Skeptoid is a weekly science podcast dedicated to furthering knowledge by blasting away the widespread pseudosciences that infect popular culture, and replacing them with way cooler reality.

Each weekly episode focuses on a single phenomenon — an urban legend, a paranormal claim, alternative therapy, or something just plain stupid — that you've heard of, and that you probably believe in. Skeptoid attempts to expose the folly of belief in non-evidence based phenomena, and more importantly, explains the factual scientific reality.

From the sublime to the startling, no topic is sacred, politically incorrect though that may be. 183,000 weekly downloads. Read what people are saying.

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Latest Skeptoid Episodes...

#435, Oct 7, 2014 - The St. Clair Triangle UFO - Early on January 5, 2000 in St. Clair County, Illinois, police officers from four different towns chased what has come to be known as the St. Clair Triangle UFO. The incident has had UFOlogists scratching their heads ever since. But what was really in the sky that day?

#434, Sep 30, 2014 - The Braxton County Monster - A group of 7 West Virginians looked for a crashed UFO in the hills and ended up getting the fright of their lives. Did they really encounter an alien spaceship and its occupant? Or does a more skeptical approach reveal a different tale?

#433, Sep 23, 2014 - The Water Woo of Masaru Emoto - Masaru Emoto believes in 'hado' -- the notion that water somehow entagles with human consciousness and emotion. According to Emoto, water can actually be imbued with good or bad energy. Is there anything behind Emoto's water woo? Skeptoid looks at the claims.

#432, Sep 16, 2014 - The Death of Rasputin - Legend says that Grigori Rasputin, the "Mad Monk" who played a part in the last days of the Russian monarchy, was hard to kill. They say he had to be poisoned, shot, beaten, and drowned before he finally succumbed to death. But does the history agree with the legend?

#431, Sep 9, 2014 - Acupuncture - Acupuncture is one of the most popular "alternative" therapies in the world. Where did it come from, and what does it do?

#430, Sep 2, 2014 - Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Houdini, the champion of scientific skepticism, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the champion of supernaturalism and spiritualism, clashed in the 1920s.

#429, Aug 26, 2014 - The Many Voices of Frank's Box - Frank's ghost box is a radio designed to hear communications from ghosts. But is there something that we can actually learn from it?

#428, Aug 19, 2014 - The Haunted Dybbuk Box - A popular tale tells of a haunted Jewish wine box that brought ill fortune upon its owners; at least, until you look at what is actually known to have happened.

#427, Aug 12, 2014 - The Legend of the Flying Dutchman - The Flying Dutchman ghost ship is one of the oldest and most familiar tales of the sea, but does anyone really know the inspiration for the story?

#426, Aug 5, 2014 - The Baldoon Mystery - Canada's most famous ghost story tells of Scottish immigrants harassed by a poltergeist, but the true facts of the case may be even more surprising.

#425, Jul 29, 2014 - Albino Facts and Fiction - Although people with albinism are still murdered for their body parts in some African regions, even the developed world still believes in certain albino myths.

#424, Jul 22, 2014 - The Santa Barbara Simoom of 1859 - Stories of a lethally hot storm wind in Santa Barbara in 1859 persist to this day. But with modern weather data, can we paint a more accurate picture?

#423, Jul 15, 2014 - 12 Step Programs - A very popular format for addiction treatment is the twelve step program, which buries treatment under thick layers of religious practice.

#422, Jul 8, 2014 - Lie Detection - Whether it's the polygraph machines of the past or the brain imaging technologies of the future, lie detection has always been clouded with doubt.

#421, Jul 1, 2014 - Student Questions: Internet Tracking and Plasma Cosmology - Skeptoid answers questions from students about hCG diet supplements, internet tracker blocking extensions, ear candling, antibacterial cleansers, and plasma cosmology.

#420, Jun 24, 2014 - Hillary vs. Mallory: The First to Everest - Rumors abound that in 1924, George Mallory beat Sir Edmund Hillary to the summit of Mount Everest, and the record for first ascent should be his.

#419, Jun 17, 2014 - Slacktivism: Raising Awareness - The Internet is full of ways to make us feel good - click a Like button, sign on online petition. But does any of it actually do any good?

#418, Jun 10, 2014 - Left Brained, Right Brained, or Hare Brained? - Pop psychology tells us we're all either left brain dominant or right brain dominant. But is there any science to back this up, or is it nonsense?

#417, Jun 3, 2014 - The Riddle of Flight 19 - Some say these five aircraft that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in 1945 fell victim to a mysterious force; others find a more prosaic explanation.

#416, May 27, 2014 - 5 Conspiracy Theories that Turned Out to Be True... Maybe? - Skeptoid listeners are always asking for conspiracy theories that turned out to be true. Here's the best I could come up with. They're hard to find!

#415, May 20, 2014 - In Which I Am the Very Picture of Error Personified - I try to correct as many errors as can be caught in previous Skeptoid episodes. This is another round of corrections, from which we can learn even more.

#414, May 13, 2014 - Killing Princess Diana - Some say the death of Princess Diana in 1997 was actually a murder plotted by her government. How good is the evidence supporting this?

#413, May 6, 2014 - 3-7-77: The Montana Vigilance Code - This mysterious code representing Montana vigilante justice has a meaning lost to history, but many have proposed various explanations.

#412, Apr 29, 2014 - Animal Predictors: Psychic, Sensitive, or Silly? - Many animals are presented through the popular media as being possessed of psychic powers, and able to predict events. Is this really the best explanation?

#411, Apr 22, 2014 - Your Body's Energy Fields - We are constantly bombarded with marketing messages and New Age claims asserting that your body has an energy field. Is this a real thing, or made-up nonsense?

© 2014 Skeptoid.com

 

The St. Clair Triangle UFO

Skeptoid #435, Oct 7 2014
Read | Listen (13:56)
 

The Braxton County Monster

Skeptoid #434, Sep 30 2014
Read | Listen (11:26)
 

The Water Woo of Masaru Emoto

Skeptoid #433, Sep 23 2014
Read | Listen (13:28)
 

The Death of Rasputin

Skeptoid #432, Sep 16 2014
Read | Listen (11:51)
 

Acupuncture

Skeptoid #431, Sep 9 2014
Read | Listen (15:07)
 

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#4 -	Fukushima vs Chernobyl vs Three Mile Island Read | Listen
#5 -	Listeners Have Another Say Read | Listen
#6 -	The Baldoon Mystery Read | Listen
#7 -	Who Discovered the New World? Read | Listen
#8 -	6 Problems with Wind Turbine Syndrome Read | Listen

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