Skeptoid
Episodes
Skeptoid #267: Zeno's Paradoxes
19 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Greek philosopher Zeno apparently proved that movement was impossible with a few simple paradoxes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-c...
Skeptoid #266: Feedback through a Fine Toothed Comb
12 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Prepare to have your mind blown by these listener emails from conspiracy theorists. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #265: Curing Gays
05 Jul 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Therapies intended to help gays become straight don't work. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #264: Conspiracy Theorists Aren't Crazy
28 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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-choi...
Skeptoid #263: Anastasia
21 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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: dovetail.p...
Skeptoid #262: The Haitian Zombies
14 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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 #261: Near Death Experiences
07 Jun 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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 #260: Military Dolphins: James Bonds of the Sea
31 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Skeptoid #259: Mao's Barefoot Doctors: The Secret History of Chinese Medicine
24 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Westerners' belief that Chinese have long relied on alternative medicine is due in part to clever book publishers. Learn about your ad choices: dovet...
Skeptoid #258: Spontaneous Human Combustion
17 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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/...
Skeptoid #257: The Secret of Plum Island
10 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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-choice...
Skeptoid #256: Student Questions: Supermoons and an Apple a Day
03 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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 #255: Superhuman Strength during a Crisis
26 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Popular stories tell of mothers lifting cars off their children. The science behind it is less than compelling. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail...
Skeptoid #254: Finding the POW/MIAs
19 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
American POW/MIAs are probably not still being held captive inside Vietnam. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #253: The Port Arthur Massacre
12 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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-c...
Skeptoid #252: The Voynich Manuscript
05 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The true history and meaning of history's most famous undeciphered book. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #251: Listener Feedback: Nobody Ever Posts Twice
29 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Skeptoid answers more listener feedback. Recorded live at the 250th Episode party. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #250: The History of Knowledge
22 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
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 #249: Student Questions: Airport X-Rays, Shampoo, and the Moon
15 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Skeptoid answers another round of science questions sent in by students all around the world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choice...
Skeptoid #248: The Exorcism of Anneliese
08 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Exorcisms are a brutal torture ritual with no hope of actually helping a person who believes themselves possessed. Learn about your ad choices: dovet...
Skeptoid #247: The Miracle of Calanda
01 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
This famous story of God once healing an amputee falls apart under historical scrutiny. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #246: Corrections, Errata, Blunders, and Boo-Boos
22 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Skeptoid revisits another batch of episodes with errors, and rights the wrongs. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #245: Finding the Lost Colony of Roanoke
15 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Historians actually have a pretty complete picture of what happened to the "missing" Roanoke colonists. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org...
Skeptoid #244: Nuclear War and Nuclear Winter
08 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Atmospheric smoke from a nuclear war would not result in devastating global cooling. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #243: Student Questions: Orbo, EVPs, and Shakespeare
01 Feb 2011
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 #242: Scientology
25 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The real facts behind the most notorious religion on Earth and its space opera backstory. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #241: The Alien Buried in Texas
18 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Some believe a space alien is buried in a rural cemetery in Aurora, Texas. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #240: Mystery Spots
11 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Various "gravitational anomalies" around the world have fascinating real science behind them. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choice...
Skeptoid #239: Gluten Free Diets
04 Jan 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Gluten free diets provide no benefits at all for healthy people. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #238: More Hollywood Myths
28 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Was John Wayne's cancer death caused by filming downwind of the Nevada Test Site? ...and other Hollywood rumors. Learn about your ad choices: dovetai...
Skeptoid #237: Hollywood Myths
21 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Skeptoid looks into some of the classic Hollywood legends that you've always believed are true. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choi...
Skeptoid #236: Whales and Sonar
14 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Navy sonar is claimed to be lethal to whales, but the latest research tells a very different story. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-...
Skeptoid #235: IQ Testing
07 Dec 2010
Contributed by Lukas
IQ tests are fundamentally flawed, hopelessly inconsistent, and almost completely useless. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #234: The South Atlantic Anomaly
30 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This mysterious region in the south Atlantic was not responsible for the crash of Air France flight 447. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.or...
Skeptoid #233: Student Questions: Bird Gender and Bad Karma
23 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Skeptoid answers questions sent in by students all around the world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #232: Listener Feedback Rides Again
16 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A peek inside the Skeptoid inbox, ranging from the sane to the insane. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #231: The Mystery of STENDEC
09 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
We still don't know the significance of this mysterious final transmission of an airliner just before its crash. Learn about your ad choices: dovetai...
Skeptoid #230: DDT: Secret Life of a Pesticide
02 Nov 2010
Contributed by Lukas
DDT can be both a killer of birds and a savior against malaria. Rarely is a question as black and white as we'd like. Learn about your ad choices: do...
