Skeptoid

Skeptoid #562: Rhino Horn: Cure or Curse?

14 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Rhinos are still being killed for their horns, but probably not for the reasons you thought. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #561: Beethoven's Hair

07 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Popular stories claim Beethoven died of lead poisoning, but the science so far doesn't hold up. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choi...

Skeptoid #560: Remembering the Mandela Effect

28 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Some claim that certain common false memories are evidence for alternate realities. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #559: Hitler's Antarctic Fortress Unmasked

21 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Deconstructing a wild tale about a Nazi military base deep inside Antarctica. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #558: Listener Feedback: Electric Boogaloo

14 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Skeptoid answers another round of listener feedback, keeping the show on the straight and narrow. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-ch...

Skeptoid #557: Who Were the Berserkers?

07 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

These mighty Norse warriors fought with a frenzy that seems all but inexplicable. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #556: Exploring Kincaid's Cave

31 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Some say a marvelous cave of Egyptian wonders is hidden in the Grand Canyon. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #555: Thorium Reactors: Fact and Fiction

24 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

These next-generation reactors have attracted a nearly cultish following. Here are the real facts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-c...

Skeptoid #554: How Your Credit Card Got Stolen

17 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Here are the most likely ways that your credit card got stolen, and how you can prevent it in the future. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.o...

Skeptoid #553: How Your Password Got Stolen

10 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The facts, fiction, and real risk to you of all these high-profile data breaches online. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #552: The D. B. Cooper Mystery

03 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The world's only unsolved hijacking case is filled with misinformation. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #551: Space Missions You Should Know

27 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A roundup of the most exciting and important space missions you really need to know about. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #550: The Mad Gasser of Mattoon

20 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

In 1944, a strange night prowler is believed to have made poison gas attacks in Illinois. Here's what we know. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail....

Skeptoid #549: The Simple Proof of Man-Made Global Warming

13 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The two most basic Smoking Guns proving that carbon from fossil fuels is warming the Earth. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #548: Bruce Lee Myths

06 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

More mythology than fact surrounds this enigmatic figure from martial arts films. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #547: The Ghost Fighter Plane of Pearl Harbor

29 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Published accounts tell of a mysterious fighter plane that came into Pearl Harbor a year after the Japanese attack. Learn about your ad choices: dove...

Skeptoid #546: There's No Such Thing as Race... Or Is There?

22 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Genetically, race does not exist; but there are still inconvenient places for it in science. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #545: First in Flight

15 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

You always thought the Wright Brothers were the first to fly a plane? Well, it depends what country you're from. Learn about your ad choices: dovetai...

Skeptoid #544: Feedback and Followups

08 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Some nifty extra information for a few recent episodes supplied by listeners in the know. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #543: White Hat Journal Hoaxes

01 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes the best way to scrutinize an open access journal is to hoax them. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #542: Photographic Memory

25 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Pop culture tells us that some people have photographic memories, but the truth is quite different. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-...

Skeptoid #541: Defusing India's Ancient Atomic Blasts

18 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The facts behind an urban legend claiming a nuclear war in India some 12,000 years ago. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #540: Feng Shui Today

11 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Feng shui is much more than just a debunked way to magically arrange furniture. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #539: Radiation Hormesis: Is It Good for You?

04 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Some say that exposure to small amounts of dangerous radiation can protect you from cancer. No, it probably doesn't. Learn about your ad choices: dov...

Skeptoid #538: The Belgian UFO Wave

27 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

For two years, some say the Belgian skies were filled with triangular alien UFOs. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #537: Debunking the Moon Truthers, Part 3

20 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The hard, testable, scientific proof that we actually did land humans on the moon. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #536: Debunking the Moon Truthers, Part 2

13 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The science behind many of the specific claims made by Apollo moon landing hoax conspiracy theorists. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/a...

Skeptoid #535: Debunking the Moon Truthers, Part 1

06 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The history of the Apollo moon landing hoax conspiracy theory, and those who believe in it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #534: Earthquake Lights: Do They Exist?

30 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

One of those things everyone seems to believe in, but for which there's almost no evidence. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #533: Don't Try It Before You Knock It

23 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Try it before you knock it… unless you want to know if it really works. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #532: Who Killed the Red Baron?

16 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A look at which of the six competing claims for who killed the Red Baron was probably true. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #531: The Banjawarn Bang

09 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Evidence suggests a doomsday cult may have successfully tested a nuclear bomb in Australia in 1993. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-...

