The European Skeptics Podcast

Sorry for the delay guys, but we’re back! We have a host of tips for our listeners to get engaged in in the new year. In this week’s TWISH we hear about the Basel Massacre in 1349, gruesome stuff. Then we look at the news:ROMANIA: Measles declared an epidemic after infant deathINTERNATIONAL: Large language models validate misinformationUK: King Charles’ “Ayurvedic Centre of Excellence” turns out to be an embarrassing failureGERMANY: Nikil Mukerji appointed CSI FellowGERMANY: Zeit Online reveals there’s nothing behind newspaper horoscopesThe Really Wrong aware goes to so-called “Energy Healer” Jean-Maurice Latsague, not just an alt-med scammer but also a sex abuser.Happy new year!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suddenly Poland emerges as a possible example against populism in Europe – strange times indeed. In TWISH we hear about Marconi‘s groundbreaking radio transmission over the Atlantic – not very long ago when you think about it, and pretty cool since he didn’t really know how radio waves work! In the news this week we look at these items:SWEDEN: Supreme Court awards damages to persons exposed to PFOSEU: EU regulating AIHUNGARY: Nutrivigilancia – a new site to collect side-effects of food supplementsDENMARK: No more burning the QuranUK: Daily Mirror reporting a Christmas miracle?INTERNATIONAL: Developing inoculation strategies to fight climate misinformation in 12 countries – with limited successEnjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong / Really Right; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First we mention that the prestigious Heinz Oberhummer Award has just been given to Die Sendung mit der Maus which we recently called out for being Really Wrong. Annika puts that into perspective for us. It is time to plan the trip to next year’s European Skeptics Congress, this time in Lyon France, 30 May to 2 June. We then ask if Pope Frankie is planning his ‘Endgame’; some things point in that direction. After that we take a look at the news:GERMANY: Exorcism in GermanySWEDEN: Does Sweden have the second worst problem with gun violence in Europe?INTERNATIONAL / UK: What Doctor Who gets wrong about climate changeINTERNATIONAL: PISA 2022 results just outRussia’s Supreme Court is rewarded with this week’s Really Wrong Award for classifying the ‘International LGBT movement’ and an extremist ‘organisation’. The Word of the Week is ‘Vrăjitoare’. Tune in to find out what it means!Enjoy!Segments:

In TWISH this week we hear about Claude Lévi-Strauss who put together a structuralist theory to analyze myths. We also hear that Pope Frankie is sick but still plans to attend the COP-28 meeting in Dubai – we cannot help wondering why. Then it’s time for the news:ISRAEL: Most common rumors related to the Israel-Hamas warGERMANY: Court dismisses lawsuits over alleged coronavirus vaccination damageINTERNATIONAL: Things you can do to make the world a better placeSWEDEN: Macchiarini update – the charlatan super-surgeonThe Word of the Week is Dobhar-Chú. No spoilers! You’ll have to listen to find out what on Earth that means!Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes the Pope; News; Word of the Week; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s TWISH we hear about Trofim Lysenko before we look into the news:EU: Glyphosate updateINTERNATIONAL: Nostalgia in politicsUK: The Good Law Project supports the General Medical Council taking action against harmful misinformationNORTHERN IRELAND: ‘The Hum’ is back!Naturopaths selling Miracle Mineral Supplements (MMS) are promoting a life threatening substance with no possible benefit. This came to a class call recently when a toddler coudl have died as a result. We hand out a Really Wrong Award for this completely irresponsible action. In Word of the Week we looking into how to talk about scams and frauds in Finnish.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Word of the Week; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite the numerology, this episode CAN be found wherever you get your podcasts. We will give you tips about The Conspiracy Test, the Humanist UK 2024 Convention, the latest Skeptical Inquirer interview and Skepticon 2023 in Australia – all good things to check out! In TWISH we hear about one of Darwin’s buddies, the groundbreaking (pun intended) geologist Charles Lyell, born this week in 1797. Pope Frankie has been given a free pass for too long and therefore gets poked before we get to the news:GERMANY: Nutrition companies are preying on people and ignore health adviceUK: Humanists UK welcomes Private Member’s Bill to ban conversion therapyHUNGARY: Team of debunkers and educators develops online educational material to help young people detect false informationUK: The British public largely supports strong climate policiesThe Antivaxx movement gets a Really Wrong award for trying to exploit the tragic death of Matthew Perry&nbs

After the normal meet and greet, we have an interview with Norbert Aust – German skeptic and one of the initiators of INH, Information Network Homeopathy. He brings us up to date on what’s going on and reports on the fight to get fraudulent and incorrect ‘scientific’ papers retracted. We later get a ‘TWISH’ about the ‘Festival of Reason’, a failed and misguided attempt to get rid of religion during the French revolution. Then, it’s time for the news:TURKEY: Did archeologists find Noah’s Ark?UK: ‘Conversion therapy’: UK government kicks ban down the road?GERMANY: Esoterics prey on people with fertility issuesINTERNATIONAL: Global survey finds 85% of people worried about online disinformationThis week’s Really Wrong Award goes to the BBC and to Michael Mosely for spreading nonsense on the ‘Just One Thing’ podcast.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted

– with Paula Dahlberg Full length episode, plus an interesting interview this week. We first note that science has discovered the “Pontus plate” (much to our liking) and also that if you are quick you can still apply to give a talk at SkepKon in Augsburg in May. Then we hear about the sad passing of Peter Olausson, prominent skeptic and former president of VoF.After that we have our interview with Paula Dahlberg who takes us through the most common myths about the legal system. Then, we take a look at the news:SWITZERLAND: SCAM doesn’t work against diabetesWALES: Cancer patient dead after taking herbal mixture containing mistletoeFRANCE: Negative correlations between conspiracy beliefs and the use of conventional medicineTo round off we present Apple TV (of all services) with this week’s Really Right Award for putting out a factual documentary about the Enfield Poltergeist. We also have a tongue twisting Word of the week from the Netherlands.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The

Starting off our next 400 episodes, we interview the amazing Cara Santa Maria of Talk Nerdy and Skeptic Guide to the Universe fame. We get into things about her that you may not be aware of – how she rebelled against her Mormon upbringing, her passion for social injustices, and why she cannot always be allowed to speak her mind on the Skeptics Guide.A brilliant science communicator with a background in television, podcasting, and more, Cara is also a clinical psychologist and recently received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in Social Justice and Diversity.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The band is back together for episode 400! Watch out for Gerson therapy, confusing Synods and of course, this week’s news:UK: Phones in schoolsPOLAND: End of the PiS party reign(?)BELGIUM: Catholic University of Leuven stops UFO ‘conference’SWITZERLAND: Another tumor ‘treated naturally’UK: ‘Relaxed’ climate change policies in the UK, but also elsewhereUK: University of Exeter offers degree in Magic and the occultThe Reichsbürger movement get (another!) Really Wrong Award for creating fake Jewish communities to get government funding and hide their terrible agenda. Then we have the Word of the Week, in which we try to take the confusion out of the word ‘Synod’.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Word Of The Week; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SkepKon 2024 is coming up in May 2024! It will be held in Augsburg and there is a call for papers out, see link in the show notes. This episode comes out on Friday the 13th, so in TWISH we explore where this superstition comes from. We have an interview with Dr Holm Hümmler who tells us what really went down at the presentation of Das Goldene Brett Award in Vienna last week, and then we take a look at the news:SWEDEN: Macchiarini found guilty of falsified research – again!GERMANY: Raids with ReichsbürgerSWEDEN / ESTONIA: Estonia disaster – renewed interest in conspiracy theories due to new documentary and coming TV dramaGERMANY: New video by Janos Hegedüs about Sucharit BhakdiUKRAINE: Does Ukraine supply Hamas with American weapons? – New conspiracy theory from US RepublicansThe German children’s TV-show ‘Sendung mit der Maus’ gets this week s Really Wrong Award for promoting homeopathy and anthroposophy to kids.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro;

This is the second part of our reporting from QED 2023. Before we get into the interviews we comment on the brand new Nobel Prizes in Medicine, Physics and Chemistry, all awarded for fascinating progress in science! Then we have four new interviews to share from QED.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Additional Interviews; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week was QED, and boy did we enjoy it! Fantastic talks, great happenings and wonderful people!This episode is part 1 of our interviews with some of the people we met.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; About Qed; Additional Interviews; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

…science communicator extraordinaire! This week we are talking to Florian Aigner, an Austrian physicist, science editor, author, science communicator and skeptic. He lives in Austria and works at the TU Vienna (Technical University). He is also on the jury of Das goldene Brett. He has written three popular science books and held the keynote speech at the European Skeptics Congress in 2022 in Vienna titled “Why we can trust in science”. He is also a member of GWUP (the German Skeptics) where he was a board member from 2012 to 2016.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Annika has been to the esoteric fair and gives a report and dowsing is apparently used by employees at Scottish Water. In TWISH we celebrate the International Day of Democracy, and boy do we need it. And then there is the news:INTERNATIONAL: Toddlers can reason!SWEDEN / UK: Believing in personal gut feelings and falling for conspiracy theoriesGERMANY: New developments regarding Satanic PanicSWEDEN: Pontus Pokes the Politicians: Thousands marching against mandatory reporting of paperless personsCrossRef and Retraction Watch do great work and for that they share this week’s award for being Really Right.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Right; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Several awards and gatherings to be on the look-out for: the Ockham Award, the Rusty Razor, the Bent Spoon and Das Goldene Brett. The feast of Santa Rosalia is the topic for TWISH and Pope Frankie is nostalgic about the Mongolian invasion (wtf?). Then, we have this week’s news:GERMANY: Follow-up on the Reichsbürger movementINTERNATIONAL: Prediction of 1 billion+ deaths related to climate change by 2100SCOTLAND: Issues with science publishing – Researcher finds his name on editorial boards of journals he hasn’t even heard ofSWEDEN / INTERNATIONAL: New measles cases in StockholmUK: Country can no longer be considered christianSwedish science journalist Maria Gunther gets the award for being Really Right and in Word of the Week Carl Sagan get translated to Norwegian: ‘påstander’ means ‘claims and ‘bevis’ means ‘evidence’.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Right; Word Of The Week; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa

…and Nessie goes ‘gloop’ We’re happy to announce that the ESP Shop is now available in the US, Canada and Australia. We also want you to know that nominations for Das Goldene Brett is still open. In TWISH we hear about an encounter of the third kind and Frankie insists India don’t look the congregation in the eye more than half of the time. Then we get into the news:SCOTLAND: Nessie hunters hear sounds but fail to record themUK: Full Fact study – Hundreds of hoax posts circulating in Facebook groupsINTERNATIONAL: Scientific journal retracts article that claimed there is no evidence of climate crisisINTERNATIONAL: Study reveals connection between support for SCAM and vaccine hesitancy among physicians in four European countriesWe award Swedish activist Ia Anstoot a Really Right for calling out the unscientific stance of Greenpeace when it comes to nuclear power.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Right; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com

…sleep restriction for insomnia? A lot of great talks are coming up for Skepticamp at QED in September – with András, Pontus and Claire among the speakers! In TWISH we hear about an almost 200 year old fake news about the moon and then we take a look at the news:UK: Asparagus fails to predict the futureSCOTLAND: Loch Ness might be ‘home to spirit entity’ that can be disturbed by searchUK: Meghan Markle wears ‘miracle antistress patch’INTERNATIONAL: WHO promotes alternative medicine (again!)INTERNATIONAL: Where skeptics go wrongMedical journal the Lancet gets this week Award for being Really Wrong a new article about insomnia. Word of the Week is the Danish word vrøvl.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Word Of The Week; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

…Uri Geller strikes again… There are now streaming tickets for QED! In TWISH we hear about the three wise guys, sorry, the three wise men, and how they ended up in Cologne in Germany. No pope this week, so we head right in for the news:UK: Voter databank hacked and according to experts can potentially be used to target voters with disinformationINTERNATIONAL: YouTube starts mass takedowns of videos promoting ‘harmful or ineffective’ cancer curesUK: Classroom environmental education doesn’t seem to change attitudes…UK: Infertility clinics exploiting patients with SCAMSWEDEN: MD who helped patient to end his life wants his license backINTERNATIONAL: BBC broadcast – the terrible abusive practices of spiritual healersINTERNATIONAL: Uri Geller shares ‘proof’ that aliens exist – a photo from X-FilesHUNGARY: Government spends taxpayer’s money on a catholic educational centreThe Italian Prime minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, wants to commemorate fascists and for that she receives this week’s prize for being Really

…and the deep fakes grows deeper We start with listener feedback regarding burning the Quran and the best ways to boil a frog… We also announce our newly created merch store and there is still time to get your ESP t-shirt before QED. 15% off if you hurry!. In TWISH we hear about Sea Org day celebrated by scientologists and the pope gets poked for his “excluded but-not-excluded policy” towards women and the LGBTQ+ community.Then, it’s time for the news:INTERNATIONAL: Happy birthday, Retraction WatchUK: Humans unable to detect over a quarter of deepfake speech samplesINTERNATIONAL: How the World Federation of Chiropractic introduces new guidelines, but fails to make sense of itFRANCE: Link between belief in alternative medicine and vaccine hesitancySCOTLAND: Plan to find Nessie using dronesUK: Government shits on their own climate goalsThe Really Wrong Award goes to Irish conspiracy nut Gemma O’Doherty.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro;