Skeptoid PodcastSkeptoid on Facebook   Skeptoid on Twitter   Skeptoid on Spotify   iTunes   Google Play

Members Portal

Support Us Store

 

Skeptoid Episode Guide - Logic & Persuasion

 

How to Spot Misinformation (Skeptoid #910) - Much content online is designed for high engagement, not for accuracy.
November 14, 2023
 
How to Change a Conspiracy Theorist's Mind (Skeptoid #891) - A roundup of the ways that work — and that don't work — to help a conspiracy theorist free himself from the rabbit hole.
July 4, 2023
 
Lies, Damned Lies, and Polls (Skeptoid #883) - Watch out next time you take a poll... is someone trying to learn about you, or manipulate you?
May 9, 2023
 
What the Oil Companies Really Knew, Part 2 (Skeptoid #877) - Is it true that the oil companies knew how much harm they were doing as far back as the 1970s?
March 28, 2023
 
What the Oil Companies Really Knew, Part 1 (Skeptoid #876) - Is it true that the oil companies knew how much harm they were doing as far back as the 1970s?
March 21, 2023
 
Climate Change Checkup: 2023 Edition (Skeptoid #872) - The state of the climate so far... how we're doing, and what do we need to work on the most.
February 21, 2023
 
The Most Harmful Anti-Experts: 2023 Edition (Skeptoid #868) - Once again we round up the people working hardest to spread misinformation.
January 24, 2023
 
Marketing with Logical Fallacies (Skeptoid #861) - A look at some of the logically fallacious statements used to sell many of today's most popular products.
December 6, 2022
 
How to Spot Fake News (Skeptoid #859) - A roundup of easy techniques anyone can employ to better discern accurate news reports from false ones.
November 22, 2022
 
The Episodes That Changed My Mind, Part 2 (Skeptoid #847) - Some more of the episodes where I went in with one idea, and came out with another.
August 30, 2022
 
The Episodes That Changed My Mind, Part 1 (Skeptoid #846) - Some of the episodes where I went in expecting one thing, but found something different.
August 23, 2022
 
Your Ghostliest Tales, Explained (Skeptoid #817) - In which we hear, analyze, and attempt to explain the ghostly personal stories you've sent in.
February 1, 2022
 
9/11 Truthers, 20 Years Later (Skeptoid #796) - 20 years after the worst terrorist attack on American soil, the conspiracy theories are still thriving -- just as we should expect.
September 7, 2021
 
Your Turn Again (Skeptoid #792) - In which I take a shot at trying to explain some of the weirdest stories sent in by listeners.
August 10, 2021
 
Top 10 Pro-Science Fictional Characters (Skeptoid #773) - A roundup of all the best pro-science characters from your favorite books, movies, and TV shows.
March 30, 2021
 
Elvis Sightings and You (Skeptoid #763) - People keep thinking Elvis is still alive -- and here's why that matters to you.
January 19, 2021
 
Rethinking Plastic Straw Bans (Skeptoid #717) - Bans on plastic drinking straws are a solution in search of a problem.
March 3, 2020
 
History's Smallest Underground War (Skeptoid #696) - The public's zeal for sensationalism over facts can sometimes have deadly consequences.
October 8, 2019
 
FLICC: 5 Techniques of Science Denial (Skeptoid #691) - One popular rubric for identifying the common techniques used by science deniers.
September 3, 2019
 
Your Weirdest Thing, Vol. 2 (Skeptoid #686) - I give my thoughts trying to solve some of your weirdest experiences.
July 30, 2019
 
Your Weirdest Thing, Vol. 1 (Skeptoid #685) - I take a shot at critical analysis of your weirdest experiences.
July 23, 2019
 
Glyphosate and Behavioral Economics (Skeptoid #676) - How misinformation spread over one of the safest herbicides becoming known as one of the most harmful.
May 21, 2019
 
Vaccine Denial: Failure Mode Analysis (Skeptoid #662) - The surprising history of how medical science's greatest success has become vilified by so many people.
February 12, 2019
 
Stonehenge and the Scope of Uncertainty (Skeptoid #655) - There are things we don't know about Stonehenge, but does that mean we know nothing at all?
December 25, 2018
 
I Believe (Skeptoid #650) - Your beliefs are fallible and can fool you. Be willing to change your mind based on new information.
November 20, 2018
 
Are You Living in a Simulation? (Skeptoid #622) - An exploration of the thought experiment that seeks to determine whether we're living in a computer simulation.
May 8, 2018
 
10 Great Science Hoaxes (Skeptoid #617) - A look at those few times when hoaxers came closest to fooling those who knew better.
April 3, 2018
 
A Musical Retrospective (Skeptoid #600) - Everything you didn't know about ten years of Skeptoid musical episodes, including the reason.
December 5, 2017
 
