Skeptoid

Skeptoid #977: A Dingo Ate My Baby Feb 25, 2025

This catchphrase has become popular with comedians. Is that in line with its true origin?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #976: The Spanish Gold of Neahkahnie Mountain Feb 18, 2025

Some believe a fabulous Spanish treasure is buried on the slopes of Oregon's Neahkahnie Mountain.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #975: How We Verify Our Sources Feb 11, 2025

A few of your favorite experts weigh in on how you can make sure your information comes from the very best sources.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #974: Salt Typhoon: The Chinese Phone Hack Feb 04, 2025

What really happened — and what didn't — in the 2024 telecom cyberattack.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid Adventures: Bermuda Triangle 2025 Jan 29, 2025

Join us for our 2nd Annual Skeptoid Adventure, this time to the Bermuda Triangle! Early bird pricing ends this Friday, don't miss the boat!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #973: Cows and Global Warming Jan 28, 2025

Just as important as the question of how much the livestock industry contributes to global warming is whether your giving up meat will have any real impact.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #972: Agent Orange on Trial Jan 21, 2025

The newer the data, and the longer we've had to study the epidemiology, the less harm we find that Agent Orange caused.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #971: Cloud Seeding Jan 14, 2025

Cloud seeding would seem like an easy and obvious way to create rain where none existed before. Is it really that simple?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #970: Economic Nationalism: Bounty or Bust? Jan 07, 2025

Economic nationalism, while attractive to many populists, is not the path to economic success some believe it to be.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #969: Listener Feedback: Bats and Pyramids Dec 31, 2024

Skeptoid answers another round of feedback emails sent in by listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #968: Waldorf Schools Dec 24, 2024

These schools combine an atypical education with a New Age spirituality called anthroposophy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #967: Cryonics: A Chilling Prospect Dec 17, 2024

Cryonics promises an opportunity for you to be frozen and revived at some distant point in the future — though with plenty of controversy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #966: Student Questions Dec 10, 2024

Skeptoid answers another round of questions from students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #965: The Legend of the Dover Demon Dec 03, 2024

What could explain a strange creature living in the suburbs, but only ever witnessed once?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Giving Tuesday! Dec 03, 2024

On this Giving Tuesday, please consider supporting Skeptoid Media (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization) and our mission of cultivating critical thinking and science literacy skills. Donations will be matched by our Board of Directors!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #964: Fixing a Flood of Flaws Nov 26, 2024

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors in previous episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #963: Hunting the Gloucester Sea Serpent Nov 19, 2024

This alleged sea serpent terrorized a New England fishing village for two years in the 19th century.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #962: Bats and Rabies Nov 12, 2024

Bats are scary and rabies is deadly, but do you need to worry about you or your pets catching the disease from them?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Report from Death Valley, and the Bermuda Triangle Nov 06, 2024

A report from the recent Skeptoid Adventures trip to Death Valley, including how many brave souls we lost in the desert and how they met their fate; and announcing the next Skeptoid Adventures trip to the Bermuda Triangle! Reserve your spot now at https://skeptoid.com/events/30285

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #961: The Man from Taured Nov 05, 2024

A mysterious man is said to have arrived in Japan in 1959 from a country that never existed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #960: I Know What Scares You Oct 29, 2024

Seven creepy stories from seven listeners, and seven guesses by me.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #959: Finding the Black Olmec Oct 22, 2024

A thoroughly discredited idea, that the Mesoamerican Olmec people were Black Africans, continues to gain traction.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #958: The Rock Wall of Texas Oct 15, 2024

This buried rock wall found throughout Rockwall County has people wondering about its origin.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It's Skeptoid's 18th Birthday! Oct 11, 2024

It's Skeptoid's 18th birthday! Won't you help us celebrate by giving us a little birthday present?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #957: Dogs Who Type Oct 08, 2024

Can dogs be taught to speak intelligently using floor buttons that represent words?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #956: 18 for 18 Oct 01, 2024

Highlights from 18 years of the Skeptoid podcast.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #955: Pop Quiz: Astonishing Aviation Tales Sep 24, 2024

Fifteen trivia questions from previous aviation themed episodes of Skeptoid.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #954: 15 Sleep Myths Sep 17, 2024

15 popular myths about sleeping, debunked.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid Flash Mob at CSICon 2024 Sep 11, 2024

Join the Skeptoid Flash Mob at CSICon 2024 in Las Vegas. Visit skeptoid.com/store to get your shirts.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #953: Pet Pheromone Products Sep 10, 2024

Lots of companies sell pheromone products claiming to calm down your dog or cat, but there's a very big problem with that basic claim.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #952: Finding Slumach's Gold Sep 03, 2024

Is this just another in a long line of legendary lost mines that never produced a speck of gold, or is there more to it this time?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #951: Dying of Excited Delirium Aug 27, 2024

Turns out that the cause of death known as excited delirium is not an actual cause of death at all.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #950: A Modern Skeptic Podcast Host Aug 20, 2024

If I were to summarize how and why I do what I do, I might put it this way.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #949: Hunting the Graveyard of the Elephants Aug 13, 2024

Does a mythical place where the elephants go to die actually exist?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #948: Medical Error Is Not the Third Leading Cause of Death Aug 06, 2024

The claim that medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US has never been close to true.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #947: How Your Driving Is Being Tracked Jul 30, 2024

Is your phone really tracking your driving habits and selling the data? Maybe more so than you know.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #946: Strange but True Stories from Space Jul 23, 2024

The weirdest, creepiest, funniest, and just plain strange stories from the era of crewed space flight.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #945: A Sea of Younger Dryas Woo Jul 16, 2024

Pseudoarchaeologists often will cite the Younger Dryas climatic event as proof of their ancient advanced civilization.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #944: Bullibility and the Cult of Wellness Jul 09, 2024

Not only is the entire wellness industry BS, it exists because of people who are especially gullible.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #943: The Aliens Are Not Coming Jul 02, 2024

Fear not; the aliens are not coming to Earth.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Death Valley for Students Jun 25, 2024

Skeptoid's Death Valley Adventure is holding 5 tickets for students and active duty military. To apply to get one, visit skeptoid.com/deathvalley

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #942: What the Movies Always Get Wrong Jun 25, 2024

A roundup of all those things that movies always get wrong and make you mad.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #941: Docu Dangers: Why Science Documentaries Usually Suck Jun 18, 2024

How we decide what makes a good topic for a skeptical documentary film.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #940: The Stephenville Lights Jun 11, 2024

This modern UFO case has been declared to be one of the most compelling ever.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #939: A Visit to Lemuria Jun 04, 2024

The true history of a mythical place.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #938: Vampire Facials May 28, 2024

This procedure promising facial rejuvenation is basically a full face tattoo of your own blood.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #937: Helen Keller on Trial May 21, 2024

A bizarre subculture of Helen Keller Truthers believe that she was either faking her deafblindness or even that she didn't exist at all.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #936: Coffee Myths May 14, 2024

A roundup of 15 common myths about coffee. Which ones had you always believed?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #935: Fruitful Feedback and Followups May 07, 2024

Skeptoid answers another round of listener feedback questions.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid Adventures: Death Valley 2024 May 02, 2024

Come join the Skeptoid Adventures trip for 2024, a journey of exploration in Death Valley!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #934: Decoding the Kensington Runestone Apr 30, 2024

The story goes that this stone covered with Viking runes was found in a Minnesota field in 1898. Its true history is much more interesting.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Snazzy New Store Items Apr 26, 2024

Get the snazzy new Skeptoid Hydro Flask tumbler or radical new Skeptoid coffee mug. Both are engraved so they’ll never fade. Now available at the Skeptoid store at Skeptoid.com.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #933: COVID-19 and the Lab Leak Apr 23, 2024

Was the SARS-CoV-2 virus of natural origin, or was it engineered in a Chinese research lab?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #932: Is Recycling for Real? Apr 16, 2024

A close look at where recycling of some common materials is actually at these days.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #931: Error Erasure Extravaganza Apr 09, 2024

It's time once again for Skeptoid to correct another round of errors in previous shows.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #930: Dr. Crow and the Melon Heads Apr 02, 2024

Some say creepy children with huge balloon heads stalk the woods at night, waiting to attack you.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #929: The Trinity UFO Crash of 1945 Mar 26, 2024

The not-so-famous UFO case that caused the US Congress to spend millions of taxpayer dollars.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #928: EMDR: Looking Past the Pain Mar 19, 2024

This controversial treatment for PTSD involves moving the eyes side to side.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #927: I Can't Believe They Did That: Human Guinea Pigs #3 Mar 12, 2024

Part 3 in our roundup of scientists who took the ultimate plunge and experimented on themselves.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #926: The Chicago O'Hare Airport UFO Mar 05, 2024

In 2006, a flying saucer spent minutes literally hovering right above Chicago's O'Hare International Airport... so the story goes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #925: The Conspirituality of Enneagrams Feb 27, 2024

Can everything important about you and those you interact with be boiled down to a single digit?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #924: Foo Fighters Feb 20, 2024

What were these early UFOs that chased and harried World War II fighter pilots?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #923: The Voodoo Ax Murders Feb 13, 2024

Were two waves of ax murders in the American south in the early 20th century truly associated with Louisiana Voodoo?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #922: Testing Alcubierre's Warp Drive Feb 06, 2024

Proponents of alien visitation often claim the Alcubierre drive makes faster than light possible. Here's why it can't exist.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Institutional Partners for Our New Show Feb 02, 2024

Skeptoid is looking for institutional partners and/or title sponsors for a proposed video series.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #921: Reconsidering the Seveso Dioxin Disaster Jan 30, 2024

Was this infamous 1976 dioxin disaster as bad as reported, or might it have been much worse than we thought?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #920: The Headless Goats of the Chattahoochee Jan 23, 2024

The carcasses of headless goats are floating in the Chattahoochee River; too many for a prosaic explanation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #919: Looking Back on the Chronovisor Jan 16, 2024

A Benedictine monk is said to have built a device allowing him to see and hear historical events.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #918: Martin Luther King Jr. Myths Jan 09, 2024

We break down four popular myths about Martin Luther King Jr. that just won't go away.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #917: DDT, 13 Years Later Jan 02, 2024

A failure mode analysis of my most-hated episode ever: #230 on the use of DDT to fight malaria.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #916: Ask Me Anything, 2023 Edition, Part 2 Dec 26, 2023

Skeptoid rapid fires a bunch of mini-episodes in answer to your questions.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #915: Ask Me Anything, 2023 Edition, Part 1 Dec 19, 2023

A year-end Ask Me Anything session to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Skeptoid and more.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Say Goodbye to 2023 Dec 14, 2023

Help us say goodbye to 2023, Skeptoid style.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #914: Stopping Hiccups with Science Dec 12, 2023

Does science have a way to reliably cure the hiccups?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #913: Surviving Brazil's Snake Island Dec 05, 2023

This Brazilian island is said to be too dangerous to visit due to countless venomous snakes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #912: Kambo: Let It Go Nov 28, 2023

Some believe that taking a deadly frog poison confers a vast array of New Age wellness benefits.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #911: How to Escape Nibiru Nov 21, 2023

Some believe this speculative rogue planet is on a collision course with the Earth.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #910: How to Spot Misinformation Nov 14, 2023

Much content online is designed for high engagement, not for accuracy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #909: Fixing Former Fumbles Nov 07, 2023

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors in past episodes pointed out by listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #908: Your Creepiest Halloween Stories Oct 31, 2023

Celebrating Halloween with the creepiest ghost stories sent in by you, our listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #907: The Science of the 27 Club Oct 24, 2023

Do lots of famous pop musicians really die at the age of 27, or is there something in science that just makes us think so?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #906: Unraveling the Myth of Nazareth Oct 17, 2023

Did the village of Nazareth exist at the time of Jesus, making it possible for there to have been a Jesus of Nazareth?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #905: Artificial Turf: Poisonous Pitches? Oct 10, 2023

Some claim that artificial turf sports fields emit poisonous chemicals, making them dangerous for children.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #904: Pop quiz: 17 for 17 Oct 03, 2023

What better way to celebrate 17 years of the Skeptoid podcast than a 17-question pop quiz!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #903: Tracking California's Monster Salamander Sep 26, 2023

Does a monster salamander the size of Asia's largest live undiscovered in the Pacific Northwest?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid Flashmob! Sep 25, 2023

If you're going to be at CSICon 2023, join the Skeptoid Flashmob! skeptoid.com/store

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #902: Focusing in on Eye Exercises Sep 19, 2023

Can you really make your eyesight better with a simple series of eye movements and exercises?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #901: The Mystery of the Severed Feet Sep 12, 2023

Severed feet have been washing up on the shores of the Salish Sea since 2007. What could be the cause?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #900: Mussolini's Aliens Sep 05, 2023

How an old Italian UFO hoax became proof of alien visitation to the US Congress

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #899: Berberine: Thin Body, or Thin Evidence? Aug 29, 2023

This supplement is claimed by social media influencers to be Nature's Ozempic.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #898: Finding the Third Man Aug 22, 2023

Reports from some extreme adventurers say that a benevolent presence sometimes appears to provide comfort.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #897: The Secret of the Norden Bombsight Aug 15, 2023

Pop culture tells us the famous Norden bombsight from World War II was actually terribly inaccurate. Was it?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #896: The Treasures of the Copper Scroll Aug 08, 2023

This greatest of all imaginable treasures from the Dead Sea Scrolls probably never existed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #895: The Hottest Temperature on Earth Aug 01, 2023

Is the world record highest air temperature a solid measurement, or might it be invalid?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #894: The Klerksdorp Spheres Jul 25, 2023

Are these remarkable stones natural, or proof of an ancient advanced civilization?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #893: Finding the Lost Tribesmen: Aure and Aura Jul 18, 2023

Were these two men from an Amazon tribe that had been massacred, or could their story be explained more simply?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #892: The UFO That Wasn't Swamp Gas Jul 11, 2023

A look into the origin story of swamp gas as the explanation for UFOs.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #891: How to Change a Conspiracy Theorist's Mind Jul 04, 2023

A roundup of the ways that work — and that don't work — to help a conspiracy theorist free himself from the rabbit hole.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #890: Skeptoid Scared Straight Jun 27, 2023

In which I issue yet another round of corrections to past episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #889: Handling Fentanyl: A Touchy Topic Jun 20, 2023

Popular wisdom tells us that just touching fentanyl can produce a lethal overdose. What's the fact and what's the fiction?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #888: On the Trail of the Mapinguari Jun 13, 2023

Are ground sloths that somehow survived their extinction responsible for cryptid sightings in the Amazon?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #887: The Hard Fall of the Nephilim Jun 06, 2023

Did giants really walk the Earth in our recent past?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #886: Student Questions: College of Central Florida, Part 2 May 30, 2023

Skeptoid answers a round of student questions recorded during a visit to the College of Central Florida.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #885: Student Questions: College of Central Florida, Part 1 May 23, 2023

Skeptoid answers a round of student questions recorded during a visit to the College of Central Florida.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #884: Hunting the Florida Skunk Ape May 16, 2023

This Bigfoot-like cryptid is said to haunt the swamps of Florida. But has the story been around as long as people think?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #883: Lies, Damned Lies, and Polls May 09, 2023

Watch out next time you take a poll... is someone trying to learn about you, or manipulate you?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #882: The Treasure of Victorio Peak, Part 3 May 02, 2023

The hunt for the greatest treasure of gold ever imagined.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #881: The Treasure of Victorio Peak, Part 2 Apr 25, 2023

The hunt for the greatest treasure of gold ever imagined.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #880: The Treasure of Victorio Peak, Part 1 Apr 18, 2023

The hunt for the greatest treasure of gold ever imagined.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #879: Alien Octopi Apr 11, 2023

A popular Internet claim asserts that the DNA of the octopus is literally alien in origin.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #878: Reining In the Expanding Earth Apr 04, 2023

Although the Expanding Earth may seem like a silly conjecture, it was actually one of the leading geophysical models quite recently.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #877: What the Oil Companies Really Knew, Part 2 Mar 28, 2023

Is it true that the oil companies knew how much harm they were doing as far back as the 1970s?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #876: What the Oil Companies Really Knew, Part 1 Mar 21, 2023

Is it true that the oil companies knew how much harm they were doing as far back as the 1970s?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #875: Pop Quiz: St. Patrick's Day Mar 14, 2023

Today's quiz tests whether you've been skeptical of what you think you know about St. Patrick's Day.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #874: The Devil's Tramping Ground Mar 07, 2023

Popular tales claim no plants at all will grow inside this round clearing in North Carolina, said to have been made by the Devil himself.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #873: Earthquake Prediction Feb 28, 2023

After every earthquake, there's always someone who claims to have predicted it. Is earthquake prediction possible?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #872: Climate Change Checkup: 2023 Edition Feb 21, 2023

The state of the climate so far... how we're doing, and what do we need to work on the most.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #871: 7 Valentine's Day Myths Feb 14, 2023

See if you can tell whether each of these popular beliefs about Valentine's Day are true or false.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #870: The Dirty Secret of Dirty Electricity Feb 07, 2023

Is there such a thing as a type of electricity running through your home's wiring that delivers horrific health impacts to anyone living there?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #869: The Goat Man of Pope Lick Bridge Jan 31, 2023

Stories of goat men are all over the world. Why is the Pope Lick goat man disproportionately famous?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #868: Top 10 Most Harmful Anti-Experts: 2023 Edition Jan 24, 2023

Once again we round up the people working hardest to spread misinformation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #867: Student Questions: Guidestones and Tachyons Jan 17, 2023

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by friendly folks all over the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #866: What THEY Don't Want You to Know About UFOs Jan 10, 2023

Some great ways to think about all the current UFO craze.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #865: The Non-Mystery of Nan Madol Jan 03, 2023

Was this megalithic site in the South Pacific built by the people who lived there at the time, or by aliens?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #864: Ask Me Anything, 2022 Edition Dec 27, 2022

In which we wrap up 2022 by letting Skeptoid premium members Ask Me Anything.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #863: Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Woo Dec 20, 2022

The latest form of magnet therapy promises to cure everything from headaches to cancer.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #862: Human Mosquito Magnets Dec 13, 2022

Is it true that mosquitoes like some people better than others?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #861: Marketing with Logical Fallacies Dec 06, 2022

A look at some of the logically fallacious statements used to sell many of today's most popular products.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Big UFO Update! Nov 29, 2022

The latest news, and some clips, from my indie documentary The UFO Movie THEY Don't Want You to See!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #860: Illuminating the Hornet Spooklight Nov 29, 2022

Legend has it this ghost light has been spooking people in Missouri for hundreds of years.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #859: How to Spot Fake News Nov 22, 2022

A roundup of easy techniques anyone can employ to better discern accurate news reports from false ones.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #858: Resignation Syndrome Nov 15, 2022

In this bizarre psychiatric condition, healthy children lapse into a coma that may last for years.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #857: On the Health Benefits of Drinking Alcohol Nov 08, 2022

Some say that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol actually has certain health benefits.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #856: A Cavalcade of Corrections Nov 01, 2022

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors from past episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #855: Sniffing for Human Sex Pheromones Oct 25, 2022

Do humans use pheromones to turn each other on? The science so far says... uhh, we have no idea.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #854: The Day Science Was Overthrown Oct 18, 2022

A look at six times when there was a major paradigm shift in science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #853: Brazil's Roswell: The Varginha UFO Oct 11, 2022

This story of alien visitation in Brazil from 1996 claims to be the most convincing proof we have.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #852: Electric Cars and the Power Grid Oct 04, 2022

Opponents of electric cars claim that the power grid can't keep up with the growing demand for electricity.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #851: How Your Smartphone Is Listening to You Sep 27, 2022

Is your smartphone eavesdropping on your conversation?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #850: Ode to the Nightcrawler Sep 20, 2022

Beware of this creepy cryptid, or you might just fall in love with it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #849: Who Really Killed the Electric Car? Sep 13, 2022

Pop culture tells us that a conspiracy is what killed GM's EV1 in 2002. But is an exotic explanation really needed?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #848: On the Trail of Papillon Sep 06, 2022

How much truth was there to the prison escape story of Henri Charrière?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #847: The Episodes That Changed My Mind, Part 2 Aug 30, 2022

Some more of the episodes where I went in with one idea, and came out with another.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #846: The Episodes That Changed My Mind, Part 1 Aug 23, 2022

Some of the episodes where I went in expecting one thing, but found something different.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #845: Seeking the Soviet Battle Mole Aug 16, 2022

The story goes that the Soviet Union had nuclear-powered underground vehicles for waging a whole new kind of war.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #844: What They're Saying About Electric Cars Now Aug 09, 2022

The arguments made by electric car haters no longer hold up. Time to upgrade.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #843: Pop Quiz: Religious Symbolism Aug 02, 2022

How well do you know your Skeptoid? Today's pop quiz focuses on questions drawn from episodes about world religions.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #842: The Day the UFO Deactivated the Nukes Jul 26, 2022

It's said that in 1967, a UFO once deactivated an entire flight of US nuclear missiles in their silos.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #841: Feeling Out the Hairy Hands of Dartmoor Jul 19, 2022

The story goes that in England in 1921, driving a particular stretch of road meant an encounter with a terrifying foe.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The UFO Movie THEY Don't Want You to See Jul 14, 2022

Join me in producing this important feature documentary film on the modern UFO phenomenon.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #840: What Sank the Lusitania? Jul 12, 2022

Many believe that the true cause of the Lusitania's sinking was not the torpedo, but a mysterious second explosion that followed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #839: Decoding the Carolina Bays Jul 05, 2022

Some say these oval depressions all along the US east coast are craters from an ancient meteor bombardment.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid Is Hiring a Developer Jun 30, 2022

Skeptoid is hiring a web developer. For complete details, see skeptoid.org/jobs

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #838: The Chilean Navy UFO Jun 28, 2022

Amateur Internet researchers figured out in 5 days what the Chilean government UFO group couldn't in two years.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #837: Falling Fish Followup Jun 21, 2022

Some feedback and followups to a raft of previous Skeptoid episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #836: Can You Tell if I'm Lying? Jun 14, 2022

Can watching body language really tell you when someone is lying?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #835: False Flag Attack? The USS Liberty Jun 07, 2022

Officially, Israel's 1967 attack on the USS Liberty was accidental friendly fire; but many claim it was a deliberate conspiracy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #834: The Haunting of the Stanley Hotel May 31, 2022

Colorado's Stanley Hotel is famous not only for its association with The Shining, but also for ghosts of its own.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #833: The Secrets of the Integratron May 24, 2022

This white dome in the California desert may house the secrets of the universe, or nothing more than delusions.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Science Friction now available on streaming May 18, 2022

Skeptoid Media's first full-length feature documentary movie, Science Friction, is now available to stream on Prime Video.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #832: What Greek Fire Really Was May 17, 2022

This ancient weapon of terror struck fear throughout the ancient world, and stokes a number of mysteries today.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #831: Facilitated Communication Isn't May 10, 2022

This discredited technique deceives loved ones into believing non-communicative people are able to communicate just fine by hiring one of these facilitators.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #830: The Mystical Death of Jack Parsons May 03, 2022

The complicated life of JPL's co-founder meant that his death was almost certain to be cloaked in conspiracy theories.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #829: What ASMR Will Do for You Apr 26, 2022

What is the state of the science behind this online video genre that combines relaxation with chills and shivers?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #828: Why You Don't Want a Flat-Faced Pet Apr 19, 2022

The science shows that dogs and cats bred to be flat-faced suffer from respiratory distress, but some argue otherwise.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #827: What Really Happened on Easter Island Apr 12, 2022

The popular known history of Easter Island — that deforestation brought about its demise — is not generally accepted.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #826: Why the Fresno Nightcrawler Is So Popular Apr 05, 2022

This relatively new and not-so-famous cryptid manages to have an outsized pop-culture footprint.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #825: How Psychic Readings Work Mar 29, 2022

Whether cold reading, warm reading, or hot, there are simple explanations for even the most impressive psychic performances.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #824: Demystifying the Winchester Mystery House Mar 22, 2022

The unfortunate false narrative of the Winchester Mystery House obscures a wonderful story of one of California's great women pioneers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #823: Hunting the Elusive Rogue Wave Mar 15, 2022

Modern authors say that scientists didn't used to accept the idea of rogue waves. Is that true?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #822: On Washboarded Roads Mar 08, 2022

The real cause of washboarding on dirt roads is very different from the traditionally believed reason.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #821: Forensic (Pseudo) Science Mar 01, 2022

All those fancy-sounding forensic sciences you've come to trust might not be worth very much of your trust after all.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #820: Maury Island: The Government's Alien Artifacts Feb 22, 2022

The origin story of some of the government's alleged alien wreckage is a little bit shaky.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #819: Corrections with Hat in Hands Feb 15, 2022

Some corrections to errors made in recent shows.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #818: On Railroad Tracks and Roman Chariots Feb 08, 2022

The urban legend that train track gauge descends from Roman war chariots falls apart at every link in the chain.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #817: Your Ghostliest Tales, Explained Feb 01, 2022

In which we hear, analyze, and attempt to explain the ghostly personal stories you've sent in.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #816: The Dark Side of Polyvagal Theory Jan 25, 2022

A controversial mental health framework is also being peddled by unqualified coaches.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #815: On the Trail of the Chupacabra Jan 18, 2022

An exploration into the chupacabra, and how that word came to be applied to so many unrelated things.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #814: Nazis and the Occult Jan 11, 2022

Popular tales of the occult underpinnings of the Nazis are largely modern fiction.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #813: Why You Need to Care About Concrete Jan 04, 2022

Concrete will remain one of our most important materials for decades — but there's a big problem with it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #812: 20 Years of Data from Portugal: Drug Decriminalization Dec 28, 2021

20 years ago, Portugal decriminalized all drugs in an effort to reduce addiction, incarceration, and negative health impacts. How has it worked?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #811: Radon Therapy Dec 21, 2021

Trying to treat pain or cancer by exposing yourself to a radioactive carcinogen provides only risk without the benefit.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #810: Frida Sofia, the Victim Who Wasn't Dec 14, 2021

After the 2017 earthquake in Mexico City, rescuers dug through the rubble for a little girl named Frida Sofia — who never existed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #809: The Avro Arrow Conspiracies Dec 07, 2021

Conspiracy theories surround the cancellation of this advanced Canadian aircraft from the 1950s.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #808: Followups and Extras Nov 30, 2021

Some new facts and extra information on six previous episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #807: Huna: New Age on an Island Nov 23, 2021

Huna blends generic New Age spiritualism with a concocted version of Hawaiian tradition.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #806: Environmental Microplastics Nov 16, 2021

This manmade debris permeates our bodies and our planet, but what's the harm?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #805: The Cottingley Fairies: Analysis of a Famous Hoax Nov 09, 2021

The true and weird history of the two girls who fooled the world with their fairy photographs in 1917.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #804: Unmasking the Old Stinker: The Hull Werewolf Nov 02, 2021

This modern sighting of a strange beast is claimed to have been a resurgence of a legendary medieval monster.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #803: What Really Happened at Tunguska Oct 26, 2021

The true cause of one of history's most violent cataclysms remains a mystery... to a degree.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #802: Pop Quiz: 15 for 15 Oct 19, 2021

It's 15 trivia questions from 15 Skeptoid episodes, to celebrate our 15th anniversary!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #801: Probiotics Fact and Fiction Oct 12, 2021

Some people promote probiotics as a miracle cure for just about anything. What can they really do?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #800: To the Stars Oct 05, 2021

A strange radio broadcast from a very unique group of VIPs being whisked away on a UFO.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #799: On the Authorship of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor Sep 28, 2021

The most famous organ work in history has a surprising mystery -- we're not really sure who composed it!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #798: Tracking the Wild Big Cats of Britain Sep 21, 2021

A close look at the tales of large black predatory cats stalking Britain for centuries.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #797: Why You Need to Care About Methane Sep 14, 2021

We focus a lot on carbon dioxide when talking about climate change. Should we be talking more about methane?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #796: 9/11 Truthers, 20 Years Later Sep 07, 2021

20 years after the worst terrorist attack on American soil, the conspiracy theories are still thriving -- just as we should expect.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #795: What Made the Shroud of Turin Immortal Aug 31, 2021

A close look at what true science and true history can tell us about this most sacred Catholic relic.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #794: Why You Needn't Worry About the Missing 411 Aug 24, 2021

A popular conspiracy theory claims that lots of people disappear under unexplainable circumstances in America's national parks.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #793: Your Turn Yet Again Aug 17, 2021

Skeptoid gives our take on some spooky experiences sent in by listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #792: Your Turn Again Aug 10, 2021

In which I take a shot at trying to explain some of the weirdest stories sent in by listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #791: Dowsing: Water Witchcraft Aug 03, 2021

If you need to find ground water, ask a hydrologist, not an occult magician.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #790: Is the Existence of Billionaires Inherently Harmful? Jul 27, 2021

Pop culture tells us that the existence of billionaires is harmful to the economy. Is that so?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #789: All About Clearcutting Jul 20, 2021

Is clearcutting of forests for logging a public nuisance or a public benefit?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #788: The UFO Rogues Gallery Takes Over America - Part 2 Jul 13, 2021

An unlikely group of paranormalists has persuaded the American public that the government takes UFOs seriously.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #787: The UFO Rogues Gallery Takes Over America - Part 1 Jul 06, 2021

An unlikely group of paranormalists has persuaded the American public that the government takes UFOs seriously.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #786: Horses in Pre-Columbian America Jun 29, 2021

Horses went extinct in North America at the end of the last ice age, but oddly some are now saying they didn't.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #785: Desalination vs. A National Water Grid Jun 22, 2021

A comparison of two popular ways to help cope with the new water reality of global warming.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #784: Head Transplants Jun 15, 2021

The facts and fiction of what's possible and what's already been tried in switching human heads.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #783: The Legend of Barsa-Kelmes Jun 08, 2021

The story behind the story of the many paranormal events associated with this former island in the Aral Sea.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #782: A Collection of Corrections Jun 01, 2021

In which another round of corrections is made to previous episodes. Keeping it real!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #781: Space Junk: The Real Risk and What to Do About It May 25, 2021

The problem of a runaway catastrophe in Low Earth Orbit looms ever larger and closer.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #780: CBD for Everything May 18, 2021

Cannabidiol is sold as an additive to just about every kind of product you can imagine. Why?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #779: How the Pyramids Were (and Were Not) Built - Part 2 May 11, 2021

Some of what we know about the Great Pyramid that exclude it having been built by aliens or Atlanteans.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #778: How the Pyramids Were (and Were Not) Built - Part 1 May 04, 2021

Some of what we know about the Great Pyramid that exclude it having been built by aliens or Atlanteans.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #777: The 2019 USS Kidd Incident Apr 27, 2021

Popular reports claim that a group of US Navy destroyers were buzzed by advanced drones in 2019.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #776: The Engineered Moon Conspiracy Apr 20, 2021

Science refutes the claim made by some that the Moon is a hollow spaceship engineered by aliens.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #775: Listener Feedback: Monstrous Reversals Apr 13, 2021

Some updates and additional information to a few past episodes... better all the time.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #774: Bitcoin Fact and Fiction Apr 06, 2021

What's true and what's not about the world's most popular cryptocurrency.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #773: Top 10 Pro-Science Fictional Characters Mar 30, 2021

A roundup of all the best pro-science characters from your favorite books, movies, and TV shows.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #772: The Monster of Port Chatham Mar 23, 2021

This remote town in Alaska was said to have been abandoned because of violent Bigfoot attacks.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #771: Denizens of Lake Baikal Mar 16, 2021

A host of strange monsters are said to lurk beneath the surface of the world's deepest lake.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #770: The Human Design System Mar 09, 2021

A mishmash of eastern mysticism masquerades as psychometry.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #769: The Vampire of Croglin Grange Mar 02, 2021

Which came first: the publication of this famous vampire story, or its associated family tradition?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #768: Inside the Mountain Meadows Massacre Feb 23, 2021

Myths, conspiracies, and coverups cloak this 1857 massacre of American emigrants.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #767: The Year's Best of Skeptoid Feb 16, 2021

My personal favorite Skeptoid episodes from each and every year of its production.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #766: Illuminating Our Lady of Zeitoun Feb 09, 2021

This Marian apparition from Egypt has some science fiction explanations and a sound one.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #765: Tartaria and the Mud Flood Feb 02, 2021

Some claim that all of world history is a coverup for the mighty ancient nation of Tartaria.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #764: Learning Styles, Re-examined Jan 26, 2021

Most teachers believe that students have different learning styles and curricula can be tailored to it. Not so much.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #763: Elvis Sightings and You Jan 19, 2021

People keep thinking Elvis is still alive -- and here's why that matters to you.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #762: On the Trail of the Yowie Jan 12, 2021

Australia's version of Bigfoot may -- or may not -- have its origin in Aboriginal mythology.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #761: Havana Syndrome, Microwaves, and Hearing RF Jan 05, 2021

The lone exception to the science fact that radio cannot hurt you.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #760: The 1994 Ruwa Zimbabwe Alien Encounter Dec 29, 2020

This popular tale claims 62 African schoolchildren were contacted by an extraterrestrial.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #759: Percy Schmeiser vs Monsanto Dec 22, 2020

The most famous case in the history of Monsanto vs. small farmers might not be what you think.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #758: Finding the USS Cyclops Dec 15, 2020

This most famous ship disappearance from the Bermuda Triangle probably had nothing to do with it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

You're Listening to Skeptoid... Dec 11, 2020

You ever wonder about the truth behind popular urban legends? Or how about the craziest conspiracy theories you hear about online, chemtrails, the Flat Earth, the Hollow Earth, is there anything to them at all? Famous mysteries like what happened to Amelia Earhart, what's up with the Bermuda Triangle, who was Jack the Ripper? What about famous ghost stories, like the Amityville Horror, or the Warrens? What was really going on with that? Or this stuff they show on television: Ancient Aliens, Hunting Hitler, the Curse of Oak Island? You know that junk isn't true but how do you find out what is? If you've always taken stories like these with a grain of salt, Skeptoid is the show for you. Each week, we take one famous urban legend that a lot of people believe, talk about how it got started, how and why people believe it, and what's the real science, the real history behind what's going on. It's like a short, 15-minute podcast version of Mythbusters, but exhaustively researched and referenced. If you're ready to be skeptical and ready to solve the deepest mysteries you always wondered about, listen to Skeptoid, a 501C3 educational nonprofit.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #757: The Montauk Project Dec 08, 2020

Some believe the government opened up time portals underneath Long Island, New York.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #756: The Death Ship SS Ourang Medan Dec 01, 2020

This ship was said to be discovered with all its crew dead under unexplainable circumstances.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #755: Examining Gulf War Illness Nov 24, 2020

Some researchers believe there is no such thing as Gulf War Illness, and the rest have more questions than answers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #754: About That Life on Mars... Nov 17, 2020

Good scientists can get the wrong idea, but they don't need to make it worse by announcing bad science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #753: The Japan Air Lines Alaska UFO Nov 10, 2020

This famous UFO case is said to be proven by military radar data.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #752: Listener Feedback Live: Outpost 2020 Nov 03, 2020

Skeptoid answers some... interesting feedback LIVE at the Outpost 2020 con.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #751: Pop Quiz: Myths of the Middle Ages Oct 27, 2020

How well do you know the Middle Ages? Can you tell what's fact and what's fiction?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #750: How to Extract Adrenochrome from Children Oct 20, 2020

Conspiracy theorists believe that Hollywood elitists torture children and extract drugs from their bodies.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #749: Observing the Bystander Effect Oct 13, 2020

Some research has found that crowds are apathetic and don't render assistance; some has found the opposite.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #748: Who Sank the Maine? Oct 06, 2020

Many theories surround the mysterious sinking of the USS Maine that triggered the Spanish-American War.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #747: Hitler's Operation Long Jump Sep 29, 2020

Popular stories claim that the Nazis tried to assassinate Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin in Tehran in 1943.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #746: Error Correction: Tokyo Drift Sep 22, 2020

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors sent in by listeners just like you.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #745: Australia Doesn't Exist, and Other Geographic Conspiracy Theories Sep 15, 2020

The belief that Australia doesn't exist may not be as unique as you think.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #744: Phineas Gage, on Second Thought Sep 08, 2020

A reexamination of the famous case of the man whose personality changed from a grievous brain injury.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #743: Hinkley: The Erin Brockovich Case Sep 01, 2020

The facts differ widely from what's generally believed to have been a mass poisoning.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #742: The Phantom Fortress Aug 25, 2020

This B-17 supposedly completed a mission and returned to base, all without an aircrew.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #741: The Wisdom and Stupidity of Crowds Aug 18, 2020

How the wisdom of crowds can sometimes allow groups of non-experts to reach an expert conclusion.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #740: Student Questions: Yellow Glasses and Nuclear Waste for Tomorrow Aug 11, 2020

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #739: More on 5G and COVID Masks Aug 04, 2020

Some supplemental information on recent episodes, plus some listener feedback.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #738: The QAnon Conspiracy Jul 28, 2020

This growing conspiracy theory posits that a global cabal of pedophiles secretly controls the US government.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #737: The Berkshire County UFO Jul 21, 2020

Why a UFO case you've probably never heard of got attention from a major TV network.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #736: New World Tobacco in Old World Mummies Jul 14, 2020

Some believe that traces of tobacco in Egyptian mummies prove the Egyptians were first to the New World.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #735: Bill Gates Conspiracy Theories Jul 07, 2020

Why is the world's greatest public health philanthropist charged with crimes against humanity?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #734: The Stoned Ape Theory Jun 30, 2020

Some believe that psychedelic drugs played an irreplaceable role in the evolution of Homo sapiens.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #733: Listener Feedback: Endgame Jun 23, 2020

Updates to the episode on MSG sensitivity and the Miracle of Calanda.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #732: Hunting the Beast of Gevaudan Jun 16, 2020

This mysterious creature actually killed over 100 people in France in the 1760s.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #731: More Out of Place Artifacts Jun 09, 2020

A survey of seven of the most popular out-of-place artifacts said to overturn human history.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #730: The Skeletons of the Great Eastern Jun 02, 2020

A popular tale claims that the skeletons of two riveters were found between the hulls of this mighty ship.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #729: The LUCIFER Telescope Conspiracy May 26, 2020

A popular conspiracy theory claims the Vatican uses a telescope named LUCIFER to find an alien savior.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #728: When the Earth's Magnetic Field Flips May 19, 2020

Some claim that when the Earth's geomagnetic field reverses, it could spell the end of humankind.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #727: Hunting the Mokele-Mbembe May 12, 2020

Some believe this relict dinosaur still survives in parts of the Congo.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #726: Full of Hot Error May 05, 2020

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors found in past episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #725: Pop Quiz: Astonishing Tales of the Sea Apr 28, 2020

How well do you know your Skeptoid? Today's pop quiz focuses on tales of the sea.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #724: Decoding Gobekli Tepe Apr 21, 2020

This archaeological site in Turkey is said to change everything... but what does that really mean?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #723: Draining the Holy Grail Apr 14, 2020

The true history of the Holy Grail, the most precious of all artifacts.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #722: Pandemic Conspiracies and Politics Apr 07, 2020

How the conspiracy theories around today's pandemic compare to those of the past.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #721: Debunking Ancient Aliens, Part 3 Mar 31, 2020

A look at some of the ancient artworks and artifacts that the show Ancient Aliens gets totally wrong.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #720: Debunking Ancient Aliens, Part 2 Mar 24, 2020

A look at some of the ancient sites and cities that the show Ancient Aliens gets totally wrong.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #719: Debunking Ancient Aliens, Part 1 Mar 17, 2020

A look at some of the ancient sites and cities that the show Ancient Aliens gets totally wrong.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #718: Diagnosing Chronic Lyme Disease Mar 10, 2020

Often dismissed as purely pseudoscientific and nonexistent, chronic Lyme disease is not necessarily nothing.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #717: Rethinking Plastic Straw Bans Mar 03, 2020

Bans on plastic drinking straws are a solution in search of a problem.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #716: Learning Languages from Brain Injuries Feb 25, 2020

Popular stories on the Internet tell of people coming out of comas and suddenly speaking a new language.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #715: The Knowles Family UFO Incident Feb 18, 2020

This family's car is said to have been lifted off the road by a UFO and dropped.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #714: Killing the Hammersmith Ghost Feb 11, 2020

Some possible explanations for this infamously deadly 19th century haunting near London.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #713: On the Trail of Red Mercury Feb 04, 2020

The most elusive substance in pop culture also purports to be one of the most destructive.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #712: Apple Cider Vinegar Woo Jan 28, 2020

A test of the many sensational health claims made for apple cider vinegar.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #711: The Trashy Secret of Plastic Bag Bans Jan 21, 2020

Science decides the question of whether plastic bag bans help or hurt the environment.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #710: Your Weirdest Thing, Vol. 4 Jan 14, 2020

I give my thoughts trying to solve some of your weirdest experiences.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #709: Wind Turbines and Birds Jan 07, 2020

Wind turbines actually save many more bird lives than they destroy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #708: All About Sex Addiction Dec 31, 2019

The topic of sex addiction and what to do about it turns out to be more complicated than you may think.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #707: Vermeer and the Camera Obscura Dec 24, 2019

Popular claims that the painter Vermeer used a camera obscura contradict the evidence.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #706: MSG: How a Friendly Flavor Became Your Enemy Dec 17, 2019

The history of this vilified flavoring is a wild ride through 20th century cultural influences.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #705: Listener Feedback: The Plot Thickens Dec 10, 2019

Listeners offer some updates and new information to previous episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #704: The Green Children of Woolpit Dec 03, 2019

In the 12th century, a pair of mysterious children with green skin surprised English villagers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #703: Your Weirdest Thing, Vol. 3 Nov 26, 2019

I give my thoughts trying to solve some of your weirdest experiences.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #702: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Nov 19, 2019

These risky medical devices are increasingly being sold to treat conditions they don't treat.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #701: Seneca Guns and Skyquakes Nov 12, 2019

These mysterious cannon-like booms are heard all around the world, with no apparent source.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #700: A Whale of a Tale Nov 05, 2019

In which we celebrate 700 episodes of great storytelling... sea shanty style.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #699: The Mystery of the Ellen Austin Oct 29, 2019

The true history behind one of the Bermuda Triangle's strangest legends.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #698: Radon in Your Basement Oct 22, 2019

Is this gas a risk you should worry about, or is it just another homeowner scam?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #697: Reactionless Space Drives Oct 15, 2019

Conspiracy theorists and alternate science believers continue to claim triumph over the laws of nature.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #696: History's Smallest Underground War Oct 08, 2019

The public's zeal for sensationalism over facts can sometimes have deadly consequences.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #695: Fighting Global Warming with Economics Oct 01, 2019

There's always been an easy solution to global warming on the table, and it won't hurt the economy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #694: Playing Error Guitar Sep 24, 2019

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors in previous episodes caught by you amazing listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #693: The Age of the Sphinx Sep 17, 2019

Popular TV shows try to persuade us that Egypt's Great Sphinx is far older than archaeology tells us.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #692: Thirteen: The Private History of a Curse Sep 10, 2019

The number 13 may have more relevance in your life than you suspect.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #691: FLICC: 5 Techniques of Science Denial Sep 03, 2019

One popular rubric for identifying the common techniques used by science deniers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #690: Video Games and Violence Aug 27, 2019

Data does not support the popular belief that video games promote violent behavior.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #689: The Bili Ape of the Congo Aug 20, 2019

The facts behind the legend of a mysterious giant ape, said by some to be a chimp-gorilla hybrid.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #688: Your Phavorite Phollowups Aug 13, 2019

Updates and newer information to some of the conclusions in your favorite Skeptoid episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #687: No, Electric Cars Don't Pollute More Aug 06, 2019

Popularly shared articles claim electric cars produce more greenhouses gases than internal combustion cars.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #686: Your Weirdest Thing, Vol. 2 Jul 30, 2019

I give my thoughts trying to solve some of your weirdest experiences.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #685: Your Weirdest Thing, Vol. 1 Jul 23, 2019

I take a shot at critical analysis of your weirdest experiences.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #684: Starlite, the Magical Mystery Material Jul 16, 2019

The real reasons for the disappearance of this amateur material said to be able to withstand even a nuclear blast.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #683: Prehistoric Supersonic Monster Tides Jul 09, 2019

A geophysical look at the idea that Earth's early history had enormous destructive tides.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #682: Mexico's Zone of Silence Jul 02, 2019

Legend has it that radios and compasses will not work in this remote Mexican desert.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #681: Alien Visitation and Kecksburg Jun 25, 2019

We can often get a good sense of a UFO story's accuracy even without researching all the details.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #680: The True Fate of the Amber Room Jun 18, 2019

State-sponsored disinformation continues to drive treasure hunters who seek the legendary Amber Room.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #679: The Greenbrier Ghost Jun 11, 2019

A skeptical look at the time a ghost's testimony resulted in a murder conviction.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #678: What the Feedback Jun 04, 2019

More updates and additional information for some recent Skeptoid episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #677: 5G: Upgrade or Uncertainty? May 28, 2019

An examination of the claims that 5G cell phone data service is potentially harmful to life.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #676: Glyphosate and Behavioral Economics May 21, 2019

How misinformation spread over one of the safest herbicides becoming known as one of the most harmful.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #675: Valiant Thor: Your Friendly Pentagon Alien May 14, 2019

Some believe this benevolent alien from Venus lived and advised at the Pentagon for three years.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #674: Student Questions: Drinking Urine and Studying to Music May 07, 2019

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #673: Yamashita's Gold Apr 30, 2019

The facts behind the urban legend that billions in Japanese gold lie buried in the Philippines.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #672: Refeeding Syndrome and Sudden Death Apr 23, 2019

Can starving people actually die immediately upon being given their first bite of food?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #671: China, Imported Recyclables, and Ocean Plastic Apr 16, 2019

Addressing the facts and the fictions around China's ending its overseas purchases of recyclable plastic.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #670: Wrong Does Not Cease to be Wrong Apr 09, 2019

The 15th episode devoted to corrections in previous shows. If it ain't right, we fix it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #669: Pop Quiz: History and Pseudohistory Apr 02, 2019

Test your knowledge on these subjects, all covered by Skeptoid, on false history claims.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #668: A Science Based Ghost Hunting Toolkit Mar 26, 2019

How a TV ghost hunting show might look if they did what they claim, and used science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #667: All About Atlantis Mar 19, 2019

For centuries, alternative history fans have been denying Plato's intent and trying to frame Atlantis as a real island.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #666: The Historicity of Jesus Christ Mar 12, 2019

A review of the evidence for and against the life of Jesus of Nazareth as a real living man.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #665: Ocean Plastics: Facts and Falsehoods Mar 05, 2019

The nature of the problem of ocean plastics, and the best solution, may both come as surprises.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #664: The Keto Diet Feb 26, 2019

It's the latest fad diet, and people are trying it for just about any benefit you can think of.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #663: Pop Quiz: Urban Legends Feb 19, 2019

Test your knowledge of popular urban legends, and the science underlying them.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #662: Vaccine Denial: Failure Mode Analysis Feb 12, 2019

The surprising history of how medical science's greatest success has become vilified by so many people.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #661: Rapping with the Fox Sisters Feb 05, 2019

Myth and mystery surrounds the sisters said to have founded the modern spiritualism industry.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #660: Feedback and Followups Jan 29, 2019

A handful of updates to past Skeptoid episodes... eyebrow raising to say the least.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #659: Killing Castro Jan 22, 2019

It's proven the CIA tried to assassinate Castro, but the number of claimed attempts differs wildly.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #658: Ong's Hat Jan 15, 2019

An urban legend tells of a group of scientists who successfully escaped into another dimension.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #657: Illuminating the Illuminati Jan 08, 2019

The surprisingly humble beginnings and even more surprising modern rebirth of the Illuminati.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #656: And Bigfoot Said... Jan 01, 2019

We compare vocalizations attributed to Bigfoot with the sounds of real animals known to be in the area.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #655: Stonehenge and the Scope of Uncertainty Dec 25, 2018

There are things we don't know about Stonehenge, but does that mean we know nothing at all?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #654: Pop Quiz: Consumer Ripoffs Dec 18, 2018

How well do you know your Skeptoid? Today's pop quiz focuses on consumer ripoffs.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #653: The Great Kentucky Meat Shower Dec 11, 2018

A rain of meat is said to have fallen in rural Kentucky one day in 1876.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #652: The Cash-Landrum UFO Incident Dec 04, 2018

The UFO story seems to defy debunking because of the physical injuries suffered by witnesses.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #651: The Electric Universe Theory Nov 27, 2018

Some believe that everything we know about the universe is wrong — and it's all electric.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #650: I Believe Nov 20, 2018

Your beliefs are fallible and can fool you. Be willing to change your mind based on new information.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #649: George Soros Conspiracy Theories Nov 13, 2018

George Soros remains the focus of many anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #648: Pop Quiz: Aliens and UFOs Nov 06, 2018

How well do you know your Skeptoid? Today's pop quiz focuses on aliens and UFOs.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #647: All About Mindfulness Oct 30, 2018

An examination of this super-trendy meditation technique to see whether it lives up to the hype.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #646: Animal Earthquake Prediction Oct 23, 2018

Many people believe animals have the ability to predict earthquakes. The facts tell a different story.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #645: Pop Quiz: Ancient Mysteries Oct 16, 2018

How well do you know your Skeptoid? Today's pop quiz focuses on ancient mysteries.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #644: Parts Unknown: Foreign Conspiracy Theories Oct 09, 2018

A roundup of conspiracy theories from various countries all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #643: The Mysterious Stone Chambers of New England Oct 02, 2018

Some believe these stone structures in New England to be evidence of ancient cultures.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #642: Pop Quiz: Cryptozoology! Sep 25, 2018

How well do you know your Skeptoid? Today's pop quiz focuses on cryptozoology.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #641: Alternative Veterinary Medicine Sep 18, 2018

Even in the 21st century, vets and pet owners are turning to prescientific, magic-based medical care.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #640: Draining the Baghdad Battery Sep 11, 2018

Many people believe this ancient scroll container was actually an early type of battery.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #639: An Exorbitance of Emendations Sep 04, 2018

Once again, Skeptoid corrects another round of errors found in previous episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #638: Cueva de los Tayos and the Lost Metal Library: Part 2 Aug 28, 2018

A closer look at how bad the evidence is that a cave exists filled with golden alien wonders.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #637: Cueva de los Tayos and the Lost Metal Library: Part 1 Aug 21, 2018

Some people believe that this cave in Ecuador harbors an alien library etched on metallic plates.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #636: Epigenetics Woo Aug 14, 2018

This exciting new(ish) field in genetics has brought with it a slew of snake oil claims.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #635: The Effects of Mandated GMO Labeling Aug 07, 2018

We have good evidence for what to expect from mandated labeling of GMO foods, and it's not good.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #634: More Alcohol Myths Jul 31, 2018

The last show on alcohol myths wasn't good enough for many of you, so here are some more.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #633: The Horsey History of Clever Hans Jul 24, 2018

This early-1900s horse appeared to be able to do math and other feats, and we learned a lot from him.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #632: Lucid Dreaming Jul 17, 2018

Some people can control their dreams and do anything they want in them -- or can they?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #631: Listener Feedback: Death of the Lefties Jul 10, 2018

Skeptoid gets some interesting letters from listeners pertaining to radioactive skeletons and lefties.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #630: The Apes Who Learned Sign Language Jul 03, 2018

Although many regard Koko as an ape who used sign language, science tells us that ability probably doesn't exist.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #629: Three Big Macs a Day Jun 26, 2018

When we set aside pop food woo, we find that even multiple Big Macs can be part of a healthy daily diet.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #628: The Swedish Ghost Rockets Jun 19, 2018

This rash of UFO sightings over Sweden in 1946 has long been considered to be Soviet missile tests.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #627: Gremlins Jun 12, 2018

These mischievous creatures that sabotage airplanes are claimed by some to be actual physical beings.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #626: Numerology Jun 05, 2018

We put this ancient system of divination based on numbers to the test.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #625: Your Weird Turn May 29, 2018

We try to figure out some of the creepiest stories ever sent in by Skeptoid listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #624: Zuma, The Phantom Satellite May 22, 2018

The malfunction said to have doomed this spacecraft may have just been a cover story.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #623: Environmental Working Group and the Dirty Dozen May 15, 2018

This company's annual press releases are intended to frighten you into buying organic.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #622: Are You Living in a Simulation? May 08, 2018

An exploration of the thought experiment that seeks to determine whether we're living in a computer simulation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #621: The Pentagon's UFO Hunt May 01, 2018

The Pentagon gave $22 million to a very unlikely group of UFO proponents.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #620: Listener Feedback: Provisos, Addenda, and Quid Pro Quos Apr 24, 2018

Listeners write in with extra information that adds a whole new dimension to some past shows.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #619: Alcohol Myths Apr 17, 2018

We point the skeptical eye at five popular beliefs about alcoholic beverages.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #618: Are They Real, or Are They Fictional? Apr 10, 2018

Another round of famous names from the past: Can you guess whether each is real or fictional?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #617: 10 Great Science Hoaxes Apr 03, 2018

A look at those few times when hoaxers came closest to fooling those who knew better.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #616: Abiotic Oil Mar 27, 2018

Some believe that oil comes from geological processes rather than from ancient biomass.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #615: Titanic Myths Mar 20, 2018

Three of the most popular conspiracy theories surrounding the sinking of the Titanic.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #614: The Inflammatory Diet Mar 13, 2018

Why no, in fact you should not avoid certain foods to reduce your body's inflammation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #613: The Kids Who See Blindfolded Mar 06, 2018

Children throughout India are being taught to see while blindfolded... apparently.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #612: The Boy Who Thought He Was Reincarnated Feb 27, 2018

This boy thought he had lived a past life as a fighter pilot. He had some help getting there.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #611: All About Grounding Feb 20, 2018

Some New Agers believe that you can heal virtually any ailment simply by taking off your shoes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #610: The Keepers of Flannan Light Feb 13, 2018

Mystery clouds the story of what happened to these three vanished lighthouse keepers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #609: Were There Irish Slaves in America? Feb 06, 2018

Online articles claiming the first slaves in the Americas were white are fictional and racially motivated.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #608: Palm Oil Facts and Fiction Jan 30, 2018

Is it a medical miracle, an environmental disaster, both, or neither?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #607: Do Lobsters Feel Pain? Jan 23, 2018

What the science says on whether we need to change the way we eat crustaceans.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #606: The Murder in the Red Barn Jan 16, 2018

A murder was said to have been solved by the intervention of the victim's ghost.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #605: The Civil War Pterosaur Jan 09, 2018

This famous Internet photo of Civil War soldiers posing with a pterosaur has a surprising source.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #604: Net Neutrality Reexamined Jan 02, 2018

A skeptic's guide for organizing the issues raised by Net Neutrality.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #603: Sonic Weapons in Cuba Dec 26, 2017

There is a much better explanation than sonic weapons for reported attacks against US diplomats in Cuba.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #602: Should Moms Eat Placentas? Dec 19, 2017

The modern practice of Western mothers eating their placentas is a new and strange attention-seeking behavior.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #601: Hiding the Decline: Climategate Demystified Dec 12, 2017

This infamous scandal was said to have proven global warming was all just a hoax. Umm, no.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #600: A Musical Retrospective Dec 05, 2017

Everything you didn't know about ten years of Skeptoid musical episodes, including the reason.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #599: Listener Feedback: Creationism and More Dead Paul Nov 28, 2017

Some updates, notes, and extra information sent in by listeners about recent episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #598: The Hudson Valley UFO Mystery Nov 21, 2017

Hundreds of people watched this UFO over the Hudson River Valley many times between 1983 and 1984.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #597: The Wisdom of the Future Nov 14, 2017

Skeptoid corrects a round of past errors, that they might become the wisdom of the future.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #596: How to Assess a Documentary Nov 07, 2017

Some tips to assess whether a documentary is good science or just propaganda.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #595: Chasing Malaysian Airlines MH370 Oct 31, 2017

A roundup of the conspiracy theories and the probable true fate of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #594: Paul Is Dead Oct 24, 2017

The origins and history of the urban legend that Paul McCartney died and was replaced.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #593: I Still Can't Believe They Did That: More Human Guinea Pigs Oct 17, 2017

A further look at ten more scientists who experimented on themselves for the benefit of mankind.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #592: Alert 747: The Vela Incident Oct 10, 2017

In 1979, a mysterious flash occurred over the southern ocean that could have been a nuclear bomb.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #591: Ouija Boards Oct 03, 2017

Real effects far more interesting than spiritualism claims are behind these famous talking boards.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #590: Skepticism vs Cynicism Sep 26, 2017

The line between skepticism and cynicism is a bit too blurry for many people. Today we bring it into focus.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #589: The Big Pharma Conspiracy Sep 19, 2017

Popular claims of a Big Pharma Conspiracy don't stand up to any rational scrutiny.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #588: Celebrity Pseudoscience: 2017 Edition Sep 12, 2017

A look at which celebrities are currently working hardest to erode the public intellect.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #587: What Makes a Good Podcast Episode? Sep 05, 2017

Stories about urban legends are at their best when there are real people at their center.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #586: Volkswagen Dieselgate Reexamined Aug 29, 2017

In the wake of VW Dieselgate, the government took the wrong steps to solve the wrong problem.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #585: Relict Japanese Soldiers Aug 22, 2017

How factual are the urban legends about Japanese soldiers in the Pacific who never heard the war ended?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #584: Eclipse Myths and Science Aug 15, 2017

A look at the science-based myths and misconceptions about eclipses, plus some things you might not know.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #583: Fate of the Feedback Aug 08, 2017

Skeptoid responds to some listener feedback, updating a few episodes and clarifying some others.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #582: Lonnie Zamora and the Socorro UFO Aug 01, 2017

This famous 1964 UFO sighting by a New Mexico police officer has several interesting explanations.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #581: Are You Following a Crank? Jul 25, 2017

Let's have a look at the traits that define a crank, to make sure your new hero isn't one.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #580: Amelia Earhart Redux: Competing Networks, Competing Craziness Jul 18, 2017

Through their constant promotion of false history, TV networks may have done Amelia Earhart's legacy irreparable harm.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #579: Measuring the Age of the Grand Canyon Jul 11, 2017

The Grand Canyon is millions of years old, not thousands; despite the efforts of Young Earthers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #578: Student Questions: Bitters, Gas, and Diet Woo Jul 04, 2017

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #577: What Are the Chances You're Psychic? Jun 27, 2017

We analyze some of your stories of precognitive experiences.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #576: Lights in the Sky Jun 20, 2017

How likely is the most common type of UFO report to be an alien spacecraft?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #575: How to Surprise a Skeptical Podcaster: Part 2 Jun 13, 2017

Here are the podcast episodes with conclusions that surprised me the most (part 2).

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #574: How to Surprise a Skeptical Podcaster: Part 1 Jun 06, 2017

Here are the podcast episodes with conclusions that surprised me the most (part 1).

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #573: There Is No Finland: Birth of a Conspiracy Theory May 30, 2017

A study of how a conspiracy theory as absurd as "There is no Finland" can even exist.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #572: True or False Pregnancy May 23, 2017

False pregnancies are not only real, they're probably more complex than you imagined.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #571: Thawing the Minnesota Iceman May 16, 2017

This sideshow attraction convinced a few real scientists that it was an actual ape-man.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #570: More Space Missions You Should Know May 09, 2017

We take a look at some more of the most exciting space missions, past, present, and future.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #569: Principles of Curiosity May 02, 2017

Three simple steps anyone can follow to learn to tell what's true and what's not.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #568: 2 Listener 2 Feedback Apr 25, 2017

I respond to some listener feedback that enhances some recent episodes of the show.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #567: Feral Children Apr 18, 2017

Those stories about children raised by animals probably aren't what you've been led to believe.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #566: The Mercury Rivers of Emperor Qin Shi Huang Apr 11, 2017

A miniature of all China's waterways in liquid mercury is said to be at the heart of the First Emperor's tomb.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #565: The Shag Harbour UFO Apr 04, 2017

Comparing the actual evidence to the Canadian claim of best evidence for alien visitation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #564: Into Thin Error Mar 28, 2017

Skeptoid issues another round of corrections to past episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #563: Grounding the Ghost of Flight 401 Mar 21, 2017

The unexpected facts behind this famous ghost story from the 1970s.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #562: Rhino Horn: Cure or Curse? Mar 14, 2017

Rhinos are still being killed for their horns, but probably not for the reasons you thought.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #561: Beethoven's Hair Mar 07, 2017

Popular stories claim Beethoven died of lead poisoning, but the science so far doesn't hold up.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #560: Remembering the Mandela Effect Feb 28, 2017

Some claim that certain common false memories are evidence for alternate realities.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #559: Hitler's Antarctic Fortress Unmasked Feb 21, 2017

Deconstructing a wild tale about a Nazi military base deep inside Antarctica.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #558: Listener Feedback: Electric Boogaloo Feb 14, 2017

Skeptoid answers another round of listener feedback, keeping the show on the straight and narrow.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #557: Who Were the Berserkers? Feb 07, 2017

These mighty Norse warriors fought with a frenzy that seems all but inexplicable.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #556: Exploring Kincaid's Cave Jan 31, 2017

Some say a marvelous cave of Egyptian wonders is hidden in the Grand Canyon.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #555: Thorium Reactors: Fact and Fiction Jan 24, 2017

These next-generation reactors have attracted a nearly cultish following. Here are the real facts.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #554: How Your Credit Card Got Stolen Jan 17, 2017

Here are the most likely ways that your credit card got stolen, and how you can prevent it in the future.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #553: How Your Password Got Stolen Jan 10, 2017

The facts, fiction, and real risk to you of all these high-profile data breaches online.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #552: The D. B. Cooper Mystery Jan 03, 2017

The world's only unsolved hijacking case is filled with misinformation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #551: Space Missions You Should Know Dec 27, 2016

A roundup of the most exciting and important space missions you really need to know about.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #550: The Mad Gasser of Mattoon Dec 20, 2016

In 1944, a strange night prowler is believed to have made poison gas attacks in Illinois. Here's what we know.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #549: The Simple Proof of Man-Made Global Warming Dec 13, 2016

The two most basic Smoking Guns proving that carbon from fossil fuels is warming the Earth.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #548: Bruce Lee Myths Dec 06, 2016

More mythology than fact surrounds this enigmatic figure from martial arts films.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #547: The Ghost Fighter Plane of Pearl Harbor Nov 29, 2016

Published accounts tell of a mysterious fighter plane that came into Pearl Harbor a year after the Japanese attack.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #546: There's No Such Thing as Race... Or Is There? Nov 22, 2016

Genetically, race does not exist; but there are still inconvenient places for it in science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #545: First in Flight Nov 15, 2016

You always thought the Wright Brothers were the first to fly a plane? Well, it depends what country you're from.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #544: Feedback and Followups Nov 08, 2016

Some nifty extra information for a few recent episodes supplied by listeners in the know.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #543: White Hat Journal Hoaxes Nov 01, 2016

Sometimes the best way to scrutinize an open access journal is to hoax them.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #542: Photographic Memory Oct 25, 2016

Pop culture tells us that some people have photographic memories, but the truth is quite different.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #541: Defusing India's Ancient Atomic Blasts Oct 18, 2016

The facts behind an urban legend claiming a nuclear war in India some 12,000 years ago.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #540: Feng Shui Today Oct 11, 2016

Feng shui is much more than just a debunked way to magically arrange furniture.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #539: Radiation Hormesis: Is It Good for You? Oct 04, 2016

Some say that exposure to small amounts of dangerous radiation can protect you from cancer. No, it probably doesn't.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #538: The Belgian UFO Wave Sep 27, 2016

For two years, some say the Belgian skies were filled with triangular alien UFOs.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #537: Debunking the Moon Truthers, Part 3 Sep 20, 2016

The hard, testable, scientific proof that we actually did land humans on the moon.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #536: Debunking the Moon Truthers, Part 2 Sep 13, 2016

The science behind many of the specific claims made by Apollo moon landing hoax conspiracy theorists.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #535: Debunking the Moon Truthers, Part 1 Sep 06, 2016

The history of the Apollo moon landing hoax conspiracy theory, and those who believe in it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #534: Earthquake Lights: Do They Exist? Aug 30, 2016

One of those things everyone seems to believe in, but for which there's almost no evidence.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #533: Don't Try It Before You Knock It Aug 23, 2016

Try it before you knock it… unless you want to know if it really works.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #532: Who Killed the Red Baron? Aug 16, 2016

A look at which of the six competing claims for who killed the Red Baron was probably true.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #531: The Banjawarn Bang Aug 09, 2016

Evidence suggests a doomsday cult may have successfully tested a nuclear bomb in Australia in 1993.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #530: No, You Shouldn't Question Everything Aug 02, 2016

Pop wisdom continually reminds us to Question Everything -- an idea which is rarely either practical or useful.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #529: Wrongy McWrongface Jul 26, 2016

Skeptoid corrects another batch of errors from previous episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #528: The Secret History of Majestic 12 Jul 19, 2016

These purported UFO documents changed the course of the culture of UFO belief.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #527: Conjuring Up the Warrens Jul 12, 2016

The Conjuring 2 tells a story that is fictional in a way you might not have guessed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #526: Sky Trumpets Jul 05, 2016

From all over the world come reports of strange trumpet-like blasts from the sky.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #525: Autopsy: The Clinton Body Count Jun 28, 2016

The surprising origins of the claim that the Clintons kill any who get in their way.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #524: Colony Collapse Disorder: Science and Pseudoscience Jun 21, 2016

Everyone loves to point the finger at the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder; here's what we actually know.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #523: How Do Homing Pigeons Navigate? Jun 14, 2016

The latest and greatest research reveals that we still have no clue how birds accomplish this amazing feat.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #522: Dark Watchers Jun 07, 2016

The true origins of the Dark Watchers, said to go all the way back to Chumash Indian stories.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #521: The New Flat Earthers May 31, 2016

The reinvented Flat Earth fad is less about geophysics and more about conspiracy mongering.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #520: Solving the Haunted Hoia-Baciu Forest May 24, 2016

It is said to be the world's most haunted forest. Here's what we actually find there.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #519: Alien Implants May 17, 2016

Some of those who believe they've been abducted by aliens also think they were left with a souvenir.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #518: Listener Feedback: Denial and Aliens May 10, 2016

Skeptoid answers some feedback sent in by listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #517: Antibiotics and Hormones in Beef May 03, 2016

One of pop food woo's favorite claims is that drugs given to beef cattle pose a danger to humans.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #516: Demythologizing the Shaolin Monks Apr 26, 2016

Just about everything you think you know about the Shaolin Monks was made up for tourists.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #515: All About Absinthe Apr 19, 2016

This mysterious alcoholic drink is the subject of more urban legends than any other liquor.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #514: Your Thoughts on Making Skepticism Commercial Apr 12, 2016

A proposal for how we can make skeptical programming more attractive to a larger audience.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #513: Why Musical Aliens Probably Use the Same Scale We Do Apr 05, 2016

Reliance on universal mathematical principles may mean alien music is similar to our own.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #512: Decrypting Mother Teresa Mar 29, 2016

It's popular to criticize Mother Teresa, but that criticism might be better directed at the real culprit.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #511: Firestorm in Waco Mar 22, 2016

The FBI did not deliberately murder the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #510: Student Questions: Multiple Intelligences and the Gender Pay Gap Mar 15, 2016

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #509: Ninjas Unmasked Mar 08, 2016

These superheroes of martial arts lore may not be exactly what you thought they were.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #508: Demythologizing the Knights Templar Mar 01, 2016

More pseudohistory than fact surrounds this ancient order's depictions in pop culture.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #507: No, Hitler Did Not Escape Feb 23, 2016

There is no truth to the popular myth that Hitler escaped Berlin and went to Argentina.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #506: Bad Skepticism: Why You Should Challenge Popular Assumptions Feb 16, 2016

From swamp gas and waterspouts to alternative medicine, the harm of not challenging popular assumptions.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #505: You've Got to Be Wrong to Be Right Feb 09, 2016

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors from past episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #504: Growing Skeptical of Hair Restoration Feb 02, 2016

As long as people lose their hair, the market will remain flooded with sham remedies.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #503: Bad Science on PBS Jan 26, 2016

The reasons why PBS is so quick to promote pseudoscience informercials during pledge drives.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #502: Listener Feedback: Killing the Comments Jan 19, 2016

Your comments on our decision to remove the comments from Skeptoid episode transcript pages.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #501: Schrodinger's Cat and the Bomb Detector Jan 12, 2016

Whatever you think you know about Schrödinger's famous cat is probably wrong.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #500: A Little Curiosity Jan 05, 2016

If you haven't yet found your curiosity in the first 500 episodes of Skeptoid, find it here.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #499: The Hope Diamond: A Curse Deconstructed Dec 29, 2015

Find out how the obviously false story of a curse came to be associated with this famous diamond.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #498: Did the 1914 Christmas Truce Really Happen? Dec 22, 2015

Popular stories tell of WWI soldiers laying aside their rifles on Christmas 1914. The facts are not quite so simple.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #497: A Skeptical Look at the Rorschach Test Dec 15, 2015

The famous Rorschach inkblot test is not a window into the subconscious, and doesn't tell us anything useful.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #496: The Russian Sleep Experiment Dec 08, 2015

Russian test subjects are said to have done unspeakably horrible things when sleep deprived.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid: Bad Skepticism Dec 04, 2015

A new live show from Skeptoid Media: Bad Skepticism!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #495: Updated: Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Web Sites Dec 01, 2015

The worst offending sites on the Internet for promoting bad misinformation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #494: Black Mold: Peril or Prosaic? Nov 24, 2015

Black mold is commonly believed to harbor many deadly diseases; but in fact removing it is often worse than leaving it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #493: How Real Is the Stockholm Syndrome? Nov 17, 2015

While the Stockholm syndrome sounds like a mere media buzzword, it does actually sometimes happen.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #492: Pouring Cold Water on Cryotherapy Nov 10, 2015

Questioning whether this new spa treatment provides all the medical benefits it claims.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #491: 420: The Cannabis Code Nov 03, 2015

Myths and competing claims fog the origin of the term 420, a slang code for marijuana.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #490: Deconstructing the Tasaday Tribe Oct 27, 2015

Some say this tribe of "gentle savages", discovered in 1971, was just a hoax. The truth isn't quite so simple.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #489: The Science of X-Ray Specs and Sea Monkeys Oct 20, 2015

These products advertised in the back of comic books promised improbable feats of science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #488: Who Was Charles Fort? Oct 13, 2015

This enigmatic author of the strange continues to confound.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #487: About That 1970s Global Cooling... Oct 06, 2015

No, climatologists in the 1970s did not believe we're headed into another ice age.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #486: The Flying Saucer Menace Sep 29, 2015

The true, interwoven history of flying saucers in American folklore.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #485: Holocaust Denial Sep 22, 2015

Why some people think the Holocaust never happened, and what to do about it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #484: More Unsung Women of Science Sep 15, 2015

Some women you haven't heard of who made significant contributions to science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #483: Unsung Women of Science Sep 08, 2015

These important scientists are virtually unknown. Let's see if we can fix that.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #482: Franklin's Cannibals Sep 01, 2015

The fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Expedition gives a valuable lesson in types of evidence.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #481: Captain Kidd's Treasure Aug 25, 2015

Think you're going to find Captain Kidd's buried treasure on the US east coast? Think again.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #480: The Nazi of Nanking Aug 18, 2015

This most unlikely of guardian angels saved hundreds of thousands of Chinese lives.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #479: Chemicals Aug 11, 2015

Chemicals are deadly, delicious, essential and basically, everything.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #478: Listener Feedback: Natural History Aug 04, 2015

Today we're going to answer questions sent in by listeners pertaining to episodes having to do with our natural world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #477: Wag the Dogman Jul 28, 2015

They say that a half-canine cryptid stalks the woods of Northern Michigan. Are they right?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #476: The Chess-Playing Mechanical Turk Jul 21, 2015

An overview of the amazing chess playing robot of the 1700s.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #475: Listener Feedback: History vs. Pseudohistory Jul 14, 2015

Brian responds to listener feedback about past history episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #474: Solfeggio Frequencies Jul 07, 2015

Certain specific sonic frequencies are not the key to love, intuition, or spiritual order.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #473: The Loveland Frog Jun 30, 2015

A series of sightings of a frog-like humanoid in the suburb of Loveland, Ohio prompts an enduring folkloric legend.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #472: Lysenko and Lesser Science Grifters Jun 23, 2015

Trofim Lysenko mixed pseudoscience and ideology to set back Soviet biology.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #471: Male Circumcision Jun 16, 2015

Infant male circumcision remains common in the United States. Today we look at the reasons and the implications.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #470: Marijuana Jun 09, 2015

In the last 50 years, marijuana has gone from menace to medicine. Which is it?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #469: Jade Helm 15 Jun 02, 2015

Conspiracy theory that a military training exercise is going to lead to martial law.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #468: Listener Feedback: Fads May 26, 2015

Brian responds to some listener feedback concerning the topic of fads.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #467: Baby Myths May 19, 2015

A look at some common myths about babies and children.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #466: 5 Answers for Creationists May 12, 2015

Creationists have presented 5 questions they don't think 'evolutionists' can answer. Here are some answers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #465: Agenda 21 May 05, 2015

A look at the conspiratorial hysteria and sensationalism surrounding the United Nations' Agenda 21.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #464: The Lake Michigan Triangle Apr 28, 2015

There is a region in the Great Lakes where, some say, ships and planes mysteriously disappear. Not so much.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #463: Transgender: Fact or Fiction? Apr 21, 2015

The Internet believes a lot of things about transgender people, but much of it isn't true.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #462: Satanic Ritual Abuse Apr 14, 2015

The history of claims that secret Satanic cults are abusing children.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #461: Cryptids That Turned Out To Be Real Apr 07, 2015

Sometimes speculative animals do turn out to be real, but that still doesn't validate cryptozoology as a science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #460: Plastic Bags Mar 31, 2015

Deciding whether you want "paper or plastic" at the supermarket turns out to be a remarkably complex choice.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #459: Listener Feedback: The Environment Mar 24, 2015

Brian responds to listener feedback on past episodes about environmental topics.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #458: Science Fails Mar 17, 2015

Science has let you down time after time, and that's one reason why it gets better and better.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #457: Forgetting the Alamo Mar 10, 2015

The myths and facts behind the events that made the Alamo famous reveal it may not be worth remembering much.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #456: Cattle Mutilation Mar 03, 2015

Cow mutilation may have a simpler explanation than alien experimentation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #455: Ghost Photography Feb 24, 2015

The history of ghost photography and its many problems as evidence.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #454: GMO Facts and Fiction Feb 17, 2015

See if you know how many of these GMO "facts" are right.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #453: Cooking Myths Feb 10, 2015

As the busiest part of the house, the kitchen has collected more folklore than any other room in it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #452: The Stone Spheres of Costa Rica Feb 03, 2015

In Costa Rica, mysterious stone spheres left behind by the country's previous inhabitants seem to defy explanation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #451: Ideomotor Response Jan 27, 2015

The Ideomotor Response underlies a number of occult phenomena and alt-med practices.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #450: Robert Ripley: Believe Him... or Not? Jan 20, 2015

We examine Believe it or Not! and determine if we can believe this stuff.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #449: Ancient Astronauts Jan 13, 2015

Did aliens visit the ancient Earth and inspire human cultures? Some people claim so.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #448: The Columbus Poltergeist Jan 06, 2015

This poltergeist in Columbus Ohio turned out to be, like nearly all such cases, a mischievous teen.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #447: Listener Feedback: Cryptozoology Dec 30, 2014

We respond to questions about cryptids asked by listeners to our recent episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #446: The Fallibility of Memory Dec 23, 2014

We are a story our brain tells itself. And our brains are habitual liars.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #445: Megalodon Myths Dec 16, 2014

The Discovery Channel wants you to think that a giant prehistoric shark may still swim our oceans.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #444: Myths of Alcatraz Dec 09, 2014

Alcatraz Island is veiled in the fog of myth.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #443: SS Iron Mountain Dec 02, 2014

This large riverboat is said to have vanished without a trace on the Mississippi River in 1872.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #442: Griffins Nov 25, 2014

Griffins, considered absurd mythological beasts today, were actually our first attempt to explain fossils.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #441: The Skookum Cast Nov 18, 2014

The first "full body cast" of an alleged Bigfoot left many experts with a different impression.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #440: That Elusive Fibromyalgia Nov 11, 2014

Some say fibromyalgia is a real disease, while others question the diagnosis.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #439: A Skeptical Look at the News Nov 04, 2014

How we look at the news is as important as where we get it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #438: The War of the Worlds Panic Broadcast Oct 28, 2014

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles panicked a nation with a single broadcast. Or did he?

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #437: Tube Amplifiers Oct 21, 2014

The audiophile preference for tube amps over solid state is based more on emotion than on science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #436: Ionithermie Oct 14, 2014

Ionithermie is not effective for slimming or cellulite removal -- or, for anything, really.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #435: The St. Clair Triangle UFO Oct 07, 2014

In 2000, Illinois police chased what has come to be known as the St. Clair Triangle UFO. We found out what it was.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #434: The Braxton County Monster Sep 30, 2014

A group of 7 West Virginians looked for a crashed UFO in the hills and ended up getting the fright of their lives.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #433: The Water Woo of Masaru Emoto Sep 23, 2014

Masaru Emoto invented a New Age mythology in which water crystals reflect human consciousness.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #432: The Death of Rasputin Sep 16, 2014

Legend says that Grigori Rasputin, the "Mad Monk", was hard to kill; but the truth about his life is the real story.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #431: Acupuncture Sep 09, 2014

Acupuncture, the safe and effective ancient Chinese medical treatment, turns out to be none of those things.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #430: Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sep 02, 2014

The clash between the champions of scientific skepticism and supernaturalism.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #429: The Many Voices of Frank's Box Aug 26, 2014

Frank's ghost box is a radio designed to hear communications from ghosts. Here's how it works (or not).

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #428: The Haunted Dybbuk Box Aug 19, 2014

A popular tale tells of a haunted Jewish wine box that brought ill fortune upon its owners... apparently.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #427: The Legend of the Flying Dutchman Aug 12, 2014

The real source of the ancient nautical legends of the Flying Dutchman ghost ship.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #426: The Baldoon Mystery Aug 05, 2014

The surprising truth behind Canada's most famous ghost story.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Listeners Have Another Say Aug 01, 2014

Skeptoid supporters reveal the reason they decided to join the team.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #425: Albinism Facts and Fiction Jul 29, 2014

Even in developed countries, myths persist about people who have albinism.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #424: The Santa Barbara Simoom of 1859 Jul 22, 2014

Stories of a lethally hot storm wind in Santa Barbara in 1859 persist to this day.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #423: 12 Step Programs Jul 15, 2014

Religious-based twelve step programs are no better at stopping addiction than other programs.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #422: Lie Detection Jul 08, 2014

Polygraphs are no better than a roll of the dice at determining whether you're lying.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Listeners Have a Say Jul 04, 2014

Giving the Skeptoid listeners a chance to have their say.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #421: Student Questions: Internet Tracking and Plasma Cosmology Jul 01, 2014

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #420: Hillary vs. Mallory: The First to Everest Jun 24, 2014

From the evidence we have, it seems clear there's no way Mallory could have beaten Hillary to the summit of Everest.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #419: Slacktivism: Raising Awareness Jun 17, 2014

Clicking a "Like" button on a web site is not only useless, it may actually be counterproductive.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #418: Left Brained, Right Brained, or Hare Brained? Jun 10, 2014

Pop psychology tells us we're all either left brain or right brain dominant, a concept with no scientific support.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #417: The Riddle of Flight 19 Jun 03, 2014

The 1945 disappearance of five fighter planes in the Bermuda Triangle was real, but hardly how it's portrayed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #416: 5 Conspiracy Theories that Turned Out to Be True... Maybe? May 27, 2014

Skeptoid listeners are always asking for conspiracy theories that turned out to be true. Here are the best I found.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #415: In Which I Am the Very Picture of Error Personified May 20, 2014

Skeptoid corrects another round of mistakes made in previous episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #414: Killing Princess Diana May 13, 2014

Some say the death of Princess Diana in 1997 was actually a murder plotted by her government.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #413: 3-7-77: The Montana Vigilance Code May 06, 2014

This mysterious code representing vigilante justice has a history steeped in mystery.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #412: Animal Predictors: Psychic, Sensitive, or Silly? Apr 29, 2014

Despite many examples being promoted in the press, animals do not have psychic powers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #411: Your Body's Alleged Energy Fields Apr 22, 2014

There is no such thing as your body's energy field.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #410: The Black Eyed Kids Apr 15, 2014

An urban legend says that children with completely black eyes go around trying to be allowed inside.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #409: Oil Pulling Apr 08, 2014

This New Age alternative health fad is not, in fact, based on ayurveda.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid Media is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity Apr 04, 2014

Donations to Skeptoid Media are now fully tax deductible.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #408: 15 Phreaky Phobias Apr 01, 2014

Phobias are irrational, yet the brain surprisingly has a good reason for creating them.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #407: The Death of Mad King Ludwig Mar 25, 2014

What we do and do not know about the mysterious death of Bavaria's Mad King who built castles like Neuschwanstein.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #406: The Disappearance of Glenn Miller Mar 18, 2014

This popular bandleader disappeared over the English Channel during World War II, and here's what happened.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #405: Aromatherapy: Sniffing Essential Oils Mar 11, 2014

If you're expecting the pleasant aroma of certain flowers and herbs to be a medical treatment, you may be disappointed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #404: The Boggy Creek Monster Mar 04, 2014

The Boggy Creek Monster captured our imaginations, but its true story is even more fascinating.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #403: Out of Place Artifacts Feb 25, 2014

Some objects found around the world seem to defy rational explanation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #402: Listener Feedback: Ancient Mysteries Feb 18, 2014

I respond to questions and feedback sent in by listeners around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #401: Hemp, Hearst, and Prohibition Feb 11, 2014

A popular urban legend claims that William Randolph Hearst conspired to make cannabis illegal in the United States.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #400: It's Just Science Feb 04, 2014

Some pseudoscience promoters attack the messenger rather than the evidence.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #399: The Moving Coffins of Barbados Jan 28, 2014

An old tale tells of coffins that jumbled themselves up in a crypt in Barbados.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #398: Solving the Lead Masks of Vintem Hill Jan 21, 2014

Two dead bodies were found in Brazil in 1966 with mysterious masks made of lead.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #397: Fukushima vs Chernobyl vs Three Mile Island Jan 14, 2014

Years after the disaster, some claim that Fukushima radiation is still going to cause widespread death.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #396: The Biggest, the Oldest, and the Baddest Jan 07, 2014

A tour of the Earth's biggest, oldest, and most lethal living creatures.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #395: Student Questions: Food Woo, Food Woo, and More Food Woo Dec 31, 2013

Skeptoid answers questions sent in by students, all of them this week pertaining to popular food pseudoscience.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #394: Finding Butch and Sundance Dec 24, 2013

Stories that outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid might have made it back from South America don't hold up.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #393: The Hair of Samson Dec 17, 2013

Hold onto your hats: Growing your hair long will not confer super strength or vitality upon you.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #392: Listener Feedback: Consumer Ripoffs Dec 10, 2013

Skeptoid responds to comments sent in by listeners who don't accept that they've been ripped off.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #391: 8 Secret Bases: Real or Fictional? Dec 03, 2013

Guess which of these secret military bases around the world are real.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #390: The Red Haired Giants of Lovelock Cave Nov 26, 2013

Some say that an early Native American tribe were giant cannibals.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #389: The JFK Assassination Nov 19, 2013

After so many decades, the number of incompatible conspiracy theories about the death of JFK continues to grow.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #388: 6 Problems with Wind Turbine Syndrome Nov 12, 2013

Despite activist claims, wind turbines are not making anybody sick.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #387: Who Discovered the New World? Nov 05, 2013

Of all the many claims of Europeans being first to the New World, only one is true.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #386: Tracking the Tasmanian Tiger Oct 29, 2013

Some say this extinct Tasmanian marsupial may still roam the forests. The evidence is against them.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #385: The Disappearance of Frederick Valentich Oct 22, 2013

A young pilot who disappeared in 1978 might have been having a little fun, Spielberg style.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #384: Asking the Socratic Questions Oct 15, 2013

A line of reasoning named for Socrates helps us help believers in the strange re-examine their beliefs.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #383: 5 False Arguments for Raw Milk Oct 08, 2013

Some people who enjoy raw milk also make up false claims that regular milk is more dangerous.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #382: Into the Maelstrom (or Not) Oct 01, 2013

A look into the plausibility and historicity of the ferocious maelstrom of legend.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #381: An Enthusiast's Primer on Study Types Sep 24, 2013

A quick look at many of the most common scientific study types.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #380: The Riddle of the L-8 Blimp Sep 17, 2013

The crew of a blimp mysteriously vanished in 1942, but their blimp came back OK... without them.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #379: I Think, Therefore I Err Sep 10, 2013

Skeptoid corrects a bunch of errors made in previous episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #378: Legendary Places: Real or Fictional? Sep 03, 2013

