The Skeptic Zone

Richard Saunders

The Podcast from Australia for Science and Reason. Join Richard Saunders and his team of reporters for your weekly dose of skeptical news and interviews, reports and comments. Past guests have included, James Randi, Stephen Fry, Tim Minchin, Eugenie Scott, Dr Phil Plait, Michael Marshall, Dr Steve Novella, Dr Pamela Gay, Jon Ronson, Dr Ben Goldacre, Simon Singh, Prof. Richard Wiseman, Dick Smith, Banachek, Prof. Chris French, George Hrab, Tim Ferguson, Dr Paul Willis and many, many more. Featuring Australian radio legend Maynard with his Spooky Action, Jo Alabaster from the 'Evidence Please' blog, Eran Segev's Grain of Salt, Dr Rachael Dunlop with 'Dr Rachie Reports' and Heidi Robertson aka 'The Raw Skeptic'.

#8 in the Top 100 skeptic All time chart

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Top 10 The Skeptic Zone Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Skeptic Zone episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Skeptic Zone for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Skeptic Zone episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

The Skeptic Zone #763 - 21.May.2023

The Skeptic Zone

05/20/23 • 61 min

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders 0:02:12 You Can Count on Adrienne. Wiki UFOs #2 This week Adrienne takes a look at some of the many UFOs reports from the second half of the 20th century as recorded on Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reported_UFO_sightings 0:19:56 Australian Skeptics Newsletter What skeptical news has caught the eye of Tim Mendham this week? Includes the Canadian Word of the Week, "Skookum". Read by Adrienne Hill. http://www.skeptics.com.au 0:34:48 A Dive into a Trove A wander through the decades of digitised Australian and Canadian newspapers on a search for references to "Ogopogo". http://www.trove.nla.gov.au Also Susan Gerbic's talk in Berkeley https://baskeptics.org/hangouts 10 Years Ago The Skeptic Zone #239 - 20.May.2013 Dr Rachie Reports with Dr Rachael Dunlop This week Dr Rachie interviews Sonya Pemberton about her upcoming documentary "Jabbed – Love, Fear and Vaccines" (Genepool Productions, 2013) - Mind Body Spirit May 2013 - A Week in Science with Dr Tania Meyer - Maynard chats to Timothy Short who is a specialist anaesthetist at Auckland City Hospital - Guildford's so-called House of Miracles. What is going on in the Sydney suburb of Guildford? Is someone from 'the other side' really trying to communicate by spattering oil on the walls of a house? Well... we don't think so. Reports from the last 6 years. https://skepticzone.libsyn.com/the-skeptic-zone-239-20-may-2013

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The Skeptic Zone #782 - 1.October.2023

The Skeptic Zone

09/30/23 • 60 min

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders 0:04:42 The Book of Tim. With Tim Mendham Tim and Richard talk about the upcoming Skepticon in Melbourne and other skeptical issues.... and have some coffee and biscuits. https://skepticon.org.au 0:14:24 You Can Count on Adrienne. With Adrienne Hill. Adrienne Hill and Faith Newsome Rodriquez talk about the Hawthorne Effect, based on poor research done in the 1920s and 1930s, which infers that people will change their behavior simply because they are being studied. https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-history/one-last-centurys-most-influential-social-science-studies-pretty-bad 0:34:10 The Medical Eye Emergency Physician Sue Ieraci is looking forward to her first visit to the festival of Mind Body Spirit (Wallet) in Sydney. How will she react to the outlandish medical claims being made? Will she convert and become a Reiki Master? 0:41:56 A Dive into a Trove A wander through the decades of digitised Australian newspapers on a search for references to the late Barry Williams, former editor of The Skeptic Magazine. http://www.trove.nla.gov.au Also https://www.skeptic.org.uk 10 Years Ago The Skeptic Zone #258 - 29.September.2013 Mr. George Hrab. What's it like to MC 'The Amazing Meeting'? How cool is it to lead a band? - A Week in Science - Dr Stefan Sojka "Mind Your Back" is the new hit single from 'Dr' Sojka. Download the song and support this important message - Bad Science Watch Canada. We chat to Michael Kruse from Bad Science Watch and learn about their battle against homeopathy and other quackery https://skepticzone.libsyn.com/the-skeptic-zone-258-29-sep-2013

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The Skeptic Zone #783 - 8.October.2023

The Skeptic Zone

10/07/23 • 56 min

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders, live from Sydney Skeptics in tbe Pub 0:02:12 Skeptical BBQ Steve Roberts and Richard Saunders talk about the latest UFO shenanigans and their appreciation of one the founders of Australian Skeptics, Dick Smith. James Randi in Australia - with Dick Smith https://youtu.be/gN-0FEqAkQM 0:07:32 The Book of Tim. With Tim Mendham Phoney Fauna - Part #1By Tim Mendham Tim looks at all the strange and weird fake animals that have been invented over the years in order to delight, con, fool, or gain publicity for their creators. A reading from The Skeptic, Vol. 34 No. 4 http://www.skeptics.com.au 0:17:06 Csicon 2023 Adrienne Hill, Susan Gerbic and Rob Palmer with a little promotion for the upcoming Csicon in Las Vegas this October. https://csiconference.org 0:20:26 Australian Skeptics Newsletter What skeptical news has caught the eye of Tim Mendham this week? Read by Adrienne Hill. http://www.skeptics.com.au 0:33:22 A Dive into a Trove A wander through the decades of digitised Australian newspapers on a search for references to Naturopathy, with comments by Sue Ieraci. http://www.trove.nla.gov.au Also 10 Years Ago The Skeptic Zone #259 - 6.September.2013 Dr Rachie Reports. A recently identified link between a toxic amino acid found in blue-green algae and several motor neuron diseases could help researchers devise a therapy for the fatal conditions - An interview with Warren Bonnet from Embiggen Books, followed by the launch of the book "The Explainer - From Deja Vu to Why the Sky Is Blue, and Other Conundrums" with Dr Mick Vagg and Dr Rachie - Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia The mission of the Guerrilla Skepticism editing team is to improve skeptical content of Wikipedia. We do this by improving pages of our skeptic spokespeople, providing noteworthy citations, and removing the unsourced claims from paranormal and pseudoscientific pages. Why? Because evidence is cool - Saunders on the Radio. From the vault, Richard Saunders talks about the Mind-Body-Spirit Expo in Sydney - A Week in Science - George Hrab "Small Comfort" For Adele, a little Tabby cat who lived in Sydney, Australia. https://skepticzone.libsyn.com/the-skeptic-zone-259-6-oct-2013

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The Skeptic Zone #784 - 15.October.2023

The Skeptic Zone

10/15/23 • 66 min

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders 0:02:30 Once More Unto The Breach Tim Mendham, Sue Ieraci, Darryl Colquhoun and Richard Saunders head to Sydney's Festival of Mind Body Spirit to discover what quackery is on display. Will they survive the paranormal parade of pretend psychics? 0:12:54 You Can Count On Adrienne. With Adrienne Hill Kelly Burke and Faith Newsome Rodriquez join Adrienne Hill to talk about refutations regarding the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment that was initially conducted in 1972 with follow-up studies declaring that a child's ability to delay gratification could be a predictor of future success, including better SAT scores, higher levels of education and lower body mass index. https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/the-marshmallow-test 0:32:54 The Book of Tim. With Tim Mendham Phoney Fauna - Part #2 By Tim Mendham Tim looks at all the strange and weird fake animals that have been invented over the years in order to delight, con, fool, or gain publicity for their creators. A reading from The Skeptic, Vol. 34 No. 4 http://www.skeptics.com.au 0:46:10 A Dive into a Trove A wander through the decades of digitised Australian newspapers on a search for references to Mind Body Spirit. http://www.trove.nla.gov.au Also 10 Years Ago The Skeptic Zone #260 - 13.October.2013 Maynard's Spooky Action... Maynard visits SkeptiCamp Sydney and interviews a wide range of people about all sorts of things. Highlights include a chat with Heidi Robertson from the Northern Rivers, Spoon Bending with Saunders and Cup Cakes! - The Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) is a national scientific not-for-profit organisation with a mission to bring science to people and people to science. https://skepticzone.libsyn.com/the-skeptic-zone-260-13-oct-2013

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The Skeptic Zone #426 - 18.December.2016

The Skeptic Zone

12/18/16 • 44 min

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders

0:04:45 Grain of Salt.... with Eran Segev More in the series of interviews from QED. This week Eran talks with Britt Hermes, a former naturopathic 'doctor' who shares the hard truths about naturopathic medicine to protect patients. Her message is "Please don't be fooled by natural and alternative medicine."

https://www.naturopathicdiaries.com

0:14:09 New Zealand Skeptics 2016 Conference This week we chat to Susan Gerbic and find out the latest on Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia. What can you do to help? Susan Gerbic at Puzzling World (Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OObcuaiLwI8&t=7s

0:26:16 Brew Ha Ha: Science in less time than it takes to order a coffee

https://www.australiascience.tv/tags/brew-ha-ha

With Casey Harrigan 2016 has been a momentous year. Here we give our top 3 biggest science news of 2016! Here's to 2017!

Watch more: Zika virus: http://bit.ly/2hm2o1i Paris agreement: http://bit.ly/2gcXP8f Gravitational waves: http://bit.ly/LKgravwaves

It's been a big year for sci-fi films, but who pulled it off the best? We review the best and worst movie scientists from 2016.

Ever think "I wish my robot could sweat"? Well your dreams have been answered thanks to ingenious research from Japan. Say hello to Kengoro, a 1.7m tall, 56kg musculoskeletal humanoid.

Further reading via IEEE Spectrum: http://bit.ly/2eHscrk

0:31:34 Cancer Reseach in Australia Guest reporter Kevin Davies interviews Prof. Ross Hannan, head of the department of cancer biology and therapeutics at The John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU College of Medicine. What is the latest news on cancer research and what is the link to Jackie Chan?

http://jcsmr.anu.edu.au/people/ross-hannan

Also...

Richard Saunders talks in California, Dec. 2016

BAS Skeptalk : Thursday, December 29, 2016 - 7:30pm La Pena Cultural Center 3105 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA

OC Science Club : Friday, December 30, 2016 - 7:00pm Del Frisco's Grille 772 Spectrum Center Dr, Irvine, California 92618

The Skeptic Zone #371 - 29.Nov.2015

The Skeptic Zone

11/29/15 • 45 min

0:00:00IntroductionRichard Saunders

0:04:12Maynard's Spooky Action.. Maynard intdrviews Dr Mel Thomson, an Infectious Disease Researcher at Deakin University in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

0:23:25Evidence Please... with Jo AlabasterJo looks into "cupping therapy", after it hit the media this week thanks to a rugby player and our friend Dr Brad McKay.

0:29:13A Week in ScienceThe Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) is a national scientific not-for-profit organisation with a mission to bring science to people and people to science.

0:34:40Feeding TubeWe chat to Tamara Robertson, from the new web video series, 'The Feeding Tube'.

The Skeptic Zone #805 - 10.March.2024

The Skeptic Zone

03/09/24 • 56 min

0:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders 0:03:18 Strange Bedfellows Once again, Susan Gerbic finds herself under attack from an odd assortment of UFO and conspiracy believers. This time they are trying to change her Wikipedia page to include what they think is the truth. it really is a case of the blind leading the blind. https://www.abouttimeproject.org 0:23:08 Nerd Night in Bend, Oregon Join Kathy Rightmire, Brian Dunning and Richard Saunders as they enjoy Nerd Night in the city of Bend in Oregon. This is a regular meet up much like Skeptics in the Pub. Includes a portion of Brian's talk, "Sounds from Beyond". https://skeptoid.com/events/30257 0:35:14 A Dive into a Trove A wander through the decades of digitised Australian newspapers on a search for references to Bigfoot and Oregon. 1977.05.17 - The Canberra Times 1973.10.26 - PNG Post 1976.08.30 - The Canberra Times http://www.trove.nla.gov.au

The Skeptic Zone #325 - 11.Jan.2015

The Skeptic Zone

01/11/15 • 57 min