How to Assess a Documentary (Skeptoid #596) - Some tips to assess whether a documentary is good science or just propaganda.
November 7, 2017
 
Skepticism vs Cynicism (Skeptoid #590) - The line between skepticism and cynicism is a bit too blurry for many people. Today we bring it into focus.
September 26, 2017
 
Celebrity Pseudoscience: 2017 Edition (Skeptoid #588) - A look at which celebrities are currently working hardest to erode the public intellect.
September 12, 2017
 
What Makes a Good Podcast Episode? (Skeptoid #587) - Stories about urban legends are at their best when there are real people at their center.
September 5, 2017
 
Are You Following a Crank? (Skeptoid #581) - Let's have a look at the traits that define a crank, to make sure your new hero isn't one.
July 25, 2017
 
How to Surprise a Skeptical Podcaster, Part 2 (Skeptoid #575) - Here are the podcast episodes with conclusions that surprised me the most (part 2).
June 13, 2017
 
How to Surprise a Skeptical Podcaster, Part 1 (Skeptoid #574) - Here are the podcast episodes with conclusions that surprised me the most (part 1).
June 6, 2017
 
There Is No Finland: Birth of a Conspiracy Theory (Skeptoid #573) - A study of how a conspiracy theory as absurd as "There is no Finland" can even exist.
May 30, 2017
 
Principles of Curiosity (Skeptoid #569) - Three simple steps anyone can follow to learn to tell what's true and what's not.
May 2, 2017
 
The Simple Proof of Man-Made Global Warming (Skeptoid #549) - The two most basic Smoking Guns proving that carbon from fossil fuels is warming the Earth.
December 13, 2016
 
White Hat Journal Hoaxes (Skeptoid #543) - Sometimes the best way to scrutinize an open access journal is to hoax them.
November 1, 2016
 
Don't Try It Before You Knock It (Skeptoid #533) - Try it before you knock it… unless you want to know if it really works.
August 23, 2016
 
No, You Shouldn't Question Everything (Skeptoid #530) - Pop wisdom continually reminds us to Question Everything -- an idea which is rarely either practical or useful.
August 2, 2016
 
The New Flat Earthers (Skeptoid #521) - The reinvented Flat Earth fad is less about geophysics and more about conspiracy mongering.
May 31, 2016
 
Your Thoughts on Making Skepticism Commercial (Skeptoid #514) - A proposal for how we can make skeptical programming more attractive to a larger audience.
April 12, 2016
 
Bad Skepticism: Why You Should Challenge Popular Assumptions (Skeptoid #506) - From swamp gas and waterspouts to alternative medicine, the harm of not challenging popular assumptions.
February 16, 2016
 
Bad Science on PBS (Skeptoid #503) - The reasons why PBS is so quick to promote pseudoscience informercials during pledge drives.
January 26, 2016
 
A Little Curiosity (Skeptoid #500) - If you haven't yet found your curiosity in the first 500 episodes of Skeptoid, find it here.
January 5, 2016
 
Holocaust Denial (Skeptoid #485) - Why some people think the Holocaust never happened, and what to do about it.
September 22, 2015
 
Franklin's Cannibals (Skeptoid #482) - The fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Expedition gives a valuable lesson in types of evidence.
September 1, 2015
 
The Nazi of Nanking (Skeptoid #480) - This most unlikely of guardian angels saved hundreds of thousands of Chinese lives.
August 18, 2015
 
Chemicals (Skeptoid #479) - Chemicals are deadly, delicious, essential and basically, everything.
August 11, 2015
 
The Chess-Playing Mechanical Turk (Skeptoid #476) - An overview of the amazing chess playing robot of the 1700s.
July 21, 2015
 
Agenda 21 (Skeptoid #465) - A look at the conspiratorial hysteria and sensationalism surrounding the United Nations' Agenda 21.
May 5, 2015
 
A Skeptical Look at the News (Skeptoid #439) - How we look at the news is as important as where we get it.
November 4, 2014
 
It's Just Science (Skeptoid #400) - Some pseudoscience promoters attack the messenger rather than the evidence.
February 4, 2014
 
The JFK Assassination (Skeptoid #389) - After so many decades, the number of incompatible conspiracy theories about the death of JFK continues to grow.
November 19, 2013
 
Asking the Socratic Questions (Skeptoid #384) - A line of reasoning named for Socrates helps us help believers in the strange re-examine their beliefs.
October 15, 2013
 
The Science of Muzak (Skeptoid #370) - Background music really can influence our buying decisions in a shopping environment.
July 9, 2013
 
Legislating Pseudoscience (Skeptoid #368) - Lawmakers are often pressured by ideologues to pass laws based on bad science.
June 25, 2013
 
Top 10 Best Pro-Science Celebrities (Skeptoid #349) - A list of ten Hollywood celebrities who have leveraged their fame into the promotion of science.
February 12, 2013
 