We look at twelve legendary places that you've heard of, but may not know whether they're real or not.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #377: Student Questions: Hangovers, Manuka Honey, and Probiotics Aug 27, 2013

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #376: Salt Therapies Aug 20, 2013

A new trend in spas is to let people relax in salt caves, and it's based on solid pseudoscience.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #375: The Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Film Aug 13, 2013

The true history behind the iconic Bigfoot film that launched the legend.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #374: Listener Feedback: Alternative Medicine Aug 06, 2013

Skeptoid answers a raft of listener emails pertaining to alternative medicine.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #373: The Secrets of MKULTRA Jul 30, 2013

The urban legend that the CIA conducted unethical mind control experiments has a grain of truth.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #372: Prove Your Supernatural Power and Get Rich Jul 23, 2013

If you can demonstrate a power unknown to science, there are people looking to write you a check.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #371: The Vanishing Village of Angikuni Lake Jul 16, 2013

The legend of the disappearing Eskimo village of Angikuni Lake turns out to be simple pulp fiction.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #370: The Science of Muzak Jul 09, 2013

Background music really can influence our buying decisions in a shopping environment.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #369: Student Questions: Magic Wristbands, Laser Danger, and ManBearPig Jul 02, 2013

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #368: Legislating Pseudoscience Jun 25, 2013

Lawmakers are often pressured by ideologues to pass laws based on bad science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #367: Who Is the Grinning Man? Jun 18, 2013

A mysterious "grinning man" is said to appear and terrorize UFO witnesses.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #366: The Sedona Energy Vortex Jun 11, 2013

Vortexes of spiritual energy are claimed to exist in Sedona, but science suggests we remain skeptical.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #365: The Black Knight Satellite Jun 04, 2013

An object claimed to be 13,000-year-old alien satellite orbiting the Earth is just a piece of an old space shuttle.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #364: Listener Feedback: Conspiracies May 28, 2013

Skeptoid answers questions sent in by listeners pertaining to conspiracy theories.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #363: All About Graphology May 21, 2013

In fact, handwriting analysis tells us nothing useful about the personality and aptitudes of the writer.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #362: Polybius: Video Game of Death May 14, 2013

The infamous arcade game Polybius, said to drive players to suicide or madness, was never more than an urban legend.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #361: The 16 Personalities of Sybil May 07, 2013

The book and movie "Sybil" told the story of a woman purported to have Multiple Personality Syndrome.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #360: Lincoln Kennedy Myths Apr 30, 2013

An old story claims a long list of astonishing similarities between the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #359: Cupping for the Cure Apr 23, 2013

Some believe that bruise-causing suction on the skin provides a variety of health benefits.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #358: Listener Feedback: Aliens and UFOs Apr 16, 2013

Skeptoid digs into the feedback mailbag and answers questions about aliens and UFOs.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #357: The Aquatic Ape Theory Apr 09, 2013

There is a popular fringe theory about human evolution that claims we went through an aquatic phase.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #356: John Titor, Time Traveler Apr 02, 2013

An Internet legend claims that a man named John Titor is a visitor from the year 2036.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #355: The Airplane That Wasn't There Mar 26, 2013

A B-25 bomber ditched in a Pennsylvania river in broad daylight 1956 and, seemingly impossibly, was never found.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #354: The Pentagon and the Missile Mar 19, 2013

Some say that it wasn't an airliner that struck the Pentagon on 9/11, but a missile.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #353: Pope Joan Mar 12, 2013

This apocryphal Middle Ages pope said to be a woman in disguise probably never existed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #352: Facts and Fiction of the Schumann Resonance Mar 05, 2013

The Schumann Resonance, 7.83Hz, is one natural radio band in our atmosphere, but holds no mystical powers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #351: Men in Black Feb 26, 2013

A look at the mysterious government agents said to intimidate those who witness flying saucers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #350: Trinity: Interview with Dr. Oz, Alex Jones, and Deepak Chopra Feb 19, 2013

Skeptoid interviews three of the most popular and controversial figures in modern pseudoscience.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #349: Top 10 Best Pro-Science Celebrities Feb 12, 2013

A list of ten Hollywood celebrities who have leveraged their fame into the promotion of science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #348: Ganzfeld Experiments Feb 05, 2013

The true history of the experiment that is said to present the strongest evidence yet for telepathic abilities.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #347: The Lost Dutchman Gold Mine Jan 29, 2013

This most famous of all fabled "lost mines" has a history that fails to stand up to skeptical scrutiny.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #346: Listener Feedback: Me and My Terrible Arguments Jan 22, 2013

Skeptoid responds to another round of listener feedback.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #345: The Cult of Nikola Tesla Jan 15, 2013

The name of Nikola Tesla is associated with crazy conspiracy claims that have nothing to do with his real work.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #344: Olgoi-Khorkhoi: The Mongolian Death Worm Jan 08, 2013

Mongolian tradition holds that a strange and deadly worm lives beneath the sands of the Gobi desert.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #343: The Hollow Earth Theory Jan 01, 2013

Throughout history there have been a number of different beliefs that the Earth might be hollow.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #342: Was the Wow! Signal Alien? Dec 25, 2012

A signal received by a radio telescope in 1977 may be the best evidence yet for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #341: Free Energy Machines Dec 18, 2012

Someone somewhere is always claiming to have cracked the secret of free energy forever, no fuel needed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #340: Listener Feedback: A Cacophony of Conspiracies Dec 11, 2012

How you can convince your friends that their conspiracy theories are nonsensical.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #339: Setting the Bloop Straight Dec 04, 2012

The solution to the Bloop mystery sound is finally revealed, and Skeptoid corrects some errors from other episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #338: The Flat Earth Theory Nov 27, 2012

The Flat Earth Theory has its origins not in alt-science but in Christian Fundamentalism.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #337: The Bermuda Triangle and the Devil's Sea Nov 20, 2012

Contrary to popular belief, no unusual number of disappearances has ever happened inside these two ocean regions.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #336: How to Tell a Good Website from a Crap Website Nov 13, 2012

How to tell whether a science article on the web is reliable or not.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #335: Cleansing Diets: Why or Why Not? Nov 06, 2012

Cleansing diets are trendier than ever. They are also a complete waste of your money.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #334: The Betz Mystery Sphere Oct 30, 2012

This mysterious silver ball seemed to have all kinds of strange properties. We finally found out what it was.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #333: Student Questions: Dancing Plague and the Cinnamon Challenge Oct 23, 2012

Skeptoid answers another round of student questions sent in from all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #332: The Phantom Time Hypothesis Oct 16, 2012

A number of theories claim that several centuries never actually happened, and were faked by the Church.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #331: The Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter Oct 09, 2012

A rural family spent half a night battling what they thought were space aliens.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #330: Hypnotism: Hijacking Your Brain? Oct 02, 2012

The facts and the fiction of one of the most intriguing psychological phenomena.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #329: Is She Real, or Is She Fictional? Sep 25, 2012

See if you can tell which of these famous women from history are real, and which are fictional.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #328: Secrets of the Stradivarius Sep 18, 2012

The secret of history's greatest stringed instrument, the Stradivarius violin, is that there is no secret.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #327: Raiding the Ark of the Covenant Sep 11, 2012

The true history of the most famous holy relic from Biblical times.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #326: The Mystery of the Vitrified Forts Sep 04, 2012

Some 60 ancient stone forts in Scotland have vitrified walls, with the stone melted into glass. Here's what we know.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #325: The Golden Ratio Aug 28, 2012

For centuries, claims both scientific and pseudoscientific have been made for the golden ratio.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #324: Listener Feedback: That Darned Science Aug 21, 2012

Skeptoid responds to some listener emails that question the validity of the scientific method.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #323: 8 Spooky Places, and Why They're Like That Aug 14, 2012

These strange places around the world rank among the most macabre, but have interesting explanations.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #322: Negative Calorie Food Myths Aug 07, 2012

Negative calorie foods, said to require more energy to digest than they provide, are a popular food fad.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #321: Skinwalkers Jul 31, 2012

Navajo Skinwalkers were said to be able to shapeshift into animals, but don't worry, it's just a tall tale.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #320: The Suicide Dogs of Overtoun Bridge Jul 24, 2012

There's a bridge in Scotland where dogs are said to deliberately commit suicide.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #319: Student Questions: Food Woo and Iron Man at the Airport Jul 17, 2012

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #318: The Loch Ness Monster Jul 10, 2012

The world's most famous cryptid is said to swim in Scotland's most famous loch.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #317: Attack of the Nanobots! Jul 03, 2012

A look at the belief that nanotechnology may result in an army of self-replicating machines that consume society.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

New Skeptoid Books Jun 28, 2012

Skeptoid announces two new paperbacks: "Astronauts, Aliens, and Ape-Men" plus "The Secret of the Gypsy Queen".

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #316: Al-Ghazali and Arab-Islamic Science Jun 26, 2012

Some say that Persian theologian al-Ghazali was solely responsible for the end of the Golden Age of science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #315: The Tehran 1976 UFO Jun 19, 2012

Declassified military documents show that Iranian fighter planes engaged a UFO in 1976. Here's what's actually known.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #314: Botches and Bungles Jun 12, 2012

Skeptoid goes back and corrects some errors from previous episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #313: Area 51 Facts and Fiction Jun 05, 2012

Now that Area 51 has been declassified, we finally have proof that what they did had nothing to do with aliens.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #312: Student Questions: Marauding Mammoths and Queen Elizabeth the Man May 29, 2012

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #311: Deconstructing the Rothschild Conspiracy May 22, 2012

Some believe that world governments and economies are secretly controlled by the Rothschild banking family.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #310: Left Handed Myths and Facts May 15, 2012

Many popular anecdotes tell how and why some people are left-handed, but the true facts are even more interesting.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #309: The Science and Politics of Global Warming May 08, 2012

How global warming became the poster boy for failed science communication.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #308: Picnic at Hanging Rock May 01, 2012

Although the book and movie convinced many that this story actually happened, it is purely a fictional invention.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #307: The Siberian Hell Sounds Apr 24, 2012

Russian scientists are said to have drilled a borehole that broke into hell and released the screams of the damned.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #306: Listener Feedback XX Apr 17, 2012

Skeptoid dips into the feedback mailbag to respond to comments from listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #305: I Can't Believe They Did That: Human Guinea Pigs Apr 10, 2012

A look at some of history's most famous scientists who experimented upon themselves.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #304: Catching Jack the Ripper Apr 03, 2012

A look at what is and isn't known about history's most infamous serial killer.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #303: Are Vinyl Recordings Better than Digital? Mar 27, 2012

Many audio aficionados split into two camps, those supporting modern digital audio, and those supporting vinyl records.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #302: De Loys' Ape Mar 20, 2012

A geologist claimed to have discovered a new species of great ape in Venezuela in the early 20th century.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #301: The Beale Ciphers Mar 13, 2012

Treasure hunters comb Virginia searching for a legendary hoard of gold and silver.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #300: The Secret of the Gypsy Queen Mar 06, 2012

A little girl saves her kingdom when she is the only one who does not fall for the pop pseudoscience of the day.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #299: Star Jelly Feb 28, 2012

Jellylike blobs have been reported to fall from the sky during meteor showers. Aliens? No, science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #298: Student Questions: Free Energy and Faster-than-Light Neutrinos Feb 21, 2012

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all over the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #297: A Magical Journey through the Land of Reasoning Errors Feb 14, 2012

Four common types of analytical errors in reasoning that we all need to beware of.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #296: The Versailles Time Slip Feb 07, 2012

We can be sure that two women visiting Versaille in 1901 did not time-travel back to the days of Marie Antoinette.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #295: Finding Amelia Earhart Jan 31, 2012

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart is one of the worst examples of television promoting pseudohistory.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #294: Frequent Listener Feedback Jan 24, 2012

Skeptoid answers some listener emails that present common flaws in scientific thinking.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #293: Wunderwaffen: Nazi Wonder Weapons Jan 17, 2012

The true history behind the claimed Nazi "wonder weapons" like anti-gravity flying saucers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #292: The Grey Man of Ben MacDhui Jan 10, 2012

A thin, dark phantom three times the height of a man is said to stalk this peak in the Cairngorms.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #291: The Toxic Lady Jan 03, 2012

The story goes that in 1994, fumes from a woman's body knocked out most of an emergency room staff.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #290: Approaching a Subject Skeptically Dec 27, 2011

My process for examining a new topic, to learn whether it's fact or fiction.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #289: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste Dec 20, 2011

The facts, as we know them, about what really happened to maritime lore's most famous missing crew.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #288: Pit Bull Attack! Dec 13, 2011

Pit bulls have a reputation for being the most dangerous dog breed. Turns out the facts just don't support that.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #287: Korean Fan Death Dec 06, 2011

An urban legend in Korea states that running an electric fan at night can kill you.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #286: Listener Feedback: Dorothy and Her Straw Man Nov 29, 2011

Skeptoid responds to some feedback emails notable for their dependence on straw man arguments.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #285: Slips and Goofs Nov 22, 2011

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors found in previous episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #284: The Fate of Fletcher Christian Nov 15, 2011

No good evidence supports the claims that the leader of the Bounty mutineers made it safely back to England.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #283: Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites Nov 08, 2011

My list of the worst offenders on the web in the promotion of scientific and factual misinformation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #282: The Jersey Devil Nov 01, 2011

Said to have been haunting New Jersey for nearly 300 years, this alleged creature has its actual origins in politics.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #281: The Science of Voting Oct 25, 2011

Most election methods are fundamentally broken, but can be fixed with any of a number of tweaks.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #280: Finding Shakespeare Oct 18, 2011

The claim that someone else wrote Shakespeare's works is popular, but virtually indefensible.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #279: Noah's Ark: Sea Trials Oct 11, 2011

Why it's impossible for a wooden vessel the size of Noah's Ark to be seaworthy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #278: Brainwashing and Deprogramming Oct 04, 2011

Both brainwashing and its opposite, deprogramming, are equally mythological.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #277: Student Questions: A Few Good Myths Sep 27, 2011

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #276: The Monster of Glamis Sep 20, 2011

The story of a living beast in Scotland's Glamis Castle may have a nugget of truth.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #275: All About Fracking Sep 13, 2011

There are lots of reasons to move away from fossil fuels, but the supposed hazards of fracking just aren't among them.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #274: Listener Feedback Revolutions Sep 06, 2011

Another batch of listener emails answered and dissected. And served.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #273: Wi-Fi, Smart Meters, and Other Radio Bogeymen Aug 30, 2011

Demonizing radio transmitters as carcinogenic is popular, but is not supported by any reasonable science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #272: Are We Alone? Aug 23, 2011

We are not alone in the galaxy. Here's why that doesn't mean we've been visited by anyone.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #271: The Zionist Conspiracy Aug 16, 2011

There is no plausible reason to think a conspiracy of Jews plans to take over the world's banks and governments.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #270: The Hessdalen Lights Aug 09, 2011

Some seek a natural or alien explanation for these aerial lights in Norway. Turns out the true cause is much simpler.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #269: The Abominable Snowman Aug 02, 2011

Science shows that the Yeti of the Himalayas is almost certainly not a real creature.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #268: Student Questions: Energy Shots and Sunscreen Jul 26, 2011

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #267: Zeno's Paradoxes Jul 19, 2011

Greek philosopher Zeno apparently proved that movement was impossible with a few simple paradoxes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #266: Feedback through a Fine Toothed Comb Jul 12, 2011

Prepare to have your mind blown by these listener emails from conspiracy theorists.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #265: Curing Gays Jul 05, 2011

Therapies intended to help gays become straight don't work.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #264: Conspiracy Theorists Aren't Crazy Jun 28, 2011

We usually dismiss conspiracy theorists as crazy people; but that doesn't tell the whole story.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #263: Anastasia Jun 21, 2011

The Grand Duchess Anastasia did not survive her family's 1918 execution, and did not go on to live in the US.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #262: The Haitian Zombies Jun 14, 2011

A look at the possibility that legends of Haitian zombies may have a grain of truth.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #261: Near Death Experiences Jun 07, 2011

A comparison of the effects of hypoxia to the reports of a brush with the afterlife.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #260: Military Dolphins: James Bonds of the Sea May 31, 2011

The facts behind the stories of military dolphins trained to attack divers and plant mines on ships.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #259: Mao's Barefoot Doctors: The Secret History of Chinese Medicine May 24, 2011

Westerners' belief that Chinese have long relied on alternative medicine is due in part to clever book publishers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #258: Spontaneous Human Combustion May 17, 2011

People can catch on fire… and there doesn't seem to be anything too mysterious about any given case.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #257: The Secret of Plum Island May 10, 2011

This secret government lab was said to create genetic mutants. Here's what they actually did.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #256: Student Questions: Supermoons and an Apple a Day May 03, 2011

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students from around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #255: Superhuman Strength during a Crisis Apr 26, 2011

Popular stories tell of mothers lifting cars off their children. The science behind it is less than compelling.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #254: Finding the POW/MIAs Apr 19, 2011

American POW/MIAs are probably not still being held captive inside Vietnam.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #253: The Port Arthur Massacre Apr 12, 2011

The 1996 mass murder in Tasmania was not secretly a plot by the government to get firearms banned.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #252: The Voynich Manuscript Apr 05, 2011

The true history and meaning of history's most famous undeciphered book.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #251: Listener Feedback: Nobody Ever Posts Twice Mar 29, 2011

Skeptoid answers more listener feedback. Recorded live at the 250th Episode party.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #250: The History of Knowledge Mar 22, 2011

A trip through the centuries to see how human knowledge is reflected through music.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #249: Student Questions: Airport X-Rays, Shampoo, and the Moon Mar 15, 2011

Skeptoid answers another round of science questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #248: The Exorcism of Anneliese Mar 08, 2011

Exorcisms are a brutal torture ritual with no hope of actually helping a person who believes themselves possessed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #247: The Miracle of Calanda Mar 01, 2011

This famous story of God once healing an amputee falls apart under historical scrutiny.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #246: Corrections, Errata, Blunders, and Boo-Boos Feb 22, 2011

Skeptoid revisits another batch of episodes with errors, and rights the wrongs.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #245: Finding the Lost Colony of Roanoke Feb 15, 2011

Historians actually have a pretty complete picture of what happened to the "missing" Roanoke colonists.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #244: Nuclear War and Nuclear Winter Feb 08, 2011

Atmospheric smoke from a nuclear war would not result in devastating global cooling.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #243: Student Questions: Orbo, EVPs, and Shakespeare Feb 01, 2011

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #242: Scientology Jan 25, 2011

The real facts behind the most notorious religion on Earth and its space opera backstory.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #241: The Alien Buried in Texas Jan 18, 2011

Some believe a space alien is buried in a rural cemetery in Aurora, Texas.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #240: Mystery Spots Jan 11, 2011

Various "gravitational anomalies" around the world have fascinating real science behind them.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #239: Gluten Free Diets Jan 04, 2011

Gluten free diets provide no benefits at all for healthy people.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #238: More Hollywood Myths Dec 28, 2010

Was John Wayne's cancer death caused by filming downwind of the Nevada Test Site? ...and other Hollywood rumors.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #237: Hollywood Myths Dec 21, 2010

Skeptoid looks into some of the classic Hollywood legends that you've always believed are true.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #236: Whales and Sonar Dec 14, 2010

Navy sonar is claimed to be lethal to whales, but the latest research tells a very different story.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #235: IQ Testing Dec 07, 2010

IQ tests are fundamentally flawed, hopelessly inconsistent, and almost completely useless.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #234: The South Atlantic Anomaly Nov 30, 2010

This mysterious region in the south Atlantic was not responsible for the crash of Air France flight 447.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #233: Student Questions: Bird Gender and Bad Karma Nov 23, 2010

Skeptoid answers questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #232: Listener Feedback Rides Again Nov 16, 2010

A peek inside the Skeptoid inbox, ranging from the sane to the insane.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #231: The Mystery of STENDEC Nov 09, 2010

We still don't know the significance of this mysterious final transmission of an airliner just before its crash.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #230: DDT: Secret Life of a Pesticide Nov 02, 2010

DDT can be both a killer of birds and a savior against malaria. Rarely is a question as black and white as we'd like.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #229: Speed Reading Oct 26, 2010

Speed reading classes claim to be able to turbocharge your words per minute. Save your money; it doesn't work.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #228: My Favorite Things Oct 19, 2010

A few of my favorite moments looking back on 228 Skeptoid episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #227: Boost Your Immune System (or Not) Oct 12, 2010

Although a lot of products promise to boost your immune system, there is actually no such thing.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #226: The Brown Mountain Lights Oct 05, 2010

A ghost light in North Carolina has people scratching their heads, but researchers solved it a century ago.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #225: Beware the Bilderberg Group! Sep 28, 2010

The annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group is not to plan global domination.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #224: Alien Downpour: The Red Rain of India Sep 21, 2010

News agencies have long promoted a 2001 red rainfall as alien, but a better explanation was already there.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #223: The Frog in the Stone Sep 14, 2010

Stories of living frogs being found encased in solid rock have a more interesting (and reality-based) explanation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #222: Toil and Trouble: The Curse of Macbeth Sep 07, 2010

The Curse of Macbeth should make Shakespeare's play too dangerous to perform, but science tells us for sure.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #221: The Myers-Briggs Personality Test Aug 31, 2010

A critical look at the world's most popular psychological metric, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #220: Yonaguni Monument: The Japanese Atlantis Aug 24, 2010

A look at a massive stone structure off the coast of Japan, said to be a manmade pyramid.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #219: Stalin's Human-Ape Hybrids Aug 17, 2010

Josef Stalin did not order the creation of an army of half-ape, half-human hybrids.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #218: The Astronauts and the Aliens Aug 10, 2010

A close look at some of the stories of UFOs said to have been reported by NASA astronauts.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #217: Some New Logical Fallacies Aug 03, 2010

Skeptoid looks at some newer logical fallacies, often used in place of sound arguments.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #216: The Things We Eat... Jul 27, 2010

A look at what's really in food reveals the foolishness of the idea of "good food" and "bad food".

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #215: Listener Feedback Resurrection Jul 20, 2010

More vitriol from the Skeptoid inbox exposed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #214: Student Questions: Gold as an Investment and FEMA Coffins Jul 13, 2010

Another round of answering questions sent in by students everywhere.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #213: Mozart and Salieri Jul 06, 2010

Shockingly, Hollywood movies don't make us all history experts, and Salieri didn't murder Mozart.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #212: Things About Which I Have In Error Been Jun 29, 2010

More additions to the corrections and errata files for Skeptoid.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #211: Attack on Pearl Harbor Jun 22, 2010

The American government did not have advance knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack, and did not allow it to happen.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #210: The North American Union Jun 15, 2010

The United States, Canada, and Mexico are not planning to merge into a single huge police state.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #209: The Lost Ship of the Desert Jun 08, 2010

The facts behind tall tales from the American southwest of ships found in the middle of the desert.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #208: The Westall '66 UFO Jun 01, 2010

200 students watched a strange craft fly near their school in Australia in 1966 -- or so the story goes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #207: Dinosaurs Among Us May 25, 2010

All around the world, ancient art depicts creatures that some interpret as dinosaurs. Don't believe it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #206: Morgellons Disease May 18, 2010

In this newly described condition, some patients report strange plastic fibers growing from their skin.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #205: Beyond Listener Feedback May 11, 2010

Another trip to the Listener Feedback files, including my favorite yet.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #204: Mengele's Boys from Brazil May 04, 2010

A town in Brazil has an unusually high twin rate, but not because Josef Mengele survived and did experiments there.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #203: Therapeutic Touch Apr 27, 2010

Therapeutic touch is a pseudoscientific healing method that is neither therapeutic nor involves touch.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #202: The Non-Mystery of Puma Punku Apr 20, 2010

Though some claim the stone structures at Puma Punku were alien, archaeologists find no real mysteries there.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #201: The Virgin of Guadalupe Apr 13, 2010

Mexico's Virgin of Guadalupe played an important role in the Catholic colonization of the Americas.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #200: Buy It! Apr 06, 2010

Don't blindly turn to science when you need answers - instead, seek out those who want to sell you something.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #199: Cargo Cults Mar 30, 2010

Some native religious groups in the South Pacific hope to recreate WWII's influx of material goods.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #198: The Georgia Guidestones Mar 23, 2010

Dubbed "America's Stonehenge", this granite monument in Georgia appeals to all sorts of conspiracy theorists.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #197: Listener Feedback Strikes Back Mar 16, 2010

Another perilous dive into the listener feedback files.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #196: Zeitgeist: The Movie, Myths, and Motivations Mar 09, 2010

The Internet movie Zeitgeist uses dishonesty to make an ideological point that could have easily been made ethically.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #195: Student Questions: Mosquito Repellent and Einstein's Gestation Mar 02, 2010

Skeptoid answers more questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #194: The Denver Airport Conspiracy Feb 23, 2010

Is the Denver International Airport a headquarters for the New World Order? (Hint: no)

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #193: The Faces of Belmez Feb 16, 2010

Faces appearing on the floor of a house in Spain were easily faked, yet many still consider them supernatural.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #192: Ball Lightning Feb 09, 2010

Everyone believes in ball lightning, but when we stick to the science, there's probably nothing there.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #191: Did Jewish Slaves Build the Pyramids? Feb 02, 2010

It's a popular story, but all the evidence tells us that no Jews were in Egypt at the time of the Pyramids.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #190: The Bell Island Boom Jan 26, 2010

This shattering boom in Newfoundland was more likely a natural phenomenon than a superweapon test.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #189: Bullshido: Martial Arts Magic Jan 19, 2010

Some call it Bullshido: Martial arts tricks like touchless attacks and the Touch of Death.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #188: Student Questions: String Theory, the Asian Flush, and the Peltzman Effect Jan 12, 2010

Skeptoid answers some questions sent in by students around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #187: Emergency Handbook: What to Do When a Friend Loves Woo Jan 05, 2010

How you can help a friend or loved one with a potentially harmful pseudoscientific belief

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #186: More Things I'm Wrong About Dec 29, 2009

Going back over a few previous Skeptoid episodes to correct errors (head is hung in shame).

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #185: Is Barefoot Better? Dec 22, 2009

Some advocate that going barefoot is better for the health and strength of your feet.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #184: The Antikythera Mechanism Dec 15, 2009

This ancient device, 1000 years ahead of its time, neither proves alien visitation nor disproves history.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #183: The Naga Fireballs Dec 08, 2009

These fireballs actually do rise from the Mekong river each year -- and we know exactly what causes them.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #182: Listener Feedback X Dec 01, 2009

Another dip into the listener feedback files for Skeptoid.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #181: The Baigong Pipes Nov 24, 2009

Modern metal pipes found buried in ancient China are neither pipes nor evidence of ancient alien visitation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #180: Vaccine Ingredients Nov 17, 2009

The claims made about the dangerous chemicals in vaccines are all either false or misrepresented.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #179: The Scole Experiment Nov 10, 2009

Said to be the best evidence yet for the afterlife, the Scole Experiments were actually just a hackneyed performance.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #178: Student Questions: The Montauk Monster and Bee Sting Therapy Nov 03, 2009

Skeptoid answers some more questions sent in by students, on a variety of short topics.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #177: The Bloop Oct 27, 2009

This mysterious sound captured by NOAA hydrophones was not a sea monster.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #176: Network Marketing Oct 20, 2009

Call them Network Marketing, Multilevel Marketing, or MLM, these pyramid schemes are proven not to work.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #175: Shadow People Oct 13, 2009

These shadowy apparitions we sometimes see can be terrifying, but aren't supernatural.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #174: More Medical Myths Oct 06, 2009

More myths about the human body that you've always heard, and probably believe.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #173: All About Astrology Sep 29, 2009

Astrology neither has plausibility nor any test data showing that its predictions are better than random chance.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #172: Daylight Saving Time Myths Sep 22, 2009

All the reasons you've ever heard for Daylight Saving Time are nonsense. Here is the real one.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #171: The Battle of Los Angeles Sep 15, 2009

At the beginning of WWII, the American defense forces in Los Angeles fought a battle against a UFO.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #170: It's Raining Frogs and Fish Sep 08, 2009

Waterspouts have nothing to do with popular stories of frogs and fish falling from the sky.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #169: Bride of Listener Feedback Sep 01, 2009

More replies to some of Skeptoid's more colorful listener feedback.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #168: Decrypting the Mormon Book of Abraham Aug 25, 2009

Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith allegedly translated the adventures of Abraham in Egypt.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #167: Should Science Debate Pseudoscience? Aug 18, 2009

When scientists publicly debate promoters of pseudoscience, they often do more harm than good.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #166: Organic vs. Conventional Agriculture Aug 11, 2009

Organic agriculture provides no benefits whatsoever over science-based farming.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #165: Real or Fictional: Food and Fashion Aug 04, 2009

See if you can tell whether these food and fashion products are named after real people or fictitious people.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #164: What's Up with the Rosicrucians? Jul 28, 2009

Believed by many to be an ancient mystical order, but really just a mail-order New Age literature business.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #163: How to Make Skepticism Commercial Jul 21, 2009

Critical thinking offers the opposite of what seems to be popular, yet we can still make it commercial.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #162: Locally Grown Produce Jul 14, 2009

The idea of locally grown produce as nowhere near as green as its proponents seem to think it is.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #161: Listener Feedback Episode VIII: No New Hope Jul 07, 2009

Some more jabs and punches between Skeptoid and its most vocal listeners.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #160: Sarah Palin Is Not Stupid Jun 30, 2009

Good arguments often go unused because poor arguments like ad hominems are so much easier.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #159: The Mothman Cometh Jun 23, 2009

A skeptical look at the Mothman, an alleged prophet of disaster.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #158: Student Questions: Swine Flu and Depleted Uranium Jun 16, 2009

Skeptoid answers questions sent in by students all around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #157: High Fructose Corn Syrup: Toxic or Tame? Jun 09, 2009

A skeptical look at whether high fructose corn syrup is really any worse for you than sugar.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #156: Falling into Mel's Hole Jun 02, 2009

Mel's Hole is said to be a mysterious bottomless pit in eastern Washington state.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #155: NLP: Neuro-linguistic Programming May 26, 2009

Some regard Neuro-linguistic Programming as a psychotherapy breakthrough, some as a New Age self-help trend.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #154: Was Chuck Yeager the First to Break the Sound Barrier? May 19, 2009

Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947, but others almost certainly did so before him.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #153: Revenge of the Listener Feedback May 12, 2009

Another peek into the mailbag to see who loves us, and who hates us.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #152: Attack of the Globsters! May 05, 2009

Mysterious blobs of flesh washed up on the world's beaches have been called everything from sea monsters to Cthulhu.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #151: The Placebo Effect Apr 28, 2009

A look at the placebo effect: What it can do, what it can't do, and what you need to know about it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #150: Screwed! Apr 21, 2009

A secret recording of an actual meeting of the Illuminati.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #149: Coral Castle Apr 14, 2009

Although urban legends say the creator of Coral Castle had supernatural help, the photographs tell a different story.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #148: Student Questions: Zero Point Energy and Missing Time Apr 07, 2009

Skeptoid answers some interesting questions sent in by students.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #147: Binaural Beats: Not Digital Drugs Mar 31, 2009

The science behind binaural beats: What they are, what they are claimed to do, and what they can actually do.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #146: How Old Is the Mount St. Helens Lava Dome? Mar 24, 2009

Young Earthers point to an infamous dating error as evidence that the Earth is only as old as the Bible says.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #145: FEMA Prison Camps Mar 17, 2009

A skeptical look at the claim that FEMA maintains a network of prison camps in readiness.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #144: The Case of the Strange Skulls Mar 10, 2009

A collection of bizarre human skulls from around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #143: The Lucifer Project Mar 03, 2009

Some believe that NASA is trying to turn Saturn or Jupiter into a small sun.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #142: Student Questions: Sugary Behavior, Secondhand Smoke, and Wal-Mart Feb 24, 2009

Answering more questions sent in by students.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #141: Listener Feedback 6: I Want to Believe Feb 17, 2009

More fun from the listener feedback files.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #140: The Bosnian Pyramids Feb 10, 2009

Belief that this hill in Bosnia is an ancient pyramid is driven by New Age woo and pathological science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #139: Alkaline Water Systems: Change Your Water, Change Your Bank Balance Feb 03, 2009

Sellers of new-age water treatment products charge outrageous prices for a product with zero plausibility.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #138: Is He Real, or Is He Fictional? Jan 27, 2009

Guess whether these popular characters from history were real or fictional.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #137: The Angel of Mons Jan 20, 2009

The facts behind the story that a heavenly host saved a small group of British from a large German force in WWI.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #136: Student Questions: Light Therapy, the Bermuda Triangle, and Isaac Newton Jan 13, 2009

Skeptoid answers another round of questions submitted by students.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #135: The Rendlesham Forest UFO Jan 06, 2009

Hard to believe, but it wasn't space aliens that caused blinking lights in Rendlesham Forest in 1980.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #134: Who Is Closed Minded, the Skeptic or the Believer? Dec 30, 2008

Skeptics and believers both tend to accuse each other of closed-mindedness in their thinking.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #133: Chasing the Min Min Light Dec 23, 2008

The Australian outback's mysterious jack o' lantern has sparked some good stories, but some even better science.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #132: The Sargasso Sea and the Pacific Garbage Patch Dec 16, 2008

We cast our skeptical eye upon two vast hazards to navigation said to lurk in the centers of the two great oceans.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #131: The Bohemian Club Conspiracy Dec 09, 2008

Wealthy and powerful men gather annually at the mysterious Bohemian Grove -- but not to plot global domination.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #130: Space Properties for Sale Dec 02, 2008

If they're offering extraterrestrial real estate or star-naming rights for sale, chances are it's a ripoff.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #129: The Oak Island Money Pit Nov 25, 2008

This mysterious treasure pit on a Nova Scotia island has a fascinating natural explanation.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #128: Student Questions: the Mozart Effect, Quantum Theory, and AIDS Nov 18, 2008

Skeptoid answers some questions sent in by students.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #127: The Truth about Aspartame Nov 11, 2008

The artificial sweetener aspartame is falsely accused of being the cause of nearly every disease.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #126: The Incorruptibles Nov 04, 2008

We turn our skeptical eye on claims of incorruptibility - bodies that do not decay after death.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #125: Ten Most Wanted: Celebrities Who Promote Harmful Pseudoscience Oct 28, 2008

A critical look at the pseudoscientific antics of some of today's celebrities.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #124: Betty and Barney Hill: The Original UFO Abduction Oct 21, 2008

A critical look at the original UFO abduction story, that so many people take for granted.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #123: Listener Feedback Reloaded Oct 14, 2008

More fun from the inbox, responding to listener feedback.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #122: HAARP Myths Oct 07, 2008

A close look at HAARP, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, and the claim that it's a superweapon.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #121: Scalar Weapons: Tesla's Doomsday Machine? Sep 30, 2008

No, Nikola Tesla did not design a superweapon capable of vaporizing whole parts of the earth.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #120: The World According to Conservapedia Sep 23, 2008

A new Young Earth Fundamentalist online encyclopedia rears its ugly head.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #119: Student Questions: Body Searches and Theta Healing Sep 16, 2008

Skeptoid answers some more questions from students. Send yours in today!

