Episode One Hundred And Sixty – On Fitnah – Interview With Maryam Namazie
Maryam Namazie is a political activist, campaigner and blogger, and the spokesperson for Fitnah - Movement for Women’s Liberation, and also the Equal Rights Now, One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. The official site for Fitnah: Movement for Women’s Liberation can be found at http://fitnahmovement.blogspot.co.uk, and is described as a protest movement demanding freedom, equality, and secularism and calling for an end to misogynist cultural, religious and moral laws and customs, compulsory veiling, sex apartheid, sex trafficking, and violence against women. It aims to remind the Islamic regime of Iran and Islamists everywhere that the women’s liberation movement is a source of fitnah for their rule alone. The petition for supporting Fitnah can…
Episode One Hundred And Fifty Nine – On Psychiatric Tales, Science Tales And Faking A Moon Landing With Darryl Cunningham
Today marks the end of World Immunisation Week and if there’s one thing I could recommend to people who are thinking of discussing the value of science and vaccination, it would be work like that created by Darryl Cunningham. Darryl Cunningham went to Leeds College of Art and is a prolific cartoonist, sculptor and photographer. He has also worked as a health care assistant on an acute psychiatric ward which informed and inspired the thoughts and experiences which went into his best-selling Psychiatric Tales. As a review in The Independent says, “His deceptively simplistic cartoons married with an easy-read writing style announced him as a new talent on the graphic novel scene.” When I was studying a unit in…
Episode One Hundred And Fifty Eight – On Sceptici în România – Skepticism In Romania
The first skeptical podcast in Romania, Sceptici în România, aka “Skeptical Romania” takes a skeptical view on education, law, politics, science, pseudo-science, miracle claims, miracle cures and vampires. Each episode has either a interview, a debate or a science segment – a podcast in a country where superstition is the norm and paranormal can be seen as ‘normal’! This interview features a chat with Eddy Petrisor, Miruna Chelbea and Ovidiu Covaciu – all hard-working, passionate skeptics with a keen interest in promoting a rational attitude towards the weird and wonderful. You can find their site at http://podcast.sceptici.ro. Links mentioned in the show include: http://insulaindoielii.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/colon-help-sues-wordpress and http://insulaindoielii.wordpress.com/trial-updates. This show is available on Zune, mp3 via Libsyn or iTunes. Visit www.tokenskeptic.org – and I’d love…
Episode One Hundred And Fifty Seven – On The Media Guide To Skepticism – Interview With Sharon Hill
Welcome back listeners and thanks to everyone for the supportive messages and Tweets about the Token Skeptic podcast’s win in the Ockhams Awards at the recent QEDCon! I’m very proud to have been selected by the judging panel, after seeing the very impressive competition that I was up against – please do check out all the finalists and winners, which will soon feature on the www.skeptic.org.uk website. Speaking of skepticism, I was very impressed with a document that came out last month by Sharon Hill, which features on the Doubtful News website. It’s called The Media Guide To Skepticism and features some fascinating tips and guidance for anyone interested in finding out more about skepticism….
Episode One Hundred And Fifty Six – On Why Is There A Skeptical Movement – Interview With Daniel Loxton
On February 6th of this year, the Skeptics Society announced a new project over on the Skepticblogs site, authored by Daniel Loxton: For over twenty years, the Skeptics Society and Skeptic magazine have labored at the forefront of the skeptical movement—constantly experimenting, often pushing the boundaries, but always circling back to the heart of the skeptical tradition. This week, we’re pleased to present Daniel Loxton’s challenging and provocative new project, “Why Is There a Skeptical Movement?” (PDF). Almost two years in the writing, these two meticulously-researched chapter-length explorations dig deeply into the roots, founding principles, and purpose of scientific skepticism. If you don’t know who Daniel Loxton is, then you really need a history lesson….
Episode One Hundred And Fifty Five – On Reclaiming A Secular Australia – Interview With Sean Faircloth
Get ready Australia and New Zealand – Sean Faircloth is on his way! Sean Faircloth was hired as the Secular Coalition for America’s Executive Director in June of 2009 and served a decade in the Maine State Legislature. In his last term he was elected the Majority Whip by his colleagues and was an accomplished legislator, successfully spearheading over thirty pieces of legislation, particularly involving children’s issues and justice system reform. Sean Faircloth is a strong advocate of the separation of church and state and has received many awards of recognition including the 2006 Legislator of the Year Award from the Maine People’s Alliance, the 2005 Excellence in Advocacy Award from the American Heart Association’s…
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Token Skeptic – 2013 Ockhams Award For Podcasting!
