Skeptoid
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Skeptoid #363: All About Graphology
Graphology is the art of divining things about someone's personality and aptitudes by analyzing their handwriting. Is it scientifically valid?
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Skeptoid #362: Polybius: Video Game of Death
An urban legend says that a 1981 video arcade game called Polybius sickened players, or even drove them to suicide, while government agents collected the data.
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Skeptoid #361: The 16 Personalities of Sybil
The book and movie "Sybil" told the story of a woman purported to have Multiple Personality Syndrome. But how much of it, if any, was true?
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Skeptoid #360: Lincoln Kennedy Myths
An old story claims a long list of astonishing similarities between the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy. Are they true, false, taken out of context, or something else?
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Skeptoid #359: Cupping for the Cure
Cupping, the practice of putting suction cups on the skin to create bruises, has been around for at least 2000. Does its antiquity mean that it has healthful benefits?
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Skeptoid #358: Listener Feedback: Aliens and UFOs
Skeptoid dips into the feedback mailbag and answers questions written in response to episodes about aliens, UFOs, and other scary things from space.
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Skeptoid #357: The Aquatic Ape Theory
One popular fringe theory about human evolution states that we went through an aquatic phase, thus we are hairless, blubbery, and otherwise adapted for life in the water.
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Skeptoid #355: John Titor, Time Traveler
An Internet legend claims that a man named John Titor is a visitor from the year 2036. Do we have any reason to take this story at face value, or to dismiss it at face value?
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Skeptoid #355: The Airplane that Wasn't There
A B-25 bomber ditched in a Pennsylvania river in broad daylight 1956. Many witnesses saw it and the survivors are still here. But, incredibly, the big bomber has never been found in the small river.
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Skeptoid #354: The Pentagon and the Missile
The list of 9/11 conspiracy theories is a long one. Today we look at a few of the claims surrounding the idea that it wasn't an airliner that struck the Pentagon on 9/11, but a missile.
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Skeptoid #353: Pope Joan
Legend holds that a Middle Ages pope was revealed to be a woman when she unexpectedly gave birth. Is there any truth to this tale?
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Skeptoid #352: Facts and Fiction of the Schumann...
This cavity in our atmosphere resonates radio frequency at 7.83 Hz. But is that all it does? Many proponents of alternative medicine and New Age advocates say it does much more.
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Skeptoid #351: Men in Black
Some say the mysterious black-clad agents who visit UFO witnesses to threaten and intimidate them are from the US Government; others say they come from much farther away.
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Skeptoid #350: Trinity: Interview with Dr. Oz, Alex...
Skeptoid interviews three of the most popular and controversial figures in modern pseudoscience: TV doctor Dr. Mehmet Oz, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and New Age guru Deepak Chopra.
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Skeptoid #349: Top 10 Best Pro-Science Celebrities
A list of ten Hollywood celebrities who have leveraged their fame to proactively create new resources promoting good science and critical thinking.
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Skeptoid #348: Ganzfeld Experiments
The ganzfeld experiments are often claimed to be the strongest evidence yet for telepathic abilities, and yet the history of their analyses reveals that they are anything but.
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Skeptoid #347: The Lost Dutchman Gold Mine
The Lost Dutchman is said to be the greatest of all the "lost mines" in the history of the American west, but a closer examination reveals a history that fails to stand up to skeptical scrutiny.
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Skeptoid #346: Listener Feedback: Me and My Terrible...
Skeptoid responds to another round of listener feedback, focusing on criticism of argument techniques.
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Skeptoid #345: The Cult of Nikola Tesla
The name of Nikola Tesla is associated with crazy conspiracy claims at least as much as with the real man and his real accomplishments. In this episode we try to separate what he really did from the pop-culture version.
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Skeptoid #344: Olgoi-Khorkhoi: The Mongolian Death Worm
Mongolian tradition holds that a strange and deadly worm lives beneath the sands of the Gobi desert. How this local belief became a fixture in Western cryptozoology is an even more interesting tale.
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Skeptoid #343: The Hollow Earth Theory
Throughout history, different sects have held different beliefs about the Earth being hollow. These have included honest scientific inquiry, occult mysticism, and conspiracy mongering.
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Skeptoid #342: Was the Wow! Signal Alien?
In 1977 a radio telescope received a signal from deep space so closely matching what we'd expect an alien transmission to look like, that the astronomer on duty circled it and wrote "Wow!"
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Skeptoid #341: Free Energy Machines
For centuries, mankind has been striving for magically easy solutions to difficult problems, best illustrated by perpetual motion machines that promise limitless free energy.
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Skeptoid #340: Listener Feedback: A Cacophony of...
Skeptoid answers another round of listener feedback emails, this time focusing on conspiracy theories. We look at how you can convince your conspiratorial friends that their theories are nonsensical.
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Skeptoid #339: Setting the Bloop Straight
The solution to the Bloop mystery sound is finally revealed, and Skeptoid corrects some errors from other episodes.
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Skeptoid #338: The Flat Earth Theory
Everyone knows the Earth is a globe, and we've known it since the ancient Greeks measured it. So why are there stories of a Flat Earth Society, and related legends?
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Skeptoid #337: The Bermuda Triangle and the Devil's Sea
Pop culture tells us that an unusual number of mysterious disappearances have happened inside the Bermuda Triangle and Japan's Devil's Sea. Is this a true claim, or is there a yet-undiscovered explanation?
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Skeptoid #336: How to Tell a Good Website from a Crap...
A tutorial for learning some of the signs that laypeople can use to discriminate between reliable science information on a website, and crap information on a website.
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Skeptoid #335: Cleansing Diets: Why or Why Not?
Cleansing diets are trendier than ever, claiming to clean out your body and cure all kinds of supposed conditions. Do they actually work as advertised, or is it just another trendy fad?
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Skeptoid #334: The Betz Mystery Sphere
In 1974, a Florida family found a strange metallic ball that seemed to move around all by itself and had a myriad of other strange powers. What was it, and whatever became of it?
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Skeptoid #333: Student Questions: Dancing Plague and the...
Skeptoid answers student questions on the medieval dancing plague, the ketogenic diet, bee colony collapse disorder, devolution of humanity, death from cinnamon, and who built the pyramids.
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Skeptoid #332: The Phantom Time Hypothesis
A few fringe conspiracy theorists claim that several centuries never actually happened, and were faked by the Church. How can we tell whether this is true or not?
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Skeptoid #331: The Kelly-Hopkinsville Encounter
In 1995, at the height of the UFO craze, a rural Kentucky fought a protracted gun battle with with they thought were aliens from a landed spaceship. What really happened?
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Skeptoid #330: Hypnotism: Hijacking Your Brain?
There are many popular misconceptions about the origins and capabilities of hypnotism, including skepticism over whether it's even real at all or not. We look at what's actually known.
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Skeptoid #329: Is She Real, or Is She Fictional?
Skeptoid takes a look at 24 women well known from history. But which of them are actual historical figures, and which are from the realm of fiction?
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Skeptoid #328: Secrets of the Stradivarius
History's greatest stringed instrument, the Stradivarius violin, has an amazing reputation for incomparable sound that no other can match. Is there a secret, or is the reputation perhaps undeserved?
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Skeptoid #327: Raiding the Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant is regarded by many Biblical literalists as a real physical object, and it just so happens that that probably is indeed the case. Only, which Ark do they mean?
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Skeptoid #326: The Mystery of the Vitrified Forts
About sixty prehistoric stone forts in Scotland have vitrified walls, where the stone was melted into glass. Some say this was impossible with the technology of the day.
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Skeptoid #325: The Golden Ratio
Based on the Fibonacci series, the golden ratio is an interesting construct found in both mathematics and in nature. But is it really the end-all and be-all that its advocates make it out to be?
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Skeptoid #324: Listener Feedback: That Darned Science
A lot of people have misconceptions about how the scientific method works and whether it's valid. In this episode we answer some emailed questions about this topic specifically.
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Skeptoid #323: 8 Spooky Places, and Why They're Like That
These strange places around the world rank among the most macabre. Some have fascinating historical explanations, and others are explained by cultural traditions.
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Skeptoid #322: Negative Calorie Food Myths
Negative calorie foods, said to require more energy to digest than they provide, are a popular food fad. But is this supported by science, or is it just another pop urban legend?
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Skeptoid #321: Skinwalkers
Navajo witches and sorcerers are said to be able to shapeshift into dangerous animals that attack and harass the living. Some think there may be some science behind the tall tales.
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Skeptoid #320: The Suicide Dogs of Overtoun Bridge
There's a bridge in Scotland where dogs are said to deliberately commit suicide. Is this indeed the case, or can science and observation shine a little better light on the question?
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Skeptoid #319: Student Questions: Food Woo and Iron Man...
Skeptoid answer student questions surround various popular myths about food, brain training computer programs, miracle cancer cures in the rainforest, and whether iron in your blood can get you stopped at a metal detector.
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Skeptoid #318: The Loch Ness Monster
There are many theories and many stories surrounding the Loch Ness Monster. We point the skeptical eye to see which are facts, and which aren't so much.
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Skeptoid #317: Attack of the Nanobots!
Nanotechnology takes many forms - mostly industrial, but also in the possibility of an army of self-replicating machines capable of turning everything on the planet into a grey goo of nanobots.
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New Skeptoid Books!
Skeptoid announces two new paperbacks: "Astronauts, Aliens, and Ape-Men" plus "The Secret of the Gypsy Queen".
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Skeptoid #316: Al-Ghazali and Arab-Islamic Science
Arab-Islamic culture led the world in science and intellect during their Golden Age, but then it came to an end and there have been virtually no Arab-Islamic discoveries since then. Why not?
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Skeptoid #315: The Tehran 1976 UFO
Declassified military documents show that Iranian fighter planes engaged a UFO in 1976. But is this all we know, or can we analyze details to get a better idea of what actually took place?
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Skeptoid #314: Botches and Bungles
Every so often I like to correct any errors that have been found in previous episodes. Enjoy this list of corrections and errata, and send more if you find them.
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Skeptoid #313: Area 51 Facts and Fiction
Some believe that alien spacecraft are the true business of the US military\'s secret test facility at Area 51. But does history confirm this, or does it give us a different tale?
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The Amazing Meeting 2012
This summer in Las Vegas, I am going to make your brain fail at The Amazing Meeting, the most amazing meeting you\'ll ever attend.
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Skeptoid #312: Student Questions: Marauding Mammoths and...
Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by students all around the world. This time: Bikram yoga, cloning mammoths, kitchen bacteria, Queen Elizabeth\'s gender, eating and dreams, and cholesterol.
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Skeptoid #311: The Rothschild Conspiracy
Some believe that world governments and economies are secretly controlled by the Rothschild banking family, which was quite powerful in the 1800s. Is their power truly still as strong today?
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Skeptoid #310: Left Handed Myths and Facts
There are many popular anecdotes about how and why some people are left-handed. The true facts are even more interesting: differences in aptitudes, health, and even longevity.
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College of Curiosity - May 26, 2012
Don't miss this incredible 1-day event.
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Skeptoid #309: The Science and Politics of Global Warming
Global warming is the poster boy for failed science communication. What went wrong? It was presented to the public as a political issue, and not as a science.
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Skeptoid T-Shirt Design Competition
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Skeptoid #308: Picnic at Hanging Rock
The classic book and movie is believed by some to be fact, others to be fiction, and still others a combination. What's the truth behind the tale?
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Skeptoid #307: The Siberian Hell Sounds
In 1989, Russian scientists are said to have drilled a borehole in Siberia that broke into hell and released the screams of the damned. But did it ever actually happen?
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Skeptoid #306: Listener Feedback XX
Once again, Skeptoid dips into the feedback mailbag to respond to comments from listeners.
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Skeptoid #305: I Can't Believe They Did That: Human...
Sometimes, ethical considerations or a lack of knowledge have prevented certain experiments from being tested on other people, and scientists have had to put their own bodies on the line.
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Skeptoid #304: Catching Jack the Ripper
Many theories surround the identity of Jack the Ripper, history's most infamous serial killer. Is there truly any evidence that supports any of these theories?
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Skeptoid #303: Are Vinyl Recordings Better than Digital?
Many audio aficionados split into two camps, those supporting modern digital audio, and those supporting vinyl records. Is either truly or superior format, and can humans really even tell?
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Skeptoid #302: De Loys' Ape
In the early 20th century, oil company geologist Francois de Loys took a famous photograph of what he says was a new species of ape. Does the photograph have a different history than he claimed?
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Skeptoid #301: The Beale Ciphers
Treasure hunters comb Virginia search for a legendary hoard of gold and silver, known only from a few encoded documents, the most important of which remain undeciphered.
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Skeptoid #300: The Secret of the Gypsy Queen
In which a little girl saves her kingdom when she is the only one who does not fall for the pop pseudoscience of the day.
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Announcing Skeptoid Episode 300
A big milestone...
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Skeptoid #299: Star Jelly
For centuries, jellylike blobs have been reported to fall from the sky during meteor showers. Are they really from outer space, or is there a more Earthly explanation?
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Skeptoid #298: Student Questions: Free Energy and...
Skeptoid answers student questions about the efficacy of drinking coffee, whether you should go swimming 30 minutes after eating, amber teething rings for babies, neutrinos that travel faster than light, the E-Cat cold fusion device, and whether the consumption of certain foods causes inflammation.
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Skeptoid #297: A Magical Journey through the Land of...
Four common types of analytical errors in reasoning are made every day, by people trying to deceive us, by people unintentionally deceiving us, and by ourselves.
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Skeptoid #296: The Versailles Time Slip
Two women, college teachers from Oxford visited Versailles in 1901. While there, they suddenly time-traveled back to 1789 and saw Marie Antoinette. Is their story true?
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Skeptoid #295: Finding Amelia Earhart
Popular modern reports claim Amelia Earhart made it to an island and survived for a time, and though these stories are often widely reported, they are not at all consistent with the known facts.
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Skeptoid 300th Episode Party
The Skeptoid 300th Episode Party will be on March 3, 2012 at the University of California, Irvine. Featuring comedy from Joshie Berger and Troy Conrad, mentalism from Mark Edward, and of course the World Premiere of Skeptoid episode #300. Tickets at http://skeptoid.com.
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Skeptoid #294: Frequent Listener Feedback
There are a number of common flaws in logical thinking that pop up fairly regularly. Today Skeptoid answers some emails that illustrate a few of the most popular.
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Skeptoid #293: Wunderwaffen: Nazi Wonder Weapons
We love to attach mysticism and occultism to the Nazis. Their military might and cruelty almost demand some such explanation. But how much of this gilding is actually true?
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Skeptoid #292: The Grey Man of Ben MacDhui
A thin, dark phantom three times the height of a man is said to stalk this peak in the Cairngorms. What do we actually know about it, and what part of it might be real?
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Skeptoid #291: The Toxic Lady
In 1994, a woman was brought into an emergency room in Riverside, California. When staff drew blood, fumes knocked out most of the staff and hospitalized some. What happened?
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Skeptoid #290: Approaching a Subject Skeptically
Examining a new topic to learn whether it's fact or fiction is not a trivial matter. In this episode I detail my own process, and some of the pitfalls.
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Skeptoid #289: The Mystery of the Mary Celeste
The Mary Celeste was famous discovering drifting at sea with nobody on board. Many have offered explanations for what happened, but nobody knows for sure. Here's what we do know.
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Skeptoid #288: Pit Bull Attack!
Pit bulls have a reputation for being the most dangerous dog breed, so much so that they are actually banned in many places. Is this reputation deserved?
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Skeptoid #287: Korean Fan Death
Many Koreans believe that sleeping with an electric fan running can actually kill you, but many western scientists scoff at the notion. Is there a more subtle truth in between?
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Skeptoid #286: Listener Feedback: Dorothy and Her Straw...
The straw man is one of the most common of the logical fallacies. Today Skeptoid responds to a number of feedback emails that were particular dependent on this ruse.
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Skeptoid #285: Slips and Goofs
As always, Skeptoid gladly corrects any errors found in past episodes. Here is another batch of such corrections along with helpful additional information.
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Skeptoid #284: The Fate of Fletcher Christian
Fletcher Christian led the mutiny on the Bounty and escaped to Pitcairn Island to found the small nation's colony. But some say he actually made it back to freedom in England.
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Skeptoid #283: Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites
Skeptoid's Top 10 list of the worst offenders on the web in the promotion of scientific and factual misinformation. Sadly, this could easily have been a Top 100...
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Skeptoid #282: The Jersey Devil
The Jersey Devil, also called the Leeds Devil, is said to have been haunting New Jersey since 1735. We take a look at its original roots to see if we can learn what it really is.
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Skeptoid #281: The Science of Voting
Democracy is a fine thing, except for one problem: No fair voting system exists to ensure the most favored candidate wins an election. What to do?
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Skeptoid #280: Finding Shakespeare
Claims that someone other than Shakespeare wrote the Bard's works have persisted since about 150 years after his death - and today, they're stronger than ever.
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Skeptoid #279: Noah's Ark: Sea Trials
Whether you believe the Noah story to be a literal true account or not, the naval engineering questions associated with its construction are fascinating.
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Skeptoid #278: Brainwashing and Deprogramming
Brainwashing was attempted by the Chinese during the Korean war, and became the default explanation for cult membership. Did it really happen the way history describes it?
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Skeptoid #277: Student Questions: A Few Good Myths
Skeptoid answers student questions on the subjects of the paleolithic diet, the psychotherapy EMDR, stainless steel to remove odors from chefs' hands, polyphasic sleeping, burn-in of audio equipment, and the great PC slowdown conspiracy.
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Skeptoid #276: The Monster of Glamis
Glamis Castle in Scotland is one of the world's most famous castles, with a famous beast to go along with it. We'll look and see how much of the story is verifiable, and learn what actually happened.
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Skeptoid #275: All About Fracking
Fracking, the process of hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells, is one of the most controversial topics of the day. How much of the furor against it is justified by the science?
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Skeptoid #274: Listener Feedback Revolutions
Skeptoid answers questions and criticisms from listeners on the Scole Experiment, Morgellons Disease, New Age Energy, and Edgar Cayce.
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Skeptoid #273: Wi-Fi, Smart Meters, and Other Radio...
Some lobbying groups ardently claim that common radio transmitters, such as those in cell phones, smart utility meters, and wi-fi hubs are carcinogenic or otherwise harmful to humans.
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Skeptoid #272: Are We Alone?
Most agree that there are other technological civilizations out there in the galaxy, but have we been visited by them? There's no evidence that we have, but what are the chances?
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Skeptoid #271: The Zionist Conspiracy
For as long as there have been Jews, there have been conspiracy theories predicting that they're planning to take over the world's governments. How much truth is there to these suspicions?
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Skeptoid #270: The Hessdalen Lights
Scientists and UFOlogists in Norway are looking at some highly exotic, sci-fi sounding explanations for these remote ghost lights. But it turns out that the true explanation might be a lot more mundane than they hope.
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Skeptoid #269: The Abominable Snowman
The infamous Yeti is said to stalk the high snow fields of the Himalayas, and has even been photographed and left artifacts. Is there sufficient proof that we must accept its existence?
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Skeptoid #268: Student Questions: Energy Shots and...
Skeptoid answers questions sent in by students on caffeinated energy shots, Internet myths about sunscreen, "information" in thermodynamics, suppressed miracle cancer cures, and drinking hot water from the tap.
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Skeptoid #267: Zeno's Paradoxes
The paradoxes developed by the Greek philosopher Zeno seem to prove that movement is impossible, and therefore we must not live in the physical universe we think we do. Could he have been right?
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Skeptoid #266: Feedback through a Fine Toothed Comb
Today it's time for some more listener feedback, and we're going to put even the craziest of listener emails under the microscope to evaluate their logic... such as it is.
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Skeptoid #265: "Curing" Gays
A growing trend in the media is the promotion of therapy programs intended to "cure" gays and make them straight. Are these therapies real, and can they actually do what they claim?
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Skeptoid #264: Conspiracy Theorists Aren't Crazy
Conspiracy theorists, who believe wild and implausible stories, seem to have a screw loose somewhere. But are their brains really working improperly?
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Skeptoid #263: Anastasia
When Tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed in Russia in 1918, some say that his daughter Anastasia somehow escaped and went on to live in the United States.
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Skeptoid #262: The Haitian Zombies
Tradition tells of zombies that wander Haiti as slave laborers. Are they really corpses reanimated by black magic, or is there a more plausible explanation?
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Skeptoid #261: Near Death Experiences
Many who narrowly escape death on the operating table report euphoric afterlife experiences. But it turns out that these same effects are also associated with simple hypoxia. Does it explain all of them?
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Skeptoid #260: Military Dolphins: James Bonds of the Sea
Dolphins and sea lions are acknowledged to perform simple military duties like locate mines and retrieve lost objects, but are they also used for much more sinister purposes?
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Skeptoid #259: Mao's Barefoot Doctors: The Secret...
Conventional wisdom tells us that alternative medicine is preferred in China, but it's simply not true. Neither is it completely true that Mao pushed it onto the Chinese because it was inexpensive.
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Skeptoid #258: Spontaneous Human Combustion
For hundreds of years, some unsolved cases of death by fire have been called spontaneous because there was no source of ignition found. Is the absence of evidence actually evidence of absence?
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Skeptoid #257: The Secret of Plum Island
The Plum Island Animal Research Center is known for defending our food supply against foot and mouth disease, but some say their true purpose is much darker.
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Skeptoid #256: Student Questions: Supermoons and an...
Skeptoid answers student questions. Today's topics include a variety of health related questions such as an apple a day and various causes of cancer, plus a look at the media's darling Supermoon.
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Skeptoid #255: Superhuman Strength during a Crisis
Hysterical strength is what we call temporary superpowers summoned by those undergoing the adrenalin rush of the fight or flight response. Can it really boost your strength as much as the stories say?
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Skeptoid #254: Finding the POW/MIAs
Some believe that American soldiers missing in action since the Vietnam War are still being held captive as prisoners of war. The military denies it. Where are they?
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Skeptoid #253: The Port Arthur Massacre
In 1996, a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania. Was he acting alone, or was it a conspiracy by the government to get firearms banned?
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Skeptoid #252: The Voynich Manuscript
The Voynich manuscript was written in the early 1400s, and to this day, nobody has been able to translate or read a single word of it.
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Skeptoid #251: Listener Feedback: Nobody Ever Posts Twice
Skeptoid dives into the mailbag to answer some emails from listeners. Recorded live at the 250th Episode party at the University of California, Irvine.
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Skeptoid #250: The History of Knowledge
A trip through the centuries to see how human knowledge is reflected through music.
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Skeptoid #249: Student Questions: Airport X-Rays,...
Today Skeptoid answers questions from students about airport X-ray machines; claims made by shampoo companies; the safety of non-stick cookware; cloth diapers vs. disposables; and what effects the Moon has on us.
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Skeptoid #248: The Exorcism of Anneliese
Anneliese Michel is only one of many thousands of people who have been killed by exorcism rites. Does this prehistoric ritual have any place in modern psychiatric care?
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Skeptoid #247: The Miracle of Calanda
A young man's amputated leg was said to have been miraculously restored in 1640, with plenty of hard evidence to back it up. But is this really the best interpretation of that evidence?
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Skeptoid #246: Corrections, Errata, Blunders, and...
Skeptoid revisits another batch of episodes with errors, and rights the wrongs.
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Skeptoid #245: Finding the Lost Colony of Roanoke
When Sir Walter Raleigh sent a colony to settle in America on Roanoke Island, every person disappeared. What happened to them?
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Skeptoid #244: Nuclear War and Nuclear Winter
Some say that the atmospheric smoke from fires following a nuclear war will create devastating global cooling; others say this is grossly exaggerated.
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Skeptoid #243: Student Questions: Orbo, EVPs, and...
Skeptoid answers student questions on perpetual motion machines, electronic voice phenomena, semen retention, the authenticity of Shakespeare's works, and the value of antioxidants.
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Skeptoid #242: Scientology
Scientology is notorious for opposing psychiatry, for a bizarre apace opera dogma, and for suing its detractors. Is there more to the story than that?
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Skeptoid #241: The Alien Buried in Texas
In 1897, the newspapers reported that an alien spacecraft crashed in Aurora, Texas, and that the pilot's body was buried in the local cemetery. Can we simply dig it up and find out the truth?
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Skeptoid #240: Mystery Spots
Mystery spots all around the world, both natural and manmade, purport to be places where gravity works wrong. Is this truly the explanation, or might there be something else at foot?
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Skeptoid #239: Gluten Free Diets
Some people are sensitive to gluten and must adopt gluten free diets, but what about the rest of us? Do we also need to be concerned about gluten?
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Skeptoid #238: More Hollywood Myths
Skeptoid takes a look at another batch of rumors from classic Hollywood, including a deep examination of the story that John Wayne's cancer death was caused by filming downwind of the Nevada Test Site.
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Skeptoid #237: Hollywood Myths
Fancy legends come from nowhere if not from Hollywood. Classic Hollywood has produced more than its share of myths, and Skeptoid looks into them to see whether they're true, or just more show biz.
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Skeptoid #236: Whales and Sonar
Navy sonar has been proven to cause whale strandings, and even the Navy agrees this is a real risk. But some activist claim much broader danger. What are the real facts?
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Skeptoid #235: IQ Testing
IQ testing grew out of the eugenics movement, a way to measure which people were of the most (and least) value to society. Does this idea still have any relevance today?
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Skeptoid #234: The South Atlantic Anomaly
Unlike the Bermuda Triangle, the South Atlantic Anomaly is a real region with measurable physical properties that truly do pose a danger. Is it knocking aircraft out of the sky?
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Skeptoid #233: Student Questions: Bird Gender and Bad...
Skeptoid answers questions from students on food preservatives embalming your body, playing music for unborn fetuses, violent video games, sexing a bird with a pendulum, and karma.
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Skeptoid #232: Listener Feedback Rides Again
Skeptoid answers some more listener feedback emails, ranging from the sane and helpful to the insane and delusional.
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Skeptoid #231: The Mystery of STENDEC
In 1947, a British South American Airways flight crashed in the Andes, killing all aboard, but not before sending an unexplained radio message: STENDEC. What did it mean?
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Skeptoid #230: DDT: Secret Life of a Pesticide
DDT has been banned for its environmental effects like eggshell thinning, but this must be weighed against its life saving potential for malaria victims.
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Skeptoid #229: Speed Reading
A critical look at speed reading, and its claims of boosting your words per minute from a few hundred to a few thousand. Is this really something that your brain is wired to do?
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Skeptoid #228: My Favorite Things
In this episode I talk about some of the moments that have excited me the most when producing Skeptoid, and show why I love making it so much. I hope you like it too.
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History of the Egg
Enjoy this song created by listener Nate Kelley, made from samples of Skeptoid episodes.
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Skeptoid #227: Boost Your Immune System (or Not)
Products everywhere are sold with the claim that they'll boost your immune system. Does that have any medical meaning? Is it something you'd really want to do? We point the skeptical eye at the claim.
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Skeptoid #226: The Brown Mountain Lights
For a hundred years, a ghost light in North Carolina has had people wondering what it might be. What are the historical explanations, and do any of them turn out to be the correct one?
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Skeptoid #225: Beware the Bilderberg Group!
Conspiracy theorist claim the Bilderberg Group consists of the world's power brokers planning Global Domination. Is this in fact true, or is the group's stated purpose the real one?
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Skeptoid #224: Alien Downpour: The Red Rain of India
When it rained red in India in 2001, some fringe researchers claimed it must have been alien spore from an interstellar comet. Science, however, produced a much more mundane explanation. Which was correct?
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Skeptoid #223: The Frog in the Stone
History is full of tall tales of living frogs and toads being found encased in solid rock, and hopping out once the rock is broken. How did they get there, and how could they have survived all those centuries?
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Skeptoid #222: Toil and Trouble: The Curse of Macbeth
According to theater lore, witches placed a curse on Shakespeare's Macbeth that should make the play too dangerous to perform. We take a look at its actual history to see if we can find evidence of such a curse.
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Skeptoid #221: The Myers-Briggs Personality Test
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the world's most widely used psychological metric. But does it really have any psychological value, or is it little more than a horoscope?
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Skeptoid #220: Yonaguni Monument: The Japanese Atlantis
Yonaguni Monument is a great fractured sandstone feature off the coast of Japan, said by some to have been built by human hands. Skeptoid takes a look at the evidence for, and the evidence against.
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Skeptoid #219: Stalin's Human-Ape Hybrids
There's a popular urban legend that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of half-ape, half-human hybrids as a slave army of soldiers and laborers. Did this ever actually happen?
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Skeptoid #218: The Astronauts and the Aliens
Stories abound that astronauts have reported UFOs in space, stories that have been covered up by the government. Are they true? What really happened?
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Skeptoid #217: Some New Logical Fallacies
Skeptoid looks at some newer logical fallacies, which are ways to argue a point with rhetoric when you don't have good evidence.
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Skeptoid #216: The Things We Eat...
All sorts of people have all sorts of philosophies on what you should eat and what you shouldn't. What are those philosophies based on: Sound food science, or ideology?
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Skeptoid #215: Listener Feedback Resurrection
Skeptoid responds to some very (ahem) thoughtful emails from some very (ahem) interesting listeners.
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Skeptoid #214: Student Questions: Gold as an Investment...
Skeptoid answers student questions on investing in gold, neurofeedback, the safety of Swedish snus, FEMA coffins, and gaining your nutrition by staring at the sun.
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Skeptoid #213: Mozart and Salieri
Ever since the 1984 movie Amadeus came out, most people generally believe that Mozart was killed by his jealous rival, the Italian composer Antonio Salieri. How much truth is there to this rumor?
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Skeptoid #212: Things About Which I Have In Error Been
Once again I revisit some previous episodes that contained errors, and hopefully get them right this time.
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Skeptoid #211: Attack on Pearl Harbor
One of the most popular conspiracy theories from World War II is that the American government had advance knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack, and allowed it to happen anyway, as an excuse to justify declaring war on Japan.
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Skeptoid #210: The North American Union
It's often called the Mother of All Conspiracy Theories: the idea that the United States, Canada, and Mexico are all planning to give up their sovereignty and merge into a single huge police state.
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Skeptoid #209: The Lost Ship of the Desert
Stories about of Viking longships and Spanish galleons turning up in the middle of the American deserts where no ship has any business being. Are they true?
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Skeptoid #208: The Westall '66 UFO
200 students watched a strange craft fly near their school in Australia in 1966. Must it have been an alien spacecraft, or are there more reasonable alternate explanations?
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Skeptoid #207: Dinosaurs Among Us
Some cryptozoologists and Young Earth Creationists believe that examples of ancient art prove that dinosaurs and humans coexisted. Do these artworks really serve as proof, or even as good evidence?
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Skeptoid #206: Morgellons Disease
In this newly described condition, some patients report strange plastic fibers growing from their skin. The symptoms are identical to those of acute stress. Can treating the patient for stress address the Morgellons?
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Skeptoid #205: Beyond Listener Feedback
Another trip to the Listener Feedback files, including my favorite yet.
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Skeptoid #204: Mengele's Boys from Brazil
After World War II, the Nazi Angel of Death Josef Mengele escaped to South America. And a town in Brazil has an unusually high rate of twins. Are the two connected? Did Mengele continue his human experiments after the war?
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Skeptoid #203: Therapeutic Touch
Therapeutic touch is a healing method used by many nurses to treat pain. It involves waving your hands over the patient's body to manipulate their magnetic field. Does this field exist, and is there any evidence that doing this would be beneficial to the patient?
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Skeptoid #202: The Mystery of Pumapunku
Pumapunku in Bolivia contains some of the ancient world's most complex works of stonemasonry. So complex, some say, that only aliens could have made them. Is this truly the best state of our knowledge about these structures?
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Skeptoid #201: The Virgin of Guadalupe
The Virgin of Guadalupe is said to be a miraculous image on ancient Mexican fabric. Is it correct to accept this, to dismiss it as silly, or is there a more significant history that's more intriguing than either of those?
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Skeptoid #200: Buy It!
You should never blindly trust what we've learned from science. A true skeptic will only trust claims coming from those who are trying to sell us something.
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Announcing Skeptoid #200
Skeptoid hits a milestone: 200 episodes. Learn how it works behind the scenes, and find out how you can help.
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Skeptoid #199: Cargo Cults
Certain cultures in the South Pacific believe that if they can recreate the conditions of WWII, ships and planes will arrive bearing cargos like those that brought them modern luxuries 70 years ago. But is their belief system really that simple, or is there more to it?
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Skeptoid #198: The Georgia Guidestones
Dubbed "America's Stonehenge", the Georgia Guidestones were erected in 1980, bearing an inscription that seems to advocate global genocide and the dawn of a New World Order.
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Skeptoid #197: Listener Feedback Strikes Back
Skeptoid takes another perilous dive into the listener feedback files.
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Skeptoid #196: Zeitgeist: The Movie, Myths, and...
The Internet movie Zeitgeist is among a new breed of machines spreading conspiracy theories. Zeitgeist is a little different in that its true motivation is to advocate a utopian ideology. This raises the question: Why, then, promote the untrue conspiracy theories?
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Skeptoid #195: Student Questions: Mosquito Repellent and...
Skeptoid answers student questions on electronic mosquito repellents, the Petition Project of scientists who deny global warming, getting sick from being near someone with a cold, athleticism of different races, and whether Einstein was smart because he spent an extra month in the womb.
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Skeptoid #194: The Denver Airport Conspiracy
Conspiracy theorists claim that Denver International Airport is a headquarters from which the Illuminati will launch the New World Order via a global genocide. Are there other explanations for the clues they see?
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Skeptoid #193: The Faces of Belmez
Beginning in 1971, a series of ghastly faces began appearing on the concrete floor of a house in a Spanish village. Should people make life decisions based on their belief that these faces were divinely inspired?
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Skeptoid #192: Ball Lightning
Ball lightning is often the first explanation many of us reach for when we hear any report involving a glowing orb of light. But science has yet to confirm that such a thing even exists at all, and the widely varying eyewitness reports don't help either.
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Skeptoid #191: Did Jewish Slaves Build the Pyramids?
Popular mythology tells us that the pyramids were built by Jewish slaves, but is there any evidence supporting this? Apparently not. Jews were elsewhere at the time, and skilled Egyptian workers were found to have been at the pyramids.
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Skeptoid #190: The Bell Island Boom
In 1978, a massive boom shook this small island in Newfoundland, destroying buildings, killing animals, and ruining electrical wiring. Some say it was a test of a US superweapon. What does the evidence support?
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Skeptoid #189: Martial Arts Magic
Some call it Bullshido: Martial arts tricks that you see on YouTube. Instructors knocking out their students with a single touch, or even no touch at all. These con men have been tricking people into their schools for decades.
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Skeptoid #188: Student Questions: String Theory, the...
Skeptoid answers some student questions. This week: string theory, the Asian Flush, the Peltzman Effect, health benefits of daylight lamps, and temperature's effect on arthritis pain.
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Skeptoid #187: Emergency Handbook: What to Do When a...
We all have friends and loved ones with pseudoscientific, supernatural, or just plain wrong beliefs. Sometimes these beliefs can become a danger to them. Here are some steps you can follow to help them see the light.
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Skeptoid #186: More Things I'm Wrong About
Skeptoid takes a look back at some old episodes that had errors in them needing correction. Some are big, some are small, all need a slap upside the head.
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Skeptoid #185: Is Barefoot Better?
Some proponents advocate that going barefoot is not only better for the health of your feet, it can also help you perform better in sports or in virtually every other life situation.
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Skeptoid #184: The Antikythera Mechanism
The Antikythera Mechanism is a sophisticated bronze instrument found in a shipwreck, dated 1000 years earlier than known peoples were able to build such things. Does it prove the existence of aliens, time travelers, or Atlanteans?
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Skeptoid #183: The Naga Fireballs
Each October, a Thai festival celebrates the end of the Buddhist Lent with a giant river serpent who spits flaming balls into the sky. You can actually see them. Is there a natural explanation, or is the river serpent real?
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Skeptoid #182: Listener Feedback X
Skeptoid addresses some listener feedback pertaining to the Rendlesham Forest UFO, network marketing, microwaved food, and evil worldwide conspiracies of Illuminati.
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Skeptoid #181: The Baigong Pipes
On a lakeshore in China, modern metal pipes can be found buried throughout the ancient sediment, as much as 150,000 years ago. Does this prove an alien construction project, or might there be a natural explanation?
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Skeptoid #180: Vaccine Ingredients
A closer look at the actual ingredients in vaccines. Do they really contain the horrifying poisons claimed by antivaccine activists? The facts may surprise you.
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Skeptoid #179: The Scole Experiment
In the most extensive research done yet on seances, the Scole Experiment sought to establish that such phenomena are real and actually supernatural. Just one problem: They forgot to employ any controls at all.
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Skeptoid #178: Student Questions: The Montauk Monster...
Skeptoid takes on questions submitted by students on the Montauk Monster, the efficacy of skin moisturizer, bee sting therapy (ouch!), aluminum antiperspirants as a cause of breast cancer, inexpensive gasoline, and the claim that homosexuals have shorter lifespans.
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Skeptoid #177: The Bloop
The Bloop was a mysterious sound captured by NOAA hydrophones in 1997. Cryptozoologists claim it as evidence of a gigantic unknown sea creature. What do NOAA scientists have to say?
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Skeptoid #176: Network Marketing
Call them Network Marketing, Multilevel Marketing, or MLM, these pyramid plans are proven not to work. 99.95% of participants lose money. Are you REALLY among that .01% who will recover their costs?
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Skeptoid #175: Shadow People
Shadow people are dark, ghostlike forms often seen out of the corner of your eye. Witnesses often accept no explanations other than supernatural ones, but are there any rational (but still likely) causes for these phenomena?
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Skeptoid #174: More Medical Myths
Movies and Mom wisdom tell all kinds of tales about how the body works, how you need to take care of it, and what can happen to it. This week we look at some more of these tales and uncover the facts.
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Skeptoid #173: All About Astrology
When examining astrology, we have to not only look at its foundations to see it it's based on any sound science, we also have to look at the results to see if there might be some actual effect due to an unknown force.
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Skeptoid #172: Daylight Saving Time Myths
Most people think daylight saving time is for farmers or to save electricity. Today we look into those popular notions with some skepticism, and find out what the real reasons are.
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