Skeptoid #530: No, You Shouldn't Question Everything

02 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Pop wisdom continually reminds us to Question Everything -- an idea which is rarely either practical or useful. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail...

Skeptoid #529: Wrongy McWrongface

26 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Skeptoid corrects another batch of errors from previous episodes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #528: The Secret History of Majestic 12

19 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

These purported UFO documents changed the course of the culture of UFO belief. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #527: Conjuring Up the Warrens

12 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The Conjuring 2 tells a story that is fictional in a way you might not have guessed. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #526: Sky Trumpets

05 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

From all over the world come reports of strange trumpet-like blasts from the sky. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #525: Autopsy: The Clinton Body Count

28 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The surprising origins of the claim that the Clintons kill any who get in their way. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #524: Colony Collapse Disorder: Science and Pseudoscience

21 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone loves to point the finger at the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder; here's what we actually know. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx....

Skeptoid #523: How Do Homing Pigeons Navigate?

14 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The latest and greatest research reveals that we still have no clue how birds accomplish this amazing feat. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx...

Skeptoid #522: Dark Watchers

07 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The true origins of the Dark Watchers, said to go all the way back to Chumash Indian stories. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choice...

Skeptoid #521: The New Flat Earthers

31 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The reinvented Flat Earth fad is less about geophysics and more about conspiracy mongering. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #520: Solving the Haunted Hoia-Baciu Forest

24 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

It is said to be the world's most haunted forest. Here's what we actually find there. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #519: Alien Implants

17 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Some of those who believe they've been abducted by aliens also think they were left with a souvenir. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad...

Skeptoid #518: Listener Feedback: Denial and Aliens

10 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Skeptoid answers some feedback sent in by listeners. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #517: Antibiotics and Hormones in Beef

03 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

One of pop food woo's favorite claims is that drugs given to beef cattle pose a danger to humans. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-ch...

Skeptoid #516: Demythologizing the Shaolin Monks

26 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Just about everything you think you know about the Shaolin Monks was made up for tourists. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #515: All About Absinthe

19 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

This mysterious alcoholic drink is the subject of more urban legends than any other liquor. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #514: Your Thoughts on Making Skepticism Commercial

12 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A proposal for how we can make skeptical programming more attractive to a larger audience. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #513: Why Musical Aliens Probably Use the Same Scale We Do

05 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Reliance on universal mathematical principles may mean alien music is similar to our own. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #512: Decrypting Mother Teresa

29 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

It's popular to criticize Mother Teresa, but that criticism might be better directed at the real culprit. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.o...

Skeptoid #511: Firestorm in Waco

22 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The FBI did not deliberately murder the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #510: Student Questions: Multiple Intelligences and the Gender Pay Gap

15 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #509: Ninjas Unmasked

08 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

These superheroes of martial arts lore may not be exactly what you thought they were. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #508: Demythologizing the Knights Templar

01 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

More pseudohistory than fact surrounds this ancient order's depictions in pop culture. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #507: No, Hitler Did Not Escape

23 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

There is no truth to the popular myth that Hitler escaped Berlin and went to Argentina. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #506: Bad Skepticism: Why You Should Challenge Popular Assumptions

16 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

From swamp gas and waterspouts to alternative medicine, the harm of not challenging popular assumptions. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.or...

Skeptoid #505: You've Got to Be Wrong to Be Right

09 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors from past episodes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #504: Growing Skeptical of Hair Restoration

02 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

As long as people lose their hair, the market will remain flooded with sham remedies. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #503: Bad Science on PBS

26 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The reasons why PBS is so quick to promote pseudoscience informercials during pledge drives. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #502: Listener Feedback: Killing the Comments

19 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Your comments on our decision to remove the comments from Skeptoid episode transcript pages. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #501: Schrodinger's Cat and the Bomb Detector

12 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Whatever you think you know about Schrödinger's famous cat is probably wrong. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #500: A Little Curiosity

05 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

If you haven't yet found your curiosity in the first 500 episodes of Skeptoid, find it here. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #499: The Hope Diamond: A Curse Deconstructed

29 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Find out how the obviously false story of a curse came to be associated with this famous diamond. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-ch...

Skeptoid #498: Did the 1914 Christmas Truce Really Happen?

22 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Popular stories tell of WWI soldiers laying aside their rifles on Christmas 1914. The facts are not quite so simple. Learn about your ad choices: dov...

