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Skepticality Podcast by Derek and Swoopy

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J.E., February 17, 2006
Reviewer: J.E. from Chicago, Illinois

The Skepticality podcast is a weekly show that brings listeners information about a variety of different subjects. Each episode is only 10 minutes long, and covers only a single topic in that time. Past topics have been as diverse as the history of books, the number 5, and crop circles.

On the whole, I think these podcasts are pretty informative and entertaining. The host(s) really pack a lot of detail into the 10 minute segments. That being said, it's a bit distracting that the host(s) simply read from a script for the entire 10 minutes. Swoopy, the female host, has a tendency to fly through the script at a very fast pace, which sometimes makes it hard to follow what she is saying. It sort of reminded me of sitting in a high school and watching a student read a 5-page essay while standing in front of the class. It sounded like Swoopy couldn't wait to finish; I could even imagine her fidgeting and shifting from foot to foot. Once you get past the incredibly canned effect, however, the podcast really does have some interesting information.

personalmedia, February 17, 2006
Reviewer: personalmedia from Indiana

The hosts of this podcast, Swoopy and Derek, have some great chemistry and deliver an exceptional podcast on a variety of topics. The podcasts normally run between 30 and 45 minutes, and are packed full of critical thinking topics, news issues, and musical selections. Many leading skeptics, authors, and philosophers have been interviewed and featured on past Skepticality Podcasts. The interviews are conducted in a professional manner.

Some of the past topics that Swoopy and Derek have explored are the meaning of the number five, the Science of Good and Evil, Past Pseudoscience programs, crop circles, humanist views, skepticism throughout history, and the significance of the Evil Eye. These are just a few of the thought provoking discussions that Swoopy and Derek have tackled with input from respected guests.

The production quality of this podcast is excellent. This is one of the top podcasts I have reviewed and highly recommend it to anyone interested in listening to some intriguing topics that encourage critical thinking.

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Skepticality #175 - Religious Disinformation - Interview: Daniele Bolelli


Tue, Jan 31, 2012

This week Derek chats with Daniele Bolelli, the author of "50 Things You're Not Supposed To Know: Religion". Daniele is a is an Italian writer, MMA competitor, and university professor. This book is from a series being produced by the people behind the Disinformation, (http://www.disinfo.com/) website, blog, and podcast. Derek attempts to find out how a Italian born philosopher ends up moving to America to end up competing in one of the toughest forms of Martial Arts, and also finds time to teach, and write about all the things which many people have faulty 'knowledge' about.

Swoopy pops in for a quick chat with Derek about what she has been doing, and some fun, new, ideas for Skepticality. Derek interviews Sean Faircloth about his new role at the Richard Dawkins Foundation For Reason and Science, USA branch and his new book, "Attack of the Theocrats!".

Tim Farley of "Whats the Harm" and "Skeptic History" and Derek Colanduno sit down for a short chat about the past year in skeptical issues, and what might be coming in 2012. 

This week's guest on Skepticality is Dr. Scott Hannahs, the Director of DC Field Instrumentation and Facilities National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Find out a bit about what it is like to work with the worlds most powerful magnet, and what types of experiments require such a powerful bit of scientific equipment and what discoveries and research comes out of the science of magnetic fields.

This week Derek has a chat with Joeseph Lazio, project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope. To find out a bit more about what this next-generation radio telescope is going to attempt to find, and how it will address some of the fundamental questions in astrophysics, physics, and even astrobiology.

In September of 2008 Ben Radford appeared as a guest on the podcast Skeptiko, hosted by Alex Tsakiris.  During that interview he agreed to take up Alex's challenge to investigate the best case of the efficacy of psychic detectives.  What followed was months of research, numerous interviews and a follow-up which ended in acrimony.  Now, three years after the initial challenge, the hosts of MonsterTalk (Blake Smith, Ben Radford and Karen Stollznow) have Alex onto their show to discuss Skeptiko, the interface of skeptics and believers, and to settle the matter of whether or not Ben's investigation disproved the psychic's claims. 

An update from Scott Sigler about his newest book and a fun free give-away. Then Derek takes some time to sit down with AJ Mass, a staff writer for ESPN, and card dealer in Atlantic City, to discuss his new book 'How Fantasy Sports Explains the World'. From the Last Supper to Star Wars, winning advice about almost any facet of life can be found almost anywhere, especially when you pay attention to reality and the current known odds.

