Edinburgh Skeptics Presents...

Edit: You know when you've given the podcast gear to your vice-chair to do interviews at QED and you realise you needed it to record a welcome message for the very first Fringe 2017 podcast? Yeah, that...

It's a very special time here at Podcast HQ as we start to bring you some episodes from our 2017 Edinburgh Fringe lineup. Normally we'd start with our compilation evening Our Friends On The Fringe, but that must wait for another day (and because we forgot to ask if it was ok. Oops!). So our first release from this year's Fringe is historian and writer Professor Tim Whitmarsh.

Most people think of atheism as something modern and western, but in fact it has a rich, deep and weird history to rival any religion’s. In Tim's talk we’ll meet some of classical antiquity’s most brilliant and engaging characters, including Diogenes (who lived in a barrel) and Socrates (who didn’t). We’ll also reflect on what it means, for us now, to think of atheism as something with a history older than Islam and Christianity.

Prof. Whitmarsh is the author of *Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World*, described by the New York Times as ‘excellent’, by the Guardian as ‘brilliant’, and by his mother as ‘alright if you like that kind of thing’. As well as another 6 books (about Greek literature, thought and culture), he has written for the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books, and has appeared a number of times on BBC TV and radio. He has held professorial positions in the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Exeter.

www.classics.cam.ac.uk/directory/professor-tim-whitmarsh

Twitter: @TWhittermarsh

For our first Edinburgh International Science Festival 2016 podcast, we're pleased to bring you a talk by Prof. William Naphy. This event was easily our most attended event in years, with 100+ people in attendance.

Prof. Naphy's talk examines cultures which historically and contemporaneously have more than two genders. In particular, the talk considers how these societally constructed genders are understood within their society and the socio-cultural gender roles associated with them. Prof. Naphy also suggests that these traditional non-binary understandings of gender are being eroded and changed by Western concepts of sexuality which have developed in a strictly binary understanding of gender.

Having received degrees in Latin and Historical Theology from US institutions, Professor Naphy moved to Scotland to complete his doctoral studies at the University of St Andrews in Reformation History. Subsequently, he worked at New College (Edinburgh) and the University of Manchester before taking up his post at the University of Aberdeen in 1996. He is the author of numerous works on early modern history including 'Calvin and the Consolidation of the Genevan Reformation', and 'Born to be Gay: A History of Homosexuality'. He has appeared frequently in television documentaries including 'Art and Soul' presented by Richard Holloway (Primus Emeritus, Scottish Episcopal Church) and is regularly interviewed on television, radio and print media relating to issues of sexuality and gender in history and contemporary society.

Professor William Naphy @ The University of Aberdeen

Is Martin Corley a big fat liar? Will his knowledge of speech disfluency manage to trick our host Danny Robertson into accepting his answers as the God's honest? Find out in this week's 10 Questions @ The Fringe!

Martin Corley is Head of Psychology at Edinburgh University. His research centres on the information that is normally overlooked in human speech, from the particular ways in which the mouth moves to make sounds, to the "ums", "ers", and self-corrections that pepper our everyday conversation. He has supervised over 20 PhD students and published over 50 academic papers (including one on equine medicine, for some reason).

Twitter: @martincorley

Join the current members of the Edinburgh Skeptics committee for the official unveiling of our Skeptics on the Fringe 2018 programme. This year’s diverse roster includes talks on blasphemy, historical medical woo, fracking and many other interesting and varied topics. Plus we have details of our super special Fringe competition!

All of our events are at The Banshee Labyrinth Chamber Room (Venue 156) on Niddry St. (just off the Royal Mile near North Bridge) from 4th-26th August and all events start promptly at 7:30pm. Our events are free to enter but donations are gratefully received to enable us to keep Edinburgh Skeptics going through the year.

Skeptics on the Fringe is part of The PBH Free Fringe.

Roll on August!

We're back! Finally! And we have a brilliant talk for our first episode after the Fringe - Professor David Nutt! We had two full rooms (main and overspill) for this event - our most attended event in ages - and it was a treat to hear somebody of his calibre entertain and enthral us with his thoughts.

His talk explores the inconsistencies and injustices that emerge from the un-scientific methods we use to control alcohol and other drugs. He explains how there are more rational and functional approaches and encourage Scotland to rise to the challenge of breaking out of the current flawed position.

David Nutt is a psychiatrist at Imperial College London. Here he uses a range of brain imaging techniques to explore the causes of addiction and other psychiatric disorders and to search for new treatments. He has published over 400 original research papers, a similar number of reviews and books chapters, eight government reports on drugs and 28 books. He is currently the President of the European Brain Council and Founding Chair of DrugScience (formerly the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD).

He broadcasts widely to the general public both on radio and television. In 2010 The Times Eureka science magazine voted him one of the 100 most important figures in British Science, and the only psychiatrist in the list. In 2013 he was awarded the John Maddox Prize from Nature/Sense about Science for standing up for science.

Twitter: @ProfDavidNutt