Skeptics in the Pub Online Podcast
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© 2022 Skeptics in the Pub Online
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This is the podcast version of the Skeptics in the Pub Online live-streamed talks. We take the audio and give it to you in a nice easy podcast feed for you to listen at your pleasure. All of the talks are still available on our YouTube channel if you want to see any visuals/slides/etc. We will release the live shows as we do them on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month and on weeks when there isn't a live show, we will release an episode from the archive.
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Jack the Ripper is one of the most well-known serial killers in history, with stories of his gruesome exploits permeating popular culture to an unprecedented degree. Despite almost 150 years having passed since the appalling Whitechapel murders, we are still none the wiser about who he was, what drove his terrible crimes, or why they suddenly stopped. But could that be about to change? At the start of 2025, several news outlets reported that the identity of Jack the Ripper had been finally confirmed, using astonishing DNA evidence. But is it all really as it appears? Should we just learn to let Jack the Ripper go?
Mike Hall is a web developer and Doctor Who fan (not in that order). He is a founding member of the Merseyside Skeptics Society, where he currently serves as secretary and treasurer. Since 2009 he has been producing and presenting the popular skeptical podcast Skeptics with a K, the longest running skeptical podcast in the UK. He is also on the organising team for QED, the UK's premier skeptical conference, which is now in its final year.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
Nearly one in four Britons has a disability, and many of them would benefit from a mobility aid or other piece of assistive technology. However, studies show a consistent trend of low compliance, sometimes as little as 50% depending on demographics. Non-use and underuse of needed aids has a host of negative impacts, including excess pain and disability for the individual, as well as social effects such as the inefficient use of finite medical resources. This talk will give an overview of some of the reasons for underuse, the varying impact they can have on different demographics, and some of the things that we can do, both as individuals and as a society, to improve health outcomes.
Cass Peters is a former professor of sociology and current professional sick person. In between migraines he continues to research subjects that take his fancy, with a particular emphasis on disability, identity, and stumbling head first into random historical and cultural rabbit holes. He maintains that his pets are cuter than yours and will not be taking any questions at this time.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
From biodynamic veggies to detox cures, our supermarkets are full of products that are pure woo. One moment you’re picking up cold medicine, the next you’re eyeing a bottle of homeopathic sugar pearls. You finally decide to get started with a skin care routine, a moment later your money ends up in the pocket of an anthroposophical brand. And those carrots … are they just organic or are they grown in tune with moon cycles and fertilized with some magic concoction made of a shit-stuffed cow horns?
Let’s unpick why pseudoscience is so at home among ordinary goods like apples and aspirin and why, at times, products that are gobbledygook end up in the shopping baskets of even the savviest skeptical minds.
Rebecca is an Austrian Studies Scholar who one day woke up as a marketing executive. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London, where she has previously been a lecturer in German and European Studies, as well as a literature enthusiast and a material culture geek.
Her main areas of interest are Austrian literature and culture, consumer culture, and the construction and portrayal of identities. In her PhD research (completed in 2021 at King's) she examined consumer objects, identities, and author brands in post-2000 Austrian literature, unpicking the emergence of the national brand of Austria and introducing the concept of ""Consumer Literacy"" - the skill of reading the narrative value of consumer objects - to literature research.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
In this talk, Noah Lugeons combines two of his passions; video game history and terrible Christian media. In so doing, he explores both the history of Christian video games and the larger role that Christianity has played in the development of secular games. In a who’s who of the worst video games of all time, Noah will guide the audience through a half century of digital cross-gathering, Sunday school attending, Christ-praising, Bible-verse collecting, and baby throwing.
Noah Lugeons is a podcaster, author, and atheist activist. He’s the host of The Scathing Atheist, the 2014 Podcast Award winner for Best Religious Podcast, and God Awful Movies, which has been recorded live at the largest atheist conferences in the US, the UK, and Australia. He’s the author of several books on the subject of atheism. His most recent book, Outbreak: A Crisis of Faith - How Religion Ruined Our Global Pandemic examines religion’s role in America’s error riddled response to the COVID-19 crisis. He temporarily resides in rural South Georgia, but not temporarily enough.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
What adults do for children today is shaping how humanity will ultimately fare. How can parents and other adults leverage information and resources to oppose bigotry and do the best for kids? In this presentation, Kavin Senapathy will discuss their book, The Progressive Parent: Harnessing the Power of Science and Social Justice to Raise Awesome Kids. From protecting babies and children from harmful chemical exposures to the truth about the gender and sex binaries, they will shed light on how to level up individual and collective approaches to raising children.
Kavin Senapathy is an award-winning science journalist and author of The Progressive Parent: Harnessing the Power of Science and Social Justice to Raise Awesome Kids (Hanover Square Press). Senapathy’s writing can be found in SciShow, Scientific American, SELF, Salon, Forbes, and more. A member of the National Association of Science Writers and the American Society of Journalists and Authors, their work delves into a slew of seemingly disparate but interconnected beats, from genomics to racism in society and medicine to food and health.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
We’re all members of a very strange species. But where lots of human peculiarities – from art to warfare and beyond – have analogues across the animal kingdom, we stand alone as the only religious species. Yet, within our otherwise religious species, atheism is currently flourishing in large parts of the world. I’ll discuss research highlighted in my recent book (Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species), showing how people’s intuitions about morality lead them to assume the worst of atheists – with problematic implications for our scientific understanding of atheism, religion, and human nature.
Will Gervais (Centre for Culture and Evolution, Brunel University London) is a cultural evolutionary psychologist and has been a global leader in the scientific study of atheism for over a decade. Dr. Gervais’s research has been featured in media such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, Der Speigel, Psychology Today, Vox, and Scientific American. His interdisciplinary work, lying at the intersection of cultural evolution, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive science, has garnered international scientific recognition. He was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science and is the recipient of the Margaret Gorman Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association and the SAGE Young Scholar Award from the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology. Will likes cooking, camping, and his dog.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
In spite of advancements in the field of forensic science, questionable practices and outright unproven methods still often get admitted into American court rooms. We'll explore some examples of this happening, some intractable problems in some methods that may seem reliable, and the reasons why there's even a chance of nonsense being admitted into court.
About the speaker:
Ben O'Brien (BSc, MSc) has a masters in Forensic Science from Virginia Commonwealth University and currently works as a forensic DNA analyst for a private company based out of northern Virginia, primarily analyzing sexual assault kits to aid Illinois State Police in preventing backlogs by ensuring all cases have evidence processed within 6 months.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
1 in 8 people globally are affected by a mental disorder, yet despite research, knowledge and awareness efforts, mental health is still increasing at an alarming rate. Could there be something misleading us in the data, an underlying reason why so many are identifying as mentally ill these days that is being overlooked? I will explain the concept of the “psychiatrization of society” as a possible explanation, in particular exploring social media’s role in the increasing pathologization of normality.
About the speaker:
Shayna is a PhD student at the University of Birmingham studying the gendered nature of modern mental health discourse & the psychiatrization of society. Her goal is to uncover and expose pseudoscience and sexism within psychiatry.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
The dubious rants of an aging teacher, regarding discipline and punishment in schools and why we've never had it so bad, or good, depending on who you listen to.
About the speaker:
Caradoc is returning to Skepticamp for another year, hoping to prove that quantity is not necessarily quality. This year, fresh from joining a new school in September, he is embarking on his 24th year destroying the hopes and dreams of children in education. A keen lover of sport, vegetables and politics, he is extremely glad his brother lasted longer as Welsh First Minister than Liz "Lettuce" Truss. Will His daughters get a mention in this year's talk? Who knows! His favourite Gladiator is Fury
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
Last year prison lawyer Emma ran a long way to make an over-laboured point about prison conditions. The sequel calls for an even more ridiculous stunt... So Emma will be running in circles at a prison for 52 miles.
Our prisons are full to bursting. The situation is so bad that by soon thousands will be released before they have served even half of their sentence. In this talk Emma will clear up exactly how we got here, how it has been brewing for a long time and the facts about 'early' release.
About the speaker:
Emma is a former QED main stage speaker and solicitor specialising in prison and public law. She regularly represents prisoners before the Parole Board. In what is left of her spare time, Emma enjoys running and boring other people about how much she enjoys running.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
Proponents of AI promise that AI will lead to the the democratisation of knowledge, but it is ultimately owned by various companies and investors. Who are these people and what are their goals for AI?
About the speaker:
Phil is a professional software engineer and an amateur board member of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and The Skeptic magazine
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
A talk about my experience literally losing the plot with Postnatal Psychosis and what it's like to experience psychiatric care on the NHS
About the speaker:
Karin is a artist/skeptic based in Liverpool.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
From where do the stories about sea serpents, draugr, and trolls originate? In the case of one of Europe's oldest lake monster, the story seems to originate from misinterpreting a historical artifact. So what happens when the church, king, and bureaucracy get involved in a monster hunt, and does the monster really exist?