The Token Skeptic won an award over at QEDCon, which is running this weekend! Here’s the speech I wrote in the highly unlikely case I won (with extra huge thanks to Hayley Stevens of http://hayleyisaghost.co.uk for saying it and collecting the award on my behalf): Big thank yous to the The Skeptic, The Ockhams Awards Committee and QEDCon, who considered the Token Skeptic worthy of being considered with the other great shows in the running for this prize – keeping company with them was honour enough, so please do support all of our podcasts. [I mean that – podcasting can be a big challenge at times, and it’s an ongoing commitment that should get some love – so kudos also to Skeptics with…
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Episode One Hundred And Forty – On Great Skepticism – With Pat Linse And Donald Prothero
This is an investigative episode about some of the key figures in skepticism that you may not know much about… and should know more about! Pat Linse is an award winning illustrator who specialized in film industry art before becoming one of the founders of the Skeptics Society, Skeptic magazine, and the creator of Junior Skeptic magazine. As Skeptic magazine’s Art Director, she has created many illustrations for both Skeptic and Junior Skeptic. She is co-editor of the The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. Donald R. Prothero is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He earned M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in geological sciences from Columbia…
One Hundred And Thirty Nine – On The Seralini Affair And GM Foods – Interview With Dr Ashley Ng
This is a special episode inspired by a listener’s request – welcome to episode 139! Recently I’ve been plugging a feedback survey, which included a question on “who or what would you like to hear discussed on the show” – and clearly I have to work on making my previous episodes easier to access and review, because suggestions included people I’ve already interviewed! If you’d like to check out previous shows, it’s on the page called List Of Episodes and I’ll work on changing the site in the near future. Thanks for your feedback! My Curiouser and Curiouser column over on the CSICOP website – if you’d like to check out transcripts from the show…
One Hundred And Thirty Eight – On Science Engagement And Talking Nerdy To Me – With Bec Crew, Alex Brown And Cara Santa Maria
Announcement: The Book Launch for “Zombie Tits, Astronaut Fish And Other Weird Animals“ by Becky Crew is happening in early October in Sydney – check out her site at Running Ponies for more details! There’s a great number of science communicators and science popularisers out there – and many have unique and interesting approaches when it comes to engaging the public. Bec Crew – of the Scientific American blog Running Ponies – her newly-released book “Zombie Tits, Astronaut Fish and Other Weird Animals” is available via New South Press. Becky Crew is a Sydney-based science writer, award-winning blogger and former online editor. Twitter @BecCrew. Alexander Brown – Blogger, science communication student working at CERN – recently wrote the…
Episode One Hundred And Thirty Seven – On Questioning Steiner Schools With Quackometer’s Andy Lewis
I first became interested in the progress of Steiner (or “Waldorf”) schools while doing some investigating for my talk at the World Skeptics Congress in Berlin, earlier this year. Some of the research I did included not only articles written for the Skeptical Inquirer (“Weird Science at Steiner School“, Fall 1991) and André Sebastiani’s extensive investigation on anthroposophy, “Versteinerte Erziehung“ for the German Skeptiker Magazine, edition 4/2011, (which recommends another 2007 German work, Anthroposophie in Deutschland, by Zander) – but also a public letter signed by the likes of Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter; David Colquhoun, Professor of Pharmacology at University College London and the science writer Simon Singh, that was specifically directed at Maharishi and…
Episode One Hundred And Thirty Six – On Atheist Books 101 With Embiggen Books
“Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs are by elevators.” Stephen Fry. Embiggen Books, the fantastic rationalist bookstore in Melbourne, has a brand new revamped website and a science-based bookclub – and naturally, some of the best reads in the southern hemisphere! For this episode, Warren Bonett and I investigate how books can help you understand atheism, humanism and secularism, and what are some of the best new reads on the scene. – HUGE thanks to Gerry and suggestions for new podcast to the site or to the email address at tokenskeptic at gmail. – Hoaxilla Podcast: Happy 100 episodes! – Congratulations on your marriage, Dr Karen Stollznow and Matthew Baxter! – Monster…
Episode One Hundred And Thirty Five – On Testing Shuzi Qi Claims With The Merseyside Skeptics
Today is the launch of a video by the Merseyside skeptics, called Testing the Shuzi Sports Band. In order to find out more about its creation, I spoke to Mike Hall of the Merseyside Skeptics. In the video, you can see Vice-President Michael Marshall and other members of the Merseyside Skeptics put these so-called athletic enhancement devices to the test. It’s already made a splash in the Guardian and Daily Mail newspapers in the UK! From the Merseyside Skeptics website: Sports performance technology manufacturers Shuzi Qi came under fire today after product tests revealed their performance-enhancing wristband to be ineffective. The £60 wristband, sported by Dancing on Ice star Jennifer Ellison on the BBC 1 show earlier…
Episode One Hundred And Thirty Four – On ScienceRewired – Interviews On Science, Society And Education
sciencerewired is a one day conference on the 11th October in Adelaide, at the Science Exchange, exploring the impact of social media, crowdsourcing and digital technologies on science communication and citizen science on the major social and scientific issues of our time. With a key theme of “Connect, Collaborate and Communicate for Change” it will bring together science communicators, academics, media professionals and digital visionaries for a one day conference of debate, insight and education. I’ve conducted a number of interviews, with some of the most fascinating science advocates and promoters who’ll be at the event - here are several of them collected together for your enjoyment! You can listen to the whole series at http://audioboo.fm/sciencerewired Chris Cassella –…
Episode One Hundred And Thirty Three – On Science And Skepticism – Talk By Dr Steve Novella At QEDCon 2011
This is brought to you with tremendous thanks to the organisers of QEDCon, a great conference with wonderful people. You can find the official site at http://www.qedcon.org. This talk was presented on the 5th February, 2011 and called “The Skeptical Neurologist”. Dr. Novella is an academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine. He is the president and co-founder of the New England Skeptical Society. He is the host and producer of the popular weekly science podcast, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe. He is also a senior fellow and Director of Science-Based Medicine at the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and a founding fellow of the Institute for Science…
Episode One Hundred And Thirty Two – On Tweets And BigFeets – Interview With Hayley Stevens
This is a special additional episode with many thank-yous and lots of what’s-coming-up! This week’s show (after all the thank-yous!) features an interview with Hayley Stevens – on the use of Twitter in skepticism and a funny story about civility online. “A Conversation About Sasquatch” - http://hayleyisaghost.co.uk/a-conversation-about-sasquatch/ “‘Wow! Signal’ From Earth: Tweets Set For Deep Space This Week” - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/09/wow-signal-tweets_n_1762118.html Hayley Steven’s site can be found at www.hayleyisaghost.co.uk. Firstly, thanks to donors to the podcast – such as Andrew Kirkhope, Richard Cornford, Robert Williams, Tunya Kimmel, David Bell, Adrienne Roehrich, Mary-Anne Wright, Peter Quin-Conroy and Craig Crisco, who has been a long-term donor to the show. Very sorry if I’ve missed a name there – but tremendous thank yous to you as well!…
Episode One Hundred And Thirty One – On Philosophy In Schools – Philosophy For Children With Dr Sue Knight
As a resource writer, high school and now university-level teacher, I owe a lot to the Philosophy for Children methodology – known as “P4C”). What makes my experience particularly interesting is that P4C hails from the USA and I am an Australian – it is more popular overseas, than in its place of origin. The P4C method draws primarily from the pragmatist tradition – Pierce, James, Mead and especially Dewey. The Community for Inquiry (aka CoI) includes Vygotsky’s theory of the internalization of social behavior and, naturally, draws upon the Socratic method with its community approach, with pupils sharing their views on questions drawn from stimulus materials. Since 2004, I have worked with other…
Episode One Hundred And Thirty – On Science Podcasting (In Space!) – Interview With Dr Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain
Science podcasting is popular, fun and informative… but how do you make a success of it? Is there a formula that the experts use to get a show regularly on the air? How much research and effort goes into every show? What about new technologies like Google Hangout and should you even consider starting your own podcast? I talk to podcasting pioneers Dr Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain about their experiences in the field as science communicators via podcasts, even how they got featured on Google with their astronomy hangouts! Shows by Dr Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain that are mentioned during the interview: The 365 Days of Astronomy (help out by sponsoring them!) Astronomy Cast and…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty-Nine – On Confessions of an Ex-Mormon Ex-Polygamist Ex-Wife – It’s Not About The Sex (My Ass!)
Joanne Hanks used to be a Mormon as well as one of many wives serving her husband – now after her long journey from growing up in the faith, joining a cult and the disillusionment that lead to her leaving, she tells her story in a new book with Steve Cuno – called “It’s Not About the Sex” My Ass: If you sense in me a house divided, you are not wrong. I gloried in an inner conviction that we were following God’s true plan. But inside I ached, because what God demanded of me was awful and it cut deep. How I thought a worthy handmaid should feel and how I really felt were constantly…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty Eight – On Bad Books And Infinite Monkey Cages – Interview With Robin Ince
“If the Royal Variety Show was put in a matter transportation machine with the Royal Institution Christmas lectures, this is what you’d get” - Robin Ince. Robin Ince is the comedian you might know as the co-presenter of BBC Radio’s The Infinite Monkey Cage with physicist Brian Cox, the creator of stage-show and author of Bad Book Club: One Man’s Quest to Uncover the Books That Taste Forgot or even the creator of the Australian feature movie Razzle Dazzle. I spoke to him after he returned from Alom Shaha’s booklaunch for The Young Atheist’s Handbook, about science, comedy and how he brings them together to make shows like Nine Lessons And Carols For Godless People and his most recent tour,…
Vodcast – Godless Parenting Chat: What Do You Do To Bring Up God-Free Children?
Godless Parenting: What Do You Do To Bring Up God-Free Children? Available on YouTube and via iTunes: Features Dan Fincke, PZ Myers, Ophelia Benson and Russell Glaser, with Kylie Sturgess as the host. Big thanks to Digital Cuttlefish and Taslima Nasrin for contributing via email; apologies to everyone (especially Al Stefanelli!) who couldn’t join. Books and sites mentioned – science and skeptic parenting books: Junior Skeptic insert in the Skeptic Magazine. Really Really Big Questions About Faith — Julian Baggini Evolution: How We And All Living Things Came To Be — Daniel Loxton Parenting Beyond Belief – Dale McGowan Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief – Dale McGowan The Young Atheist’s Handbook…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty Seven – On The Sex Myth – Interview With Dr Brooke Magnanti
What is a sex myth and how do we spot one? Where do our assumptions about sex and sexuality come from, and do they have merit? The Sex Myth: Why Everything We’re Told Is Wrong investigates the various dark corners of sex and the media, with Dr Brooke Magnanti examining the data for widely believed truisms, like the one that adult entertainment – strip clubs, massage parlours, and the like – cause crime; the medicalisation of female desire; the denial of women’s appreciation for erotica, and whether “sex addiction” is a disease. Drawing both on her career as a scientist and experience as a sex worker, she plumbs the depths of sexual myth-making and exposes that what we…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty Six – On Magic And Psychology – Interview With Anthony Barnhart
This is the first podcast episode where you need to bring your own deck of cards to the show – so you can do a magic trick along with the interview! Anthony Barnhart (aka, “Magic Tony”) is a doctoral candidate in cognitive psychology at Arizona State University in the United States and a part-time professional magician with over twenty years of performing experience. In the lab, he studies the psychological processes underlying handwritten word perception and the psychological foundations of magic and illusion. An expert in the psychology of illusion, Tony has lectured on the topic at magic conventions and to students of psychology at colleges and universities. He has a new course coming out, called…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty-Five – On Secular Women – Interview With Bridget Gaudette
Welcome to episode one hundred and twenty-five! This is an interview with Bridget Gaudette, the Vice-President of Outreach, at the newly-launched Secular Women Inc. in the USA. Secular Woman, Inc. is a non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Georgia in June of 2012. The mission of Secular Woman is to amplify the voice, presence, and influence of non-religious women. Bridget Gaudette is the Florida State Director for American Atheists. She is is a member of Orlando Freethinkers & Humanists, Black Nonbelievers of Metro Orlando, Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, Humanists of Florida Association, Foundation Beyond Belief and of course American Atheists. Bridget blogs about atheism and related topics at Emilyhasbooks.com and currently works as a Medical Case Manager. Transcript of the interview is featured on the Token Skeptic…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty Four – On The Geek Manifesto (Again) – Interview With Mark Henderson
Back in 2011, after the first QEDCon, I interviewed Mark Henderson for Token Skeptic Episode #55 – while attending the Westminster Skeptics in the pub. Now, over a year later, his book The Geek Manifesto: Why Science Matters is out! From The Geek Manifesto website: Whether we want to improve education or cut crime, to enhance public health or to generate clean energy, science is critical. Yet politics and public life too often occupy a science-free zone. In the UK, ministers ignore, and even sack, scientific advisers who offer inconvenient evidence. The NHS spends taxpayers’ money on sugar pills it knows won’t work, while public funding for research that would boost the economy is cut. Groundless…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty Three – On Not So A.C.E – Investigating Accelerated Christian Education With Jonny Scaramanga
Jonny Scaramanga is an independent musician, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and teacher in Bath. He once attended an ACE school and questions whether the system has done the right thing by him and thousands of students world-wide, at “Leaving Fundamentalism”. His article “Fundamental Errors With Evangelist Schooling” features at the Times Educational Supplement site: Visitors to Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) schools see how quiet classrooms are and how polite pupils are. You would be polite too if you attended a school where anything less than vigorous, smiling agreement with the teachers was seen as an act of rebellion. Rules were enforced with, if not a rod of iron, then a hefty paddle… …Like all pupils, I taught myself from…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty-Two – On Adventures At The World Skeptics Congress, Berlin – Interviews
On the last day of the Sixth World Skeptics Congress in Berlin, I conducted ten short interviews for the podcast. That is, just before I collapsed due to tarte flambée consumption. Many, many thanks to Martin Mahner, Armadeo Sarma, Josie Schuppang, Melody Watson, Giuliana Landa Taylor, Jochen Bergmann, André Sebastiani, Eugenie Scott, Chris Mooney, the members of GWUP, ECSO, CSICOP and everyone who worked behind the scenes, on the stage, around the convention and helped make it run so well. It was an honor to be a part of it all. Interviewees featured in this show: The Hoaxilla Podcast and the Berlin Skeptics in the Pub Sven Rudloff and Josie Schuppang Florian Freistetter Dr Harriet Hall Jean-Michel Abrassart Kristjan Wager Leo…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty-One – Women, Media And Science – Interview With Ben Radford
Are women easily fooled by ideal images promoted by the media? Does reporting on science findings contribute to girls feeling social pressure to conform to beauty and gender-stereotyped expectations? Should we trust media reportage of scientific papers, particularly those that concern women? After reading Ben Radford’s articles on the Discovery website about a teenager protesting airbrushing in fashion magazines, gendered marketing in advertising and common (but mistaken) beliefs about the number of teen births, I found I had some questions on whether media and science work well together to inform the public – and just how skeptical we should be. Benjamin Radford is the deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and a Research Fellow with the Committee…
Episode One Hundred And Twenty – On Token Skepticism – The Best Of (Yet Again)
The last ‘best of’ was Episode 60, featuring segments of the show that I’ve done since December 25th, 2009. Since another sixty episodes have passed, here is another look at the Token Skeptic podcast – some of the interviews I’ve enjoyed, been challenged by – and I hope you enjoy the listen too. This episode features segments of interviews with: On Tribal Science – With Michael McRae On Sexism, Skepticism And Civility Online – With Viv “TigTog” Smythe On James Randi’s An Honest Liar – With Justin Weinstein And Tyler Measom On Great Books In Skepticism – With Warren Bonett On Miracle Detectives – With Dr Indre Viskontas On Skeptical Science – With Stephan Lewandowsky On…
Episode One Hundred And Nineteen – On Evolution In Action With Brilliant Bioluminescence – Interview With Siouxsie Wiles
Imagine a kickstarter for science, helping to get cool and critical projects into action? That’s what Crowdfunding for Science, the SciFund Challenge is all about – supporting science and involving the public with innovative new projects. With only nineteen days of donations left to go, Evolution in Action has a goal to investigate how diseases evolve, using bioluminescent bacteria in mouse poo to track its progress. It may sound quirky, but the science behind the story has world-wide ramifications when it comes to investigating antibiotic resistance and stopping new diseases emerging. Evolution in Action is just one of the many projects that Dr Siouxsie Wiles is involved with – sharing her twin passions of bioluminescence (think glow worms and…
Episode One Hundred And Eighteen – On The Self Illusion – Interview With Bruce M Hood
Most of us believe that we are an independent, coherent self–an individual inside our head who thinks, watches, wonders, dreams, and makes plans for the future. This sense of our self may seem incredibly real but a wealth of recent scientific evidence reveals that it is not what it seems – it is all an illusion. In The Self Illusion, Professor Bruce M Hood reveals how the self emerges during childhood and how the architecture of the developing brain enables us to become social animals dependent on each other. Professor Bruce M Hood is the Director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre in the Experimental Psychology Department at the University of Bristol. He has been a…
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