This episode Derek sits down with David Daigle, a leading member of the CDC preparedness team to talk about the CDC 'Be Prepared' Zombie campaign which has been rolling out since this past May. David relays information about how the CDC keeps track of upcoming threats to citizens be it a pandemic, food contaminations, and even disastrous massive storms.

This week Derek sits down with Jen Hancock to discuss her newest book,

"Jen Hancock's Handy Humanism Handbook". In this work, Jen attempts to

give people a quick, easy, book which describes the philosophy of Humanism

and how it relates to culture and personal happiness.

This week on Skepticality, Derek talks with Daniel Loxton about his latest book, Ankylosaur Attack. Then, checks in with Ann Druyan to discuss a bit about the current world of science and her current work on the sequel to the groundbreaking science miniseries, Cosmos and the upcoming 2012 Dragon*Con Skeptrack Carl Sagan Essay contest.

This week on Skepticality, Derek gives a brief wrap-up of the Skeptic Track at Dragon*Con 2011 as well as giving you a sample from one of the many events which took place over the four day track of skeptic events. The panel is an important discussion moderated by JREF President, D.J. Grothe on the topic of Education vs. Debunking, how they are different and when and how each should be used to the greatest effect.

This week on Skepticality, Derek talks with author and professor Cathy N. Davidson, co-founder of HASTAC, "Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory", about her recently released book, "Now You See It", which tells the fascinating story of how our understanding of human attention and learning can be used to enhance and change the manner in which we teach in the modern era.

This week on Skepticality, Derek talks with Jeff Wise, science writer, outdoor adventurer, and pilot of airplanes about his latest book, Extreme Fear: The Science of Your Mind in Danger, and reveals how our bodies react to different types of fear, and how we might be able to make our fears work for us.

This week, members of the skeptical community gathered en masse in Las Vegas, Nevada to participate in the James Randi Educational Foundation's 9th annual Amazing Meeting.

Just off the plane from the conference, team Skepticality share their interview with TAM 9 keynote speaker - author and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Professor Richard Wiseman about his new book, "Paranormality: Why What We See Isn't There" and discovers how paranormal research has led to amazing insights on how we believe and interact with our every day world.

For over 30 years Matthew Chapman, the great, great grandson of
Charles Darwin has written and directed major motion pictures, as well
as authoring notable books of his own on the topic of evolution -
"Trials of the Monkey - An Accidental Memoir",  and "40 Days and 40
Nights - Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, Oxycontin, and Other
Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania".

This week on Skepticality, Derek talks with Matthew Chapman about his
soon to be released independent film "The Ledge" (starring Liv Tyler
and Terrence Howard), in which a battle of philosophies between a
fundamentalist Christian and an atheist escalates into a lethal battle
of wills.

As the international skeptical community gears up for another season
of conferences presented by established groups like The Skeptics
Society's Science Symposium, The James Randi Educational Foundation's
Amazing Meeting, and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's CSICon, a
new generation of skeptics are also finding the critical thinking
movement in their own back yards at local meet ups called Skepticamps,
which are community driven, informal "un-conferences" borne from the
desire for people to share and learn in an open environment.

This week on Skepticality, Derek and Swoopy report from Atlanta
Skepticamp 2011 and share one of this year's Skepticamp talks by
Skeptic History contributor Tim Farley appropriately entitled "Don't
Start a Blog or Podcast", on the topic of how to handle the vast
amount of skeptical content created by blogs and podcasts, and how to
stand out if you decide you do decide to jump into the fray.

Over the past 30 years, Skeptics Society founder Dr. Michael Shermer has questioned how and why humans believe what we do in all aspects of our lives—from our suspicions and superstitions to our politics, economics and social beliefs.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Dr. Shermer about his new book, The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies - How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths, a compendium of the research and neuroscience that reveals how our brains evolved to connect the dots of our world into meaningful patterns that explain why things happen and ultimately why science is the best tool ever devised to determine whether or not our beliefs are based in reality.

In 1765, the author of an anonymous article in a French Enlightenment periodical spoke of "The general love of humanity ... a virtue hitherto quite nameless among us, and which we will venture to call ‘humanism’, for the time has come to create a word for such a beautiful and necessary thing."

Today on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with author and Humanist Jennifer Hancock about her book, "The Humanist Approach to Happiness", a practical guide to living an ethical, compassionate and happy life that outlines critical thinking and common sense human solutions to everyday human problems.

Skeptics are well versed in the many tools of the trade used by charlatans and hucksters to defraud their unwitting victims. Some of these same tools - elicitation, pretexting, influence and manipulation to name a few - are also used by hackers, spies and identity thieves to obtain information.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Christopher Hadnagy, author of "Social Engineering, The Art of Human Hacking" which not only examines the maneuvers and the science behind them that are aimed at deceiving unsuspecting victims, but also addresses ways to reduce our own susceptibility to the hackers and security threats in our every day lives.

On this special bonus episode of Skepticality, celebrating the eve before the final launch of the Space Shuttle "Endeavour", Swoopy catches up with author Mary Roach whose best-selling book "Packing For Mars" was recently released in paperback.

Each year 45 million Americans diet to lose weight, spending $33 billion on weight-loss products - and yet, 68 percent of Americans are now classified as overweight or obese. If the prescription to eat less and exercise more, or maintaining a calorie deficit is all it takes to lose or maintain a healthy weight, why are so many of us fat and getting fatter?

This week on "Skepticality", Swoopy talks with award-winning science journalist Gary Taubes about his most recent book, "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It" which looks critically at the science of adiposity, the hundreds of years of scientific research and data about the best ways to avoid obesity and obesity related illness, and debunks the myth that losing weight is all about the calories.

The 9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake and tsunami which devastated Japan on March 11th, 2011 is being reported as one of the five most powerful earthquakes since seismological records began being kept in 1900.  The awesome destructive power of our constantly changing world is highlighted by these kinds of disasters on a fairly regular basis, but does the understanding of when and how these events may happen change the way humans are choosing to live on dangerous planet earth? 

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Dr. Donald R. Prothero, professor of geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles and a lecturer in geobiology at Caltech about his new book "Catastrophes! Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Tornadoes, and other Earth-Shattering Disasters" which discusses not only the dangers we face from geographical challenges but also those that affect us all: overpopulation and global climate change.

What was it about iTunes that changed the way we buy music? What inspires people to donate to causes online, and what factors make the game Angry Birds so addicting?

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Charles L. Mauro, a Certified Human Factors Engineering Professional and founder of MauroNewMedia, which has pioneered groundbreaking research on how we consume and respond to media (including television, web, mobile and virual platforms), how we engage in social networking, and even why sometimes we can't seem to stop.

"Skepticism is the agent of reason against organized irrationalism - and is therefore one of the keys to human social and civic decency." - Stephen Jay Gould 

Of the scientists who have left their mark on science, skepticism and indeed the Skeptic's Society, few are more quotable or thought-provoking than the late evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould. This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Richard York, co-author (with Brett Clark) of The Science and Humanism of Stephen Jay Gould. This new book offers a unique look at Gould not only as a paleontologist and evolutionary theorist, but also as a humanist and one of the most prolific science historians of our time.

Skeptics are all too aware of the irrationality of human nature and society, and turn to critical thinking to live more happily. But could there be benefits from the commonplace irrationalities of everyday life? Cognitive psychologist and behavioral economist Dan Ariely argues that there are.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Professor Ariely (author of the New York Times bestseller Predictably Irrational) about his latest book, The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home. Find out how experiments illuminate the unexpected roles of irrational decision-making in daily life, and in shaping the world around us.

How we live, how we function, how we reproduce and how we age are all explained by the smallest and yet most complex of living structures — the cell.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Lewis Wolpert, Professor Emeritus of Biology as Applied to Medicine at University College London and author of The Unnatural Nature of Science and Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast: The Evolutionary Origins of Belief about his newest US release, How We Live & Why We Die: The Secret Lives of Cells. This basic primer on cellular biology deftly examines the invisible world of all living things, from our evolutionary past, to stem cells, cloning and the future of regenerative medicine.

In order to accomplish amazing illusions and magic tricks, performers of prestidigitation must be well versed in the art of deception; thus, it is not surprising that many of the world's most renowned skeptics are also world-class magicians.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Dr. Stephen L. Macknik and Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde, co-authors of Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions (with Sandra Blakeslee). Both are laboratory directors at the Barrow Neurological Institute and columnists at ScientificAmerican.com - experience they bring to their multi-year, world-wide exploration of magic (with a team of advisors including Jamy Ian Swiss, the late Jerry Andrus, and James "The Amazing" Randi). Can ancient principles of the conjurer's trade be explained using the latest discoveries of cognitive neuroscience? Find out on this episode!

This week on Skepticality, Tim Farley wraps up the year in Skepticism and Swoopy treats listeners to a splash of monkey news.

Most skeptics are familiar with the James Randi Educational Foundation - a not-for-profit organization founded in 1996 that offers a $1,000,000 prize for testable proof of paranormal ability. This world-renowned skeptical organization promotes critical thinking by reaching out to the public and media with reliable information about paranormal and supernatural claims. But besides the Foundation's famous founder and the Million Dollar Challenge, the JREF is notable for its commitment to education.

This week on Skepticality, science educator and grassroots skeptical organizer Michael Blanford discusses his role as Director of Educational Programs for the JREF. Michael describes ongoing and upcoming educational programs — and how skeptics can help.

One of the most positive aspects of the skeptical movement is advocacy for consumer awareness about the claims made by producers and advertisers of all sorts of products, from the outlandish to the commonplace.

Eppur si Muove is Italian for "and yet it moves." These are perhaps the most famous words attributed to the Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher Galileo Galilei. While this quote makes for a dramatic climax to the story of Galileo's condemnation for heresy in 1633, there is no proof that the great scientist ever said it.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with author Dan Hofstadter, whose book The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition paints a unique picture not only of Galileo the heliocentrist, but also of Galileo the humanist.

In her new book, The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help you Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse, author and science blogger Jennifer Ouellette reminds us that our stubborn resistance to calculus is not entirely rational, and that we all do a little calulus every day whether we know it or not. 

This week on Skepticality Swoopy talks with Jennifer about how The Calculus Diaries seeks to inspire our math-phobic culture by explaining complex concepts using simple real world applications like theme park rides, shopping for real estate, and even fortune telling.

In keeping with a tradition of highlighting artists, illustrators and film-makers who are bringing great stories of science to their genres, this week Skepticality is pleased to welcome James Lu Dunbar, author and illustrator of an educational series of graphic novels about the history of the universe targeted at children of all ages entitled The Universe Verse.

Swoopy chats with Jamie about the process of creating this series of self-published books, and how the second book in the series It's Alive!, about evolution, is being funded by supporters via donations on Kickstarter.com.

Imagine you were talented enough, ambitious enough and lucky enough to be chosen to part of a manned mission to another planet. What you might see out there? What you might learn?

And, what about going to the bathroom, taking a shower, eating, drinking, sleeping, or even sex?

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with psychologist, journalist and bestselling author Mary Roach. Her new book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void explores how space programs, scientists and astronauts (and even astro-chimps) tackle the unexpected complexity of performing everyday activities when in space.

As with her previous books Spook (the science of the search for the afterlife), Stiff (the science of the dead), and Bonk (the science of sex), Ms. Roach's accessible investigation into the science of space travel sparkles with humor and insight.

Historical precedent, eyewitnesses, academic experts — these are among the tools that critical thinkers use to verify facts and give credibility to their arguments. And yet, misuse of these same principles provides the foundation for widely accepted conspiracy theories.  

Why does the public often prefer wildly improbable half-truths to the demonstrable facts of history? This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with award-winning journalist and author David Aaronovitch about his book Voodoo Histories: The Role of Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History. Deconstructing both well-known and obscure conspiracies, David illuminates how such far-fetched claims come to be believed. 

This week after returning from The Amazing Meeting 8 - a conference celebrating skepticism and critical thinking sponsored by the James Randi Educational Foundation, Skepticality is pleased to host a round table discussion with a distinguished group they have dubbed "Team Skeptic".

Daniel Loxton (editor of Junior Skeptic and author of Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be), Blake Smith (paranormal investigator and creator of the Skeptic podcast Monster Talk) and Tim Farley (creator of WhatsTheHarm.net and the Skepticality contributor of This Week in Skeptic History) discuss their impressions of this year's Amazing Meeting Las Vegas with hosts Derek and Swoopy.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with author Gina Welch about her first book In The Land of Believers: An Outsider's Extraordinary Journey Into the Heart of the Evangelical Church. Recounting her two years as a member of Jerry Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, the book is an honest discussion by a non-theist of her extraordinary look into the lives of the evangelical Americans who became her friends.