Skeptoid #497: A Skeptical Look at the Rorschach Test

15 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The famous Rorschach inkblot test is not a window into the subconscious, and doesn't tell us anything useful. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.p...

Skeptoid #496: The Russian Sleep Experiment

08 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Russian test subjects are said to have done unspeakably horrible things when sleep deprived. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid: Bad Skepticism

04 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

A new live show from Skeptoid Media: Bad Skepticism! Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #495: Updated: Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Web Sites

01 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The worst offending sites on the Internet for promoting bad misinformation. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #494: Black Mold: Peril or Prosaic?

24 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Black mold is commonly believed to harbor many deadly diseases; but in fact removing it is often worse than leaving it. Learn about your ad choices: ...

Skeptoid #493: How Real Is the Stockholm Syndrome?

17 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

While the Stockholm syndrome sounds like a mere media buzzword, it does actually sometimes happen. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-c...

Skeptoid #492: Pouring Cold Water on Cryotherapy

10 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Questioning whether this new spa treatment provides all the medical benefits it claims. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #491: 420: The Cannabis Code

03 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Myths and competing claims fog the origin of the term 420, a slang code for marijuana. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #490: Deconstructing the Tasaday Tribe

27 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Some say this tribe of "gentle savages", discovered in 1971, was just a hoax. The truth isn't quite so simple. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail....

Skeptoid #489: The Science of X-Ray Specs and Sea Monkeys

20 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

These products advertised in the back of comic books promised improbable feats of science. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #488: Who Was Charles Fort?

13 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

This enigmatic author of the strange continues to confound. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #487: About That 1970s Global Cooling...

06 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

No, climatologists in the 1970s did not believe we're headed into another ice age. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #486: The Flying Saucer Menace

29 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The true, interwoven history of flying saucers in American folklore. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #485: Holocaust Denial

22 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Why some people think the Holocaust never happened, and what to do about it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #484: More Unsung Women of Science

15 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Some women you haven't heard of who made significant contributions to science. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #483: Unsung Women of Science

08 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

These important scientists are virtually unknown. Let's see if we can fix that. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #482: Franklin's Cannibals

01 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Expedition gives a valuable lesson in types of evidence. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choice...

Skeptoid #481: Captain Kidd's Treasure

25 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Think you're going to find Captain Kidd's buried treasure on the US east coast? Think again. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #480: The Nazi of Nanking

18 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

This most unlikely of guardian angels saved hundreds of thousands of Chinese lives. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #479: Chemicals

11 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Chemicals are deadly, delicious, essential and basically, everything. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #478: Listener Feedback: Natural History

04 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're going to answer questions sent in by listeners pertaining to episodes having to do with our natural world. Learn about your ad choices: d...

Skeptoid #477: Wag the Dogman

28 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

They say that a half-canine cryptid stalks the woods of Northern Michigan. Are they right? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #476: The Chess-Playing Mechanical Turk

21 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

An overview of the amazing chess playing robot of the 1700s. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #475: Listener Feedback: History vs. Pseudohistory

14 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Brian responds to listener feedback about past history episodes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #474: Solfeggio Frequencies

07 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Certain specific sonic frequencies are not the key to love, intuition, or spiritual order. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #473: The Loveland Frog

30 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

A series of sightings of a frog-like humanoid in the suburb of Loveland, Ohio prompts an enduring folkloric legend. Learn about your ad choices: dove...

Skeptoid #472: Lysenko and Lesser Science Grifters

23 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Trofim Lysenko mixed pseudoscience and ideology to set back Soviet biology. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #471: Male Circumcision

16 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Infant male circumcision remains common in the United States. Today we look at the reasons and the implications. Learn about your ad choices: dovetai...

Skeptoid #470: Marijuana

09 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In the last 50 years, marijuana has gone from menace to medicine. Which is it? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #469: Jade Helm 15

02 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Conspiracy theory that a military training exercise is going to lead to martial law. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #468: Listener Feedback: Fads

26 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Brian responds to some listener feedback concerning the topic of fads. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #467: Baby Myths

19 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

A look at some common myths about babies and children. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Skeptoid #466: 5 Answers for Creationists

12 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Creationists have presented 5 questions they don't think 'evolutionists' can answer. Here are some answers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx...

Skeptoid #465: Agenda 21

05 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

A look at the conspiratorial hysteria and sensationalism surrounding the United Nations' Agenda 21. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-...

Skeptoid #464: The Lake Michigan Triangle

28 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

There is a region in the Great Lakes where, some say, ships and planes mysteriously disappear. Not so much. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx...