Conspiracy Cabal

In this episode of This Week in Conspiracy Dr. Nick Coatsworth and Richard Baker talk about Iran and Chinese intelligence ops in Australia, how Nick’s social media sabbath went, and we foreshadow this weeks full episode on Satanic Panic in the 70's 80's & 90's.The Conspiracy Cabal doesn't promote conspiracy theories — we examine them.We search for the kernel of truth in every story, exploring how conspiracies start, why they persist, and what drives people to believe them.Contact the show at [email protected] the show at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A broken test tube, a dead lab worker, a Russian anti-plague institute, and a flood of alarming posts online. It sounds like the opening scene of a thriller. Yet there really was a young scientist who died after working at a facility that studied dangerous pathogens, there really was a quarantine response, and there really were questions about what authorities knew and when they knew it.This week on Conspiracy Cabal, Rich and Nick examine a story that exploded across social media after a laboratory worker in Siberia died following a sudden illness. Was it a tragic accident, an outbreak of plague, a cover-up by Russian authorities, or evidence of something even more sinister? Along the way they explore bioweapons research, gain-of-function science, pandemic-era fears, and why mysterious stories spread far faster than verified facts.The plague problem: A lab worker dies after contracting a severe illness, sparking speculation about plague, pneumonic infections and biocontainment failures. The guys unpack what Yersinia pestis actually is, why plague still exists today, and why most people are surprised to learn it never disappeared. The Russia problem: Quarantines, hazmat crews, official walk-backs and disappearing details. The Cabal examines how the response from Russian authorities fuelled suspicion, and whether the real story became the management of information rather than the disease itself.The bioweapon problem: Gain-of-function research, Cold War biological weapons programs, Soviet defectors and modern genetic engineering. The discussion explores the uncomfortable reality that governments have investigated biological warfare, and the fine line between defensive research and offensive capability. The expert problem: Pandemic celebrities, social media doctors, doom merchants and bestselling authors. From public health debates during COVID to the resurgence of bioweapon fears, the guys ask whether some commentators are rewarded for promoting worst-case scenarios.The AI problem: Could artificial intelligence make it easier for bad actors to create dangerous pathogens? The conversation turns to CRISPR, synthetic biology, ChatGPT-era fears and why some researchers believe AI could dramatically accelerate biological research for both good and ill.Some of this is microbiology: zoonotic reservoirs, biosafety levels and how outbreaks are investigated. Some of it is about information itself. What happens when authorities release too little information, conspiracy theorists release too much, and social media fills the gap in between? The possibility that advanced biotechnology could be misused in the future? That's the question that keeps the Cabal paying attention.Contact the show at [email protected] Conspiracy Cabal doesn’t promote conspiracy theories — we examine them. We search for the kernel of truth in every story, exploring how conspiracies start, why they persist, and what drives people to believe them.Contact the show at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brendan Nugent has been charged over the alleged attack on independent federal MP Helen Haines outside her electorate office in Wangaratta. Police allege the incident was targeted, while investigators continue to examine the motive behind the attack. Nugent has not entered a plea, and the matter remains before the courts. Questions have since emerged about Nugent's background, his online activity, and whether warning signs were missed prior to the alleged attack. Others have pointed to reports of mental health concerns and prior interactions with authorities, though no clear motive has yet been established by police. The Conspiracy Cabal doesn't promote conspiracy theories — we examine them. We search for the kernel of truth in every story, exploring how conspiracies start, why they persist, and what drives people to believe them. Contact the show at [email protected] the show at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Senator Jordon Steele-John is under-fire for alleged mistreatment of women, which he denies. However, the story also points to an alleged cover up by The Greens, and a secret dossier on how to handle the allegations against Steele-John.The Greens have denied any existence of a secret dossier. The Conspiracy Cabal doesn't promote conspiracy theories — we examine them. We search for the kernel of truth in every story, exploring how conspiracies start, why they persist, and what drives people to believe them.Contact the show at [email protected] the show at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Jones has said plenty of strange things, but few have travelled further than his claim that chemicals in the water are changing the sexuality of animals, and of people too. It sounds absurd. Yet there’s a real pesticide, a real scientist’s frog research, and real restrictions in Australia on where that chemical can be sprayed. Nothing makes a conspiracy go off like a sex scandal, so this week the Cabal goes there.Rich and Nick are joined by the Cabal’s newest member, former investigative journalist Bension Siebert, who worked with Rich on the podcast Pray Harder. After he was made redundant in 2025, Bension turned to sex work. He found it more meaningful than he expected and more secure than journalism, and it’s now paying for the investigation he’s scripting.The frog problem: A “gay bomb” once floated by a US military research lab, the herbicide atrazine, Tyrone Hayes’s frog studies, and a small study of semen quality in 86 Missouri men. The guys explain why Australia restricted atrazine in 1997 and the paraquat and Parkinson’s questions that deserve real attention, and how a homophobic dog whistle buries all of it.The intern problem: Monica Lewinsky, Kenneth Starr’s investigation, Arkansas state troopers, and the president who didn’t inhale. Was the biggest political sex scandal of the past 50 years also a gift to Bill Clinton’s enemies?The larrikin problem: Bob Hawke’s affair with his biographer Blanche d’Alpuget, the much-loved Hazel, and why Australians kept cheering him at the cricket anyway. Plus Gladys Berejiklian and Daryl Maguire, Barnaby Joyce’s comeback, and whether cancel culture ever actually cancels anyone.The hypocrisy problem: Larry Craig was an anti-gay US senator until his 2007 arrest in an airport men’s room. That leads to Bension’s rule: when a politician rails against gay people, start the timer.The spy problem: It’s 1963. There’s a war minister, a 19-year-old model, a Soviet naval attaché, and a society osteopath who died after his own trial. Then Mandy Rice-Davies delivers the most famous retort in British public life: “Well, he would, wouldn’t he?”Some of this is science: endocrine disruptors, sample sizes, and what a regulator actually found. Some of it is a mirror held up to the rest of us. Why are we so titillated by other people’s private lives, and why does hypocrisy end careers when the affair itself often doesn’t? The verdicts: atrazine turning the frogs gay scores a zero. Atrazine doing something to frogs scores a ten. An Australian prime minister surviving a Lewinsky-style scandal today gets one out of ten at best.This episode contains themes of sex and sexuality and is recommended for listeners 15 and over.Contact the show at [email protected] Conspiracy Cabal doesn’t promote conspiracy theories — we examine them. We search for the kernel of truth in every story, exploring how conspiracies start, why they persist, and what drives people to believe them.Contact the show at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.