Skeptoid
991 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 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 #291: The Toxic Lady
January 03, 2012 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBThe story goes that in 1994, fumes from a woman's body knocked out most of an emergency room staff.
Skeptoid #290: Approaching a Subject Skeptically
December 27, 2011 09:00 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBMy process for examining a new topic, to learn whether it's fact or fiction.
Skeptoid #289: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
December 20, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBThe facts, as we know them, about what really happened to maritime lore's most famous missing crew.
Skeptoid #288: Pit Bull Attack!
December 13, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBPit bulls have a reputation for being the most dangerous dog breed. Turns out the facts just don't support that.
Skeptoid #287: Korean Fan Death
December 06, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBAn urban legend in Korea states that running an electric fan at night can kill you.
Skeptoid #286: Listener Feedback: Dorothy and Her Straw Man
November 29, 2011 09:00 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBSkeptoid responds to some feedback emails notable for their dependence on straw man arguments.
Skeptoid #285: Slips and Goofs
November 22, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBSkeptoid corrects another round of errors found in previous episodes.
Skeptoid #284: The Fate of Fletcher Christian
November 15, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBNo good evidence supports the claims that the leader of the Bounty mutineers made it safely back to England.
Skeptoid #283: Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites
November 08, 2011 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBMy list of the worst offenders on the web in the promotion of scientific and factual misinformation.
Skeptoid #282: The Jersey Devil
November 01, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBSaid to have been haunting New Jersey for nearly 300 years, this alleged creature has its actual origins in politics.
Skeptoid #281: The Science of Voting
October 25, 2011 09:00 - 11 minutes - 11 MBMost election methods are fundamentally broken, but can be fixed with any of a number of tweaks.
Skeptoid #280: Finding Shakespeare
October 18, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBThe claim that someone else wrote Shakespeare's works is popular, but virtually indefensible.
Skeptoid #279: Noah's Ark: Sea Trials
October 11, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 12 MBWhy it's impossible for a wooden vessel the size of Noah's Ark to be seaworthy.
Skeptoid #278: Brainwashing and Deprogramming
October 04, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBBoth brainwashing and its opposite, deprogramming, are equally mythological.
Skeptoid #277: Student Questions: A Few Good Myths
September 27, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.2 MBSkeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.
Skeptoid #276: The Monster of Glamis
September 20, 2011 09:00 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBThe story of a living beast in Scotland's Glamis Castle may have a nugget of truth.
Skeptoid #275: All About Fracking
September 13, 2011 09:00 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBThere are lots of reasons to move away from fossil fuels, but the supposed hazards of fracking just aren't among them.
Skeptoid #274: Listener Feedback Revolutions
September 06, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBAnother batch of listener emails answered and dissected. And served.
Skeptoid #273: Wi-Fi, Smart Meters, and Other Radio Bogeymen
August 30, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBDemonizing radio transmitters as carcinogenic is popular, but is not supported by any reasonable science.
Skeptoid #272: Are We Alone?
August 23, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBWe are not alone in the galaxy. Here's why that doesn't mean we've been visited by anyone.
Skeptoid #271: The Zionist Conspiracy
August 16, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBThere is no plausible reason to think a conspiracy of Jews plans to take over the world's banks and governments.
Skeptoid #270: The Hessdalen Lights
August 09, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBSome seek a natural or alien explanation for these aerial lights in Norway. Turns out the true cause is much simpler.
Skeptoid #269: The Abominable Snowman
August 02, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBScience shows that the Yeti of the Himalayas is almost certainly not a real creature.
Skeptoid #268: Student Questions: Energy Shots and Sunscreen
July 26, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBSkeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students.
Skeptoid #267: Zeno's Paradoxes
July 19, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.9 MBGreek philosopher Zeno apparently proved that movement was impossible with a few simple paradoxes.
Skeptoid #266: Feedback through a Fine Toothed Comb
July 12, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.1 MBPrepare to have your mind blown by these listener emails from conspiracy theorists.
Skeptoid #265: Curing Gays
July 05, 2011 09:00 - 14 minutes - 13.4 MBTherapies intended to help gays become straight don't work.
Skeptoid #264: Conspiracy Theorists Aren't Crazy
June 28, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.1 MBWe usually dismiss conspiracy theorists as crazy people; but that doesn't tell the whole story.
Skeptoid #263: Anastasia
June 21, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBThe Grand Duchess Anastasia did not survive her family's 1918 execution, and did not go on to live in the US.
Skeptoid #262: The Haitian Zombies
June 14, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBA look at the possibility that legends of Haitian zombies may have a grain of truth.
Skeptoid #261: Near Death Experiences
June 07, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBA comparison of the effects of hypoxia to the reports of a brush with the afterlife.
Skeptoid #260: Military Dolphins: James Bonds of the Sea
May 31, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBThe facts behind the stories of military dolphins trained to attack divers and plant mines on ships.
Skeptoid #259: Mao's Barefoot Doctors: The Secret History of Chinese Medicine
May 24, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBWesterners' belief that Chinese have long relied on alternative medicine is due in part to clever book publishers.
Skeptoid #258: Spontaneous Human Combustion
May 17, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBPeople can catch on fire… and there doesn't seem to be anything too mysterious about any given case.
Skeptoid #257: The Secret of Plum Island
May 10, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBThis secret government lab was said to create genetic mutants. Here's what they actually did.
Skeptoid #256: Student Questions: Supermoons and an Apple a Day
May 03, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.4 MBSkeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students from around the world.
Skeptoid #255: Superhuman Strength during a Crisis
April 26, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBPopular stories tell of mothers lifting cars off their children. The science behind it is less than compelling.
Skeptoid #254: Finding the POW/MIAs
April 19, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBAmerican POW/MIAs are probably not still being held captive inside Vietnam.
Skeptoid #253: The Port Arthur Massacre
April 12, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBThe 1996 mass murder in Tasmania was not secretly a plot by the government to get firearms banned.
Skeptoid #252: The Voynich Manuscript
April 05, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.9 MBThe true history and meaning of history's most famous undeciphered book.
Skeptoid #251: Listener Feedback: Nobody Ever Posts Twice
March 29, 2011 09:00 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBSkeptoid answers more listener feedback. Recorded live at the 250th Episode party.
Skeptoid #250: The History of Knowledge
March 22, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.2 MBA trip through the centuries to see how human knowledge is reflected through music.
Skeptoid #249: Student Questions: Airport X-Rays, Shampoo, and the Moon
March 15, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 12 MBSkeptoid answers another round of science questions sent in by students all around the world.
Skeptoid #248: The Exorcism of Anneliese
March 08, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBExorcisms are a brutal torture ritual with no hope of actually helping a person who believes themselves possessed.
Skeptoid #247: The Miracle of Calanda
March 01, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBThis famous story of God once healing an amputee falls apart under historical scrutiny.
Skeptoid #246: Corrections, Errata, Blunders, and Boo-Boos
February 22, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBSkeptoid revisits another batch of episodes with errors, and rights the wrongs.
Skeptoid #245: Finding the Lost Colony of Roanoke
February 15, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 12 MBHistorians actually have a pretty complete picture of what happened to the "missing" Roanoke colonists.
Skeptoid #244: Nuclear War and Nuclear Winter
February 08, 2011 09:00 - 11 minutes - 11 MBAtmospheric smoke from a nuclear war would not result in devastating global cooling.
Skeptoid #243: Student Questions: Orbo, EVPs, and Shakespeare
February 01, 2011 09:00 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBSkeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world.
Skeptoid #242: Scientology
January 25, 2011 09:00 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBThe real facts behind the most notorious religion on Earth and its space opera backstory.