In 2009 Sara became a TED Fellow (short for Technology, Entertainment, Design), as part of this distinguished program built on the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world she spoke about her goal to use the art of manga to teach young readers about science and critical thinking through engaging stories and images. She spoke again at TED 2010, and recently spoke at CFI West about Skepticism Though Manga.

This week Swoopy talks with Sara about her new manga, Legend of the Ztarr about a young girl on a far off planet who must ultimately utilize critical thinking and science to help save her world. And her popular blog about critical thinking, There Are Four Lights.

and freethinkers, as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the  

words "In God We Trust" on American currency and "Under God" as part  

of the Pledge of Allegiance are not in violation of the First  

Amendment rights of nontheists.

Meanwhile, the conservative majority of the Texas State Board of  

Education (whose sheer size and buying power influence textbook  

content nationwide) revised its curricula to reflect a less secular  

version of history, economics and sociology. Among other revisionist  

changes, this reduces the role of President Thomas Jefferson as a  

revolutionary author.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Sean Faircloth (the new  

Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America) about these  

troubling current events. Sean also talks about the Coalition's recent  

historic meeting with White House officials to open a policy dialog  

with the Obama Administration — the first of its kind for American  

nontheists.

Imagine you've just completed your PhD in molecular biology and genetics. Would enrolling at NYU film school be your next logical career step? Unlikely as it may sound, that's exactly what Alexis Gambis, creator of the "Imagine Science Film Festival," decided to do.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Alexis about the surprising and yet natural collaboration between scientists who dedicate their lives to studying the world we live in, and filmmakers — who have the power to interpret and share this knowledge with a broader audience than ever before.

This week also includes the debut of a new segment: "This Week in Skeptic History," hosted by notable skeptical activist Tim Farley (creator of the WhatsTheHarm.net).

Derek catches up with the new JREF President, DJ Grothe to discuss what is next for the JREF now that he has become the new President. 

For a myriad of reasons, NASA is in the news this week. For an update on everything astronomical Skepticality is proud to welcome back The Bad Astronomer himself, Dr. Phil Plait (author of the popular books Bad Astronomy, Death from the Skies and his award-winning blog at Discovermagazine.com). Swoopy chats with Phil about this week's planned launch of the space shuttle Endeavour (one of five final missions marking the retirement of the shuttle fleet by the close of 2010); the surprising recent announcement of President Obama's plans to increase NASA's funding but cancel the Constellation program already five years underway; and, Phil's own tough decision to step down as president of the James Randi Educational Foundation in order to extend his skeptical outreach to a global audience through television.

Absinthe. The very name of this anise-flavored spirit has become synonymous with the forbidden. Associated with marijuana and other illicit drugs, it is said to cause hallucinatory and psychoactive secondary effects, delusions, criminal tendencies, convulsions, tuberculosis and death. At the start of the 20th century, these beliefs were reported by the media, widely promoted by the French wine industry, and spread via propaganda posters. This led to a ban on absinthe in Europe and the United States (lasting nearly 100 years). This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Cheryl Lins, owner of Delaware Phoenix Distilleries in Walton, New York, about how this once-accepted and popular drink came to be outlawed and misunderstood — and how it was eventually resurrected at the hands of skeptics and scientists.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Dr. Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado and author of Wild Justice. His book examines the differences—and startling similarities—between the observed morality and emotions of human and non-human animals.

Why do we think aliens are out there? Is Earth really being visited? Will aliens really be short, gray, and hairless? What happens if we pick up a signal from another world?  These are just a few of the questions this week's guest tackles regularly, in his role as the senior astronomer for the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute. Dr. Seth Shostak talks with Swoopy about the ongoing search for life in the universe, as chronicled in his new book Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Rarely is mathematics a major plot component on American television. The exception, of course, is the current hit prime time CBS television drama Numb3rs.  "We all use math every day: to predict weather, to tell time, to handle money. Math is more than formulas and equations: it’s logic. It’s rationality. It’s using your mind to solve the biggest mysteries we know." So begins every episode — astonishingly — of one of the consistently highest rated programs in its time slot. Now in its fifth season, Numb3rs has helped pave the way for a whole new generation of science-based programming on American television. This week Swoopy talks with Cheryl Heuton and Nicolas Falacci (the creators and Executive Producers of Numb3rs) about the challenges of creating a fictional TV drama chock full of real science and mathematics.

This Author: Derek and Swoopy

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