The European Skeptics Podcast

This week we are talking about how our website got attacked by Russian users, then touch on politics before we get on to discuss great minds like the late Stephen Hawking and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.News items include those about MMS and how the Netherlands banned it, a Dutch company offering bogus bioresonance diagnostics and therapy, religion losing ground all across Europe, Doctor of Homeopathy requested to be made obsolete in Germany by Edzard Ernst et al, Spanish quacks promoting apitherapy, and homeopathy on the NHS​ over and done with in London thanks to the efforts of the Good Thinking Society​.Former president of Ireland Mary MacAleese gets this week's Really Right prize for being progressive amongst catholics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diana Barbosa is back to the show after two years to bring us up to date with skepticism related issues in Portugal. She talks about regulations regarding alternative medicine, the advance of the antivax movement, the upcoming Flying Unicorn Awards and a lot more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pontus is finally back and goes on a rant about Lawrence Krauss' reported behaviours then we turn towards the much happier topic of new books coming out for skeptics (Steven Novella and the SGU rogues' 'The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe' and a book in Portugal bearing the title 'Science and Its Enemies'). Jelena brings up yet another woman in science before we move on to Deborah Hyde's article on a rising exorcism. Also, Information Netzwerk Homöopatie goes international thanks to Edzard Ernst et al. Italy introduces mandatory measles vaccinations starting this March and the Skeptic Club Sysifos in the Czech Republic launches the Pro Vax Challenge campaign. Finally, András talks about an online application developed by a Dutch team as an education tool to tackle fake news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we had Ovidiu Covaciu back on the show to talk about his assessment of the situation in Romania regarding vaccinations and the spread of vaccine preventable diseases as well as things we can do to educate people into vaccinating. He also talks about his massive hit of a Facebook group where they spread correct information on vaccinations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With guest host Claire Klingenberg sitting in for Pontus, who's on a skiing vacation, this episode brings you updates on ECSO, women in science and skepticism, how Andrew Wakefield's unveiled fraud did not stop the antivaccination movement, why fake news work and debunkings usually don't, what it would be like to have a flat Earth, Massimo Polidoro launching a YouTube series, Susan Gerbic's adventures in Europe written up as a series of articles on CSI and Albert Szent-Györgyi praising science. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode features Slovenian skeptics Maja, Nejc and Mark who run the monthly Ljubljana Skeptics in the Pub and the website skeptik.si. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With this week's episode we bring you Sharon Hill's new book 'Scientifical Americans' and give you more information on Radio CICAP, the new podcast out there for Italian speaking listeners.You can also find that Skeptics in the Pub started 19 years ago and Poland now has a so-called 'Holocaust bill', surpressing open discussion about sensitive topics, Michael Marshall and Prof. Chris French writing about Facilitated communication on The Guardian, and you can also find out that there might be a cure for Acute Respiratory Tract Infections that medicine has struggled with lately, in the form of a herbal treatment. You'll hear about the measles situation in the UK, a group of MMS proponents deleted on Facebook and why banning burkas is a terrible idea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lots of news this week, the Devil's Footprints Legend and a new take on the Backfire Effect. Plus as usual a priest has been Really Wrong Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we bring you some good news about Britt Hermes' crowd funding campaign run by the Australian Skeptics, a bit of an update on LSD and what a good trip is then move on to news from Hungary, Sweden, the Ukraine, Spain and Germany with a food supplement producer being fined for false advertisement, a major anti-vaxxer and flat-earther being prosecuted for letting his own child die, measles spreading wildly both in Sweden and in the Ukraine, the launch of a project called "Science in the Parliament" in Spain, the latest issue of Escepticos out now and the first major article on the website of the German Homeopathy Information Network (run by Natalie Grams) released in English.Well, the Pope has also become a record holder with getting our Really Wrong prize for the third time... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we bring you an interview with Britt Marie Hermes and Eran Segev regarding the lawsuit against Britt Marie. Britt Marie has been taken to court in Germany by US-based naturopath ‘Dr’ Colleen Huber, claiming that Britt has defamed her. This concerns statements Britt Marie made in a blog, in which she was critical of the medical and fundraising practices of the Naturopathic Cancer Society and the Nature Works Best Cancer Clinic (Huber is associated with both).Please also check out our event page at http://theesp.eu/events_in_europeSegments:Intro; Interview; Fundraiser promo; Farewell; Outro; Out-takes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we make predictions regarding upcoming books by Edzard Ernst, talk about the future of fact-checking, discuss the works of Peter Boghosian, remember the father of LSD Albert Hofmann, then go on to our news items including the wrong-doings of Paolo Macchiarini, the measles epidemic in Sweden, the latest Swedish Skeptic Awards, how Facebook could be used to prevent disease outbreaks, the ‘Turmeric story’, Psiram the German wiki of irrational believes turns 10, year review of Retraction Watch, a book review on Science Based Medicine, The Conservative Tribune spreading misinformation about migration and ‘aminal brothels’. We finish with an important quote from Galileo Galilei. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we are happy to bring you an interview with Brian Dunning, who's been the producer and host of the massively successful Skeptoid podcast and is currently busy with lots of different projects in skepticism, including a book in the making and the crowdfunded project of showing how media usually distorts the opinions of experts they ask and doing a documentary about that. Find out more on http://sciencefriction.tv and please consider contributing! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our final episode for 2017 we look back at a skeptical year in Europe. We talk about smallpox, how measles continues to spread and how a prominent skeptic becomes head of the Swedish Royal Academy of Science. We also look into Facebook's new attempt to fight fake news, how peer review punishes poor research and how Christmas decorations being removed in Italy has nothing to do with muslims.Lastly the Taoiseach in Ireland failes to take a stand against Scientology, and for that he is Really Wrong.Segments:Intro; Greetings; The Week in Skepticism; News; Farewell; Outro; Outtakes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On our pre-holidays show we welcome Jelena back after a bit of a hiatus, then Pontus corrects himself before we turn our skeptical ears towards fellow skeptics Dr. Gleb Tsipursky and David Fitzgerald who talk about the Pro-Truth Pledge and why Jesus probably never existed, respectively. We then finish with possibly the most relevant song about Christmas, written and performed by George Hrab.Hope you'll enjoy the show. Happy holidays, everyone! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We start with some corrections this week before we turn towards things like Nostradamus, vaccination rates in Romania, Peter Boghossian touring Europe, German Minister of Agriculture getting threats over glyphosate, the John Maddox Prize going to HPV vaccine promoter and what happens if Portugal loses net neutrality.Unfortunately, this week's Really Wrong goes to Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier for turning antivax... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We could not possibly fit everything into epsiode #100, so here come some more interviews from those recordings: We talk to Andreas Kyriacou, Antonia de Oñate and João Monteiro! As always, make sure you check out our event page at http://theesp.eu/events_in_europe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode:The brilliant Brian Eggo ("Eggman") joins us from Glasgow as guest host and tells all about the Skeptics in the Pub movement in the world.Then we dig into Belgian UFOs, dowsing in the UK, and how to combat fake news in Italian schools. Before we end, the "King of Germany" gets the Goldenes Bretts award, Macchiarini avoids prosecution and Italian anti-vaccers spread lies about a perfectly healthy child. Plus András goes all political.Check out Glasgow Skeptics at http://glasgowskeptics.com/ or send them an email at enquiries@glasgowskeptics.comAlso, make sure you check out our event page at http://theesp.eu/events_in_europe00:00:28 Greetings and comments00:10:12 This Week in Skepticism: The Belgian UFO wavehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_UFO_wavehttps://skeptoid.com/episodes/4538https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOBEPS00:21:06 News ItemsUK: Water firms use water diving to find leakshttps://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/21/uk-water-firms-admit-using-divining-rods-to-find-leaks-and-pipe

This is our 100th episode!!!To celebrate, we interviewed some of the superheroes of skepticism who have already been on the show and could accept our invitation to come back for a quick update.Our guests were Gábor Hraskó, who was our guest on episode #001, Natalie Grams whose new book is out, Michael Marshall who talked about some new achievements of the Good Thinking Society, Liubomir Baburov and what's planned for the future of Ratio, Sean Slater and what to expect from Skeptics on the Fringe in 2018, Massimo Polidoro and his new book along with news from CICAP and Susan Gerbic checks in together with Richard Saunders to finish the show with what was definitely the largest span of time zones in the history of our podcast.Thanks for bearing with us and please keep listening to The ESP as we intend to stay. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we talk about Massimo Polidoro’s new book, the latest Heinz Oberhummer Award and the origins of the Spanish skeptic movement, then move on to discuss Prince Charles who celebrated his birthday this week. On our news segment you’ll hear about the Advertising Standards Authority and their list of claims that chiropractors can actually make, the statement by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons condemning homeopathy while still leaving a few doors open for quackery, Spanish skeptics starting a new campaign based on consultations with the public, a new research indicating that homeopathy might be one of the most divisive pseudoscientific issues in Hungary theses days and how Hungarian authorities stopped the spreading of unregulated ragweed products and how glyphosate has been found not to be associated with cancer.All that while Anthroposophic Vidar Clinic gets this week’s Really Wrong price. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We check out Skepticism in Latvia with an interview with Austra Muizniece who talks about the Rigvir scam. We xalso get two shorter interviews from the Ratio Conference in Bulgaria: One with Prof. Chris French who talks about his latest research on sleep paralysis and exploding head syndrom, and one with Dr Steven Goldfarb at the ATLAS Experiment at CERN and his part in the discovery of the Higgs Boson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.