About the speaker:
Fredrik is an archaeologist who investigates Ancient Aliens, alternative history, and even monsters. He hosts a podcast on the Archaeological Podcast Network called "Digging up Ancient Aliens." Fredrik's specialty is the Scandinavian Viking Age, and their specialty is the view of childhood. However, due to unforeseen events, he is now telling people online that Pakistan was not nuked by aliens. Or that dragons are not real.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
Nearly 1 in 4 Britons has some form of disability and, at least in theory, has access to a system that is designed to get them the accommodations that they need. However, we know that many people underutilize or even fully reject these accommodations, often causing themselves undue pain, suffering, and frustration. This talk will take a look at the research behind why this rejection happens and what we can do about it, ending with a call to action for good skeptics everywhere.
About the speaker:
Cass is the queer, trans, disabled immigrant that the Daily Mail warned you about. He’s a sociologist by training, and he taught undergraduates for years before health issues cut his PhD program short. These days he still gives occasional talks on subjects that take his fancy, particularly those related to disability, queerness, and identity. In between migraines he likes to make extremely sparkly art and take care of his many animals, all of whom are cuter than yours.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
In 1978, German pop group Boney M released their single Rasputin. The lyrics cemented the reputation of one Grigory Rasputin, one of the most loathed men in Russia, for all time.
About the speaker:
One half of the Retrospecticus podcast, Tom is a PhD-trained scientist with a passion for modern history. Also known as skepticism’’s resident vexillologist (flag nerd), you’ll find him hanging out with The Merseyside Skeptics Society, blasting out some terrible karaoke or streaming on Twitch.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
Electrification is transforming transportation at a fast pace. With over 40 million electric cars on the roads as of 2023, and a growing number of electric trucks and buses, the shift towards greener travel is clear. Electric trains have been around for almost two centuries, yet, as of 2024, there's only one serial production electric aircraft, and it can only carry two people. How close are we to the dream of zero-emission flights to Skepticamp and QED?
About the speaker:
Daniel is a PhD student at Uppsala University in Sweden, researching electric aircraft and the electrification of airports. He holds an M.Sc. in Electric Vehicle Engineering and has previously worked on the development of electric trucks, cars, and scooters. Daniel also holds a commercial pilot's licence and is a flight instructor. Naturally, he is also a member of the Swedish skeptics' association.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
According to many, your handwriting, the way you draw your letters, says a lot about your personality. But what does science have to say about it? And what could it be useful for anyway?
About the speaker:
A biology teacher and jazz singer by training, currently working as a tour director and guide, András has been a skeptical activist in Hungary for 25 years. He’s an original member and current president of the Hungarian Skeptic Society, a member of Susan Gerbic’s Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia team, board member of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations, intiator and co-host of the European Skeptics Podcast as well as the host and editor of the Hungarian ‘Hogy is van ez?’ podcast.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
In a world where humans can literally fly, somehow the word "technology" has come to mean violating labour laws to undercut taxi firms and dressing it up as "innovation" by bolting on a phone app. The tech industry is revered by the media as inspirational, miraculous and futuristic, it has almost unlimited money, and many extremely clever engineers work in it — so why does nothing work properly? Let's discuss some of the very silly ideas pushed from above by bosses, and from below by developers.
About the speaker:
Andrew has been touching computers for long enough that you'd think he'd know better, been a professional developer since 2012, and is now the tech lead at a small web company. He is also a longtime member and organiser of Manchester Skeptics.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
The rise in the number of stray dogs has sparked fierce reactions from conspiracy influencers. Between violent interventions like shooting strays and deporting volunteers who feed these “scary monsters,” some escalated the issue to the point of declaring it a national security threat. But why has such an everyday issue been dragged to its most radical form?
This talk explores how conspiracy networks use everyday issues and radical narratives to advertise themselves.
About the speaker:
About the speaker: Serdar Basegmez is a former Istanbulite and a new Londoner skeptic. Since 2010, Serdar has been actively involved with Yalansavar, a Turkish grassroots skeptical movement that promotes scientific reasoning and critical thinking, serving as a blogger, podcaster, meet-up host, and speaker. He is also part of the organizing committee for Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub and occasionally writes for The Skeptic UK. In his free time, Serdar runs his own company, developing business applications.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
This audio is a part of the Skepticamp 2024 event, that happened on October 18th 2024 in Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester and was livestreamed at https://www.twitch.tv/sitp
About the talk:
No people ever called themselves “the Vikings” and the history of Scandinavian culture didn’t start with the raid of Lindisfarne. There were kings, well-established communities, and even countries in the geographical area that we now call Denmark, Sweden and Norway, thousands of years before “the age of the Vikings”. Recent archeological finds and historical research paint a very different picture of the lost history of Northern Europe compared to what most of us learn at school.
About the speaker:
Pontus Böckman co-hosts the European Skeptics Podcast (the ESP, former president of the Swedish Skeptics (VoF) and the current president of ECSO, the European Council of Skeptical Organisations.
The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with permission.
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