Skeptoid

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?

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Skeptoid #339: Setting the Bloop Straight

The solution to the Bloop mystery sound is finally revealed, and Skeptoid corrects some errors from other episodes.

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?

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?

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.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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?

College of Curiosity - May 26, 2012

Don't miss this incredible 1-day event.

Skeptoid T-Shirt Design Competition

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?

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.

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?

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.

Announcing Skeptoid Episode 300

A big milestone...

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.

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?

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

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.

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...

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

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.

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?

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?

History of the Egg

Enjoy this song created by listener Nate Kelley, made from samples of Skeptoid episodes.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

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?

Skeptoid #197: Listener Feedback Strikes Back

Skeptoid takes another perilous dive into the listener feedback files.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

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?

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.