The Skeptics Guide #533 - Sep 26 2015

Timothy Snyder is Housum Professor of History at Yale University, and has written and edited a number of critically acclaimed and prize-winning books about twentieth-century European history: Bloodlands won the Hannah Arendt Prize, the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding, the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award in the Humanities and the literature award of the American […]

Flying saucers hold a special place in American folklore, and it's one that's more intimately interwoven than you knew.

We take on your science questions: Can animals feel guilty? Could drones detect landmines? What's the furthest a paper plane could fly, and why don't spiders get stuck on their webs? Plus, a look at this week's science news - a development for Europe's Extra Large telescope, and the health challenges faced at the Rugby World Cup.

0:00:00IntroductionHeidi Robertson 0:03:12Knowing AnimalsWe chat to Dr Siobhan O'Sullivan from the 'Knowing Animals' podcast who gives us her perspective on animal politics and so-called animal communicators. 0:23:30A Week in ScienceThe Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) is a national scientific not-for-profit organisation with a mission to bring science to people and people to science. 0:27:27The Raw Skeptic Report with Heidi RobertsonThis week Heidi gives us her analysis on the stage performance of someone claiming to have psychic powers? Hello... anyone there...?

Forgotten Superheroes of Science: Ruth Rogan Benerito; News Items: Predatory Pharmaceuticals, Ocean Populations Declining, Election Graphology, Conspiracy Thinking; Who's That Noisy; What's the Word: Efferent; Your Questions and E-mails: Proof of God; Science or Fiction

TRC brings you a hella diverse show this week!  First, Pat sidles up to the bar code to determine whether the 666 conspiracy theory holds any weight. Next, Adam takes a facts-based look at the recent controversy around 14 year old Ahmed Mohamed’s homemade clock. Finally, Darren points his skeptical lense at the political argument that small business tax cuts stimulate job growth.

Our episode this week begins with a correction. Back in episode 28 (Monkeys on Typewriters), Kyle made some bold claims about the probability that monkeys banging on typewriters might produce the entire works of Shakespeare by chance. The proof shown in the show notes turned out to be a bit dubious and Dave Spiegel joins us in this episode to set the record straight. In addition to that, out discussion explores a number of interesting topics in astronomy and astrophysics. This includes a paper Dave wrote with Ed Turner titled "Bayesian analysis of the astrobiological implications of life's early emergence on Earth" as well as exoplanet discovery.