 105: A Fission Origin for the Moon, Part 1 Apr 01, 2014

While I talked briefly about the fission model of lunar origins in Episode 53, it deserves a more in-depth discussion, especially as a setup for the next episode about a fission formation for the planets, from the sun. This episode takes you through a historic context and justifications for the "Big Split," but it ultimately why it has been rejected by the scientific community today.

Episode 104: Pyramids on Mars Mar 21, 2014

Pyramids on Mars may not be as sexy, popular, or well-known as the "Face," but they are much more prevalent with many different persons pointing to many different features on the planet that appear to be pyramids. Now the question is, ¿Are they natural or unnatural?

Episode 103: Does Jupiter Support Young-Earth Creationism? Mar 11, 2014

Any legitimate field of science or scientific object is fair game for young-Earth creationists in their attempts to sew doubt about an old universe. Somehow, Jupiter is dependent on evolution and since Jupiter can't be old, evolution can't have happened, therefore Goddidit many (where many = 6) thousands of years ago. Or not.

Episode 102: Q&A and D at the Launceston Skeptics in the Pub Mar 01, 2014

A Q&A and discussion happened after I gave my presentation at the Launceston Skeptics in the Pub (Episode 99). Listen in as we talk about the goals of skepticism, what other kinds of astronomy topics there are, and about real astronomy observations.

Episode 101: The Chualar Barley Field Crop Circle and Reporting on it by Linda Moulton Howe Feb 21, 2014

A mysterious crop circle appeared during the night of December 27-28, 2013, in Chualar, California. Security guards quickly came to guard the circle, and then it was mysteriously plowed under just a few days later. Crop circle researchers point to numerous lines of evidence that this was made by aliens, but it was later revealed to be a publicity stunt by NVIDIA. Or was it?

Episode 100: The Hundredth Episode Spectacular! (Hour 2) Feb 01, 2014

For the hundredth episode of the Exposing PseudoAstronomy podcast, I pay homage to paranormal radio programs and play the credulous host with two guests and several callers. The show is complete with commercials and bumper music and spans two nearly hour-long segments.

Episode 100: The Hundredth Episode Spectacular! (Hour 1) Feb 01, 2014

For the hundredth episode of the Exposing PseudoAstronomy podcast, I pay homage to paranormal radio programs and play the credulous host with two guests and several callers. The show is complete with commercials and bumper music and spans two nearly hour-long segments.

Episode 99: The Saga of the Lunar Ziggurat Jan 21, 2014

In July of 2012, I did an analysis of a photo purported to show a genuine ziggurat (a step pyramid) on the Moon. I showed that it was more likely to be a hoax than not. What ensued grew to more than I expected, with name-calling, mud-slinging, various side-claims, and other things that I relate in this live talk I gave twice while in Australia.

Episode 98: Interview with Michael Heiser on Ancient Aliens and Zecharia Sitchin, Part 2 Jan 11, 2014

Michael Heiser is an expert in ancient languages and his work led him to investigate the possibility - or the claimed evidence for - ancient aliens and related materials. In this second part of a two-part series, we talk about the claims of Zecharia Sitchin; we don't discuss the specific details, but rather we delve into the claimed evidence that Sitchin used in his numerous books about the Anunnaki and Nibiru.

Episode 97: Interview with Michael Heiser on Ancient Aliens and Zecharia Sitchin, Part 1 Jan 01, 2014

Michael Heiser is an expert in ancient languages and his work led him to investigate the possibility - or the claimed evidence for - ancient aliens and related materials. In this first part of a two-part series, we talk about how he got interested in the topic, his approach, and an investigation he facilitated into the infamous "MJ12" documents.

Episode 96: The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View with Aaron Adair Dec 21, 2013

The Star of Bethlehem is perhaps one of the most famous astronomical events, but it's one that we're not even sure really happened. Much ink has been spilled on the topic, and in this interview, Aaron Adair talks about his new book (The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View) and the methodic approach he takes, examining primary source material, interpretations of the text and possible events at the time, and what, based on the available evidence, the famous Star may have been, or if it was ever there.

Episode 95: The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 8 - Zecharia Sitchin, Revisited Dec 11, 2013

Zecharia Sitchin's ideas about Planet X were discussed in Episode 23, where I also presented numerous reasons why his Planet X - Nibiru - does not exist. This episode discusses some of the news stories over the past decade that the man posted to his website and claimed supported his ideas, and I address whether they do or do not.

Episode 94: Error and Uncertainty in Science Dec 01, 2013

What a scientist means by "accuracy" and "precision" are usually different from common, every-day use. The process of formal error analysis and their propagation to a final formal uncertainty applied to a final result is also generally not well understood. This episode discusses all of these, focusing on different types of error in scientific data and experiments.

Episode 93: The Importance, Methods, and Faults of Peer Review Nov 21, 2013

Peer Review is one of the foundations of modern science, and yet, outside of science, it is a poorly understood process even though many think they understand it. It is also one of the common threads of ire among pseudoscientists, mainly because they cannot pass it. This episode goes through how peer review works not only for scholarly papers but also how that research may have been funded to begin with, grant review.

Episode 92: Spiral Galaxies and a Young Universe Nov 11, 2013

A classic young-Earth creationist claim is that spiral galaxies would wind themselves up and become a uniform disk if they had been around for millions or billions of years. In this episode, I go through this basic claim and why a basic misunderstanding of spiral galaxy arms leads to its conclusion.

Episode 91: The Binary Star Hypothesis Nov 01, 2013

Some think that our Sun is part of a binary star system, that there is another star out there, gravitationally bound, that does bad things to us from time-to-time. This has some observational data that it can explain. But, what about current data, and what about current searches for such an object? And, where do genuine scientific pursuits cross the line into pseudoscience?

Episode 90: Investigation into Billy Meier's Alleged Foreknowledge About Stuff About Jupiter and Saturn Oct 21, 2013

It is claimed by many that Billy Meier is a UFO contactee. As partial evidence of this, it is claimed that he wrote about things well before anyone on Earth (including scientists) knew about them. In this episode, I go through a lengthy process of exploring some such writings that people have claimed are good evidence of this, specifically ones related to Jupiter and Saturn.

Episode 89: Remaining Issues with Lunar Formation, Interview with Robin Canup Oct 11, 2013

Dr. Robin Canup is the Associate Vice President of the Planetary Science Directorate at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, CO. She received her BS in physics from Duke University and her PhD in planetary sciences from the University of Colorado, and Robin has been at the forefront for over a decade in simulating how the moon may have formed. In this interview, we discuss some of the remaining issues with how the moon may have formed and what the current state of the research is.

Episode 88: Is Phobos Hollow? Oct 01, 2013

A common claim by Richard Hoagland is that various celestial objects are artificial or have artificial objects or structures upon or within them. One such object is Mars' inner moon, Phobos. This episode is a look at the history of the claim and the evidence presented.

Episode 87: Colorado Flood Special: Conspiracy Edition Sep 21, 2013

A special behind-the-scenes look at the development of mini-conspiracies surrounding the recent Colorado floods by yours truly.

Episode 86: Was Mars Murdered? Sep 11, 2013

Xenon-129 was discovered in abundance by the Viking landers on Mars. Xenon-129 can only be produced in nuclear reactions, so claims John E. Brandenburg. Ergo, Mars was murdered in a vast nuclear exchange. Or was it?

Episode 85: Blood Moons, Jewish Holidays, and the End of All Things Sep 01, 2013

Around 2008, the claim that Jewish holidays occurring during a Blood Moon in 2014 and 2015 was going to signal the Apocalypse. The claim persists in some circles today. Exploring the nature of eclipses and the Jewish calendar itself sheds some light onto the basic claim.

Episode 84: David Sereda's Claims Clip Show, Part 2 Aug 21, 2013

David Sereda started as a UFOlogist who became interested in "alternative" energy, propulsion, and anti-gravity. Over the years, he branched out into what most would term a general 'new age' movement with quantum vibration jewelry and harmonic resonances. In this second of two parts, I discuss numerous varied claims that he has made related to basic science, physics, and astronomy, that illustrate various misunderstandings of each field.

Episode 83: David Sereda's Claims Clip Show, Part 1 Aug 11, 2013

David Sereda started as a UFOlogist who became interested in "alternative" energy, propulsion, and anti-gravity. Over the years, he branched out into what most would term a general 'new age' movement with quantum vibration jewelry and harmonic resonances. In this first of two parts, I discuss this evolution and go through a few of his claims. Part two will focus on many more of his claims.

Episode 82: How to Design a Hyperdimensional Physics Experiment Aug 01, 2013

Richard C. Hoagland has claimed now for at least a decade that there exists a “hyperdimensional torsion physics” which is based partly on spinning stuff. I assume he is correct in his model and claims and that his Accutron watch can actually measure what he claims. I then go through how you would properly design an experiment to test the claims and show why the data that Mr. Hoagland has presented is, quite literally, meaningless.

Episode 81: Is the Speed of Light Constant? Jul 21, 2013

Astronomical objects are an astronomically large distance away. So far, in fact, that for light, at its current speed, to get from there to us so we can see them, that the universe must be more than 6000 years old. Young-Earth creationists have a problem with that. This epiosde discusses one of the ways they try to solve that problem.

Episode 80: The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 7 - Mark Hazlewood Jul 11, 2013

In yet another edition of "Fake Planet X" stories, this time I talk about Mark Hazlewood's claims surrounding his failed prediction of a 2003 approach. Hazlewood borrowed a lot from Nancy Lieder (she claims he copied her), but he is much more conspiratorial. This episode focuses more on the story of what happened and his claims rather than delve too much into why everything he claimed was wrong.

Episode 79: Is the Movie "John Carter" a Leak by Those "In the Know?" Jul 01, 2013

By most accounts, Disney's "John Carter" movie, based on the books by Edgar R. Burroughs, was a box office flop. It did get decent reviews, and I don't think it's not worth seeing. But Richard C. Hoagland saw something different, and in an exclusive, three-hour interview in April 2012, he laid out his case that "John Carter" was depicting Mars as it really was, and the Therns who controlled things from behind the scenes were what is going on today, on Earth.

Episode 78: Historic and Modern Geocentrism Jun 21, 2013

Ancient astronomers searched for evidence and found none that Earth is not the center of the universe. Thousands of years later, we found that evidence, but there are still people today who point to other reasons and claim heliocentrism is wrong. This episode explores those and some independent ways to show why geocentrism doesn't work.

Episode 77: 2012 Back-Peddling Jun 11, 2013

In the long-delayed "2012 Back-Peddling" episode that is this, I talk about a few examples of people saying one thing or group of things is/are going to happen on or about December 21, 2012, and then their reactions (or lack there-of) when it didn't. Or claims that it still did. We'll see ...

Episode 76: Nancy Lieder's Astronomy Clip Show Jun 01, 2013

Nancy Lieder is best known for her failed prognostications about Planet X coming in May 2003. Lost among her many Planet X claims is a deeper misunderstanding of astronomy. In this episode, I delve into several of her astronomy misstatements and explain what's really going on.

Episode 75: Young-Earth Creationist, David Coppedge, Sues NASA for Discrimination, and He Loses May 21, 2013

Back in 2010, David Coppedge, a young-Earth creationist and an Intelligent Design advocate, sued NASA for workplace discrimination, alleging he had been discriminated against due to his religious views. He later amended the lawsuit for wrongful termination after he was fired. In early 2013, the lawsuit was thrown out in its entirety. This episode is an interview with a legal expert about the case.

Episode 74: The True Color of Mars May 11, 2013

The color of Mars seems like it should be something fairly simple to know and represent. Scientists claim to have solved it very early on, but a branch of conspiracy theories claims that, in fact, NASA and other space agencies have lied about the true color of Mars for decades.

Episode 73: Image Analysis for Skeptics: From Faces to Pyramids (Live Talk) May 01, 2013

The first public, and abridged, version of a TAM 2013 workshop on image processing and analysis for skeptics. This was a live talk presented at the Denver 2013 Skepticamp in front of a live studio audience. Besides background information, this talk used basic skills to analyze the infamous Face on Mars and a lesser known lunar step pyramid.

Episode 72: Solar System Mysteries "Solved" by PseudoScience, Part 1 - Iapetus Apr 24, 2013

In this first edition of Solar System Mystery Science Theater, we learn about Iapetus, a weird moon of Saturn that has features unlike any other object in the solar system. Some have explained those with exploding planets and spaceships. Others look for something that makes sense.

Episode 71: The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 6 - Andy Lloyd's "Dark Star" Apr 16, 2013

Andy Lloyd has a chemistry background and has had an interest in astronomy his whole life. He also likes Zecharia Sitchin's idea of Nibiru and the Annunaki. In his book, "The Dark Star," Andy tries to reconcile what he knows about astronomy with Sitchin's model to create a "neo-Sitchin" proposal that just might be plausible, so long as his changes don't introduce their own new problems.

