Point of Inquiry
Episodes
Joe Nickell - The Other Side
22 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Karen Stollznow Joe Nickell is one of the world's most prominent skeptical investigators of the paranormal. He has researched numerous historica...
The Irrationality Vaccine - Seth Mnookin
15 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Chris Mooney Recently the British Medical Journal dealt yet another blow to 1998 scientific study that first terrified the public about the poss...
Hector Avalos - The End of Biblical Studies
08 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Robert Price Robert Price interviews fellow Bible Geek and secular Bible scholar Hector Avalos on a wide range of topics, from the increasingly ...
Barry Kosmin - One Nation, Losing God
01 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Chris Mooney By now you've probably heard the finding-the United States is growing less godly. More precisely, more and more Americans in survey...
Reed Esau - SkeptiCamp: The Unconference
25 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Karen Stollznow Reed Esau is a skeptical activist and one of the founders of SkeptiCamp. Also known as Open Events, these are informal, communit...
Why Facts Fail - Brendan Nyhan
18 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Ever been in an argument with someone and felt massively frustrated, because nothing you can say seems to change the person's mind? Maybe that's what ...
Roger Nygard - The Nature of Existence
11 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Robert Price Roger Nygard recently produced and directed a feature documentary called The Nature of Existence. In it, he asks some of the bigges...
The Future of Atheism: Beyond the Question of God
04 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Chris Mooney Recently at Pomona College in California, three atheists—one of them a Point of Inquiry host—got together to debate the future ...
James Randi and D.J. Grothe - Amaz!ng Skepticism
27 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Karen Stollznow This week is a special episode featuring interviews with two guests, James Randi and D.J. Grothe. James Randi is a world-renowne...
John Abraham and Scott Mandia - Climate Science Strikes Back
20 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Chris Mooney For the community of scientists who study the Earth’s climate, these are bewildering times. They've seen wave upon wave of politi...
Ronald A. Lindsay - Observations on Ethics, Law, and CFI
15 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Robert Price How did his studies at Catholic Georgetown University set CFI President and CEO Ronald A. Lindsay on the primrose path to atheism? ...
Massimo Pigliucci - Nonsense on Stilts
06 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Chris Mooney It’s a longstanding debate in the philosophy of science: Is "demarcation" possible? Can we really draw firm lines between science...
Warren Bonett - Down Under Reason
29 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Karen Stollznow Warren Bonett is a skeptic, author and an independent bookseller. Warren wanted to become actively involved in critical thinking...
Carl Zimmer - This is Your Brain on iPad
23 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Chris Mooney On the show this week, Point of Inquiry features one of our most distinguished science writers—Carl Zimmer. He's the author of ma...
John Shook - The God Debates
17 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Robert Price Our guest is philosopher and author John Shook, discussing his experiences debating religious believers and whether such debates ar...
PZ Myers, Jennifer Michael Hecht, and Chris Mooney - New Atheism or Accommodation?
11 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Recently at the 30th anniversary conference of the Council for Secular Humanism in Los Angeles, leading science blogger PZ Myers and Point of Inquiry ...
Steve Spangler - Hands-on Science
02 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Karen Stollznow Steve Spangler is a science educator, inventor, and an Emmy Award winning TV personality. He is the author of Fizz Factor: 50 Am...
Jennifer Ouellette - Calculus, Las Vegas, and the Zombie Apocalypse
24 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Chris Mooney Ever wonder about the mathematical basis for battling a zombie infestation? Jennifer Ouellette has. In her new book The Calculus Di...
Jen Roth - Atheist Against Abortion
18 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Robert Price In this episode of Point of Inquiry, Robert Price interviews Jen Roth, co-founder of All Our Lives, a secular organization committ...
S. Jay Olshansky - Can Science Extend Human Life?
11 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Chris Mooney At a recent conference in Lake Tahoe, demographer S. Jay Olshansky presented a roomful of technologists with an exciting prospect. ...
Brian Brushwood - Scams, Swindles and Skepticism
03 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Host: Karen Stollznow Brian Brushwood began his career in magic "To get free drinks at bars and impress friends," but ended up becoming a science comm...
Richard Wrangham - Rediscovering Fire
27 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This is a show about evolution—but not, for once, about the evolution wars. Instead, it concerns one of the most intriguing ideas to emerge in quite...
Robert M. Price - Is the Bible Mein Kampf?
21 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Price being off for the week, today we present a lecture given by Dr. Price at the Center for Inquiry's annual Student Leadership Conferece t...
Alexander Zaitchik - Glenn Beck's War on Reason
14 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the scope of Point of Inquiry expands to include politics and more particularly, the fount of misinformation that is Glenn Beck of Fox News...
Andrew Mayne - Magic, Mischief and Mayhem
07 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Mayne is a magician, paranormal illusionist, inventor, TV producer and skeptic. One of the most creative and innovative minds in magic, Andrew ...
Francesca Grifo - Science Under Obama
30 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
When President Obama was inaugurated in January of 2009, he pledged to “restore science to its rightful place” in the U.S. government. And true ...
Tom Quinn - O Sweet Jesus
24 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Quinn has spent the past 15 years as a documentary TV writer and producer for Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic and others...
Phil Plait - Death from the Skies
16 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest this week needs no introduction for those in the skeptical and secular world. After all, he has a frakkin' asteroid named after him. He’s...
Adam Savage - Skeptic (Confirmed)
10 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Savage is an artist, actor, educator, special effects designer and co-host of the Discovery Channel's TV show Mythbusters. Adam has a divers...
Robert Price & Chris Mooney - Must Atheists Also Be Liberals?
03 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Recently in Amherst, New York, two of Point of Inquiry’s hosts sat down for a special in-studio episode of the show. One was a conservative (Robert...
Tom Flynn - In Like Flynn
25 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Flynn is Executive Director of The Council for Secular Humanism, Editor of Free Inquiry magazine, Director of Inquiry Media Productions, and Dir...
Bill McKibben - Our Strange New Eaarth
18 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Global warming, we're often told, is an issue we must address for the sake of our grandchildren. We need to cut carbon because of our moral obligat...
Tim Farley - What's the Harm?
12 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Farley is a computer software engineer, skeptic, and creator of the popular website What's the Harm? His site answers this salient question wit...
Naomi Oreskes - Merchants of Doubt
04 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This week's guest is Naomi Oreskes, co-author with historian Eric Conway of the new book Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the ...
S.T. Joshi - Fright and Freethought
28 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
S. T. Joshi is a leading authority on H. P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, H. L. Mencken, and other writers, mostly in the realms of supernatural and fa...
Michael Specter - The Menace of Denialism
21 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we learned that J. Craig Venter has at long last created a synthetic organism—a simple life form constructed, for the first time, by ma...
George Hrab - Soundtrack to Skepticism
14 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
George Hrab is a composer, professional musician, singer, songwriter, podcaster, and skeptic. George is the Host and Producer of the Geologic Podcast...
Elaine Howard Ecklund - How Religious Are Scientists?
07 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
It’s hard to think of an issue more contentious these days than the relationship between faith and science. If you have any doubt, just flip over ...
Lois Schadewald - The Schadewald Legacy: Nemesis of Pseudo-Science
30 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Lois Schadewald's interest in both science and pseudoscience rubbed off on her from her brilliant brother Robert J. Schadewald, a prolific author an...
Deborah Blum - Murder and Chemistry in Jazz Age New York
23 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
For many of us, chemistry is something we remember with groans from high school. Periodic Table of the Elements—what a pain to memorize, and what ...
Bob Carroll - Defining Skepticism
16 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Robert Todd Carroll is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and author of The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, A...
Eli Kintisch - Is Planet-Hacking Inevitable?
09 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
For two decades now, we’ve failed to seriously address climate change. So the planet just keeps warming—and it could get very bad. Picture major...
Thomas J.J. Altizer - The Death of God
02 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas J.J. Altizer burst onto the religious scene in the 1960s with his book The Gospel of Christian Atheism. He was one of the "Death of God" theo...
Paul Kurtz - John Dewey and the Real Point of Inquiry
26 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Kurtz is founder and chair emeritus of the Center for Inquiry and founder of a number of other organizations. A Fellow of the American Associat...
Scott Lilienfeld - Real Self-Help
19 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Scott Lilienfeld is Professor of Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta. Scott is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, a Consulti...
Victor Stenger - Taking a Stand for Science and Reason
16 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Victor Stenger is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Hawaii and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is...
Andrew Revkin - The Death of Science Writing, and the Future of Catastrophe
12 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
We live in a science centered age—a time of private spaceflight and personalized medicine, amid path-breaking advances in biotechnology and nanote...
Robert J. Miller - The Jesus Seminar
05 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Robert J. Miller is Rosenberger Chair of Christian and Religious Studies at Juniata College in Pennsylvania. A Fellow of the Jesus Seminar since 1...
Michael Mann - Unprecedented Attacks on Climate Research
26 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
For the scientists who study global warming, now is the winter of their despair. In the news, it has been climate scandal after alleged climate ...
Victor Stenger - The New Atheists
24 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Victor Stenger is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Hawaii and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado. He ...
Ian Rowland - The Cold Hard Facts of Cold Reading
19 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Rowland is a Mentalist and Mind Reader living near London, UK. The world’s foremost authority on cold reading, he is the author of the Full ...
Paul Offit - The Costs of Vaccine Denialism
12 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Recently, there was another nail in the coffin for vaccine skeptics. The British medical journal The Lancet took the dramatic step of retracting a 199...
Banachek - Mentalism and Skepticism
25 Jan 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Banachek is an American mentalist and skeptic. He has written numerous books and invented various magic and mentalism effects, and is often sought out...
Frank Schaeffer - Crazy for God
06 Nov 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Frank Schaeffer is New York Times best selling author whose books include three semi-biographical novels about life in a strict, fundamentalist househ...
The 13th Annual CFI Houdini Seance
31 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Harry Houdini, the world-famous magician and debunker of mediums, earnestly explored the religion of spiritualism and communication with the dead afte...
Randy Olson - Dont Be Such a Scientist
24 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Randy Olson is a marine biologist and filmmaker who holds a PhD in biology from Harvard University. A graduate of the U.S.C. Cinema School in 1997, he...
Darrel Ray - The God Virus
16 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Darrel W. Ray is author of three books, two on organizational psychology. He has been a psychologist for over 30 years. After practicing counselin...
Chris Mooney - Unscientific America
10 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Mooney is a 2009-2010 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT and author of three books, including the New York Times bestselling The Republican...
Russell Blackford - 50 Voices of Disbelief
03 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Russell Blackford is an Australian writer, philosopher, and critic, and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Evolution and Technology. His new book, edit...
Ben Radford - Skepticism 2.0
26 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Ben Radford is is one of the world's few science-based paranormal investigators, and has done first-hand research into psychics, ghosts and haunted ho...
Greg Craven - What is the Worst That Could Happen?
19 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Greg Craven is a high school science teacher and climate change activist from Oregon. His new book is What's the Worst That Could Happen? A Rational ...
J.D. Trout - The Science of the Good Society
11 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
J.D. Trout is a professor of philosophy at Loyola University Chicago, and an adjunct professor at the Parmly Sensory Sciences Institute. He writes on ...
J.D. Trout - The Empathy Gap
04 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
J.D. Trout is a professor of philosophy at Loyola University Chicago, and an adjunct professor at the Parmly Sensory Sciences Institute. He writes on ...
Jeff Sharlet - The Family
29 Aug 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Jeff Sharlet is a contributing editor for Harper's and Rolling Stone, and a visiting research scholar at New York University's Center for Religion and...
William Little - The Psychic Tourist
21 Aug 2009
Contributed by Lukas
William Little is a freelance journalist based in London, England. He has written for the Saturday Telegraph magazine, Weekend Telegraph, the Guardian...
Paul Kurtz - A Kinder, Gentler Secularism
14 Aug 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Kurtz is founder and chair emeritus of the Center for Inquiry and founder of a number of other organizations. A Fellow of the American Associatio...
Benjamin Wiker - The Darwin Myth
07 Aug 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin Wiker, Ph.D., is a senior fellow at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and is also a senior fellow with the Discovery Institute. His b...
Ron Lindsay - International Blasphemy Day
31 Jul 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Ronald A. Lindsay is a bioethicist, lawyer, and chief executive officer of the Center for Inquiry. For many years he practiced law in Washington, DC, ...
Mark Blumberg - Freaks of Nature
24 Jul 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Mark S. Blumberg is Professor and Starch Faculty Fellow at the University of Iowa. His books include The Oxford Handbook of Developmental Behavioral N...
Zachary Shore - Blunder
17 Jul 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Zachary Shore is Associate Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of European S...
James Randi - The Faith Healers
10 Jul 2009
Contributed by Lukas
James "The Amazing" Randi is a world-renowned magician, skeptic and investigator of paranormal claims and is a central figure in the founding of the w...
Ayaan Hirsi Ali - The Caged Virgin
03 Jul 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, was raised Muslim, and spent her childhood and young adulthood in Africa and Saudi Arabia. In 1992, Hi...
Tom Flynn - Secular Humanism versus . . . Atheism?
26 Jun 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Flynn is Executive Director of the Council for Secular Humanism, and the Editor of Free Inquiry magazine. A journalist, novelist, entertainer, and...
Peter Singer - The Life You Can Save
19 Jun 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Singer has been called "the world's most influential living philosopher," by The New Yorker and Time Magazine listed him in "The Time 100," thei...
Tom Clark - Scientific Naturalism and the Illusion of Free Will
12 Jun 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Clark is director of the non-profit Center for Naturalism and author of Encountering Naturalism: A Worldview and Its Uses. He writes on science, f...
Ray Hyman - The Elusive Quarry
05 Jun 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Ray Hyman is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Oregon and one of the leading figures of modern skepticism. He was a founding membe...
Susan Sackett - The Secular Humanism of Star Trek
30 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Susan Sackett began an association with Gene Roddenberry, creator of the television legend "Star Trek," serving as his personal executive assistant fo...
Michael Shermer - Science, Skepticism and Libertarianism
23 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Shermer is one of the most well-known skeptics in America, working for decades to advance the scientific outlook in society. He is a contribut...
Dale McGowan - Raising Freethinkers
15 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Dale McGowan has edited and co-authored Parenting Beyond Belief and Raising Freethinkers, the first comprehensive resources for nonreligious parents. ...
David Koepsell - Who Owns You?
09 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
David Koepsell is an author, philosopher, and attorney whose recent research focuses on the nexus of science, technology, ethics, and public policy. H...
Jeff Schweitzer - Beyond Cosmic Dice: Moral Life in a Random World
01 May 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Jeffrey Schweitzer is an author, scientist and public speaker who has traveled widely speaking to varied groups about the application of the scien...
Paul Kurtz - Science and the Limits of the New Skepticism
24 Apr 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Kurtz is founder and chair of the Center for Inquiry and a number of other organizations. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancemen...
Bruce M. Hood - Supersense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable
17 Apr 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Bruce M. Hood is chair of the Cognitive Development Center in the Experimental Psychology Department at the University of Bristol. He was a research f...
Mary Roach - Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
10 Apr 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Roach is the author of Stiff: The curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. Her writing has appeared in Salon, Wi...
Dacher Keltner - Born to Be Good
04 Apr 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Dacher Keltner is professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, director of the Greater Good Science Center, and coeditor of Grea...
Austin Dacey - The U.N. and Defamation of Religions
28 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Austin Dacey serves as a respresentative to the United Nations for CFI, and is also on the editorial staff of Skeptical Inquirer and Free Inquiry maga...
Neil deGrasse Tyson - The Pluto Files
20 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History, director of the world-famous Hayden Planetarium, a monthly colum...
Angie McQuaig - Camp Inquiry
13 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Angie McQuaig is a distinguished educator whose PhD is in educational leadership. Dr. McQuaig has served for nineteen years in public education as a t...
Eric Maisel - The Atheists Way
07 Mar 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Eric Maisel, PhD, is the author of more than thirty works of fiction and nonfiction. His nonfiction titles include Coaching the Artist Within, Fearles...
Jerry A. Coyne - Why Evolution Is True
27 Feb 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Jerry A. Coyne has been a professor at the University of Chicago in the department of ecology and evolution for twenty years. He specializes in evolut...
Norm Allen - Skepticism and Black History
20 Feb 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Norm Allen is executive director of African Americans for Humanism, an educational organization primarily concerned with fostering critical thinking, ...
Ronald A. Lindsay - The Future of The Center for Inquiry
13 Feb 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Ronald A. Lindsay is a bioethicist, lawyer, and chief executive officer and senior research fellow of the Center for Inquiry. For many years he practi...
David J Linden - The Accidental Mind
06 Feb 2009
Contributed by Lukas
David J. Linden, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His laboratory has worked...
John W. Loftus - Why I Became an Atheist
31 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
John W. Loftus earned M.A. and M.Div. degrees in theology and philosophy from Lincoln Christian Seminary under the guidance of Dr. James D. Strauss. H...
Kendrick Frazier - The Skeptical Inquirer
23 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Kendrick Frazier has been the editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine for over 30 years. He is a member of the National Association of Science Writers a...
Christopher Burns- Deadly Decisions
16 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Christopher Burns is one of the country's leading minds on modern information management. He has been a news executive and consultant to government an...
Ginger Campbell - Podcasting Neuroscience
09 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Ginger Campbell, M.D., is an emergency physician whose long-standing interest in philosophy and science motivated her to begin podcasting in 2006. Whi...
Simon Singh - Trick or Treatment
03 Jan 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Simon Singh is an author focusing on science and mathematics for the general public. His books include Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the Wo...
Tom Flynn - Science Fiction and Atheism
26 Dec 2008
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Flynn is the Editor of Free Inquiry magazine. A journalist, novelist, entertainer, and folklorist, Flynn is the author of numerous articles for Fr...
Paul Kurtz - Forbidden Fruit
20 Dec 2008
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Kurtz is the leading figure in the humanist and skeptical movements over the last four decades. He is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the Sta...