The European Skeptics Podcast

The band is back together for a new week of skeptical reports.On this week: Oliver Lodge did not manage to prove psychics right, Pope Francis still believes in celibacy (although his priests do not seem to), Natalie Grams is awarded Die Goldenen Blogger Prize, PSIRAM starts a skeptical blog series, Merseyside Skeptics celebrates 10 years in July and Spanish researchers (nobody expects the Spanish researchers!) tries to convince us about homeopathy.Meanwhile, nobody has noticed(!) that the Macchiarini investigation has gone missing.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we bring you lots news and topics from across Europe including Annika Merkelbach's interview on Skeptical Inquirer's website with Natalie Grams, whose book has just been published in English, Edzard Ersnt' birthday, a praying application issued by the Vatican called "Click to Pray", the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee to deal with reported non-reportings of clinical trials, a great achievement by Ben Goldacre and the AllTrials campaign (one of the great projects of Sense about Science), how 1 on 20 adults in Britain do not believe the Holocaust actually happened, a Spanish report estimating deaths by pseudotherapies, BARF - special food for your pets as part of the raw food movement, a dangerous book just published with the title 'Healing Cancer: A Homeopathic Approach', the Ministry of Health in Ukraine finally taking action to tackle the measles epidemic in the country and the Swedish government deciding to finally include Chicken pox vaccinations in the national program. Hosted

This week we're back to bring you news and info about a wide range of topics including Francis Bacon and his importance in the development of science, how the 'good pope' John Paul II was a misogynist, why we admire the works of Sense about Science so much and how they came up with yet another campaign that deserves much attention ('Evidence Hunter Activity Pack'), how facilitated communication is a thing in Sweden despite all the evidence that suggests it does not work at all, why we should be cautious with consuming probiotics, plus SkepKon, the German annual conference for skeptics is coming up, while a Swedish acupuncturist is on trial for almost killing two patients and the county of Killarney in Ireland calls to remove fluoride from drinking water, despite the lack of any indications that it could be harmful (while its benefits are many). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We interview Turi Munthe, the creator of a new web site aiming to "map the World's opinions".In 2008, Turi launched Demotix - born as a global free-speech platform, it became the largest network of photojournalists in the world and exited to Bill Gates’ Corbis. He now runs a Venture Capital with a focus on media and media tech, and sits on the boards of Index on Censorship, OpenDemocracy and The Signals Network. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the first episode of the year 2019, with the team together again, we are bringing you topics related to the New Year, including resolutions and hangovers, plus some science history and how James Ussher determined the age of the world (incorrectly), how Pope Francis tries to talk about families when the church is in turmoil over sex abuse scandals, a design company standing up for science in Italy, where the resigning head of the National Institute of Health slams the anti-science government, organ donation becoming opt-out in Ireland, Natalie Grams getting a nomination for the Golden Blogger award with her Twitter account, a new petition to sue French government over inaction on Climate change, Edzard Ernst's new book SCAM coming out in German, a new Spanish award for standing up for Science, an update on Measles and VoF announcing winners of the Enlightener and Bewilderer of the Year awards. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A bit of a different episode this week, released on the last day of the year to remind the listeners (and ourselves) of the most important things that happened in 2018. Lots of interesting stuff and also what to look forward to in 2019.We wish you all a really Happy New Year, and we’ll be seeing you!Segments:Intro; Greetings; Checking in with András; Woo in 2018; Skeptical initiatives 2018; Skeptical Awards 2018; QED; The ESP highlights of 2018; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pontus and Andras host this slightly Christmas-themed episode with the birthday of Sir Isaac Newton and the New Style Calendar, Pope Francis promising no more sexual abuse cases covered up by the catholic church, CICAP launching a new chapter in Pordenone, although reality somewhat better than previous estimates, measles still being on the rise in Europe, Spanish chiropractors reacting to new government plan to tackle pseudoscience and how there is no need to fear for Christmas being renamed in Sweden. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time Claire Klingenberg sits in for Jelena again, who's out travelling. We bring you updates on the European Skeptics Congress 2019 in Ghent plus the good news that CICAP Fest will be held again in Padova in 2019.We then talk about the Apollo program, Cardinal Pell finally getting in the hands of the judicial system, while Pope Francis is acting like nothing's wrong.Plus some news about the new Italian government's support for dubious health claims, a Russian homeopathic product under the name Release Active Drug, Paolo Macchiarini in court, the UK's Charity Commission publishing guidelines for operating CAM charities, one of Spain's skeptical organisations, Circulo Esceptico handing out awards for standing up for science, acupuncture applied to babies suffering from colic, and the case of an autistic person euthanised in Belgium now under police investigation. And a big shout-out to Ovidiu Covaciu in Romania for educating tens of thousands of people into the necessity of vaccinations. Hosted on Acast. S

