The official podcast of The Skeptic, the UK’s longest-running publication offering skeptical analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal.
Produced and presented by Michael Marshall.
Latest Episode
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Failure to listen to patients is causing unacceptable delays in endometriosis diagnosis, by Alice Howarth, from October 2020
We all want to feel special and unique - which is what leads some of us to conspiracy theories, by Dave Hahn, from October 2021
Being Reasonable: what we can learn from people who hold fringe beliefs, by Michael Marshall, from June 2022
Ear candling: why putting burning sticks into your ear is actually quite a bad idea, by Michaila Passananti, from December 2023
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
Previous Episodes
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Nobody undergoes egg donation for the money - it is about altruism, not exploitation, by Emma McClure, from September 2024
From the archive: The Rendlesham Incident - Some Lessons for UFOlogy, by Jenny Randle, from April 2006
Nesta Helen Webster: the far-right author who popularised the antisemitic Illuminati conspiracy, by Mark Horne, from January 2021
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Conspiracy theories give the illusion of control, in a system that leaves people feeling powerless, by Aaron Rabinowitz, from August 2022
HADD it's day: there's no evidence for an inherited hyperactive agency detection device, by Kat Ford, from November 2024
What's the better exercise for our health: lifting weights or doing cardio?, by Clio Bellenis, from September 2023
iNaturalist's flaws can leave people with a false impression of the natural world around them, by Sarah Hearne, from July 2021
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
The conspiracy theorists scaremongering about UN Agenda 21 have obviously not read Agenda 21, by Mark Horne, from September 2021
Electrician Sheds Light on Viral Birmingham Ghost Mystery, by Hayley Stevens, from September 2020
An awareness of your body is useful, but the Alexander Technique probably isn't, by Alice Howarth, from August 2024
Who runs the world According to conspiracy theorists, it’s Beyoncé, by Pai Jing Wen, from March 2025
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Don't call me skeptic! Should we embrace the label, or focus on the work of being skeptical?, by Jack Lawrence, from March 2023
Pandemic Prediction Problems, by Brian Eggo, from January 2021
Tall tales: ancient British giants, by Mark Horne, from October 2022
What's in Lake Champlain? Analysing historic sightings of the cryptid known as "Champ", by Floe Foxon, from June 2023
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Is the US government in contact with an alien “galactic federation”?, by Chris French, from January 2021
The graveyard of skeptical projects suggests it's funding, not talent, that we're lacking, by Jonathan Jarry, from January 2024
Kardecism: the fringe spiritualist doctrine which became the soul of pseudoscience in Brazil, by Carlos Orsi and Natália Pasternak, from January 2021
The strange and deeply unlikely tale of Gef the talking mongoose, by Sean Slater, from March 2024
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Ghosts, curses and werewolf sightings: as archaeologists, we see human belief up close, by Paul Duncan McGarrity, from October 2020
Central Bank Digital Currencies, and why conspiracists are urging each other to use cash, by Mark Horne, from April 2023
Well-designed patient outreach can help tackle misinformation where it does the most harm, by Galina Limorenko, from January 2021
A search for meming: fighting the mind-virus virus, by Blake Smith, from September 2024
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Meet the conspiracy theorists who believe Covid isn’t real… because viruses don’t exist, by Frank Visser, from January 2021
Tree planting schemes look fantastic on paper, but they won't save us from climate change, by Sarah Hearne, from March 2023
The Secret to a bland romance is: victim blaming, by Mark Horne, from December 2020
Do dreams sometimes replay repressed memories of trauma experienced long ago?, by Chris French, from April 2023
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Plagues and Plots: COVID-19 and 5G, by Deborah Hyde, from November 2020
It's easier to decry 'kids today' than it is to look honestly at the world we've made, by Brian Eggo, from November 2020
Despite scare stories from holistic dentists, cavitations probably don't exist, by Shaun Sellars, from December 2020
Do we really need supplements? A skeptic's guide to micronutrients, by Pixie Turner, from March 2021
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Time Team's archaeologists showed us how experts can ruthlessly unpick a hoax, by Paul Duncan McGarrity, from November 2020