Episode 70: The Ringmakers of Saturn Apr 08, 2013

The Ringmakers of Saturn by Norman R. Berbrun makes a premise, claimed to be consistent with all other research on Saturn's rings, that the rings are created by the exhaust of gigantic space vehicles. He determined this through analyzing blow-ups of photographs returned to Earth by the Voyager spacecraft.

Episode 69: The Solar Neutrino "Problem" Apr 01, 2013

A problem for particle physics and solar physics sparked a somewhat technical argument by young-Earth creationists that our Sun is a young star, only a few thousand years old. Unfortunately for them, the problem was solved in 2001, but I'm getting ahead of my story ...

Episode 68: Expat in Hoaglandia: A Fantasia of NASA Conspiracies Mar 16, 2013

My first returning guest - and my first guest ever - is the pseudononymous "Expat" who produced numerous programs for the BBC about the Apollo-era space program. He has spent his semi-retirement battling pseudoscience espoused by Richard Hoagland and Mike Bara, and in this podcast we discuss several of the more conspiratorial NASA-related claims of Richard Hoagland and his followers.

Episode 67: Russian Meteor Conspiracies Mar 01, 2013

The Chelyabinsk meteor is the largest known to pass through Earth's atmosphere since the Tunguska event in 1908. Given the technology today, it's also the best studied and so we know a lot about it. However, many different conspiracies and related ideas have cropped up in just the past two weeks since the explosion, and this episode covers some of the major ones.

Episode 66: The Schumann Resonance Feb 24, 2013

Many proponents of "new-age" thought reference the Schumann Resonance, claiming that it's increasing as we approach something, or that it's being drown out by electromagnetic pollution from modern society. In reality, it's a phenomenon that's well understood, is basic to how Earth and the atmosphere interact, and is very constant.

Episode 65: José Escamilla's Movie "Celestial" Feb 16, 2013

The movie "Celestial" is an hour-long fantasia of misunderstanding images and parediolia. In this episode, I talk more about the basics of image processing and delve into more detail about color compositing than I have in previous episodes.

Episode 64: Quantum Nonsense Feb 08, 2013

This episode is a mostly informational one about quantum mechanics -- what are its primary concepts and some popular thought experiments. In the middle of the episode, I bring in some clips demonstrating misuse of these terms and concepts, and then the episode ends with answering the question of whether classical mechanics is dead now that we have quantum mechanics and general relativity.

Episode 63: Clip Show #1 Feb 01, 2013

It was bound to happen at some point: The clip show, characterized by several miscellaneous claims that are too small to be their own show. This clip show deals with pendulums, Earth's moon, magnetic fields, habitability, and exoplanets.

Episode 62: Interview with Bill Hudson About 2012hoax.org Jan 24, 2013

Bill Hudson is an amateur astronomer out of California (USA) who, for four years, operated the 2012hoax.org website. In this interview, we discuss his motivation for starting it, some of the stats on how the site was visited, Bill's favorite back-peddling now that we're into 2013, and his new endeavor: cosmophobia.org.

Episode 61: Is Invoking Giant Impacts Special Pleading? Jan 16, 2013

Giant asteroid strikes have been used to explain a host of weird things about the solar system. The question is, is doing so a form of special pleading, or is there a good reason to blame these impact events?

Episode 60: The Face on Mars, Part 2 Jan 08, 2013

In the second of two parts, I review why the Face on Mars is best explained by pareidolia. Then I discuss Mark Carlotto's image analysis, other faces found by various people on Mars, and finally the conspiracy angle.

Episode 59: The Face on Mars, Part 1 Jan 01, 2013

In the first of two parts, the history and some of the claims surrounding the famous "Face on Mars" are discussed in detail, including several follow-up images. Pareidolia and image analysis are discussed at length, as well.

Episode 58 (BONUS): Post-December 21, 2012 Solstice - We're Still Here Dec 21, 2012

The solstice of December 21, 2012, has now come and gone. Guess what? We're still here.

Episode 57: Doom from the Sun on December 21, 2012 Dec 16, 2012

For the final 2012-related episode, the one major science claim not yet covered is something from the sun doing something bad to us on December 21, 2012. With protective eyewear recommended, this episode peers into the basic claim, the physics involved, the unknown - and the known - about what could happen from the sun that could cause us grief on Earth.

Episode 56: Photography Claims of the Apollo Moon Hoax, Part 3 Dec 01, 2012

The third of three episodes regarding photographic claims related to the Apollo Moon Hoax conspiracy. This contains a slew of miscellaneous claims, ranging from why we can't image the landers from Earth to why there are no stars in the photos to the infamous "C" rock.

Episode 55: Interview on Extraterrestrial Life with Dr. Brian Hynek Nov 16, 2012

Dr. Brian Hynek (no relation to J. Allen Hynek) is a professor in the geological sciences department at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Over the past decade, he has built a multi-faceted research program to explore different ways of getting at the basic question: Is there life on other planets in our solar system? In this interview, we talk about the different ways to address this question and some of the ways not to address it.

Episode 54: The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 5 (IRAS Discovery in 1983) Nov 01, 2012

In yet another episode on the Fake Story of Planet X, this episode explores the claim that NASA's IRAS survey actually found Planet X in 1983, and it was even reported in news papers. Since then, it's all been covered up. At least, that's what they claim.

Episode 53: Lunar Formation and Origins Oct 16, 2012

A run-down of the various models of how the moon formed. This episode doesn't have much pseudoscience to go with it, but it's a good example of the scientific process at work.

Episode 52: The Mystery of Phobos 2 Oct 01, 2012

Did the Soviet Phobos 2 mission encounter an alien mothership just before it was lost, or was this something created two years after the fact by UFO enthusiasts who played fast and loose with the facts to create a fanciful tale based on image artifacts and conspiracy?

Episode 51: The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 4 (Nancy Lieder) Sep 16, 2012

Up through mid-2003, Nancy Lieder claimed Planet X would come close to Earth and cause major catastrophes. It didn't happen. She's still active, claimes Planet X is still there, and while many don't take her seriously, we can learn a lot about the 2012 phenomenon from what happened with her in 2003 and the subsequent years.

Episode 50: Lunatic Earthquakes: Do Tides Cause Quakes? Sep 01, 2012

It would seem that if lunar tides cause or trigger earthquakes that everyone would know about it and beware of doom during the supermoon, but according to a few people, a vast conspiracy by Some has kept this free and easy-to-use earthquake predictor out of the general knowledge. Find out what the statistics actually show.

Episode 49: Billy Meier, Michael Horn, and Asteroid Apophis Aug 24, 2012

A look into the timeline of the alleged prediction by Billy Meier that a "red meteor," later linked to asteroid Apophis, will strike Earth in 2036. The conclusion is that the evidence is most consistent with a retrodiction.

Episode 48: Image Processing and Anomalies, Part 2 Aug 16, 2012

So many pseudoscientific claims rely on photographic evidence, and astronomy is no exception. In this Part 2 episode, I build on the basics from Part 1 and talk about dynamic range, noise, rotation, resizing, and adjusting the range of colors displayed. In almost every case, the computer is estimating the final result based on the original image, and anomalies can easily form.

Episode 47: Image Processing and Anomalies, Part 1 Aug 08, 2012

So many pseudoscientific claims rely on photographic evidence, and astronomy is no exception. In this Part 1 episode, I go through the basics of how an image gets from photons to pixels, the corrections we make to the image to try to get it to best represent the original, and some anomalies that can result.

Episode 46: Immanuel Velikovsky's "Worlds in Collision" Aug 01, 2012

Immanuel Velikovsky's "Worlds in Collision" laid forth the idea that Venus was a comet ejected from Jupiter just a few thousand years ago, and much crises happened as a result. Many today still use his ideas. What they were and whether they stand up to scrutiny is the subject of this episode.

Special Video 1: Richard C. Hoagland and the Ziggurat on the Moon Jul 25, 2012

Richard C. Hoagland is at it again; this time, I take you on a short journey exploring Hoagland's claim that there is a ziggurat on the Moon. In this video exposé, I graphically show why this is a hoax, how this is a hoax, and conclude that Hoagland is an incompetent investigator (or lying that he did any investigation).

Episode 45: The Moon's Changing Recession Rate Jul 24, 2012

A young-Earth creationist claim is that the Earth-Moon system can be no more than 1.4 billion years old because, at that time, the Moon would have been touching Earth. Find out if this dooms "evolutionary theory," or if the YECs are wrong.

Episode 44: Independent Evidence the Apollo Moon Landings Were Real Jul 16, 2012

Here I talk about and explain four of the most convincing arguments that the Apollo moon landings were real: Ultraviolet photos, lunar rocks, lunar laser ranging, and actual spacecraft photos of the sites from orbit.

Episode 43: The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 3 Jul 08, 2012

In this edition of the ongoing Planet X (fake story) saga, I address the conspiracy theory that Planet X is approaching from the South Pole, which is why we can't see it, but governments have secretly built a telescope at the south pole so they can observe it.

Episode 42: Our Solar System Is Not of This Galaxy! Jul 01, 2012

In 2003, scientists released a detailed map of the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy that's being ripped to shreds by the Milky Way Galaxy. In 2007, a few news outlets took this and used it to say that our solar system is not native to the Milky Way. Find out what the evidence shows in a, "Who's yo' mamma?" episode of intrigue.

Episode 41: Crater Age Dating and Young-Earth Creationism, Part 2 Jun 24, 2012

A detailed look at a few different methods that young-Earth creationists use to try to show that craters really do indicate that the Earth-Moon system (and universe as a whole) is only 6000 years old.

Episode 40: Crater Age Dating Explained, Part 1 Jun 16, 2012

An overview discussion of craters and how they are used to date surfaces in the solar system as well as some of the caveats, complications, and limitations that go with the method.

Episode 39: Radiometric Dating and Young-Earth Creationism, Part 2 Jun 08, 2012

After going over the basics of radiometric dating in Episode 38, here I discuss some of the main young-Earth creationist complaints about the technique, and their arguments to try to invalidate it.

Episode 38: Radiometric Dating Explained, Part 1 Jun 01, 2012

Overview episode of radiometric dating via an interview with geologist Rachael Acks. We discuss the history, the how, and the why of radiometric dating as well as some of the caveats of issues with the method and cases where it can not work.

Episode 37: Space Law and Extraterrestrial Property Rights, Interview with Nigel and Lady Saint Whitehall May 24, 2012

I interview Lord and Lady Saint Whitehall, two lawyers with pseudonyms, as a follow-up to Episode 27 (Stellar Scams). We discuss the Outer Space Treaty, legal precedents in the relevant areas, and extrapolate to what may need to happen legal-framework-wise in the future as private companies start to exploit extraterrestrial resources.

Episode 36 (BONUS): GAPs Young-Earth Creationists Must Believe or Ignore (Geology, Astronomy, and Physics) Live Talk May 19, 2012

Stuart gave a live, half-hour talk about geology, astronomy, and physics that young-Earth creationists have to believe or ignore in order to be young-Earth creationists. This was given at the Denver, Colorado Skepticamp in May 2012. This is a live recording.

Episode 36 (BONUS): GAPs Young-Earth Creationists Must Believe or Ignore (Geology, Astronomy, and Physics) Live Talk May 19, 2012

Stuart gave a live, half-hour talk about geology, astronomy, and physics that young-Earth creationists have to believe or ignore in order to be young-Earth creationists. This was given at the Denver, Colorado Skepticamp in May 2012. This is a live recording.

Episode 35: Photography Claims of the Apollo Moon Hoax, Part 2 May 16, 2012

In this Part 2 of a two+ -part series, I go over four alleged anomalies related to crosshairs and shadows made by Apollo Moon Hoax proponents. I also introduce a new segment, "New News" related to previous episodes.

Episode 34: The Giza Pyramid / Orion Correlation May 08, 2012

Robert Bauval originated "The Orion Correlation Theory" in the late 1980s that claims the three main stars in the belt of the Orion constellation align with the three main Giza necropolis pyramids. This has been criticized by some, praised by others -- what's the real story?

Episode 33: Flat Earth May 01, 2012

It might be a parody these days, but there are websites out there that claim Earth is flat. Learn some "do-it-yourself" ways to figure out that it's round.

Episode 32: Interview About the Billy Meier UFO Case with Derek Bartholomaus Apr 24, 2012

Derek Bartholomaus explains the basics of the Billy Meier claimed ongoing UFO contact case. From the beginnings to photographs, to videos, to metal, sound, and prophecies, we touch on several of the major components of the scenario and discuss how they can either be easily explained by Earthly means or are misquotes, misrepresentations, or mistakes.

Episode 31: Photography Claims of the Apollo Moon Hoax, Part 1 Apr 16, 2012

In this Part 1 of a two-part series (to be continued in a month or so), I go over the basic claims made for why the astronauts could not have taken the photographs. Part 2 will focus on what's actually in the photographs.

Episode 30: Was the Asteroid Belt a Planet? Part 2 Apr 08, 2012

Last episode was on mainstream evidence - or lack thereof - for the asteroid belt having been a planet. This episode gets to one of the pseudoscientific ideas, from Tom Van Flandern, of Mars being a moon of one of the planets that supposedly exploded to make the asteroid belt.

Episode 29: Was the Asteroid Belt a Planet? Part 1 Apr 01, 2012

A discussion on the history of the asteroid belt's discovery and four solid ways of showing that the asteroid belt could not have been a single planet that broke up or exploded. Stay tuned for next episode on the "Exploded Planet Hypothesis."

Episode 28: The Fake Story of Planet X, Part 2 (Gilbert Eriksen's Wormwood) Mar 24, 2012

In the second of at least four episodes on different ideas about Planet X, this time we go into Gilbert Eriksen's ideas about the rusty-red star/planet that is presently causing earthquakes and tsunamis, the likes of which we have never before seen.

Episode 27: Stellar Scams Mar 16, 2012

Teachers tell students to "reach for the stars," but some companies out there offer to sell them and land on other planets to you. I give a recap of some of the legal issues involved and what's really going on.

Episode 26: Richard C. Hoagland, Part 1 - 19.5° Mar 08, 2012

One aspect of Richard Hoagland's view of the universe has to do with a hyperdimensional number, 19.5° where everything energetic on all objects in the solar system is supposed to manifest. Hogland points to many features on many planets that do. This is an in-depth look at them and this claim.

Episode 25: The Magnetic Pole Shift Mar 01, 2012

We've discussed the geographic pole shift on this podcast, now we address the other kind - could Earth's magnetic pole shift, flip, or have something bad happen to it in 2012?

Episode 24: Help! The Sun (or Moon) Is Moving! Feb 24, 2012

A conspiratorial or just wacky claim out there is that the sun and moon are rising and setting in different spots than they "used to." Find out why both premises in that idea are wrong.

Episode 23: The Fake Story of Planet X, Zecharia Sitchin, Part 1 Feb 16, 2012

In the first of many episodes on the Fake Story of Planet X, we delve into the feasibility of a planet on a 3600-year orbit that was made famous in part by the late Zecharia Sitchin.

Episode 22: Proof We Are Not Experiencing a Pole Shift, Part 2 Feb 08, 2012

Find out why there is no physical mechanism proposed by 2012ers that could cause a geographic pole shift, and also how to tell whether or not we have gone through one recently or are going through one now.

Episode 21: The Geographic Pole Shift, Part 1 Feb 01, 2012

Some people claim that Eath's geographic poles did, are, or will be moving around dramatically. Here's a look at some of their mechanisms and evidence.

Episode 20: Interview on Combating Creationism as a High School Student Jan 24, 2012

One of the big "think tanks" for young-Earth creationism is the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), now located in Texas in the United States. Half a world away, a high school student, Peter, takes on nearly all their daily articles, blog posts, and other output. I interview Peter to learn more about what it's like taking on the ICR from his viewpoint.

Episode 19: John Lear Jan 16, 2012

An accomplished arline pilot and son of the inventor of the Lear Jet, John Lear has some rather interesting ideas about the universe. Discussed in this episode are just a few: The atmosphere of Venus, atmosphere of the moon, and lunar formation. Pareidolia is also talked about in detail.

Episode 18: Interview on Ancient Aliens with "Dumbass" Jan 08, 2012

"Parrot," AKA "Dumbass," has spent many hours on his own podcast and blog dissecting Ancient Aliens claims and evidence. In this episode, he shares some of what he's learned about the ideas, claims, and people involved.

Episode 17: Gregg Braden and Data Mining Jan 01, 2012

In discussing the new-agey claims by Gregg Braden of evidence for consciousness altering the world around us, I also use this as the start of what will be an ongoing series in fallacious ways to argue: In this case, data mining.

Episode 16: What the Sky Looks Like on December 21, 2012, Part 2 Dec 21, 2011

What's the galactic alignment on the solstice in December, 2012, and what else in the sky is special about that date? Find out and whether it portends doom or enlightenment in this false dichotomy.

Episode 15: Galactic Alignments, Part 1 Dec 16, 2011

I discuss five ideas propagated by 2012ers about the Sun, Earth, and Galaxy all coming into alignment in some way to do something in 2012. Find out what's really going on ... if anything.

Episode 14: Interview on the Mayan Calendar and What the Mayans Think of 2012 Dec 08, 2011

Join me in an interview with Dr. Johan Normark, a Mayan scholar, to learn about the Mayan calendar, its relationship with 2012, and what the Mayans "actually said" about 2012.

Episode 13: The True Story of Planet X Dec 01, 2011

As the first of my four episodes of Intro to 2012, I take a look at the true, historical story behind Planet X and delve a little into why a big planet won't swing by Earth any time soon.

Episode 12 (BONUS): Conspiracy Skeptic Interview About Nazis in the Hollow Earth Nov 23, 2011

"The Conspiracy Skeptic" Karl Mamer discusses, in a follow-up episode to Episode 8 on the Hollow Earth, some of the conspiracies related to Nazis currently living inside the hollow of Earth at the South Pole.

Episode 11: Dust and Rock Claims of the Apollo Moon Hoax Nov 16, 2011

Something as boring as rocks and dust has fueled many peoples' conspiratorial ideas relating to American's manned moon landings. Find out if they are well grounded.

Episode 10 (BONUS): Interview About Mike Bara's 'The Choice' Nov 15, 2011

A year ago tonight, Mike Bara presented "The Choice" to over 10 million people. One man called him out on his numerous, basic, fundamental mistakes relating to astronomy. I interview that man in this episode.

Episode 9: Earth's Decaying Magnetic Field Nov 01, 2011

It's a fact that Earth's magnetic field strength is decreasing. Young-Earth creationists use this to argue Earth is only a few thousand years old. Is this plausible?

Episode 8: The Hollow Earth Oct 16, 2011

The idea of a hollow planet - specifically Earth - has been around for a long time. And though it's rare, there are people who still believe Earth and the other planets and moons are hollow. I go through some of these ideas and give you no less than four independent methods to determine that Earth is indeed solid.

Episode 7 (BONUS): Live "Apollo Moon Hoax" Talk at Skepticamp Oct 09, 2011

Stuart gave a live, one-hour talk about the Apollo Moon "Hoax" at the Colorado Springs Skepticamp in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in August 2011. This is the live recording.

Episode 6: Astrology Basics and a (Non-?)Changing Sky Oct 01, 2011

Astrology is an ancient science about the predictive power of the heavens. But put under a modern light, what are its inherent contradictions, observational problems, and what do statistical studies show?

Episode 5: Heat and Radiation Claims of the Apollo Moon Hoax Sep 17, 2011

Two classes of claims about why Apollo astronauts never landed on the moon deal with heat and radiation. Find out why your common-Earth-sense doesn't help you on the moon, and why these claims aren't worth the energy.

Episode 4 (BONUS): Comet Elenin Special Sep 10, 2011

For some odd reason, there are a lot of crazy claims out there about Comet Elenin. In recognition of its closest approach to the sun on September 10, this bonus episode addresses many of the common claims out there about the comet including an exposé into Richard Hoagland's magical numerology that apparently proves it's a spaceship.

Episode 3: Young-Earth Creationist Claims About Comets Sep 06, 2011

A mainstay of young-Earth creationist arguments is that comets prove the solar system cannot be more than 10,000 years old. Listen in and find out why this claim ignores science.

Episode 2: You Can't Know the Distance, Size, and Speed of UFOs Aug 16, 2011

Often you will hear "expert" witnesses proudly and with certitude declaring the distance, size, and enormous speeds of UFOs (where "UFO" despite its actual meaning is taken to be an alien craft). I discuss why this is simply not possible based on a visual observation.

Episode 1: Introduction and the "Dark Side" of the Moon Misconception Aug 01, 2011

In this episode, I give an overview of what the podcast is going to be like as well as my own background in astronomy and public outreach. I then briefly discussed the misconception of a "dark side" to the moon, when there really is no side of the moon in permanent shadow.

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