This week Pontus and Jelena talks to German Science Communicator and Skeptic Julia Offe. Julia Offe has a PhD in molecular biology and is active within GWUP, the German Skeptics. We talk about the recently announced "Das Goldenes Bretts"-awards and other GWUP activities, as well as the Science Slam events that Julia is promoting in many different places with huge turnouts.Segments:Intro; Greetings; Interview with Julia Offe; Closing remarks; Wikipedia spot; Farewell; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we first hear about John Tyndall who understood climate change over a 100 years ago and talk about how Francis get things wrong while in Poland.We then have a short catch up with Spanish skeptical activist Antonia de Oñate, before we dig into the regular news. In here we lean about homeopathy getting a beating in both Hungary and Austria, about a Swedish quack who is also a sex offender, a pro-vaccine campaign in Italy and a rather depressing measles update.At the end the Daily Mail gets a Really Wrong Award for spreading fake Brexit news.Segments:Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Pontus Pokes the Pope; Interview with Antonia de Oñate; News; Really Wrong; Farewell and Quote; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week our three hosts discuss a great number of things including how a delusional German physician got away with killing people, and how Pope Francis thinks right to tackle poverty.Loads of good news this week:The John Maddox Prize goes to Britt Hermes and Terry Hughes this year, ARP-SAPC reaches 20 years of activity, the Spanish government moves against pseudo-therapies in health care, the BBC upholds the Good Thinking Society's complaint about a homeopathy-related phone-in and ComCept awards journalist Vera Novais for advocating science as opposed to nonsense. Also, on the less positive side, we report on child marriages no longer being recognised in Sweden, no matter what the culture of the country of origin is, authors of a paper based on a national survey into CAM use in the UK suggest NHS funding for bogus therapies and christian parents threatening legal action for something that wasn't what it looked like.And the Norwegian Labour Party gets this week's Really Right prize for suggesting the revokin

On this week's episode Jelena and Andras interviews British biochemist, nutritionist, blogger, author and public speaker Pixie Turner, to talk about the science-based approach to healthy eating, dietary and lifestyle choices and how she turned from a person suffering from orthorexia to a public figure educating people into following the science instead of falling for popular, but absolutely useless diets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andras and Pontus join ranks to talk about Massimo Polidoro, Elsevier vs. open access and a film that drives Polish disapproval of the Catholic Church. Plus why people don't trust science and other news and tidbits from across Europe and the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us to hear about Pope Francis' failing October synod, Galileo and how homeopathy is getting a really hard beating in Spain. In other news the Good Thinking Society fights Goop, EU tries (but fail) to get statistics about the anti-vaxx movement and how science is hard: Contrary to what you have heard humans have not wiped out 60% of all vertebrates and an organic diet has not been proved to prevent cancer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is the first of its kind as it is the live recording from QED 2018 that happened in Manchester in the middle of October. In the unfortunate abscence of Jelena, Pontus and András are joined by Claire Klingenberg, Brian Eggo and Jay Novella to discuss local confectionery, booze and topics like the Shroud of Turin, Leukemia and how a new finding can lead to sensational but untrue headlines, a Danish cancer quack that sites his long deceased patients as his success stories, a couple of good news from Portugal and a student essay competition initiated by the University of Szeged to encourage critical thinking.Of course, the pope gets poked again and Smirnoff gets the price for being Really Wrong in playing the non-GMO & gluten-free cards... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode Jelena interviews Aron Ra - atheist activist, former president of Atheist Alliance of America, host of Ra-Men podcast. He is a current regional director of the American Atheists and founder of the phylogeny explorer project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we look at the history of the Ig Nobel Prize, try to find out (Spoiler alert: without success) why pope Francis thinks rosaries are the best way to defend the church from the "Great Accuser" and bring you a ton of news, including: the Romanian referendum on the inclusion or exclusion of same sex marriage in the constitution, a Hungarian cancer quack who boasts likely made-up qualifications, Hans Rosling's 'Factfulness' to become available for free to Swedish students, hundreds of Spanish scientist appeal to Health Minister for action against 'pseudoscience that kills', Natalie Grams' highly anticipated English book on homeopathy to come out in December, what The Croydon Cat Killer might actually be, Informationsnetzwerk Homöopathie's new cool educational material published, investigation into a possible link between measles cases and health-related budget cuts in Italy.Also, we are sheding some light on how wrong the WHO is for legitimising Traditional Chinese Medicine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.co

This week we welcome Massimo Polidoro back to our show. This time he tells us about how the latest edition of CICAPfest went (it was a great success in Padova, Italy). We also asked him about his upcoming books and more.We also announced our participation in QED where we will record our first ever live show on the Podcast Track in Manchester. Stay tuned! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Klingenberg sits in for András on this episode where the Pope blames the devil for revealing all the bad stuff he is responsible for.This week in 1895: The birth of ChiropracticAlso, fake cancer cures take several hits, an overlooked astrophysicist finally gets the recognition she deserves and a brave pharmacist in Germany takes a stand against homeopathy. We learn that cannibalism is bad for you and then celebrate the newly announced Ig Nobel prizes.Short random announcement: Please note that it must be parasite season, but that reason and logic will always prevail.We conclude this unusually positive episode by a Really Right award concerning CRISPR research.Enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode features an interview that Andras recorded in Budapest with Canadian skeptic and host of The Reality Check podcast Darren McKee, who talks about Effective altruism and why it's the real thing for skeptics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.