Skeptoid
986 episodes - English - Latest episode: 19 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 #482: Franklin's Cannibals
September 01, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBThe fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Expedition gives a valuable lesson in types of evidence.
Skeptoid #481: Captain Kidd's Treasure
August 25, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBThink you're going to find Captain Kidd's buried treasure on the US east coast? Think again.
Skeptoid #480: The Nazi of Nanking
August 18, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBThis most unlikely of guardian angels saved hundreds of thousands of Chinese lives.
Skeptoid #479: Chemicals
August 11, 2015 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14 MBChemicals are deadly, delicious, essential and basically, everything.
Skeptoid #478: Listener Feedback: Natural History
August 04, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBToday we're going to answer questions sent in by listeners pertaining to episodes having to do with our natural world.
Skeptoid #477: Wag the Dogman
July 28, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBThey say that a half-canine cryptid stalks the woods of Northern Michigan. Are they right?
Skeptoid #476: The Chess-Playing Mechanical Turk
July 21, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.1 MBAn overview of the amazing chess playing robot of the 1700s.
Skeptoid #475: Listener Feedback: History vs. Pseudohistory
July 14, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBBrian responds to listener feedback about past history episodes.
Skeptoid #474: Solfeggio Frequencies
July 07, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBCertain specific sonic frequencies are not the key to love, intuition, or spiritual order.
Skeptoid #473: The Loveland Frog
June 30, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBA series of sightings of a frog-like humanoid in the suburb of Loveland, Ohio prompts an enduring folkloric legend.
Skeptoid #472: Lysenko and Lesser Science Grifters
June 23, 2015 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBTrofim Lysenko mixed pseudoscience and ideology to set back Soviet biology.
Skeptoid #471: Male Circumcision
June 16, 2015 09:00 - 16 minutes - 15.2 MBInfant male circumcision remains common in the United States. Today we look at the reasons and the implications.
Skeptoid #470: Marijuana
June 09, 2015 09:00 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBIn the last 50 years, marijuana has gone from menace to medicine. Which is it?
Skeptoid #469: Jade Helm 15
June 02, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.7 MBConspiracy theory that a military training exercise is going to lead to martial law.
Skeptoid #468: Listener Feedback: Fads
May 26, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBBrian responds to some listener feedback concerning the topic of fads.
Skeptoid #467: Baby Myths
May 19, 2015 09:00 - 17 minutes - 15.9 MBA look at some common myths about babies and children.
Skeptoid #466: 5 Answers for Creationists
May 12, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBCreationists have presented 5 questions they don't think 'evolutionists' can answer. Here are some answers.
Skeptoid #465: Agenda 21
May 05, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBA look at the conspiratorial hysteria and sensationalism surrounding the United Nations' Agenda 21.
Skeptoid #464: The Lake Michigan Triangle
April 28, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBThere is a region in the Great Lakes where, some say, ships and planes mysteriously disappear. Not so much.
Skeptoid #463: Transgender: Fact or Fiction?
April 21, 2015 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBThe Internet believes a lot of things about transgender people, but much of it isn't true.
Skeptoid #462: Satanic Ritual Abuse
April 14, 2015 09:00 - 17 minutes - 16.4 MBThe history of claims that secret Satanic cults are abusing children.
Skeptoid #461: Cryptids That Turned Out To Be Real
April 07, 2015 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14 MBSometimes speculative animals do turn out to be real, but that still doesn't validate cryptozoology as a science.
Skeptoid #460: Plastic Bags
March 31, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBDeciding whether you want "paper or plastic" at the supermarket turns out to be a remarkably complex choice.
Skeptoid #459: Listener Feedback: The Environment
March 24, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBBrian responds to listener feedback on past episodes about environmental topics.
Skeptoid #458: Science Fails
March 17, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.8 MBScience has let you down time after time, and that's one reason why it gets better and better.
Skeptoid #457: Forgetting the Alamo
March 10, 2015 09:00 - 20 minutes - 18.8 MBThe myths and facts behind the events that made the Alamo famous reveal it may not be worth remembering much.
Skeptoid #456: Cattle Mutilation
March 03, 2015 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBCow mutilation may have a simpler explanation than alien experimentation.
Skeptoid #455: Ghost Photography
February 24, 2015 09:00 - 16 minutes - 15 MBThe history of ghost photography and its many problems as evidence.
Skeptoid #454: GMO Facts and Fiction
February 17, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBSee if you know how many of these GMO "facts" are right.
Skeptoid #453: Cooking Myths
February 10, 2015 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBAs the busiest part of the house, the kitchen has collected more folklore than any other room in it.
Skeptoid #452: The Stone Spheres of Costa Rica
February 03, 2015 09:00 - 9 minutes - 9.04 MBIn Costa Rica, mysterious stone spheres left behind by the country's previous inhabitants seem to defy explanation.
Skeptoid #451: Ideomotor Response
January 27, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBThe Ideomotor Response underlies a number of occult phenomena and alt-med practices.
Skeptoid #450: Robert Ripley: Believe Him... or Not?
January 20, 2015 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBWe examine Believe it or Not! and determine if we can believe this stuff.
Skeptoid #449: Ancient Astronauts
January 13, 2015 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBDid aliens visit the ancient Earth and inspire human cultures? Some people claim so.
Skeptoid #448: The Columbus Poltergeist
January 06, 2015 09:00 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBThis poltergeist in Columbus Ohio turned out to be, like nearly all such cases, a mischievous teen.
Skeptoid #447: Listener Feedback: Cryptozoology
December 30, 2014 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBWe respond to questions about cryptids asked by listeners to our recent episodes.
Skeptoid #446: The Fallibility of Memory
December 23, 2014 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBWe are a story our brain tells itself. And our brains are habitual liars.
Skeptoid #445: Megalodon Myths
December 16, 2014 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBThe Discovery Channel wants you to think that a giant prehistoric shark may still swim our oceans.
Skeptoid #444: Myths of Alcatraz
December 09, 2014 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBAlcatraz Island is veiled in the fog of myth.
Skeptoid #443: SS Iron Mountain
December 02, 2014 09:00 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBThis large riverboat is said to have vanished without a trace on the Mississippi River in 1872.
Skeptoid #442: Griffins
November 25, 2014 09:00 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MBGriffins, considered absurd mythological beasts today, were actually our first attempt to explain fossils.
Skeptoid #441: The Skookum Cast
November 18, 2014 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBThe first "full body cast" of an alleged Bigfoot left many experts with a different impression.
Skeptoid #440: That Elusive Fibromyalgia
November 11, 2014 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBSome say fibromyalgia is a real disease, while others question the diagnosis.
Skeptoid #439: A Skeptical Look at the News
November 04, 2014 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBHow we look at the news is as important as where we get it.
Skeptoid #438: The War of the Worlds Panic Broadcast
October 28, 2014 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBOn October 30, 1938, Orson Welles panicked a nation with a single broadcast. Or did he?
Skeptoid #437: Tube Amplifiers
October 21, 2014 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBThe audiophile preference for tube amps over solid state is based more on emotion than on science.
Skeptoid #436: Ionithermie
October 14, 2014 09:00 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBIonithermie is not effective for slimming or cellulite removal -- or, for anything, really.
Skeptoid #435: The St. Clair Triangle UFO
October 07, 2014 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBIn 2000, Illinois police chased what has come to be known as the St. Clair Triangle UFO. We found out what it was.
Skeptoid #434: The Braxton County Monster
September 30, 2014 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBA group of 7 West Virginians looked for a crashed UFO in the hills and ended up getting the fright of their lives.
Skeptoid #433: The Water Woo of Masaru Emoto
September 23, 2014 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBMasaru Emoto invented a New Age mythology in which water crystals reflect human consciousness.