Skeptoid #229: Speed Reading
26 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Speed reading classes claim to be able to turbocharge your words per minute. Save your money; it doesn't work. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail....
Skeptoid #228: My Favorite Things
19 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A few of my favorite moments looking back on 228 Skeptoid episodes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #227: Boost Your Immune System (or Not)
12 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Although a lot of products promise to boost your immune system, there is actually no such thing. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-cho...
Skeptoid #226: The Brown Mountain Lights
05 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A ghost light in North Carolina has people scratching their heads, but researchers solved it a century ago. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx...
Skeptoid #225: Beware the Bilderberg Group!
28 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
The annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group is not to plan global domination. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #224: Alien Downpour: The Red Rain of India
21 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
News agencies have long promoted a 2001 red rainfall as alien, but a better explanation was already there. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx....
Skeptoid #223: The Frog in the Stone
14 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Stories of living frogs being found encased in solid rock have a more interesting (and reality-based) explanation. Learn about your ad choices: dovet...
Skeptoid #222: Toil and Trouble: The Curse of Macbeth
07 Sep 2010
Contributed by Lukas
The Curse of Macbeth should make Shakespeare's play too dangerous to perform, but science tells us for sure. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.pr...
Skeptoid #221: The Myers-Briggs Personality Test
31 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A critical look at the world's most popular psychological metric, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-c...
Skeptoid #220: Yonaguni Monument: The Japanese Atlantis
24 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A look at a massive stone structure off the coast of Japan, said to be a manmade pyramid. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #219: Stalin's Human-Ape Hybrids
17 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Josef Stalin did not order the creation of an army of half-ape, half-human hybrids. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #218: The Astronauts and the Aliens
10 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A close look at some of the stories of UFOs said to have been reported by NASA astronauts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #217: Some New Logical Fallacies
03 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Skeptoid looks at some newer logical fallacies, often used in place of sound arguments. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #216: The Things We Eat...
27 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A look at what's really in food reveals the foolishness of the idea of "good food" and "bad food". Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-c...
Skeptoid #215: Listener Feedback Resurrection
20 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
More vitriol from the Skeptoid inbox exposed. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #214: Student Questions: Gold as an Investment and FEMA Coffins
13 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Another round of answering questions sent in by students everywhere. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #213: Mozart and Salieri
06 Jul 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Shockingly, Hollywood movies don't make us all history experts, and Salieri didn't murder Mozart. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-ch...
Skeptoid #212: Things About Which I Have In Error Been
29 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
More additions to the corrections and errata files for Skeptoid. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #211: Attack on Pearl Harbor
22 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
The American government did not have advance knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack, and did not allow it to happen. Learn about your ad choices: dovet...
Skeptoid #210: The North American Union
15 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
The United States, Canada, and Mexico are not planning to merge into a single huge police state. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-cho...
Skeptoid #209: The Lost Ship of the Desert
08 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
The facts behind tall tales from the American southwest of ships found in the middle of the desert. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-...
Skeptoid #208: The Westall '66 UFO
01 Jun 2010
Contributed by Lukas
200 students watched a strange craft fly near their school in Australia in 1966 -- or so the story goes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.or...
Skeptoid #207: Dinosaurs Among Us
25 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
All around the world, ancient art depicts creatures that some interpret as dinosaurs. Don't believe it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org...
Skeptoid #206: Morgellons Disease
18 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
In this newly described condition, some patients report strange plastic fibers growing from their skin. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org...
Skeptoid #205: Beyond Listener Feedback
11 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Another trip to the Listener Feedback files, including my favorite yet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #204: Mengele's Boys from Brazil
04 May 2010
Contributed by Lukas
A town in Brazil has an unusually high twin rate, but not because Josef Mengele survived and did experiments there. Learn about your ad choices: dove...
Skeptoid #203: Therapeutic Touch
27 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Therapeutic touch is a pseudoscientific healing method that is neither therapeutic nor involves touch. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/...
Skeptoid #202: The Non-Mystery of Puma Punku
20 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Though some claim the stone structures at Puma Punku were alien, archaeologists find no real mysteries there. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.p...
Skeptoid #201: The Virgin of Guadalupe
13 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Mexico's Virgin of Guadalupe played an important role in the Catholic colonization of the Americas. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-...
Skeptoid #200: Buy It!
06 Apr 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Don't blindly turn to science when you need answers - instead, seek out those who want to sell you something. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.p...
Skeptoid #199: Cargo Cults
30 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Some native religious groups in the South Pacific hope to recreate WWII's influx of material goods. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-...
Skeptoid #198: The Georgia Guidestones
23 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Dubbed "America's Stonehenge", this granite monument in Georgia appeals to all sorts of conspiracy theorists. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.p...
Skeptoid #197: Listener Feedback Strikes Back
16 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Another perilous dive into the listener feedback files. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #196: Zeitgeist: The Movie, Myths, and Motivations
09 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
The Internet movie Zeitgeist uses dishonesty to make an ideological point that could have easily been made ethically. Learn about your ad choices: do...
Skeptoid #195: Student Questions: Mosquito Repellent and Einstein's Gestation
02 Mar 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Skeptoid answers more questions sent in by students all around the world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #194: The Denver Airport Conspiracy
23 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Is the Denver International Airport a headquarters for the New World Order? (Hint: no) Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #193: The Faces of Belmez
16 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Faces appearing on the floor of a house in Spain were easily faked, yet many still consider them supernatural. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail....
Skeptoid #192: Ball Lightning
09 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone believes in ball lightning, but when we stick to the science, there's probably nothing there. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/...
Skeptoid #191: Did Jewish Slaves Build the Pyramids?
02 Feb 2010
Contributed by Lukas
It's a popular story, but all the evidence tells us that no Jews were in Egypt at the time of the Pyramids. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx...
Skeptoid #190: The Bell Island Boom
26 Jan 2010
Contributed by Lukas
This shattering boom in Newfoundland was more likely a natural phenomenon than a superweapon test. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-c...
Skeptoid #189: Bullshido: Martial Arts Magic
19 Jan 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Some call it Bullshido: Martial arts tricks like touchless attacks and the Touch of Death. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #188: Student Questions: String Theory, the Asian Flush, and the Peltzman Effect
12 Jan 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Skeptoid answers some questions sent in by students around the world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #187: Emergency Handbook: What to Do When a Friend Loves Woo
05 Jan 2010
Contributed by Lukas
How you can help a friend or loved one with a potentially harmful pseudoscientific belief Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #186: More Things I'm Wrong About
29 Dec 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Going back over a few previous Skeptoid episodes to correct errors (head is hung in shame). Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #185: Is Barefoot Better?
22 Dec 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Some advocate that going barefoot is better for the health and strength of your feet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #184: The Antikythera Mechanism
15 Dec 2009
Contributed by Lukas
This ancient device, 1000 years ahead of its time, neither proves alien visitation nor disproves history. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.o...
Skeptoid #183: The Naga Fireballs
08 Dec 2009
Contributed by Lukas
These fireballs actually do rise from the Mekong river each year -- and we know exactly what causes them. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.o...
Skeptoid #182: Listener Feedback X
01 Dec 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Another dip into the listener feedback files for Skeptoid. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #181: The Baigong Pipes
24 Nov 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Modern metal pipes found buried in ancient China are neither pipes nor evidence of ancient alien visitation. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.pr...
Skeptoid #180: Vaccine Ingredients
17 Nov 2009
Contributed by Lukas
The claims made about the dangerous chemicals in vaccines are all either false or misrepresented. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-ch...
Skeptoid #179: The Scole Experiment
10 Nov 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Said to be the best evidence yet for the afterlife, the Scole Experiments were actually just a hackneyed performance. Learn about your ad choices: do...
Skeptoid #178: Student Questions: The Montauk Monster and Bee Sting Therapy
03 Nov 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Skeptoid answers some more questions sent in by students, on a variety of short topics. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #177: The Bloop
27 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
This mysterious sound captured by NOAA hydrophones was not a sea monster. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #176: Network Marketing
20 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Call them Network Marketing, Multilevel Marketing, or MLM, these pyramid schemes are proven not to work. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.or...
Skeptoid #175: Shadow People
13 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
These shadowy apparitions we sometimes see can be terrifying, but aren't supernatural. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #174: More Medical Myths
06 Oct 2009
Contributed by Lukas
More myths about the human body that you've always heard, and probably believe. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #173: All About Astrology
29 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Astrology neither has plausibility nor any test data showing that its predictions are better than random chance. Learn about your ad choices: dovetai...
Skeptoid #172: Daylight Saving Time Myths
22 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
All the reasons you've ever heard for Daylight Saving Time are nonsense. Here is the real one. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choic...
Skeptoid #171: The Battle of Los Angeles
15 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
At the beginning of WWII, the American defense forces in Los Angeles fought a battle against a UFO. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-...
Skeptoid #170: It's Raining Frogs and Fish
08 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Waterspouts have nothing to do with popular stories of frogs and fish falling from the sky. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #169: Bride of Listener Feedback
01 Sep 2009
Contributed by Lukas
More replies to some of Skeptoid's more colorful listener feedback. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Skeptoid #168: Decrypting the Mormon Book of Abraham
25 Aug 2009
Contributed by Lukas
Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith allegedly translated the adventures of Abraham in Egypt. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices