The European Skeptics Podcast

This week we talked about Susan Gerbic's new interview with Massimo Polidoro, a court case over calling someone a Holocaust denier, new teams doing science communication, coconut and the undecided public enemy state, homeopathy and whether it's unethical for pharmacies to sell it, HPV vaccination for boys, 'Inoculated', a new movie in Germany that might be twice as dangerous as Vaxxed, SkepKon 2019, fake Twitter accounts, an Austrian photographer's encyclopaedia of bogus claims and how religion ruins everything. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

QED in Manchester is drawing closer!We speak to Jay Novella of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe (the SGU) whose total cast will be there in October. Hear about what we can expect from the SGU in Manchester, what they will be up to in the future and about their book which is due to be released on 2 October. We also get into our views on lobbying, children's education and about being a parent.Enjoy!Please also check out our event page at http://theesp.eu/events_in_europeSegments:Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While unfortunately Jelena is not present, this week we talk about an ET healer in the Netherlands before we share the latest updates on measles. The comes the outrageous fact that Germany has no official plan for a first contact situation and how religious taboos can cause trouble. El escéptico's 50th issue is out now, while wet cupping is gaining ground in Amsterdam. Also, the pope gets poked again while pastafarianism doesn't get recognised as a religion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Eggman (Brian Eggo) sits in for Andras we examine the latest news which includes Psychic Sally's taxes, the end to NHS funded homeopathy in England, Russian attitudes to conspiracy theories, the latest measles situation and more.Also the Pope gets poked about his upcoming Irish visit and Brian gets on bus 666 to Hel (sic).Segments:Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; News; Pontus Pokes the Pope: Really Wrong; Radio Ad; Farewell and Quote; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have good news from Ukraine, when we talk to Malek Tohme, who is starting up the Ukraine Humanist, Rationalist, Skeptic Modernists in the city of L'viv!And a special shout out to James The Amazing Randi who turned 90 on 7 August! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode you'll hear some updates on the Hungarian government's attack on science, how the antivax movement causes a lot of trouble in different countries and what we can do to counter them. We also talk about the educational projects that Spanish skeptics run, the NHS landing credit to bogus treatments, a new study showing the negative effects of taking alternative therapies, the journal Homeopathy gaining on their impact factor and the UK parliament aiming to see clearly with regards to scientific misconduct. Terminally ill Laura Brennen campaigns for vaccination that could have saved her. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk with the fabulous and twice Ockham's Award winning Edinburgh Skeptics Society!Heather Pentler and Sean Slater tell us all about the upcoming Skeptics on the Fringe when there will be 23 skeptical events, every day, starting 4 August. If you have chance you should go! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we bring you stuff to think about like Eugenics, plus news and updates on the Hungarian government's attack on the freedom of science, GSoW reaching a new level of activism, legislative changes to occur in Germany regarding Heilpraktiker, Humanist weddings getting a green light in Ireland, Facebook shutting down Hungarian fake news sites, homeopaths offering their "solutions" to the problem of antibiotic resistance, nominations open for John Maddox Prize at Sense about Science, CICAPfest tickets now available and how wrong the Daily Mail is for reporting questionable claims of a non-existant disease.Pontus pokes the pope for being silly about his way of solving the crisis in the Middle East Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk to leading science and medical reporter Amina Manzoor at the largest Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN). Amina Manzoor fights the good fight in the media to spread an objective and fair view on health myths, alternative "medicine" and she reports on new scientific studies in a popular way. And it works! The readers are interacting and interested!Together with her colleague Maria Gunther, Amina recieved the Swedish Skeptics' "Enlightener of the Year" award for 2016.Segments:Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this one we talk to Norbert Aust about the GWUP and Homeopathy Information Network 50K€ Challange. We also have lots of Skeptical news from around Europe and the Pope gets Poked (naturally), James Braid and Climate Therapy for those who feels the Climate Change is a bit depressing.Segments:Intro; Greetings; Interview with Norbert Aust; This Week in Skepticism; News; Pontus Pokes the Pope: Really Wrong; Quote; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we interviewed Annika Merkelbach, who told us what’s new in Germany, how the greatest German skeptical convention SkepKon went and why the country need native speakers to join Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're getting our release schedule back on track, just two days after the previous episode(!).We talk about Worlds in Collision, how the infamous Andrew Wakefield study has had consequences for a whole generation borne in the late nineties / early 2000s, plus how treating cancer with homeopathy is criminal and that Hans Rosling is commemorated with an annual day.We also introduce "Pontus Pokes the Pope" as a new segment and hand out both a Really Wrong and a Really Right award.Segments:Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; News; Pontus Pokes the Pope: Really Wrong / Really Right; Quote; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we interviewed Dutch mathematician and skeptical activist Pepijn van Erp to talk about his blog, his work at Stichting Skepsis and the Dutch skeptical magazine Skepter and all the topics that he likes to blog about. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode we start by talking mediums and frauds through the example of Colin Fry, then move on to our news items, including:- Full Fact's survey into how and why people fact-checking- A new book in Portugal to equip readers against the antivax movement- EU actions on vaccine preventable diseases- NHS West Midlands asking parents to vaccinate- The Hungarian Academy of Sciences finally taking a stand against pseudoscience- The new nonsense of intravaginal manipulations done by osteopaths- A fraudulent researcher in Sweden spreading misinformation about HPV vaccines- Former president of Medical Chamber of Slovenia performing "Rigvir" treatments in Latvia- The new minister of Human Capacities in Hungary claiming that following the Ten Commandments can save you from illnesses- The Daily Express claiming that eating blackberries prevents skin cancerThe Really Wrong Price goes to IKEA for a shitty experiment on how plants can't stand bullying. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we interviewed Italian skeptic and podcaster Enrico Zabeo, who's one of the founders and hosts of Radio CICAP, the official podcast for the Italian skeptical organisation CICAP. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andras is back to talk about CICAPfest and Massimo Polidoro's book, then Jelena brings on the topic of the Illuminati before we move on to news items including: CEASE, a collection of therapies offered by homeopaths to "cure" autism, bad journalism raising new issues with vaccination, the European Commission's proposed actions to fight preventable diseases, how dog's can not get autism, but are in danger of falling ill due to their owners' actions, Ukraine having more than 9000 measles cases in the first quarter of 2018, the Vatican offering exorcism courses, anti-abortion demonstrations banned in Ealing, survey showing link between being a bad doctor and prescribing homeopathy, Bill Gates promoting ideas expressed in Hans Rosling's book 'Factfulness'.Finally, Pontus presents Jacob Gudiol from Sweden, who breaks down myths about artificial sweeteners. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk to Swedish renowned Psychologist and skeptic, Dan Katz. Dan specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and has a very cool book out which is on its way to be translated into several languages: "The Lizard in Your Head". He is also a member of the Swedish Skeptics (aka VoF)Please also check out our event page at http://theesp.eu/events_in_europemember of the Swedish Skeptics (aka VoF)Please also check out our event page at http://theesp.eu/events_in_europeSegments:Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was Homeopathy (and Chiropractic) Awareness Week, but wee had a lot of other stuff like anniversaries and awards to talk about on this episode, including 2 years of Information Netzwerk Homeopathie with Natalie Grams, 6 years of both ComCept running skeptical activism in Portugal and Spanish Skeptics running the show Pensando Críticamente.Also, ComCept just announced their Flying Unicorn Awards, whilst CICAP has announced that there would be a CICAPfest held this year in Padova. In France, physicians appeal to get rid of alternative medicine, and in Italy, Massimo Polidoro recently launched his new video series on YouTube!Let's go nuts and follow Virgin Galactic on their journey to space tourism, but don't forget Mark Zuckerberg's promises to keep fighting against false information and brainwashing with Facebook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Brian Eggo sits in for Jelena as we talk about Hungarian elections, a medium who is shocked to discover that people someimes lie, HIV deniers in Russia, Hans Rosling's last book and how Swedish authorities have been using bullshit data for years without having a clue.And of course the Pope gets a mention for getting rid of hell (or did he?).Plus, we celebrate that QED in Manchester is announced for October with The Skeptics Guide to the Universe crew, George Hrab and Helen Arney!Please also check out our event page at http://theesp.eu/events_in_europeSegments:Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Skeptical News; Really Wrong; Quote; Farewell; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we talk to Marko Kovic, social science researcher and former President of Skeptiker Schweiz. We discuss his recent blog post "Some problems of the skeptic movement" and talk about possible ways of addressing these issues.See the show notes at:http://theesp.eu/podcast_archive/episode-118-marko-kovic.html Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.