The European Skeptics Podcast

Nessie is back – unless the camera is onUkraine wins the Eurovision Song Contest and Putin is not happy about it. On the other hand the other ESC – the European Skeptics Congress – should make everybody happy! Register now! Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia, GSOW, is a great thing and Annika celebrates five years on the team. In TWISH we learn about Heinz Oberhummer who was born this week in 1941 and the Pope has a bunch of cardinals in trouble so he has replaced the communion wine with tequila. We instead stay sober and check out the news:UK: Wanna expose liars? Get them distractedSCOTLAND: Daily Mail report on the latest ‘sighting’ of Nessie?GERMANY: Hygiene Museum in Dresden dedicates exhibition to Fake NewsSL, the Stockholm local train service, is in cahoots with Scientology and for that they are Really Wrong.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes; Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Covid death toll is more likely 15 million according to WHOAnnika is back! and after discussing stupid Putin and his failed war a little, we turn our focus to space. We look towards the black hole in the Milky Way to get as far away as possible and yes, Norway really has this very special space programme about fish in space. In TWISH (This Week in Skeptical History) we revisit the legend of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Fàtima since it all started this week in 1917. No pope today, so instead we travel on right into the news:INTERNATIONAL: European populism linked to vaccine hesitancy, but more research is neededINTERNATIONAL: Almost 15 million excess deaths due to covidHUNGARY / V4: Coordinated online troll activity detected in relation to the war in UkraineHUNGARY: Fidesz supporters prefer Putin to western political leaders – SurveyEUROPE: WHO to bring the Europe region closer to a cervical cancer-free future – with HPV vaccinesUK: Why girls don’t necessarily choose to pursue studies into physicsThis weeks

Russia takes post-truth to new levelsMostly bad news this week, but on the bright side we have The Skeptic’s Guide soon to come out with their new book The Skeptic’s Guide to the Future (pre-order it now!) and the upcoming European Skeptics Congress in Vienna. See you there! This week we celebrate Sir David Attenborough‘s 96th birthday and we take a look at Pope Francis and his dealings with the other “Pope”, Patriarch Kirill, also known as Putin’s altar boy. Then we go through some news:RUSSIA: Russian long-term recruitment programme disguised as educationINTERNATIONAL: Measles is the new-old threatUKRAINE: The fake news factory on this side of the fence…SPAIN: Families in despair over IM Academy: ‘The crypto-sect has kidnapped our children’INTERNATIONAL: Hepatitis cases cause for concern – and the disinformation factory keeps rollingSWEDEN: Macchiarini trial started this week – Procecution says surgery was experimental, cruel, and against all science and evidenceUK: GCSE in Natural History announced and bri

Social Psychology and conspiracy theoriesIn quick news the Hungarian Skeptics has announced Gábor Varga as their Flat Earth Award winner for 2022 and also we keep reminding all listeners to sign up for European Skeptics Congress in Vienna in September.This week we interview Péter Krekó who is a social psychologist and an expert in conspiracy theories. We talk about everything from state propaganda and the pandemic to how social media has changed the environment for all of us and how and why it has increased the polarization in politics.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes; Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In other news, don’t leave a mark on your pyjamasIn Hungary they are busy preparing for the flat Earth awards and András will be one of many excellent speakers at SkeptiCal in California. Here in Europe you should still sign up for the European Skeptics Congress! This week sees the birthday of “the Iceman”, Wim Hof. Don’t fall for his pseudo-nonsense. Nonsense is also rampant in the Archdiocese in Cologne but Pope Frankie is saying ‘la-la-la’ and looking the other way. Then, of course we have the news:GERMANY: Radical covid antivaxxers planned to kidnap German health ministerGERMANY: EU survey of attitudes towards vaccinationUKRAINE: So, what happened to ‘the Moskva’?UK / ITALY: Guy doesn’t believe shroud of Turin is forged, willing to pay £1 million for proofINTERNATIONAL: Boiron sued by the Center for InquiryDanish so-called ‘politician’ Rasmus Paludan stirs up riots in Sweden by burning the Quran and for that he, as well as the rioters, are Really Wrong.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes

Zelensky is not Soros’ cousinWe remind you again to sign up for the European Skeptics Congress! It’s going to be great!In other news, Darwin’s iconic ‘evolution as a tree’-notebook has been mysteriously returned which is good news in a pink bag. Our notes on conversion therapy last week got some terfs really upset on Twitter, but of course they get it all wrong. For TWISH we celebrate the birth of Christiaan Huygens, a true spirit of the enlightenment already in the 17th century. No poking this week, so we then dive into the news:INTERNATIONAL: Homeopathy Awareness WeekUKRAINE: Zelensky not related to SorosINTERNATIONAL: Pinterest to ban climate misinformationUK: Anglo-European College of Chiropractic offering MSc courseTo round off, the charity organisation ‘Thinking Autism’ promotes CEASE therapy and anti-vaxx nonsense and so they get his week’s Really Wrong award.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes; Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor

Tickets released for the European Skeptics Congress! Sign up!The Hungarian elections did not go well and that’s not a political statement but a skeptical one. Propaganda is everywhere, but we put our hopes in the European Skeptics Congress in Vienna in September. We will be there and we count on all of you to be there too! Chris French is the topic for TWISH (happy birthday, Chris!) and the Flat Earth award is coming up in Hungary. Pope Francis makes a decent apology but the legal stuff is yet to come. Then we have a look at the news:UKRAINE: Russia ‘allegedly’ guilty of massacre in Bucha?RUSSIA: Does Putin use alt med?INTERNATIONAL: Study – mitigating climate change wouldn’t hurt economiesUKRAINE: Chernobyl – Russian troops on a suicidal mission?PORTUGAL: And the Flying Unicorn flies to…PORTUGAL: Nominations for next year’s award are now openUK: Conversion therapy in the UK banned – but not for allINTERNATIONAL: Snopes’ plans for the year aheadMeta seems to be out to collect as many Really Wrong Awards they

Blast from the past: Nobody Silences Simon Singh!The Hungarian election is coming up, with a lot of Russian propaganda polarizing the public. In TWISH we remember the legal decision that cleared up how “happily promoting bogus claim” was a fair statement by Simon Singh against the British Chiropractic Association. Pope Francis will finally meet up with Canadian Indigenous delegations this week, but will they finally get their apology?Then we have the news:RUSSIA: Country’s scientists are to stay putHUNGARY: Pre-election state propaganda worsened by anti-Ukrainian sentimentINTERNATIONAL: Low vaccine uptake in Ukrainian population might be risk factor with refugeesRUSSIA: People turning to VPNs to access band websites and content on the internetRUSSIA: New developments in support of accident theory regarding Dyatlov Pass IncidentGERMANY: Homeopathy contracts cancelled in BremenThe Heilpraktiker system in Germany gets this week’s Really Wrong award. Come on, Karl Lauterbach, you can fix this!Enjoy!Segments: Intr

Don’t stare into the Sun! Both of the Earth’s poles are going through extreme weather at the moment. Does that mean the end of the planet is already here? In TWISH we hear about Mussolini’s rise to power and potential parallels to current world events. Pope Francis is said to take a stand against Russia, but we are not convinced. Then we have the news:EUROPE / SPACE: Russian cosmonauts dressed in colours of Ukrainian flag?– European Mars mission on hold as a result of cutting ties with Roscosmos– OneWeb turns towards Space-XRUSSIA: TikTok directs users to fake news about Ukraine warRUSSIA: Putin’s war propaganda becomes ‘patriotic’ lessons in Russian schoolsSCOTLAND: Late apology for witch-hunt casesPORTUGAL: Voting is open for the Flying Unicorn AwardsINTERNATIONAL: BMJ paper assesses publication bias in Homeopathy-related articlesThere are a lot of anti-abortion nuts in Poland ready to harass Ukrainian refugees and all of them share this week’s Really Wrong award.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pon

Don’t lose yourself in the bad newsLots of bad news out there at the moment but try to not let it get to you. A Ukrainian drone flies all over Hungary undetected, some European leaders take the train to Kyiv and even in space, tension is mounting. This week is the celebration of the Hungarian revolution of 1848 but there’s a lot of misconceptions about it. Francis tries to do good but fails to impress. After that, we take a look at the news:INTERNATIONAL: Doomscrolling is becoming a serious concernRUSSIA: The power of state-controlled mediaRUSSIA: TV employee’s attempt to let people know the truthRUSSIA: Family members go head to head over different views on war against UkraineRUSSIA: What do Russians think of the war?INTERNATIONAL: Estimating excess mortality from COVID-19UK: Homeopathy as protection from radioactivity?INTERNATIONAL: The biggest increase in CO2 emissions everFRANCE: French skeptics’ questionnaire to presidential candidates answeredThe Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill thinks “Ukrainian Nazis

War and anti-vaxxersWe comment on some aspects of the war and also how you can best send help. In TWISH we celebrate good skeptic Massimo Polidoro and then we poke Pope Francis, whose buddy was just sent to jail for sex abuse. After that, we have the news:UKRAINE: The latest disinformation trendsRUSSIA: Why has the letter Z become the symbol of war for Russia?RUSSIA: Lawmakers approve decision to imprison anyone contradicting government propagandaUKRAINE: Putin’s denazification campaign ends up destroying holocaust memorialINTERNATIONAL: Lancet study of 300 million administered doses: mRNA vaccines are safe and side effects mildHUNGARY: Centre for Social Research – Study on vaccinated vs unvaccinated population reveals interesting factsHUNGARY: New study estimates just how profitable being and anti-vaxxer can beDanderyd Hospital in Sweden gets this week’s Really Wrong Award for allowing nonsense in their post-covid treatment program.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really

The first line of the Ukraine national anthem translates to ‘Ukraine is not dead yet’This episode is a special about the Russian war and invasion of Ukraine. No TWISH, no Pope and no surprise as to who gets the Really Wrong award*). We do urge anyone who can to support the people of Ukraine, and provide links to some of the charities you can donate to. Topics we discuss are:UKRAINE: DW Fact Check – Do any of Putin’s claims hold water?INTERNATIONAL: Media giants clamp down on Russian state-own propaganda channels, RT and SputnikRUSSIA: Partial restriction on access to Facebook to Protect Russian mediaRUSSIA: Thousands of people arrested at anti-war protestsCZECHIA: Chief prosecutor warns against public support for Russian aggression (what about free speech?)UKRAINE: Fake videos showing Russian invasionUKRAINE: Chernobyl radiation levels increase significantly after heavy fighting around the areaUKRAINE: Is the Ghost of Kyiv real?UKRAINE: World’s heaviest aircraft confirmed destroyedSPACE: Franklin Mars rover l

Also, Benedict works in mysterious waysWe talk about the great new CFI fellows announced, wonder what happens to Ukraine (please note that we recorded this episode one day before the invasion…) and welcome the fact that the Philippines plan to roll out production of Golden Rice. In TWISH we hear about Gutenberg and his bible that was published this week way back in 1455. Pontus pokes both popes and then we look at the news:FRANCE: Djokovic keeps being wrong…GERMANY: Association of Catholic Doctors and homeopathic conversion therapyINTERNATIONAL: Scientists call for science collaboration to be put before politicsINTERNATIONAL: New study: The Einstein Effect – how people believe weird shit if they think it was said by scientistsEUROPE: Black death not as devastating all over Europe as previously thought?UPDATE FROM LAST WEEK: Great response to call for skeptical translators! Join them!Meta gets today’s Really Wrong Award for keep saying that they don’t allow misinformation when in fact they promote it, and the

Translating the works of Skeptical ScienceBärbel Winkler is the project coordinator for the translation projects at Skeptical Science and has been organising the translation of documents like the two consecutive versions of The Debunking Handbook, the Uncertainty Handbook, The Conspiracy Theory Handbook and the COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook, to mention only a few. And now she’s busy coordinating the translation of the Cranky Uncle game, an awesome tool, which we have mentioned on several occasions on this podcast.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes; Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Edzard Ernst joins us to tell all about his new book.Before we get into the interview with Edzard Ernst we are a bit nostalgic about hearing that the end of the ISS is getting closer. András has an update to the Favipiravir controverse from last week and then we get to hear from the horses mouth how Prince Charles became the ‘Alternative Prince’. IN TWISH we learn about Dmitri Mendeleev and his periodic table. After that, we get into the news:SWEDEN: Agency to tackle foreign misinformation re-establishedROMANIA: 2/3 people believe COVID was imposed on the world by global elite for control, 1/3 thinks microchips are being implanted with vaccinationSWITZERLAND: Man in Geneva hears God after antibiotic treatmentINTERNATIONAL: Cranky Uncle game now available in Dutch and GermanEnjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; TWISH; News; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes; Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are all animalsAnnika is back in Europe and for unclear reasons we may all move to an uninhabited island in Sweden (don’t hold your breath). The German Informations­-Netzwerk Homöopathie (INH) is sending an open letter to the new German health minister Karl Lauterback – we should all retweet about this to make sure he reads it! In TWISH we hear about how one of the worst fraudulent scientific(?) papers ever, authored by Andrew Wakefield, was finally retracted in 2010. No pope to poke today, so we then head for the news:EUROPE: WHO – 732 days in 15 figuresEUROPE: WHO – End of pandemic in sight?FINLAND: Biodiversity-loss denial is the new craze?HUNGARY: The Hungarian Medicines Agency files official complaint over misleading claims about FavipiravirGERMANY: The bright side of having pseudosciences around?UK: Measles warning for children as jab rate falls in EnglandUK: People’s preference for honesty is key for a working democracySeveral awards to hand out today: Eric Clapton gets a dishonorable mention, the P

Djokovic wrong again, and both popes get pokedWe start with the fact that everyone and his uncle seems to have covid nowadays, and access to testing is hard. As mentioned last week, the episode of the Skeptic Zone with Pontus is now out. In other news anti-restriction demonstrations are all around and the Nazis somehow always seem to show up. In TWISH we learn about the birth in 1900 of Theodosius Dobzhansky, who was very important for the field of evolutionary biology. Double whammy for the popes this week, both Benedict and Francis have some explaining to do as Pontus Pokes the Popes. Then we look into the news:CZECH REPUBLIC: Folk singer Hana Horka dies after catching COVID intentionallyUK: Link found between trust in public figures and vaccine hesitancyGERMANY: Many lost faith in God over pandemicUK: Prof Sir Paul Curran Award for Excellence in Academic Journalism 2021 goes to Caitjan GaintyWe end with another double hitter when Novak Djokovic gets the first ever twice-in-a-row Really Wrong Award. His fri

No mercy for No-vaxx DjokovicSweden had some unusual northern lights last weekend (which Pontus missed) and the Tonga volcanic eruption had an impact on Annika’s plans. Don’t miss Pontus on next week’s Skeptic Zone with Richard Saunders! In TWISH we hear about Baron d’Holbach who created an important encyclopedia and organised great Skeptics in the Pub meetings back in the 1700s. Pope Francis hates that people are getting pets instead of generating new baby Catholics, totally missing the irony of himself opting out of parenthood. Then we take a look at the news:EUROPE: Increase in attacks against journalists for reporting on COVIDITALY: Nurse in Palermo arrested for administering fake jabsWORLD: 2021 was the fifth warmest year on recordINTERNATIONAL: YouTube called on by factcheckers to tackle misinformationINTERNATIONAL: Homeopaths urging WHO to begin training homeopathsSWEDEN: Tik Tok – Children get bombarded with news of imminent Russian invasionSWITZERLAND: Publisher Frontier in crisis?UK: Edzard Ernst di

Watch out researchers!This week we have a special treat for you – we’re joined by the one and only Elisabeth Bik! Our interview with her takes us into the wonders of how to expose fraudulent (or just sloppy) science.Elisabeth Bik is a Dutch-American microbiologist, whose specialty is spotting photo duplications in scientific publications. As a result of her efforts, hundreds of papers have been retracted due to evidence of misconduct. She’s a founder of the Microbiome Digest Blog and the Science Integrity Digest Blog. Her work is also frequently featured on Retraction Watch and she’s a regular contributor at PubPeer. She has received several prizes for her outstanding work in science popularisation and science integrity. In November 2020 she received the the Peter Wildy Prize by the Microbiology Society for communication of microbiology in education and to the public. In 2021 she was awarded two prizes, both very highly regarded by skeptics, the John Maddox Prize and the Ockham Award, both of which we reporte

Special report: Large Study Released by the Swedish Skeptics (VoF)We start out welcoming the new year and chatting about the James Webb telescope, Omicron and that the Swedish King and Queen just tested positive. Also, András got caught on tape singing on New Year’s Eve! In TWISH we hear about a famous (but not too convincing) UFO encounter in Trans-en-Provence in France. No pope today, so we go directly into the news:INTERNATIONAL: Retraction statistics show an increased rate of publishing questionable contentINTERNATIONAL: Vaccine hesitancy and how to deal with itAUSTRIA: The level of education is a booster for the willingness to vaccinateEU: Some gas and nuclear to be listed as green energyInstead of a Really Wrong we get a Special Report about a Swedish study conducted by VoF. The VoF-study presents all about what the Swedish public actually believes in, from ghosts and homeopathy to 911 conspiracy theories and racism.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Special Report; Quote And Farewell; Outro