The story of Phineas Gage's accident is well-known; what happened to him afterwards is not, by Kat Ford, from January 2024
Have we seen the last of the vanishing phantom hitchhiker?, by Deborah Hyde, from January 2021
The meaning crisis, and how we rescue young men from reactionary politics, by Aaron Rabinowitz, from November 2024
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
How to spot medical misinformation in a pandemic, by Brian Eggo & Matt Kemp, from December 2020
Therapy on tap: Thought Field Therapy offfers superficial solutions to deep disturbances, by Peter Panayi, from November 2020
Could ASMR be a possible explanation for some new age and spiritual experiences?, by Mark Horne, from March 2024
Real in what sense?, by Aaron Rabinowitz, from November 2020
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Ethics for Skeptics, by Aaron Rabinowitz, from September 2020
Brazil's government throw their weight behind Creationism and Intelligent Design, by Carlos Orsi and Natália Pasternak, from November 2020
When it comes to science, the standard has to be truth and accuracy - not false balance, by Hayley Stevens, from September 2024
I'll take the COVID-19 vaccine, and here's why I'm telling you, by Matthew Reynolds, from January 2021
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
When you understand 5G technology, the conspiracy theories simply don’t add up, by Sean Slater, from November 2020
How to start having better arguments, according to the evidence, by Mark Horne & Matt Kemp, from November 2020
"But it's just a joke!": why comedy's right to offend doesn't include the right to harm, by Brian Eggo, from August 2024
Has the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an increase in ghostly encounters?, by Chris French, from October 2020
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Conspiracy theories around the ‘feminisation’ of Western men shield believers from examining their own prejudices, by Thiago Vahia, from April 2021
By invoking 'Spirit of the Blitz' nostalgia, we do a disservice to what was achieved on the home front, by Victoria Stiles, from October 2020
The wealthy, conservative American Christian groups pushing anti-abortion protests in the UK, by Michael Marshall, from September 2024
Institute of Biomedical Science falls for the Traditional Chinese Medicine hype, by Brian Eggo, from October 2020
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Headlines calling HPV swabs “home smear tests” risk putting people off cervical screenings, by Alice Howarth, from February 2021
Rectal ozone therapy: Brazil’s latest COVID-19 pseudoscience, by Carlos Orsi and Natália Pasternak, from October 2020
The “child identifies as wolf” story was only ever about bullying, not ‘species confusion’, by Brian Eggo, from October 2024
Anti-fluoride activists may disagree, but fluoridation is social justice in dental care, by Shaun Sellars, from October 2020
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Why we should listen to Flat Earth believers (even though they’re completely wrong), by Michael Marshall, from February 2021
Are digital pregnancy tests simply taking the pee?, by Alice Howarth, from September 2020
Chiropractors love to claim their treatments are ‘individualised’, but they’re wrong, by Sarah Hearne, from September 2020
First do no harm? Treatments don't need to be harmless, as long they do good, by Edzard Ernst, from November 2024
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
The Atacama mummy: putting together the pieces of an “Archaeology bombshell”, by Paul Duncan McGarrity, from August 2020
Conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and alt-med quackery put our pets in harm's way, by Danny Chambers, from September 2020
Putting some skeptical mantras to bed, by Jonathan Jarry, from January 2021
Exploding the myth of the longevity “Blue Zones”, where people live beyond the age of 100, by Carlos Orsi, from September 2024
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic
From the pages of The Skeptic magazine, this is The Skeptic podcast, bringing you the best of the magazine’s expert analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal since its relaunch as online news source in September 2020.
On this episode:
Coronavirus, conspiracy, challenges and compassion, by Michael Marshall, from September 2020
Hydroxychloroquine: When bad science goes mainstream, by Carlos Orsi and Natália Pasternak, from September 2020
‘Mask Mouth’: A real dental phenomenon, or merely a confection?, by Shaun Sellars, from September 2020
The Battersea Poltergeist, and the role of the paranormal investigator, by Deborah Hyde, from May 2021
Find more from The Skeptic at skeptic.org.uk, or to support the show, take out a small voluntary donation at patreon.com/theskeptic