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Podcasts in review – The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe

This is the first in a series of podcast reviews.  Please check back for more in the future.  Enjoy!

Last year when one of my other favorite podcasts at the time went on hiatus,  I went in search of a new weekly podcast to add to my rotation.  While searching through the listings, I stumbled upon the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast.  I wasn’t sure about it, but I decided to click that subscribe button and give it a try.

Dozens of episodes later, I am a hardcore fan.  This podcast is fantastic!  It is basically a roundtable discussion style podcast in the vein of TWiT, except it focuses more on hard science and fighting back against pseudo-science topics like homeopathy and creationism.

Quoting from the Skeptics Guide Website:

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe is a weekly Podcast talkshow produced by the New England Skeptical Society (NESS) in association with the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) : discussing the latest news and topics from the world of the paranormal, fringe science, and controversial claims from a scientific point of view.

Hosted by:

Steven Novella, MD Dr. Novella is an academic neurologist on full-time faculty at Yale University School of Medicine. He is the Author of Weird Science ,a monthly column featured in the New Haven Advocate. He is the co-founder and President of the New England Skeptical Society, Associate Editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine , and a contributing editor of Quackwatch , a consumer advocacy website dealing with all types of health fraud.

Robert Novella Bob is a cofounder and Vice-President of the New England Skeptical Society. He has written numerous articles that are widely published in the skeptical literature and has a special interest in physics and astronomy, their abuse by pseudoscientists, and methods of self-deception.

Rebecca Watson Rebecca is the founder of Skepchick (www.skepchick.org), an online magazine focused on women and critical thinking. Her articles and essays have appeared online and in newspapers and magazines across the United States. Her daily ramblings can be found at www.skepchick.org/blog. She occasionally poses in skeptic pin-up calendars.

Evan Bernstein Evan is the Chairman of the Connecticut Chapter of the New England Skeptical Society. He is the author of the skeptical cartoon, Arnies World. He is the NESS technical consultant for investigations.

Jay Novella Jay is a skeptical satirist who lends his unique wry perspective on all things wacky and weird. Jay creates and maintains the internet technology including www.theness.com and www.theskepticsguide.org.

The hosts really do have a great chemistry.  They jab at each other occasionally, and you can tell that they get along just as well off mic as they do on.

I appreciate a podcast that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and this one certainly does not.   While they do cover serious topics, they do so with a sense of humor, which makes it extremely entertaining to listen to.   One especially entertaining segment of the show is titled “Science or Fiction”.  In the segment the host gives 3 science based stories,  two are real, one is fake.  The panel then goes about discussing what story they think is the fake, and why.  It shines a light on the critical thinking abilities of the panel, and allows the listener to put their own critical thinking skills to the test.

I highly suggest a listen.  You can subscribe on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, or in any other podcatcher.  I think you’ll find that you look at the world with much more critical and skeptical lens.  Take up the mantle and become a skeptic yourself.  You won’t be sorry.

Unless you still believe the Earth is flat.  Then this podcast is absolutely not for you.

I give the Skeptics Guide to the Universe an 8.5 out of 10.