The Michael Shermer Show
Episodes
19. Bill Nye the Science Guy Saves the World on Netflix
07 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Shermer interviews Bill Nye the Science Guy about his new Netflix series "Bill Nye Saves the World," which aired Friday, April 21, 2017. The c...
18. Dr. Bart Ehrman — How a Forbidden Religion (Christianity) Swept the World
19 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this remote Science Salon (recorded on February 19, 2018), Dr. Shermer converses with the great bible scholar and historian Dr. Bart D. Ehrman, the...
17. Dr. Kip Thorne — Gravitational Waves, Black Holes, Time Travel, and Hollywood
18 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Join us for what promises to be one of the deepest and most profound conversations we've had in our Science Salon series as Dr. Thorne reflects on his...
16. Dr. Robert Trivers — Evolutionary Theory & Human Nature
16 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Robert Trivers and Dr. Michael Shermer have a lively conversation on everything from evolutionary theory and human nature to how to win a knife fi...
15. Donald Prothero & Timothy Callahan — UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says
15 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
UFOs. Aliens. Strange crop circles. Giant figures scratched in the desert surface along the coast of Peru. The amazing alignment of the pyramids. Stra...
14. Dr. Nancy Segal — Twin Mythconceptions: False Beliefs, Fables, and Facts about Twins
17 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Nancy Segal, the world's leading expert on twins, has a new book that sheds light on over 70 commonly held ideas and beliefs about the origins and...
13. Dr. Walter Scheidel — The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the 21st Century
11 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Are mass violence and catastrophes the only forces that can seriously decrease economic inequality? To judge by thousands of years of history, the ans...
12. Derren Brown — Magic, Happiness, and Skepticism
15 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this remote Science Salon, Michael Shermer talks with Derren Brown, a British magician and writer. His TV show Derren Brown: Mind Control received ...
11. Dr. Andrew Shtulman — Scienceblind: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong
23 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we catch colds? What causes seasons to change? And if you fire a bullet from a gun and drop one from your hand, which bullet hits the ground fi...
10. Dr. Carol Tavris — Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)
19 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why is it so hard to say "I made a mistake"—and really believe it? Social psychologist Dr. Carol Tavris, one of the most influential thinkers and wr...
9. Gary Taubes — The Case Against Sugar
22 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever; obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcohol...
8. Dr. Priyamvada Natarajan — Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal The Cosmos
13 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Priyamvada Natarajan is a cosmologist and theoretical astrophysicist from Yale University, specializing in dark matter, dark energy, and black hol...
7. Dr. Benjamin Bergen — What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves
16 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Benjamin Bergen is a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego, and in his new book he explains why profanity is s...
6. Dr. Stephon Alexander — The Jazz of Physics: The Secret Link Between Music and the Structure of the Universe
22 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In The Jazz of Physics: The Secret Link Between Music and the Structure of the Universe, physicist and jazz saxophonist Dr. Stephon Alexander revisits...
5. Dr. Janna Levin — Gravitational Waves, Black Holes and the Nature of the Cosmos
10 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
On Thursday, February 11, 2016, the National Science Foundation made a thrilling announcement: gravitational waves—first predicted by Einstein as pa...
4. Dr. Sean B. Carroll — The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters
20 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies prod...
3. Dr. Arthur Benjamin — The Magic of Math: Solving for x and Figuring Out Why
24 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The Magic of Math is the math book you wish you had in school. Using a delightful assortment of examples—from ice cream scoops and poker hands to me...
2. Michelle Feynman — The Quotable Feynman & His Van
20 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard P. Feynman (1918–88) was a towering scientific genius who could make himself understood by anyone and who beca...
1. Dr. Lisa Randall — Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe
22 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The renowned Harvard cosmologist and theoretical physicist explores a scenario in which a disk of dark matter—the elusive stuff in the universe that...