Shows / Skeptoid
Skeptoid
The 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.
Episodes
- Skeptoid
Skeptoid #308: Picnic at Hanging Rock
Although the book and movie convinced many that this story actually happened, it is purely a fictional invention. Learn about your ad choices…
- Skeptoid
Skeptoid #307: The Siberian Hell Sounds
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…
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Skeptoid #306: Listener Feedback XX
Skeptoid dips into the feedback mailbag to respond to comments from listeners. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #305: I Can't Believe They Did That: Human Guinea Pigs
A look at some of history's most famous scientists who experimented upon themselves. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #304: Catching Jack the Ripper
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
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Skeptoid #303: Are Vinyl Recordings Better than Digital?
Many audio aficionados split into two camps, those supporting modern digital audio, and those supporting vinyl records. Learn about your ad choices…
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Skeptoid #302: De Loys' Ape
A geologist claimed to have discovered a new species of great ape in Venezuela in the early 20th century. Learn about your ad choices…
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Skeptoid #301: The Beale Ciphers
Treasure hunters comb Virginia searching for a legendary hoard of gold and silver. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #300: The Secret of the Gypsy Queen
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…
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Skeptoid #299: Star Jelly
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
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Skeptoid #298: Student Questions: Free Energy and Faster-than-Light Neutrinos
Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all over the world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #297: A Magical Journey through the Land of Reasoning Errors
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
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Skeptoid #296: The Versailles Time Slip
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…
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Skeptoid #295: Finding Amelia Earhart
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
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Skeptoid #294: Frequent Listener Feedback
Skeptoid answers some listener emails that present common flaws in scientific thinking. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #293: Wunderwaffen: Nazi Wonder Weapons
The true history behind the claimed Nazi "wonder weapons" like anti-gravity flying saucers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #292: The Grey Man of Ben MacDhui
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
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Skeptoid #291: The Toxic Lady
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
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Skeptoid #290: Approaching a Subject Skeptically
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
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Skeptoid #289: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
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
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Skeptoid #288: Pit Bull Attack!
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…
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Skeptoid #287: Korean Fan Death
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
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Skeptoid #286: Listener Feedback: Dorothy and Her Straw Man
Skeptoid responds to some feedback emails notable for their dependence on straw man arguments. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #285: Slips and Goofs
Skeptoid corrects another round of errors found in previous episodes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #284: The Fate of Fletcher Christian
No good evidence supports the claims that the leader of the Bounty mutineers made it safely back to England. Learn about your ad choices…
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Skeptoid #283: Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites
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
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Skeptoid #282: The Jersey Devil
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…
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Skeptoid #281: The Science of Voting
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
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Skeptoid #280: Finding Shakespeare
The claim that someone else wrote Shakespeare's works is popular, but virtually indefensible. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #279: Noah's Ark: Sea Trials
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
Skeptoid #278: Brainwashing and Deprogramming
Both brainwashing and its opposite, deprogramming, are equally mythological. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #277: Student Questions: A Few Good Myths
Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #276: The Monster of Glamis
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
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Skeptoid #275: All About Fracking
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…
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Skeptoid #274: Listener Feedback Revolutions
Another batch of listener emails answered and dissected. And served. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #273: Wi-Fi, Smart Meters, and Other Radio Bogeymen
Demonizing radio transmitters as carcinogenic is popular, but is not supported by any reasonable science. Learn about your ad choices…
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Skeptoid #272: Are We Alone?
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
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Skeptoid #271: The Zionist Conspiracy
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…
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Skeptoid #270: The Hessdalen Lights
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…
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Skeptoid #269: The Abominable Snowman
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
Skeptoid #268: Student Questions: Energy Shots and Sunscreen
Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- Skeptoid
Skeptoid #267: Zeno's Paradoxes
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
Skeptoid #266: Feedback through a Fine Toothed Comb
Prepare to have your mind blown by these listener emails from conspiracy theorists. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #265: Curing Gays
Therapies intended to help gays become straight don't work. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
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Skeptoid #264: Conspiracy Theorists Aren't Crazy
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
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Skeptoid #263: Anastasia
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…
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Skeptoid #262: The Haitian Zombies
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
Skeptoid #261: Near Death Experiences
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
Skeptoid #260: Military Dolphins: James Bonds of the Sea
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
Skeptoid #259: Mao's Barefoot Doctors: The Secret History of Chinese Medicine
Westerners' belief that Chinese have long relied on alternative medicine is due in part to clever book publishers. Learn about your ad choices…
- Skeptoid
Skeptoid #258: Spontaneous Human Combustion
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
Skeptoid #257: The Secret of Plum Island
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
Skeptoid #256: Student Questions: Supermoons and an Apple a Day
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
Skeptoid #255: Superhuman Strength during a Crisis
Popular stories tell of mothers lifting cars off their children. The science behind it is less than compelling. Learn about your ad choices…
- Skeptoid
Skeptoid #254: Finding the POW/MIAs
American POW/MIAs are probably not still being held captive inside Vietnam. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- Skeptoid
Skeptoid #253: The Port Arthur Massacre
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
Skeptoid #252: The Voynich Manuscript
The true history and meaning of history's most famous undeciphered book. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- Skeptoid
Skeptoid #251: Listener Feedback: Nobody Ever Posts Twice
Skeptoid answers more listener feedback. Recorded live at the 250th Episode party. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
- Skeptoid
Skeptoid #250: The History of Knowledge
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
Skeptoid #249: Student Questions: Airport X-Rays, Shampoo, and the Moon
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