How to Tell a Good Website from a Crap Website (Skeptoid #336) - How to tell whether a science article on the web is reliable or not.
November 13, 2012
 
Al-Ghazali and Arab-Islamic Science (Skeptoid #316) - Some say that Persian theologian al-Ghazali was solely responsible for the end of the Golden Age of science.
June 26, 2012
 
The Science and Politics of Global Warming (Skeptoid #309) - How global warming became the poster boy for failed science communication.
May 8, 2012
 
The Secret of the Gypsy Queen (Skeptoid #300) - A little girl saves her kingdom when she is the only one who does not fall for the pop pseudoscience of the day.
March 6, 2012
 
A Magical Journey through the Land of Reasoning Errors (Skeptoid #297) - Four common types of analytical errors in reasoning that we all need to beware of.
February 14, 2012
 
Approaching a Subject Skeptically (Skeptoid #290) - My process for examining a new topic, to learn whether it's fact or fiction.
December 27, 2011
 
The Science of Voting (Skeptoid #281) - Most election methods are fundamentally broken, but can be fixed with any of a number of tweaks.
October 25, 2011
 
Zeno's Paradoxes (Skeptoid #267) - Greek philosopher Zeno apparently proved that movement was impossible with a few simple paradoxes.
July 19, 2011
 
Conspiracy Theorists Aren't Crazy (Skeptoid #264) - We usually dismiss conspiracy theorists as crazy people; but that doesn't tell the whole story.
June 28, 2011
 
Some New Logical Fallacies (Skeptoid #217) - Skeptoid looks at some newer logical fallacies, often used in place of sound arguments.
August 3, 2010
 
Emergency Handbook: What to Do When a Friend Loves Woo (Skeptoid #187) - How you can help a friend or loved one with a potentially harmful pseudoscientific belief
January 5, 2010
 
Should Science Debate Pseudoscience? (Skeptoid #167) - When scientists publicly debate promoters of pseudoscience, they often do more harm than good.
August 18, 2009
 
How to Make Skepticism Commercial (Skeptoid #163) - Critical thinking offers the opposite of what seems to be popular, yet we can still make it commercial.
July 21, 2009
 
Sarah Palin Is Not Stupid (Skeptoid #160) - Good arguments often go unused because poor arguments like ad hominems are so much easier.
June 30, 2009
 
NLP: Neuro-linguistic Programming (Skeptoid #155) - Some regard Neuro-linguistic Programming as a psychotherapy breakthrough, some as a New Age self-help trend.
May 26, 2009
 
Who Is Closed Minded, the Skeptic or the Believer? (Skeptoid #134) - Skeptics and believers both tend to accuse each other of closed-mindedness in their thinking.
December 30, 2008
 
How to Be a Skeptic and Still Have Friends (Skeptoid #116) - Being known as a skeptic is not necessarily good for your social life. Here's how to overcome the difficulties.
August 26, 2008
 
Despicable Vulture Scumbags (Skeptoid #89) - My thoughts on a company that sells useless pseudoscientific hardware to an ALS victim.
February 26, 2008
 
A Magical Journey through the Land of Logical Fallacies, Part 2 (Skeptoid #74) - The second part of our exploration of logical fallacies.
November 13, 2007
 
A Magical Journey through the Land of Logical Fallacies, Part 1 (Skeptoid #73) - An examination of many of the most common logical fallacies.
November 6, 2007
 
Subliminal Seduction (Skeptoid #63) - Wilson Key's magnum opus textbook about subliminal advertising was almost pure fiction.
August 28, 2007
 
Science Magazines Violating Their Own Missions (Skeptoid #52) - Science magazines continue to undermine themselves by publishing ads for pseudoscientific products.
June 30, 2007
 
The Importance of Teaching Critical Thinking (Skeptoid #45) - Teaching critical thinking to students needs to be much more than simply asking the Socratic questions.
May 16, 2007
 
How to Spot Pseudoscience (Skeptoid #37) - This 15-point checklist will help you tell science from pseudoscience.
April 6, 2007
 
Scientists Are Not Created Equal (Skeptoid #25) - The word "scientist" can mean just about anything you want it to mean.
February 5, 2007
 
The "New" Bill of Rights (Skeptoid #18) - An amended Bill of Rights to better reflect modern American values.
January 1, 2007
 
A Primer on Scientific Testing (Skeptoid #13) - Understand the basics of scientific testing.
December 11, 2006
 
An Evolution Primer for Young Earth Creationists (Skeptoid #10) - Evolution 101 for Young Earth Creationists who want to know better.
November 30, 2006
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Now Trending...

How to Extract Adrenochrome from Children

The Myers-Briggs Personality Test

Tartaria and the Mud Flood

Exploring Kincaid's Cave

The Historicity of Jesus Christ

St. Patrick's Day Myths

The Red Haired Giants of Lovelock Cave

The Siberian Hell Sounds