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #118: Demystifying the Bell Witch Sep 09, 2008

An exploration of the best way to evaluate an old, unsubstantiated folk legend like The Bell Witch.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #117: How Dangerous Is Cell Phone Radiation? Sep 02, 2008

There is neither evidence nor plausible hypothetical foundation for cell phone signals to be at all dangerous.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #116: How to Be a Skeptic and Still Have Friends Aug 26, 2008

Being known as a skeptic is not necessarily good for your social life. Here's how to overcome the difficulties.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #115: Search for the Missing Cosmonauts Aug 19, 2008

A pair of young Italian brothers probably didn't uncover evidence of Soviet cosmonauts dying in space.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #114: Student Questions: Fish Oil, Charities, and Rumors Aug 12, 2008

Skeptoid answers some questions sent in by students.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #113: The Most Effective Homeopathy Podcast Ever Aug 08, 2008

For the first time ever, the active ingredients in homeopathic preparations are revealed.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #112: Genetically Modified Organisms: Jeopardy or Jackpot? Aug 05, 2008

Despite the popular fearmongering, GMO technologies promise a boon to agriculture and humanity.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #111: Should Tibet Be Free? Jul 29, 2008

Misinformation and fantasy surrounds the popular Tibet notions.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #110: Illuminating the Fatima Miracle of the Sun Jul 22, 2008

The pope canonized them, but these three children didn't actually predict anything in 1917.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #109: Will the Large Hadron Collider Destroy the Earth? Jul 15, 2008

Some people believe that CERN's Large Hadron Collider will create black holes that will destroy the Earth.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #108: Mystery at Dyatlov Pass Jul 08, 2008

A look at one of Russia's most bizarre mysteries of mass death.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #107: Spy Radio: Numbers Stations Jul 01, 2008

A look at mysterious shortwave "numbers stations" around the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #106: King Tut's Curse! Jun 24, 2008

A look at the tale, the popular explanation, and the real science behind it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #105: When People Talk Backwards Jun 17, 2008

Some people believe that your brain encodes its actual meaning in reverse within everything you say.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #104: Yet More Winning Listener Feedback Jun 10, 2008

Another visit to the endless well of listeners comments and criticisms.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #103: Should You Take Your Vitamins? Jun 03, 2008

Vitamin C does nothing to prevent or reduce the severity of colds.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #102: What You Didn't Know about the Stanford Prison Experiment May 27, 2008

The Stanford Prison Experiment, said to have proven that evil environments produce evil behavior, was completely unscientific and unreliable.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #101: Things I'm Wrong About May 20, 2008

A look back correcting some of the facts and figures that Skeptoid has gotten wrong.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #100: Is Peak Oil the End of Civilization? May 13, 2008

When we run out of oil, society will likely peacefully and gradually adapt.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #99: Reassembling TWA Flight 800 May 06, 2008

TWA Flight 800 was not shot down by US friendly fire.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #98: The Crystal Skull: Mystical, or Modern? Apr 29, 2008

Despite their reputation for mystical powers, crystal skulls are neither ancient nor mysterious.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #97: The Face on Mars Revealed Apr 22, 2008

New high resolution imagery has proven that this hill on Mars doesn't look quite so much like a carved face after all.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #96: What's Wrong with The Secret Apr 15, 2008

The Secret teaches that victims are always to blame, and that anyone can have anything simply by wishing.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #95: Bend Over and Own Your Own Business Apr 08, 2008

If someone wants you to be their salesperson and is calling it a "business opportunity", be very skeptical.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #94: Fire in the Sky: A Real UFO Abduction? Apr 01, 2008

The evidence shows that Travis Walton's famous story of having been abducted by aliens probably never happened.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #93: Apocalypse 2012 Mar 25, 2008

The real science behind the events predicted in 2012.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #92: Rethinking Nuclear Power Mar 18, 2008

There are many good reasons why environmentalists are turning again to nuclear power for the future.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #91: More Outrageous Listener Feedback Mar 11, 2008

My responses to some of the more "out there" feedback I've received.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #90: Can You Hear the Hum? Mar 04, 2008

An exploration of the mysterious rumble that some people hear all over the world.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #89: Despicable Vulture Scumbags Feb 26, 2008

My thoughts on a company that sells useless pseudoscientific hardware to an ALS victim.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #88: Super Sized Fast Food Phobia Feb 19, 2008

Unlike what's said in highly dramatized Hollywood shockumentaries, fast food is not especially unhealthy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #87: Water: Alternative Fuel of the Future? Feb 12, 2008

Cranks love to make the claim on YouTube, but you cannot run your car on water.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #86: MonaVie and Other "Superfruit" Juices Feb 05, 2008

Superfruit juices are nothing more than super ripoffs. Don't waste your money.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #85: World Trade Center 7: The Lies Come Crashing Down Jan 29, 2008

The collapse of 7 World Trade Center was not a controlled demolition.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #84: Magic Jewelry Jan 22, 2008

All sorts of marvelous health claims are made for jewelry such as the Q-Ray bracelet.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #83: The Detoxification Myth Jan 15, 2008

Despite its sciencey-sounding name, there is no such thing as "detoxification" beyond what your body already does.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #82: What Do Creationists Really Believe? Jan 08, 2008

Creationism is not one set of beliefs - it is a battleground of dramatically conflicting world views.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #81: Ghost Hunting Tools of the Trade Jan 01, 2008

Why the use of electronic equipment by TV ghost hunters is so stupid.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #80: Are Microwave Ovens Safe? Dec 25, 2007

An examination of the various claims that microwaved food and water are poisonous.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #79: Aliens in Roswell Dec 18, 2007

Pop culture says it was an alien spaceship -- but history tells us what was really found in the New Mexico desert.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #78: Medical Myths in Movies and Culture Dec 11, 2007

A skeptical examination of pop-culture medical beliefs, like dramatically stabbing someone in the heart with a syringe.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #77: Orang Pendek: Forest Hobbit of Sumatra Dec 04, 2007

A description of Sumatra's own little miniature Bigfoot legend.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #76: Who Kills More, Religion or Atheism? Nov 27, 2007

Neither religion nor atheism been responsible for a greater death toll throughout human history.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #75: How to See Your Aura Nov 20, 2007

Despite promotional claims, neither auras nor aura photography are things.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #74: A Magical Journey through the Land of Logical Fallacies - Part 2 Nov 13, 2007

The second part of our exploration of logical fallacies.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #73: A Magical Journey through the Land of Logical Fallacies - Part 1 Nov 06, 2007

An examination of many of the most common logical fallacies.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #72: Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: Real or Imagined? Oct 30, 2007

Some claim to be hypersensitive to electromagnetism. Science has already solved what's really going on.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #71: How to Drink Gnarly Breast Milk Oct 23, 2007

Proponents of colostrum supplements believe that it has a whole range of benefits.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #70: Raging (Bioidentical) Hormones Oct 16, 2007

An examination of the popular trend in women's health, bioidentical hormone therapy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #69: Ann Coulter, Scientist Oct 09, 2007

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter should stick to politics; her science is too screwed up for words.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #68: More Wet and Wild Listener Feedback Oct 02, 2007

Another round of listener feedback from the past several months.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #67: Do Your Body Features Measure Up? Sep 25, 2007

An examination of phrenology, physiognomy, palmistry, and iridology.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #66: The Greatest Secret of Nostradamus Sep 18, 2007

Virtually nothing that pop culture tells us about Nostradamus is true.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #65: How to Debate a Young Earth Creationist Sep 11, 2007

Learn the basic arguments against science made by Young Earthers, and how to rebut them.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #64: The Attack of Spring Heeled Jack Sep 04, 2007

A look at the theories surrounding Spring Heeled Jack, the scourge of England in the early 1800s.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #63: Subliminal Seduction Aug 28, 2007

Wilson Key's magnum opus textbook about subliminal advertising was almost pure fiction.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #62: Crop Circle Jerks Aug 21, 2007

Crop circles are commonly known to be man made, yet some still insist they must be of alien origin.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #61: Irradiation: Is Your Food Toxic? Aug 14, 2007

Food that has been sterilized with irradiation is not radioactive and will not hurt you.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #60: Will Drinking from Plastic Bottles Kill You? Aug 09, 2007

A popular fad holds that plastic water bottles leach toxic chemicals into your water. Don't believe it.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #59: Who Are the Raelians, and Why Are They Naked? Aug 04, 2007

The Raelians are naked and they worship space aliens.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #58: All About Fluoridation Jul 30, 2007

A few fringe activists claim that fluoridation of water carries more danger than benefit.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #57: Email Myths Jul 25, 2007

A look at some of those persistent hoax emails that you receive almost every day.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #56: Bizarre Places I'd Like to Go Jul 20, 2007

California is home to a wealth of places rich with mystery and intrigue.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #55: Autism and Chelation: A Recipe for Risk Jul 15, 2007

An examination of the lethal pop-culture fad of chelating autistic children.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #54: The Twin Towers: Fire Melting Steel Jul 10, 2007

The Oakland freeway collapse was not a government ploy to prove that the Twin Towers collapsed from fire.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #53: Borley Rectory: the World's Most Haunted House? Jul 05, 2007

This "world's most haunted house" was the invention of an imaginative showman and author.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #52: Science Magazines Violating Their Own Missions Jun 30, 2007

Science magazines continue to undermine themselves by publishing ads for pseudoscientific products.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #51: Ethanol: Miracle Fuel, or Not? Jun 25, 2007

Ethanol as a fuel may be carbon neutral, but offers few other benefits.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #50: How to Identify a "Good" Scientific Journal Jun 15, 2007

Here is how to tell whose "scientific journal" article is actually more reputable.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #49: Unconscious Research of Global Consciousness Jun 10, 2007

Some say that the collective emotions of humans can influence electronic hardware.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #48: The Bible Code: Enigmas for Dummies Jun 05, 2007

Despite claims of divine origin, "Bible Codes" are found in every long manuscript, even random text.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #47: Free Range Chicken and Farm Raised Fish May 26, 2007

Free range chickens and farm raised fish probably have almost none of the benefits you think they do.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #46: Support Your Local Reptoid May 21, 2007

The conspiracy theory that reptilian beings control our governments has a fascinating history.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #45: The Importance of Teaching Critical Thinking May 16, 2007

Teaching critical thinking to students needs to be much more than simply asking the Socratic questions.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #44: The Truth About Remote Viewing May 11, 2007

The psychic technique of remote viewing is consistent with simple, well known magic tricks.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #43: A Mormon History of the Americas May 06, 2007

The Book of Mormon's history of the Americas is full of irreconcilable errors and false archaeology.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #42: Whacking, Cracking, and Chiropracting May 01, 2007

Defined in 1895, chiropractic treats imaginary conditions with dangerous manipulations.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #41: The Alien Invasion of Phoenix, Arizona Apr 26, 2007

Despite what many UFOlogists want, the famous Phoenix Lights were not alien spacecraft.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #40: Neanderthals in Present Day Asia Apr 21, 2007

Some claim that a legendary wildman, the Almas, is a population of relict Neanderthals.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #39: Heating Up to Global Warming Apr 16, 2007

Why everyone needs to start taking global warming more seriously.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #38: The Marfa Lights: A Real American Mystery Apr 11, 2007

No matter how much we want these Texas ghost lights to be mysterious, it turns out they're all too mundane.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #37: How to Spot Pseudoscience Apr 06, 2007

This 15-point checklist will help you tell science from pseudoscience.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #36: Mercury Fillings Apr 01, 2007

Mercury amalgam fillings do not release toxic levels of mercury into the body, and are harmless.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #35: Revisionist Darwinism: The Theory That Couldn't Sit Still Mar 27, 2007

Some creationists claim that evolutionary theory is invalid because it improves as our knowledge increases.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #34: Homeopathy: Pure Water or Pure Nonsense? Mar 22, 2007

Contrary to what many supporters think, homeopathy is neither an herbal nor a natural remedy.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #33: Best of Listener Feedback Mar 17, 2007

The best of listener feedback from the first 32 Skeptoid episodes.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #32: Blood for Oil Mar 12, 2007

The claim that the wars in the Middle East were about oil don't stand up to economic scrutiny.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #31: The Devil Walked in Devon Mar 07, 2007

This 100-mile track of footprints in 1855 probably was not laid by the devil.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #30: Raw Food - Raw Deal? Mar 01, 2007

Some claim that cooking your food ruins its nutrients or makes it poisonous, in a misguided effort to promote raw food.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #29: Orbs: The Ghost in the Camera Feb 24, 2007

Spirit orbs in photographs are not ghosts, but a common artifact of flash photography.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #28: Natural Hygiene: Health Without Medicine (or Wisdom) Feb 19, 2007

Natural Hygiene is a misguided, prescientific notion that nature provides everything to heal anyone of anything.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #27: Chemtrails: Real or Not? Feb 15, 2007

Some believe that airplane contrails are really dangerous chemicals being sprayed by the government.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #26: Biodynamic Agriculture Feb 10, 2007

Biodynamic agriculture is not a modern innovation, but rather a throwback to the Dark Ages.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #25: Scientists Are Not Created Equal Feb 05, 2007

The word "scientist" can mean just about anything you want it to mean.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #24: Reflexology: Only Dangerous If You Use It Jan 28, 2007

Reflexology is really no more than a foot massage, but potentially deadly to those hoping for medical benefits.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #23: Paganism: A Naked Rebellion Jan 23, 2007

A look at paganism, its affinity for nudity, and how it differs from mainstream religions.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #22: Skepticism and Flight 93 Jan 19, 2007

Flight 93, which crashed in a field on September 11, was not shot down by the military.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #21: Living Stones of Death Valley Jan 15, 2007

An examination of the mysterious stones that move by themselves across the desert floor.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #20: The Real Amityville Horror Jan 11, 2007

America's most popular true ghost story was a hoax.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #19: Organic Food Myths Jan 05, 2007

It's marketed as a revolution in health and the environment, but it's better described as a counterproductive fad.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #18: The "New" Bill of Rights Jan 01, 2007

An amended Bill of Rights to better reflect modern American values.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #17: Internet Paranoia Dec 28, 2006

A look at the true threat level from Internet attacks in the mid 2000s.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #16: The Real Philadelphia Experiment Dec 24, 2006

The US Navy did not make a warship completely disappear in 1943.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #15: SUV Phobia Dec 20, 2006

Some believe SUVs should be categorized by their cosmetic appearance, rather than by their size or fuel efficiency.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #14: Cell Phones on Airplanes Dec 15, 2006

Cell phones are perfectly safe on airplanes, despite continued claims of danger.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #13: A Primer on Scientific Testing Dec 11, 2006

Understand the basics of scientific testing.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #12: Killing Faith: Deconstructionist Christians Dec 07, 2006

Proving the literal truth of the Bible is counterproductive to Christianity.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #11: Killing Bigfoot with Bad Science Dec 03, 2006

Sometimes the skeptics' perspective on Bigfoot is just as unscientific as that of the believers.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #10: An Evolution Primer for Young Earth Creationists Nov 30, 2006

Evolution 101 for Young Earth Creationists who want to know better.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #9: Sin: What's It Good For? Nov 26, 2006

There seems to be very little point to classifying some wrong actions as sins.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #8: Nocturnal Assaults: Aliens in the Dark Nov 21, 2006

Alien abductions and Old Hags: things that go bump in the night.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #7: Pond Magnet Foolishness Nov 14, 2006

There is no science-based reason why you should buy magnets for the pipes in your pond, despite the sales pitches.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #6: Wheatgrass Juice Nov 09, 2006

Wheatgrass juice contains virtually nothing of nutritional value to the human body.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #5: Sustainable Sustainability Nov 01, 2006

Focus on the year's undisputed overused buzzword: "Sustainable"

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #4: Rods: Flying Absurdities Oct 24, 2006

There is neither evidence nor plausible hypotheticals suggesting that invisible flying "rods" might exist.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #3: Ethics of Peddling the Paranormal Oct 19, 2006

A proposal that it might be ethical for non-believers to sell paranormal services to the grieving in certain cases.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #2: New Age Energy Oct 11, 2006

An examination of energy, as new agers use the term.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #1: Religion as a Moral Center Oct 03, 2006

Religion is not necessary for a good moral center.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected