502 Conversations - Science, Skepticism, Pseudoscience, Philosophy, and more.

Timothy Redmond, PhD teaches high school history, government, and critical thinking and is an adjunct professor at Daemen College. He is a Jackson Center fellow, the recipient of the 2019 Toby Ticktin Back Award for excellence in Holocaust education, and an associate director of the Human Rights Academy. He is the author of Political Tribalism in America: How Hyper-Partisanship Dumbs Down Democracy and How to Fix It. Dr. Redmond also has a monthly newspaper column, “The Examined Life,” which appears in the East Aurora Advertiser.© 2025 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. A video of this conversations is available at https://youtu.be/nmb5aOpim34

Dr. Crouch, or Dr. Dad as he is known online, is a psychologist, former meditation teacher, and author. He has published research in peer-reviewed academic journals, written therapy workbooks for children, and is the author of the Beyond Belief book series, which teaches children critical thinking skills using fun paranormal mysteries. © 2025 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. A video version of this show is available atRaisingaskepticalkid.comInventing the randomized trial and the 1835 trial of homeopathy https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1676327/00:00 Intro and bio 01:56 How did Dr. Dad, raising a skeptical kid.com, andBeyond Belief come about? 02:56 Some definitions: What is skepticism, and what is critical thinking? 07:41 S.M.A.R.T skills 08:45 Response to: children are too young for criticalthinking, leave it to their parents and don’t ruin childhood. 10:55 What does research say about children and criticalthinking? 12:10 How to instigate critical thinking skills in children  13:28 Using spooky things and urban legends to teach critical thinking 16:43 Children teaching CT to adults 17:37 “Science itself isn’t enough to teach criticalthinking skills” - scientists that go astray, MDs that become homeopaths or acupuncturists 20:54 Homeopathy explained 24:54 A test of homeopathy 26:36 Using critical thinking to evaluate authority  29:35 Using paranormal shows to instill critical thinking 36:52 Critical thinking field trips 40:32 Beyond Belief books series for kids 42:27 Critical thinking for seniors… 46:10 Meditation and critical thinking 50:31 Dr. Crouch’s therapy workbooks for children, educationabout emotions and regulation of emotions  51:28 Wrapup and outro

Dr. Joe Pierre is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco; and the Unit Chief of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital Adult Inpatient Unit. He has extensive clinical experience working with individuals with psychotic disorders, substance use disorders, and those with “dual diagnosis.”Dr. Pierre has authored over 100 papers, abstracts, and book chapters and has been featured in numerous articles; media interviews, and the award-winning documentary Behind the Curve.© 2025 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. A video version of this show is available at https://youtu.be/YhlDchaF-G4

A video version of this show is available at ⁠⁠https://youtu.be/jNo6479P3C4Stuart Vyse is a behavioral scientist, teacher, and writer, with a PhD in psychology. He is an expert on superstition and irrational behavior, and has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times. Dr. Vyse has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN International, the PBS NewsHour, and NPR’s Science Friday. Dr. Vyse is the author of several books, including Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition, which won the William James Book Award of the American Psychological Association; Superstition: A Very Short Introduction; and, The Uses of Delusion: Why It’s Not Always Rational to be Rational.He is a contributing editor for Skeptical Inquirer magazine with his “Behavior & Belief” column, and has also written for the Observer, Medium, The Atlantic, The Good Men Project, Tablet, and Time.Dr. Vyse is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. © 2025 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Further resources:stuartvyse.comfacilitatedcommunication.orghttps://www.youtube.com/@fcisnotscienceStuart Vyse “The Telepathy Tapes” article: https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the-telepathy-tapes-a-dangerous-cornucopia-of-pseudoscience/Prisoners of Silence PBS Frontline 1993 https://ia902900.us.archive.org/33/items/PrisonersofSilence/Frontline.S11E17.Prisoners.of.Silence.1993.VHSRip.AAC2.0.x264-rattera.mp4Project Alpha: https://skepticalinquirer.org/1983/07/the-project-alpha-experiment-part-1-the-first-two-years/https://skepticalinquirer.org/1983/10/the-project-alpha-experiment-part-2-beyond-the-laboratory/N-Rays “The story of N-rays, which fooled many respectable scientists, has been used ever since as a cautionary tale of how easy it is to deceive oneself into seeing something that is not really there.” https://www.aps.org/archives/publications/apsnews/200708/history.cfmand https://www.wired.com/2014/09/fantastically-wrong-n-rays/

A video version of this conversation is available at https://youtu.be/uJ-ufcTJQnYBernie Garrett, PhD, is a professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) School of Nursing with over 35 years of experience in both critical care nursing and nursing education in the UK and Canada. He holds a PhD in information science, and has a number of specialist clinical and educational qualifications. Bernie Garrett has authored several science and clinical textbooks; chapters in edited books; and numerous research papers. His work is underpinned by a passion for health science and technology, and he holds provincial and national awards for his work in furthering nurse education. © 2025 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited.References:“An act establishing a board of registry in naturopathy.” n.d. https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2016/Chapter400.Atwood, Kimball C. and Massachusetts Medical Society. 2001. “Naturopathy: A Monograph.” https://centerforinquiry.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/07/12132253/opposition.pdf.Garrett, Bernard M., and Roger L. Cutting. 2017. “Magical Beliefs and Discriminating Science From Pseudoscience in Undergraduate Professional Students.” Heliyon 3 (11): e00433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2017.e00433.Garrett, Bernie, Sue Murphy, Shahin Jamal, Maura MacPhee, Jillian Reardon, Winson Cheung, Emilie Mallia, and Cathryn Jackson. 2018. “Internet Health scams—Developing a Taxonomy and Risk‐of‐deception Assessment Tool.” Health & Social Care in the Community 27 (1): 226–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12643.Garrett, Bernie, Timothy Caulfield, Blake Murdoch, Matt Brignall, Atul Kumar Kapur, Susan Murphy, Erin Nelson, et al. 2021. “A Taxonomy of Risk‐associated Alternative Health Practices: A Delphi Study.” Health & Social Care in the Community 30 (3): 1163–81. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13386.Risk of Deception Tool https://news.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/RoD-tool.pdfRosa L, Rosa E, Sarner L, Barrett S. A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch. JAMA. 1998;279(13):1005–1010. doi:10.1001/jama.279.13.1005https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/187390“VHA Directive 1137- VA Provision of Complementary-Integrative Health.” n.d. https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTH/professional-resources/clinician-tools/cih.asp.

Katharine Beals has a PhD in linguistics, is adjunct assistant at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and is an adjunct professor at both the Drexel University and Temple University schools of education. Dr. Beals specializes in language and literacy acquisition in autism, language technologies for autistic individuals, educational challenges for students with autism, evidence based instruction, and the problems with FC as an intervention in autism. © 2025 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Video version available at https://youtu.be/nldpkNllFDE Sources: D’Souza, K. (2022). A movement rises to change the teaching of reading. EdSource. https://edsource.org/2022/a-movement-rises-to-change-the-teaching-of-reading/675989 Travers, J., & Ayres, K. (2015). A critique of presuming competence of learners with autism or other developmental disabilities. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilitites, 50(4), 371–387. Travers, J. (2020). Rapid prompting method is not consistent with evidence-based reading instruction for students with autism. Perspectives on Language, Winter 2020. https://tinyurl.com/4up9y7nd

Cholesterol denialism Dr. Christopher Labos is a cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology. He spends most of his time doing things for which he does not get paid, like research, teaching, podcasting, and speaking with me. He writes for the Montreal Gazette, makes regular appearances on CBC radio and TV, and is co-host of The Body of Evidence podcast, where he and Jonathan Jarry take a skeptical eye at health claims and look at the body of evidence on a variety of health topics. He is also the author of the book: Does Coffee Cause Cancer and Eight More Myths About the Food We Eat. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Video version available at https://youtu.be/JUJKfcEWiqY Links to topics/papers mentioned in the show: Cholesterol denialism https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/cholesterol-denialism-pseudoscience-2024a100083z Endurance exercise https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/too-much-good-thing-can-endurance-exercise-be-harmful-2024a1000fhx and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0870255124000799?via%3Dihub Multivitamins, cocoa extract and dementia https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/996926 and https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/981780 https://www.mdedge.com/cardiology/article/270665/arrhythmias-ep/skip-potassium-after-cardiac-surgery Intermittent fasting https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/1000544 Sodium vs. potassium for BP https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/999805 Internal mammary ligation for angina RCT https://www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1056/NEJM195905282602204 Chelation therapy https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/medical/study-gets-heart-controversial-chelation-therapy

Dr. Offit is a pediatrician; a professor of both pediatrics and vaccinology; director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is an expert on vaccines, immunology, and virology and is a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee and has published hundreds of papers in medical and scientific journals. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Video version here https://youtu.be/83vqu3_BbRw 00:00 Intro 00:24 Welcome and bio 02:02 Background for topics 05:35 RFK Jr.: conspiracy theorist 10:37 RFK Jr. "no vaccine has ever been beneficial" BS; and the real truth about vaccine successes 15:36 The potential fallout of having an anti-vaccination activist as head of HHS 18:11 Chronic disease vs. infectious disease 19:00 Dr. Oz for CMS? 20:36 Weldon for CDC? 22:57 Makary for FDA? 26:17 Instilling trust by admitting mistakes 27:26 Yet another RFK Jr. conspiracy theory 28:48 Bhattacharya for NIH? 31:16 COVID revisionism and lab leak BS 37:39 Politicizing science - contrarians over credibility 39:39 Nuanced messaging 40:46 Learning as you go, and the overall system at work 44:03 Ending on a positive note (for some…)

Adrienne is a skeptical activist, and serves as a board member for the nonprofit organization About Time. Additionally, she holds positions as a board member, presenter, and educational consultant for the Tourette OCD Alberta Network. Adrienne actively contributes as an editor for Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia; reports for The Skeptic Zone podcast; writes for Skeptical Inquirer magazine in the US and Australia’s The Skeptic Magazine; and co-chairs the Western Canadian Reason Conference (WeCanReason), which is held annually each May in Calgary, Canada. Her website is zonegiggler.ca Video version available at https://youtu.be/GLmyzbIbe0M © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Thumbnail credit: Skeptical Inquirer

Dr. Katharine Beals has a PhD in linguistics, is lecturer at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and an adjunct professor at both the Drexel University and Temple University schools of education. She is the author of numerous books and articles on language, literacy, math instruction, and problems with current practices in K–12 classrooms. She recently authored the article “Should schools dedicate time to grit and growth mindset”. Video version available at https://youtu.be/QG-zOOrXfjM © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited.

This episode may be viewed as a video here: https://youtu.be/9t_wwXRo4j0 Welcome! As I mentioned in the 502 Conversations Brain Training episode with Dr. Indre Viskontas, I did a prior show on brain supplements. The show is The Dr. Dennis Show, which I co-host. I thought it might be a good idea to excerpt the brain supplement segment and make it available on 502 Conversations. Enjoy! © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Links to reports mentioned in this show: MEMORY SUPPLEMENTS Clarifying FDA and FTC Roles Could Strengthen Oversight and Enhance Consumer Awareness https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-17-416.pdf The Real Deal on Brain Health Supplements: GCBH Recommendations on Vitamins, Minerals, and Other Dietary Supplements https://tinyurl.com/m5cru57j New Report Pans Supplements for Brain Health: AARP collaborative council finds little value — but lots of expense — in would-be memory boosters https://tinyurl.com/y4btb3w6 Summer 2021 update to AARP’s Supplement survey:https://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/global-council-on-brain-health/supplements/    

This episode may be viewed as a video here https://youtu.be/YIkCs1XCPWo Dr. Viskontas has a PhD in cognitive neuroscience and a masters of music in voice performance. She is currently an associate professor of psychology at the University of San Francisco where she directs the creative brain lab; and she has a cross appointment at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she applies neuroscience to musical training. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited.

This episode may be viewed as a video here https://youtu.be/7FuWSjf2YEQ Dr. Joe Schwarcz is Director of the McGill Office for Science and Society. He is well known for his informative and entertaining public lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to the science of aging and is fondly referred to as Dr. Joe. He hosts "The Dr. Joe Show" on Montreal's CJAD radio; writes the newspaper column The Right Chemistry for the Montreal Gazette; and has authored the best-selling books such as Radar, Hula Hoops and Playful Pigs; An Apple a Day; and Monkeys, Myths, and Molecules. His newest is book, Superfoods, Silkworms, and Spandex: Science and Pseudoscience in Everyday Life. Dr. Joe is also an amateur magician and often spices up his presentations with a little magic, and like most magicians he has a pronounced disdain for pseudoscience and charlatans, from psychics to so called alternative health practitioners. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited.

This episode may be seen as a video here: https://youtu.be/-8n9ZVV9M5E Dr. Paul Offit is a pediatrician; a professor of both pediatrics and vaccinology; and he is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is an expert on vaccines, immunology, and virology and co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine RotoTeq, and is a member of the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Committee. He has published hundreds of papers in medical and scientific journals, speaks at both professional and public conferences, and is the author of 13 books. His newest book is Tell Me When It’s Over: An Insider’s Guide to Deciphering Covid Myths and Navigating Our Post-Pandemic World. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited.

A video version is available at https://youtu.be/_VdNPIoajSc David Samson, PhD., is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Toronto, and Director of the Sleep and Human Evolution Lab. He is the author of “Our Tribal Future: How to channel our foundational human instincts into a force for good”. His research directly addresses the central anthropological question of human uniqueness. In other words, the question he asks is what is it about our species that has made us the most successful animal on the planet? He’s comparatively worked with human and non-human primates around the globe to better understand the behavioral, physiological, and cognitive suite of traits that likely played a crucial role in our advance. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited.

This episode may be viewed as a video here https://youtu.be/wGlswKJMHTU Anthony Magnabosco is from San Antonio, Texas and is a founder and the current Executive Director of the nonprofit Street Epistemology International (SEI). SEI is an educational organization committed to addressing dysfunction in public and private discourse by encouraging rationality through civil conversation. SEI's goal is to provide people with the resources needed to develop, practice, and promote Street Epistemology, an approach that helps people critically reflect on the quality of their reasoning so as to update the confidence they have in their conclusions. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission is prohibited. Links: streetepistemology.com navigatingbeliefs.com linktr.ee/magnabosco Anthony's Youtube Channel

This episode may also be viewed here. Remember when we were young and chocolate was good for us? And red wine too, the more the better? Dr. Christopher Labos is here once again to set the record straight. He talks more about his book - plot and character development; the French Paradox; Mendelian randomization; this year in Cardiology, and more! A cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology, he spends most of his time doing things for which he does not get paid, like research, teaching, and podcasting. Occasionally, he finds time to practice as a cardiologist so he can pay his rent. He realizes that half of his research findings will be disproved in five years: he just doesn't know which half. He writes for the Montreal Gazette, and makes regular appearances on CBC radio and TV. © 2023 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission is prohibited.

This episode is also available as a video here: https://youtu.be/o7Jc2OKpa5o Dr. Wilson is a molecular biologist and science communicator. Dr. Wilson got his Bachelor's degree in molecular biology and biotechnology from Clarion University and his PhD in Biological Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University. After getting his PhD he began working for Eurofins as a process analytical scientist, and is currently working on gene therapies. In his spare time he produces and hosts Debunk the Funk, his YouTube channel dedicated to debunking vaccine and COVID-related misinformation. https://www.youtube.com/c/DebunktheFunkwithDrWilson © 2023 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission is prohibited.

This episode may be viewed as a video here: https://youtu.be/gPuAxnoBaIA Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. The recipient of several teaching awards, he has taught philosophy at Colgate University, Boston University, Tufts Experimental College, Simmons College, and Harvard Extension School. Formerly Executive Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, he has also served as a policy advisor to the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. He is the author of several books, including How to Talk to A Science Denier; The Scientific Attitude; The Art of Good and Evil; and Post Truth. His latest book is On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy. © 2023 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission is prohibited.

This episode may be seen as a video here https://youtu.be/NK6QxIdhueQ Dr. Young is a Professor of Communication and Political Science at the University of Delaware where she studies the content, audience, and effects of nontraditional political information. She has published over sixty academic articles and book chapters on the content, psychology, and effects of political information, satire, and misinformation. She is a Research Fellow with the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication and is a recipient of the University’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Young's 2020 TED Talk explaining how our psychology shapes our politics, and how media exploit these relationships, has been viewed almost two million times. She publishes extensively in the popular press with essays and Op-eds in outlets including Vox.com, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She has appeared on CNN, PBS Newshour, ABC News, NPR, and various national and international podcasts. Her popular University of Delaware course "Propaganda and Persuasion" was released by Wondrium’s The Great Courses in 2023. Her book Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Rage, Fear, and Laughter in the U.S. examines satire and outrage as the logical extensions of the respective psychological profiles of liberals and conservatives, and her new book is Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive our Appetite for Misinformation. Dr. Young is also an improvisational comedian, performing regularly with the improv comedy troupe, ComedySportz Philadelphia, and she has worked with Flackcheck.org to debunk inaccurate political claims through satire and parody. She grew up in New Hampshire and graduated from the University of New Hampshirebefore moving to Philadelphia to pursue her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. She has been a professor at the University of Delaware since 2006. © 2023 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission is prohibited.