Skeptoid
989 episodes - English - Latest episode: 14 days ago - ★★★★★ - 2.6K ratingsThe true science behind our most popular urban legends. Historical mysteries, paranormal claims, popular science myths, aliens and UFO reports, conspiracy theories, and worthless alternative medicine schemes... Skeptoid has you covered. From the sublime to the startling, no topic is sacred. Weekly since 2006.
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Episodes
Skeptoid #534: Earthquake Lights: Do They Exist?
August 30, 2016 09:00 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBOne of those things everyone seems to believe in, but for which there's almost no evidence.
Skeptoid #533: Don't Try It Before You Knock It
August 23, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBTry it before you knock it… unless you want to know if it really works.
Skeptoid #532: Who Killed the Red Baron?
August 16, 2016 09:00 - 15 minutes - 13.8 MBA look at which of the six competing claims for who killed the Red Baron was probably true.
Skeptoid #531: The Banjawarn Bang
August 09, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBEvidence suggests a doomsday cult may have successfully tested a nuclear bomb in Australia in 1993.
Skeptoid #530: No, You Shouldn't Question Everything
August 02, 2016 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13 MBPop wisdom continually reminds us to Question Everything -- an idea which is rarely either practical or useful.
Skeptoid #529: Wrongy McWrongface
July 26, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBSkeptoid corrects another batch of errors from previous episodes.
Skeptoid #528: The Secret History of Majestic 12
July 19, 2016 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBThese purported UFO documents changed the course of the culture of UFO belief.
Skeptoid #527: Conjuring Up the Warrens
July 12, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBThe Conjuring 2 tells a story that is fictional in a way you might not have guessed.
Skeptoid #526: Sky Trumpets
July 05, 2016 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBFrom all over the world come reports of strange trumpet-like blasts from the sky.
Skeptoid #525: Autopsy: The Clinton Body Count
June 28, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBThe surprising origins of the claim that the Clintons kill any who get in their way.
Skeptoid #524: Colony Collapse Disorder: Science and Pseudoscience
June 21, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBEveryone loves to point the finger at the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder; here's what we actually know.
Skeptoid #523: How Do Homing Pigeons Navigate?
June 14, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBThe latest and greatest research reveals that we still have no clue how birds accomplish this amazing feat.
Skeptoid #522: Dark Watchers
June 07, 2016 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBThe true origins of the Dark Watchers, said to go all the way back to Chumash Indian stories.
Skeptoid #521: The New Flat Earthers
May 31, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.6 MBThe reinvented Flat Earth fad is less about geophysics and more about conspiracy mongering.
Skeptoid #520: Solving the Haunted Hoia-Baciu Forest
May 24, 2016 09:00 - 12 minutes - 12 MBIt is said to be the world's most haunted forest. Here's what we actually find there.
Skeptoid #519: Alien Implants
May 17, 2016 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.4 MBSome of those who believe they've been abducted by aliens also think they were left with a souvenir.
Skeptoid #518: Listener Feedback: Denial and Aliens
May 10, 2016 09:00 - 12 minutes - 12 MBSkeptoid answers some feedback sent in by listeners.
Skeptoid #517: Antibiotics and Hormones in Beef
May 03, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBOne of pop food woo's favorite claims is that drugs given to beef cattle pose a danger to humans.
Skeptoid #516: Demythologizing the Shaolin Monks
April 26, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBJust about everything you think you know about the Shaolin Monks was made up for tourists.
Skeptoid #515: All About Absinthe
April 19, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBThis mysterious alcoholic drink is the subject of more urban legends than any other liquor.
Skeptoid #514: Your Thoughts on Making Skepticism Commercial
April 12, 2016 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBA proposal for how we can make skeptical programming more attractive to a larger audience.
Skeptoid #513: Why Musical Aliens Probably Use the Same Scale We Do
April 05, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBReliance on universal mathematical principles may mean alien music is similar to our own.
Skeptoid #512: Decrypting Mother Teresa
March 29, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBIt's popular to criticize Mother Teresa, but that criticism might be better directed at the real culprit.
Skeptoid #511: Firestorm in Waco
March 22, 2016 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.8 MBThe FBI did not deliberately murder the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.
Skeptoid #510: Student Questions: Multiple Intelligences and the Gender Pay Gap
March 15, 2016 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBSkeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.
Skeptoid #509: Ninjas Unmasked
March 08, 2016 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.4 MBThese superheroes of martial arts lore may not be exactly what you thought they were.
Skeptoid #508: Demythologizing the Knights Templar
March 01, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBMore pseudohistory than fact surrounds this ancient order's depictions in pop culture.
Skeptoid #507: No, Hitler Did Not Escape
February 23, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBThere is no truth to the popular myth that Hitler escaped Berlin and went to Argentina.
Skeptoid #506: Bad Skepticism: Why You Should Challenge Popular Assumptions
February 16, 2016 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBFrom swamp gas and waterspouts to alternative medicine, the harm of not challenging popular assumptions.
Skeptoid #505: You've Got to Be Wrong to Be Right
February 09, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBSkeptoid corrects another round of errors from past episodes.
Skeptoid #504: Growing Skeptical of Hair Restoration
February 02, 2016 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBAs long as people lose their hair, the market will remain flooded with sham remedies.
Skeptoid #503: Bad Science on PBS
January 26, 2016 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13 MBThe reasons why PBS is so quick to promote pseudoscience informercials during pledge drives.
Skeptoid #502: Listener Feedback: Killing the Comments
January 19, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBYour comments on our decision to remove the comments from Skeptoid episode transcript pages.
Skeptoid #501: Schrodinger's Cat and the Bomb Detector
January 12, 2016 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBWhatever you think you know about Schrödinger's famous cat is probably wrong.
Skeptoid #500: A Little Curiosity
January 05, 2016 09:00 - 6 minutes - 6.4 MBIf you haven't yet found your curiosity in the first 500 episodes of Skeptoid, find it here.
Skeptoid #499: The Hope Diamond: A Curse Deconstructed
December 29, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBFind out how the obviously false story of a curse came to be associated with this famous diamond.
Skeptoid #498: Did the 1914 Christmas Truce Really Happen?
December 22, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBPopular stories tell of WWI soldiers laying aside their rifles on Christmas 1914. The facts are not quite so simple.
Skeptoid #497: A Skeptical Look at the Rorschach Test
December 15, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBThe famous Rorschach inkblot test is not a window into the subconscious, and doesn't tell us anything useful.
Skeptoid #496: The Russian Sleep Experiment
December 08, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBRussian test subjects are said to have done unspeakably horrible things when sleep deprived.
Skeptoid: Bad Skepticism
December 04, 2015 09:00 - 1 minute - 1.06 MBA new live show from Skeptoid Media: Bad Skepticism!
Skeptoid #495: Updated: Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Web Sites
December 01, 2015 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBThe worst offending sites on the Internet for promoting bad misinformation.
Skeptoid #494: Black Mold: Peril or Prosaic?
November 24, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.4 MBBlack mold is commonly believed to harbor many deadly diseases; but in fact removing it is often worse than leaving it.
Skeptoid #493: How Real Is the Stockholm Syndrome?
November 17, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBWhile the Stockholm syndrome sounds like a mere media buzzword, it does actually sometimes happen.
Skeptoid #492: Pouring Cold Water on Cryotherapy
November 10, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 12 MBQuestioning whether this new spa treatment provides all the medical benefits it claims.
Skeptoid #491: 420: The Cannabis Code
November 03, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBMyths and competing claims fog the origin of the term 420, a slang code for marijuana.
Skeptoid #490: Deconstructing the Tasaday Tribe
October 27, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBSome say this tribe of "gentle savages", discovered in 1971, was just a hoax. The truth isn't quite so simple.
Skeptoid #489: The Science of X-Ray Specs and Sea Monkeys
October 20, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 12 MBThese products advertised in the back of comic books promised improbable feats of science.
Skeptoid #488: Who Was Charles Fort?
October 13, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBThis enigmatic author of the strange continues to confound.
Skeptoid #487: About That 1970s Global Cooling...
October 06, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBNo, climatologists in the 1970s did not believe we're headed into another ice age.
Skeptoid #486: The Flying Saucer Menace
September 29, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBThe true, interwoven history of flying saucers in American folklore.