International Skeptics United

In an episode released the same week as The Reality Check's one millionth download, the gang does not dissapoint with three thought provoking segments. Elan D. leads things off with a look into whether social media has lead to increased social isolation. Adam G. follows with an exploration into some claims made against the biotech megacorporation Monstanto. Pat R. closes out the show with the myth of the week; is there a food additive made of bizarre animal products in much of what we eat called Castoreum? Also, one of the hosts takes a turn doing vocals for the opening skeptical parody.

Introduction Richard Saunders and Siri - 0:04:20 A chat with science teacher Aaron Kelly Stephens and his students from Will C. Wood High School - 0:31:40 Maynard's Spooky Action.. The Choice Shonky Awards for 2012 - Maynard chats to Julian Morrow and Ingrid Just - 0:40:24 The Think Tank... Or.. the Hot Tub of Truth! with Brian Dunning, Lisa Dunning, Erika Dunning, John Rael, Jen Brown, Rachel Bloom and Penny Chan

Live From CSICon 2012; This Day in Skepticism: Sputnik 2; In Memorium: Paul Kurtz and Leon Jaroff; News Items: Big Bang Conference, Italian Earthquake Scientists Convicted, Whale Makes Human Sounds, PANDAS Controversy, Reporting Ghost Stories; Live Q&A; Science or Fiction

The BBC Eastern Region intend to END the Naked Scientists in January. Listen to hear how you can help...

Whales, psychics, genes and plum pudding. Plus Star Trek V, Channel 4 Racing, Mr Punch and the results of our psychic Halloween Challenge. Almost certainly val-val homozygous, it’s Skeptics with a K.

It is All Hallows' Eve once again, the time of year when all things creepy and terrifying seem to be highlighted. Derek decided to embrace the time of year and have a discussion with Caitlin Doughty, a mortician from Los Angeles, California who attempts to educate society about the reality and science of death, and hopefully remove some of fear and uncomfortable feelings which come along with death.

In 1974, a Florida family found a strange metallic ball that seemed to move around all by itself and had a myriad of other strange powers. What was it, and whatever became of it?

Introduction Richard Saunders - 0:03:30 Tributes to Paul Kurtz and James Garrand -0:08:50 Cheltenham Psychic Expo – The bad, the ugly and the really ugly. Read by Adam Van Langenberg - Richard Saunders chats to Adam Van Langenberg - 0:28:00 Maynard's Spooky Action.. From TAM 2012 - Maynard chats to Dr David Gorski and Dr Martha Keller (and husband!) 0:39:20 A chat with Skeptic Zone sponsor, Glenn Jackson

It's not just pandas, great apes and big cats - ugly animals need our attention too. This week, we find out why some of nature's least attractive species are under threat and explore the arguments for conserving bacteria, fungi and even parasites! In the news we hear how to fix mitochondrial faults, discover a cocktail of bacteria that can see off C. diff and we find out how dung beetles are on the ball when it comes to keeping cool.

It's a Halloween themed episode of The Reality Check! After an epic intro parody, Darren starts the show off with a segment about ghosts. This is followed by an intense game of Science Fact or Science Fiction, Halloween edition, hosted by Pat. Elan rounds out the show with the myth of week, exploring whether or Cloud Computing is affection by bad weather.

Daniel Bor is a research fellow at the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science and the Department of Informatics at the University of Sussex. Previously he spent more than a decade working as a cognitive neuroscientist in the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge. In this episode of Little Atoms we discuss Daniel’s book The [...]

This Day in Skepticism; News Items: Genetic Logic Circuit, Efficient Language, Closest Exoplanet, Alien Hacker; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Zombie Bite; Science or Fiction

There are those who believe the Earth is only about 6000 years old. They believe that the evidence for this is all in the Bible, but as we’ve discussed on MonsterTalk before, they still seek confirmatory evidence from other works. So it was only a matter of time before someone suggested that the epic poem Beowulf helps prove that (a) the earth is indeed very, very young and (b) that the monsters in the poem Beowulf were dinosaurs. Hard to believe? Tune in as we talk to skeptic and Humanities researcher Eve Siebert about the most surprising interpretation of this classic story you’re likely to hear. READ episode notes

Skeptoid answers student questions on the medieval dancing plague, the ketogenic diet, bee colony collapse disorder, devolution of humanity, death from cinnamon, and who built the pyramids.

Darren McKee takes a peek inside the box to check on Schrödinger's cat, Elan Dubrofsky checks the price tag on secret shoppers, Adam Gardner goes undercover to talk about Furby spies and Pat Roach sings the praises of 100 parodies.