• Buy The Geek Manifesto here
• Listen to our interview with Mark on episode 134 of The Pod Delusion

• Rothamsted Research
• Sense About Science’s Rothamsted Appeal

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
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• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here) (Recommended)

Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
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Libel Reform in the Queen’s Speech (2:42) by James O’Malley (ft Sile Lane)
Don’t Destroy Research (6:10) by Tracey Brown & Sile Lane (ft Toby Bruce & Huw Jones)
Kony 2012 (19:05) by Michael Story
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell Interview (27:04) by Liz Lutgendorff
Do Not Resusitate (36:05) by Simon Howard
ACE creationism (45:38) by Jonny Scaramanga
Before Watchmen (51:08) by Declan O’Riordan
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Libel Reform Campaign
• Don’t Destroy Research (on the Sense About Science website)
• Full tour of Rothamsted Research with Sense About Science
• Full Jocelyn Bell Burnell Interview
• InTech Science Centre and Planetarium
• Athena Swan Awards

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
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• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here) (Recommended)

Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
We’re trialling partnering with Audible – sign up and get a free trial and you’ll get a FREE AUDIOBOOK! And you’ll also be helping the Pod Delusion, which is nice. Available audiobooks include Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. Sign up here.

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Employ James O’Malley
Your host, James O’Malley, is currently looking for a career change – would you like to work with him? You can find his CV here. (Don’t worry – The Pod Delusion will continue stronger than ever!)

The Geek Manifesto (2:40) by James O’Malley (ft Mark Henderson)
Open Standards and FRAND (15:08) by Salim Fadhley (ft Glynn Moody)
Paradoxes in Science (24:20) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Jim Al-Khalili)
The Ancestor’s Trail (36:54) by James O’Malley (ft Chris Jenord)
Protest Voting (44:32) by Alex Fitch
Biobank is Good (50:34) by Peter English
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brain Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Buy The Geek Manifesto by Mark Henderson
• The Skeptical Voter Project
• Buy Paradox by Jim Al-Khalili
• The Ancestor’s Trail

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
Go on, it’s like buying us two drinks a month!

• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here) (Recommended)

Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
We’re trialling partnering with Audible – sign up and get a free trial and you’ll get a FREE AUDIOBOOK! And you’ll also be helping the Pod Delusion, which is nice. Available audiobooks include Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. Sign up here.

Pod Delusion Listener Survey
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Employ James O’Malley
Your host, James O’Malley, is currently looking for a career change – would you like to work with him? You can find his CV here. (Don’t worry – The Pod Delusion will continue stronger than ever!)

Holy Redundant (2:50) by James O’Malley (ft Andrew Copson)
Sanal Edamaruku on Catholic Miracles (8:03) by Salim Fadhley
The Voltaire Lecture (20:01) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Robin Ince)
Droughts and Rain (29:20) by Duncan Geere
Elected Mayors (33:31) by Cory Hazlehurst
London’s Candidates (41:13) by Adam Jacobs
Liverpool’s Candidates (50:43) by Tom Williamson
Science Tales (57:01) by Lisa Chalkley (ft Darryl Cunningham)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brain Two

Follow-Up Links

• Holy Redundant Campaign
• Sanal Edamaruku
• Robin Ince
• Duncan Geere
• Buy SCIENCE TALES by Darryl Cunningham (spoiler: it is awesome)
• Darryl Cunningham
• Festival of the Spoken Nerd

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
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• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here) (Recommended)

Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
We’re trialling partnering with Audible – sign up and get a free trial and you’ll get a FREE AUDIOBOOK! And you’ll also be helping the Pod Delusion, which is nice. Available audiobooks include Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. Sign up here.

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Employ James O’Malley
Your host, James O’Malley, is currently looking for a career change – would you like to work with him? You can find his CV here. (Don’t worry – The Pod Delusion will continue stronger than ever!)

Derek (2:48) by Steve Leedale (read by Jess Vautier)
Breivik on WoW (10:16) by Marianne Baker
Empirical Poverty Alleviation (17:14) by Mohammed Fahad (read by David Couch)
Neuroethics (26:20) by Steve Page
Carey Talking Bollocks Again (34:48) by Dean Burnett
Metal Theft (44:46) by Tom Hodden (read by Rob Hinckley)
Winchester Science Festival (53:16) by James O’Malley (ft James Thomas)

Follow-Up Links

• Winchester Science Festival

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
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• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
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Government Snooping (2:20) by Dr Jenny Woods
Open Access Publishing (11:32) by Matt Kaiser
Brackley Council Prayers (20:20) by Alex Dutton
Protest Suicides (29:01) by Alex Fitch
Ban The Burka Response (35:56) by Clio Bellenis
Do Atheists Have It In For Christianity? (42:20) by Ed Bower
The Skeptic Song (50:10) by Blake Hutchings
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links

• Dr Jenny’s Links on Snooping:
  • More about the CCDP (or here)
  • CCDP conference at LSE
  • Actual LibDem policy on snooping
  • Dr Jenny at LibDem Conference
• Matt Kaiser’s Links on Open Access:
  • What is Open Access?
  • The Tree of Life (by Jonathan Eisen) on open access
  • Stephen Curry on Open Access

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
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• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
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Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
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Vaughan Jones Interview (2:08) by James O’Malley
Galloway’s Bradford Spring (11:18) by Blakeley Nixon
Pro-Choice Protest (16:00) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff
The Christian Definition of Marriage (22:04) by Salim Fadhley (ft Robert M Price)
Biobank (33:05) by Adam Jacobs
Lobbyists and Lobbylists (43:25) by Cory Hazlehurst
A Titantic Story (51:12) by Tom Hodden (read by Alex Foster)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links

• Libel Reform Campaign
• Vaughan Jones
• Read the full Vaughan Jones Libel Judgement here
• Bloomsbury Pro-Choice Alliance
• WATCH: Our video report from the Pro-Choice Protest
• The Human Bible
• Mark Harper lobbyists event in Birmingham (as mentioned in Cory’s report)
• Unlock Democracy’s page on opening up lobbying

And do stick around to the end to hear Blake Hutchings’ amazing song!

We’ll have full audio coverage of the event on next Friday’s show – but for now here’s a quick video report on the pro-choice protest held yesterday outside BPAS headquarters in London.

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• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
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Screening Can Be Bad (2:24) by Margaret McCartney
Outside In (11:30) by Kash Farooq (ft Stephen van Vuuren)
Cash For Cameron (20:42) by Adam Jacobs
Girl On The Net (28:52) by Sean Ellis (ft Girlonthenet)
Turing on the Tenner (37:32) by Salim Fadhley
Doomsday Scenarios (44:20) by James Robson (ft Alok Jha)
Ban The Burka? (53:48) by Steve Page
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links

• Buy The Patient Paradox by Margaret McCartney
• Outside In The Movie
• Follow-up Links for Adam Jacobs
• Get Alan Turing on the £10 note E-Petition
• Buy The Doomsday Handbook by Alok Jha

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
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• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
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Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
We’re trialling partnering with Audible – sign up and get a free trial and you’ll get a FREE AUDIOBOOK! And you’ll also be helping the Pod Delusion, which is nice. Available audiobooks include Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. Sign up here.

Secularist of the Year (2:33) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Peter Tatchell & Bideford councillor Clive Bone)
Religion in the legal system (13:410 by James O’Malley (ft David Allen Green)
How do atheists pray for someone? (19:52) by Georgia Gale Grant
The Hockey Stick & The Climate Wars (25:39) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Michael E Mann)
Space Elevators (38:24) by Sean Ellis
German Pirate Party (46:42) by Sven Rudloff
Gadget Lust (52:04) by Alex Fitch
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links

• Cadiac Screening Programmes
• Full Michael Mann Interview:
  
• Buy The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars by Michael E Mann

Pod Delusion Listener Survey
Please take a moment to complete our listeners survey – so we can find out how to improve the show!

You can hear a full recording of the event below:

In this first podcast, philosopher Richard Norman gave a fascinating critique of Alain de Botton’s latest book, Religion for Atheists.

And in this second podcast, lawyer David Allen Green spoke about the role of religion in the legal system – and why it should become more secular.

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
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• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
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Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
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NHS Risk Register (3:32) by Drew Rae
Delia Smith (9:36) by Tom Williamson
Dodgy Abortion Counselling (16:29) by James O’Malley (ft Laura Hurley & Lisa Hallgarten)
Assisted Dying (26:36) by Adam Jacobs
Libel Reform (37:03) by James O’Malley (ft Hardeep Singh & Vaughan Jones)
Queen Mary’s Sharia Rejig (45:46) by James O’Malley (ft Simon and Robert from QM Atheist Soc)
Ophelia Benson Interview (50:49) by Liz Lutgendorff
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two
The recipe at the end is by Martyn Norris

Follow-Up Links:

• Education for Choice
• Full Vaughan Jones / Hardeep Singh Libel Reform chat:
  
• Libel Reform Campaign
• Butterflies and Wheels (Ophelia Benson’s website)
• Buy Does God Hate Women? Co-authored by Ophelia Benson

It goes without saying that this wouldn’t have been possible without all of our hundred or so contributors – who are all consistently amazing and brilliant. Every week I’m stunned by the quality of our contributors – who for some reason don’t mind their work being interspersed with me talking bollocks.

And thanks to everyone who nominated us – and indeed everyone who listens. It makes the gruelling Thursday night edits all worthwhile. I love you all!

…And finally here’s a video of us accepting the award:

Professor Carol Sanger is a leading international scholar in the regulation of abortion, motherhood, and family. She is the Barbara Aronstein Black Professor of Law at Columbia Law School in New York and a Senior Research Fellow at St. Anne’s College, Oxford.

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
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• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here)

Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
We’re trialling partnering with Audible – sign up and get a free trial and you’ll get a FREE AUDIOBOOK! And you’ll also be helping the Pod Delusion, which is nice. Available audiobooks include Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. Sign up here.

Cardinal Keith (2:24) by Dave Cross
Bloomsbury Pro-Choice Alliance (8:44) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Kerry from BPCA)
After-Birth Abortion (14:36) by Adam Jacobs
Averil Mansfield Interview (24:10) by Georgia Gale Grant
Irish Blasphemy Law (32:08) by James O’Malley (ft Prof David Nash)
Atheist Photobook (44:26) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Chris Johnson)
Ayn Rand Ranniversary (52:52) by Paul Day
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Bloomsbury Pro-Choice Alliance!
• Listen to the 2012 BPAS Lecture with Prof Carol Sanger
• That post-birth abortion medical ethics paper
• David Nash talking Blasphemy on YouTube
• Kickstart the Atheist Photobook here

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
Go on, it’s like buying us two drinks a month!

• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here)

Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
We’re trialling partnering with Audible – sign up and get a free trial and you’ll get a FREE AUDIOBOOK! And you’ll also be helping the Pod Delusion, which is nice. Available audiobooks include Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. Sign up here.

Failed Experiments (2:26) by Drew Rae
Nuclear Iran (8:41) by David Eastman
AVN vs HCCC (12:23) by Andrew Gould
In The Navy (17:35) by Blakeley Nixon (ft Commander John Craig)
Skeptical Fairy Tales (30:50) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Stuart Taylor)
Maglev Trains (40:50) by Tom Hodden
Videogames as Art? (46:56) by Alex Fitch
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• UK Armed Forces Humanist Association
• Buy Tales from Pareidolia by Stuart Taylor

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
Go on, it’s like buying us two drinks a month!

• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here)

Coalition for Equal Marriage (2:50) by James O’Malley (ft Conor Marron)
Extremism on Campus (11:48) by James O’Malley (ft Raheem Kassam)
Leading Faiths (25:36) by Drew Rae
Alcohol Limits (29:20) by Adam Jacobs
Bad Valentines PR (37:25) by Marsh
2000AD at 35 (43:28) by Tom Hodden
Lottolab (50:40) by James O’Malley (ft David Robertson)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Coalition for Equal Marriage – make sure you sign their petition!
• Student Rights
• Science Museum Lates

Rally to defend Freedom of Expression (2:40) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff
(ft Richard Dawkins, Nick Doody, Kate Smurthwaite, Rhys Morgan, Joan Smith and Anne-Marie Waters)
Nick Cohen Interview (18:10) by Liz Lutgendorff & James O’Malley
Census Christians (28:54) by James O’Malley (ft Paula Kirby)
Bideford Council (37:35) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Tessa Kendall)
Turing Pardon (45:00) by Peter Rowlett
Sherlock and Copyright (54:56) by Tom Hodden
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links

• Listen to the rally to defend free expression in full here.
• One Law For All
• Full Nick Cohen interview:
  (Check back in the morning!)
• Buy Nick Cohen’s ‘You Can’t Read This Book’ here.
• Full Paula Kirby Interview:
  
  
• RDFRS Survey Results & Data

• National Secular Society
• Alan Turing Links

Pod Delusion Extra

• CineSci6 – Memento
• Westminster Skeptics – David Allen Green on Privacy
• Darwin Day Lecture 2012 with Adam Rutherford & Steve Jones
• Martin Robbins on Bad Science in the Developing World
• Julian Huppert on LibDem Science Policy in full

In this 6th podcast, Simon Frantz discusses Christopher Nolan’s 2000 film Memento. He is joined by Guardian neuroscience blogger Mo Costandi and Hugo Spiers, who researches spatial cognition, memory and goal-directed behaviour at UCL.

CineSci6 is organised by James Robson and Paolo Viscardi, and facilitated by Kate Coventry. The discussion is led by Simon Frantz.

You can also hear an interview with Adam about the lecture on Pod Delusion episode 120.

The government maintains that the Health and Social Care Bill doesn’t mean the privatisation of the NHS. Is this true? What are the main changes implied by the Bill, and what do they imply for patients and taxpayers? What are the reasons for the changes, and do they add up to a persuasive case?

Colin Leys is an emeritus professor of political studies at Queen’s University, Canada, and an honorary professor at Goldsmiths University of London. His most recent books include Market-Driven Politics: Neoliberal Democracy and the Public Interest (2001) and (with Stewart Player) The Plot Against the NHS (2011).

You can hear a short interview with Julian on episode 120 of the Pod Delusion’s regular weekly programme.

You can hear further coverage of the recent free-speech cases that have provoked this rally on The Pod Delusion’s weekly programme…

• Episode 121 – Talking Blasphemy with Maryam Namazie
• Episode 120 – Jesus and Mo at the LSE with Chris Moos
• Episode 118 – Jesus & Mo at UCL ft the creator of Jesus & Mo!

Speakers listing…

• Anne Marie Waters from One Law For All (4:50)
• AC Grayling (8:15)
• Maryam Namazie reading a statement on behalf of the creator of Jesus & Mo (11:30)
• Keith Porteous Wood from the National Secular Society (14:42)
• Nick Doody (17:35)
• Nick Cohen (20:35)
• Rhys Morgan (26:10)
• Jennifer Hardy, President of Queen Mary Atheist Society (31:25)
• Jim Fitzpatrick MP (33:40)
• Jenny Bartle, President of the AHS (35:15)
• Susan Zuang, from UCL Atheist Society (36:10)
• Baroness Cox (39:30)
• Rupert Sutton from Student Rights (42:15)
• Richard Dawkins (44:02)
• Kate Smurthwaite
• Faisal Gazi
• Derek Lennard from GALHA, the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Assocation
• Sue Cox from Survivors’ Voice Europe
• Pragna Patel from Southall Black Sisters
• Marco Tranchino from Central London Humanists Group (87:30)
• Mark Embleton from Atheism UK (90:20)
• Chris Moos reading a message from Andrew Copson, head of the British Humanist Association
• Gita Sahgal from Centre for Secular Space (96.25)
• Roger Farrington of the Sheffield Humanist Society reading a message from Roy Brown from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (105:07)
• Joan Smith
• Maryam Namazie from One Law For All

We’re trying to crowdsource the names of speakers and their timing in the podcast above – so let us know in the comments below the speaker and the timecode if you happen to notice this.

UN Reform (2:25) by James O’Malley (ft Sir Jeremy Greenstock)
Twitter Joke Trial Appeal (12:36) by Carl Gardner (ft David Allen Green)
Moon Bases (16:56) by Alex Fitch
Women’s History Month (25:53) by Jessica Metheringham-Owlett
Filibustering (30:41) by Craig Lucas (ft Christopher Chope)
Challenge Sally (38:40) by Tom Williamson (ft Michael Marshall)
Electric Lullaby (47:15) by Sarah Angliss

• David Allen Green interview courtesy of Carl Gardner

Women’s History Month:

• Full Programme
• First Event
• Second Event

Sarah’s Links:

• Spacedog’s Bandcamp page where you can hear the Electric Lullaby in full
• See Sarah at Brighton Science Festival
• See Sarah at QEDCon next month!
• More on Electric Lullaby

CFI Blasphemy Conference (2:04) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff
(ft Andrew Copson, Austin Dacey and Maryam Namazie)
Welfare Reform (15:17) by Steven Sumpter
UniLad (25:44) by Dean Burnett
Deaths in Custody (34:52) by Georgia Gale Grant
Nuclear Theatre (41:27) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Nicholas Kent)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

• The Future of Blasphemy by Austin Dacey
• Rally to defend free expression
• Listen to podcasts from the CFI Blasphemy Conference here
• Deaths in custody stats
• The Tricycle goes nuclear
• Liz’s full interview with Nicholas Kent:
  

It was organised and introduced by Dr Stephen Law of Heythrop College, University of London and Editor of Think (Royal Institute Philosophy) Provost of Centre for Inquiry UK.

We have three of the talks available here. We hope to add the other two – pending permission from the speakers.

Andrew Copson – Blasphemy laws by the back door

Andrew Copson has been chief executive of the British Humanist Association since 2010 before which he spent five years coordinating the association’s campaigns work including on blasphemy and free speech issues.

After decades of campaigning the criminal offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel have been abolished but censorship of blasphemous content and even threatened prosecution of blaspheme’s continues in the UK. Andrew explores how corporate interests, opaque advertising regulations and new criminal laws continue to stifle free expression, free criticism and mockery of gods and religions.

Austin Dacey – The Future of Blasphemy

Austin Dacey, Ph.D., is a representative to the United Nations for the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the author of The Future of Blasphemy:

If blasphemy is an affront to values that are held sacred, then it is too important to be left to the traditionally religious. In the public contestation of the sacred, each of us—secular and religious alike—has equal right and authority to speak on its behalf and equal claim to redress for its violation. Laws against blasphemy and “religious hatred” are inherently discriminatory because they give traditional faith communities a legal remedy that is not available to religious minorities and secularists when their sense of the sacred is violated.

Maryam Namazie – Blasphemy, Offence, and Islamophobia limiting Citizen Rights

Maryam will be speaking on how accusations of blasphemy, offensive speech and ‘Islamophobia’ censor and restrict free speech, limit citizen rights, and aid and abet Islamism. Maryam Namazie is Spokesperson of the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and Equal Rights Now – Organisation against Women’s Discrimination in Iran. She is also National Secular Society Honorary Associate and the NSS’ 2005 Secularist of the Year award winner and was selected one of the top 45 women of the year 2007 by Elle magazine Quebec.

New Douglas Adams Audio (1:51) by Jon Treadway (ft Stephen Fry, Mark Carwardine and Douglas Adams)
Julian Huppert on LibDem Science Policy (11:56) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff
Jesus & Mo at the LSE (23:45) by James O’Malley (ft Chris Moos)
Adam Rutherford Interview (31:26) by Liz Lutgendorff
Technological Progress (40:58) by Drew Rae
My Little Brony (50:00) by Salim Fadhley (ft Coder Brony)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links

Douglas Adams Links:

• Douglas Adams: The Party at Hammersmith Apollo
• Save The Rhino
• Douglas Adams Animation Competition
• Listen to our Douglas Adams tribute documentary here

Other Links:

• Preparing the Ground: The new LibDem digital policy
• To contribute to Julian Huppert’s LibDem science policy, e-mail: libdemsciencepolicy@gmail.com
• BHA Darwin Day lecture with Adam Rutherford
• Brony Herd Census

In this 5th podcast, Simon Frantz discussed the 1987 film Robocop with roboticist Dr Peter Bentley from the Department of Computer Science, University College London, and a contributing editor to Wired UK. In March Peter is releasing a book called Digitized: The science of computers and how it shapes our world and you can already pre-order it!

CineSci6 is organised by James Robson and Paolo Viscardi, and facilitated by Kate Coventry. The discussion is led by Simon Frantz.

In this edition Simon Frantz speaks to Justin Hancock, trainer and consultant at Bish Training, a sex and relationships website for teenagers, about the 1985 film Weird Science.

Justin has blogged about the event and put up some related notes (including a picture of the infamous masculinity donut here).

CineSci6 is organised by James Robson and Paolo Viscardi, and facilitated by Kate Coventry. The discussion is led by Simon Frantz.

SOPA Blackout (2:05) by Georgia Gale Grant
Behind the scenes at the Wikipedia blackout (9:33) by Tom Morris
Figshare (17:58) by Jon Treadway (ft Mark Hahnel)
Teletubbies Scandal (27:36) by Salim Fadhley (ft Dave Thompson)
The Sex Party (39:33) by Chris Huang-Lever
Scotland and Tory England (45:17) by Keir Liddle
A Bugs’ Life (50:16) by Adam Jacobs (ft Matt Shardlow)
Videogames and Morality (60:16) by Trent Burton
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Donate & Support the Pod Delusion

• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here)

Follow-Up Links:

• Figshare
• The Sex Life of a Comedian by Dave Thompson
• Dave Thompson’s website
• Chris’s full interview with Fiona Patten:
  
  

Georgia’s SOPA Links:

• Pirates at Sony and Fox
• Khan Academy Explains SOPA
• Reddit’s technical examination of SOPA
• CDT on SOPA
• A day without PZ Myers
• xkcd on SOPA

Adam’s neonicotinoids links:

• Adam’s Interview in full:
  
• The PLoS One paper on neonicotinoids
• The review of neonicotinoids by Kindemba, commissioned by Buglife in 2009
• Cresswell 2010
• Interaction between Nosema infection and neonicotinoids in bees
• Bug Life

Jesus, Mo and UCL (2:13) by James O’Malley (ft Dave, the guy behind Jesus & Mo!)
Spartacus Report (9:36) by Steven Sumpter
Obscenity Trial (21:10) by David Allen Green (ft Myles Jackman and Michael Peacock)
Wind Farms (24:22) by Pete Hague
The LHC is valuable (33:40) by Kash Farooq, Peter Silk & George Hrab
Death Penalty & Assisted Dying (40:44) by Sean Ellis
Christian Nightmares (47:16) by Salim Fadhley (ft Christian Nightmares guy)

Follow-Up Links:

• Jesus and Mo
• Jesus and Mo books
• The Spartacus Report
• Civitas Windfarms Report
• Pete’s Civitas Blog
• Merrill Womach
• “20 minutes to go”

Daily Mail Justice (1:58) by Martin Robbins
Hungary for Constitutional Change (7:45) by Dave Landon Cole
Open Primaries (14:08) by Cory Hazlehurst
Pro-Assisted Dying (22:16) by Jennie Kermode (performed by Melinda Burton)
Anti-Assisted Dying (33:21) by William Lee
The Cost of Physics (40:38) by Adam Jacobs
Apocalypse Soon? (50:06) by Leila Johnston
Just World (60:29) by Dean Burnett
Blogger of the Year (67:02) by David Allen Green

Follow-Up Links:

• William Lee’s Assisted Dying Survey of Doctors
• Review of similar surveys
• Survey of medical students
• Falconer Report
• 2005 House of Lords Report

Congratulations to Tim Ireland as Bloggerheads is our blog of the year 2011!

Obit (0:49) by Dave Cole
Hitch and religion (8:40) by Cory Hazlehurst
Hitch the Historian (15:46) by Rich Godbehere 6:36
Post-9/11 Hitch (23:42) by Mohammed Fahad (read by Alex Foster) 5:36
Regime change? (30:03) by David Eastman 4:14
Twitter Censorship? (35:40) by Dave Cross 6:12
Tweet inserts are by Sean Ellis
Music by Milton Mermikidies

As we’re not best placed to properly reflect on Hitchens, nor did we ever get the chance to interview him (though do have a listen to the superb Little Atoms episode featuring Hitch) I want to do it a bit like how we normally do the Pod Delusion – in addition to featuring reports on Hitchens and his work, I want to spin off of topics that are related to his work and are interesting.

As he was such as important figure though I want to open this out a bit more than just our contributors, does anyone else want to contribute to such a programme? Deadlines are tight – we need to put this to bed on Wednesday 21st.

Some ideas I’d like to see include:

• Attacking sacred cows – Hitch was famous for this, anyone have any interesting tales of other people who have gone against the grain (a la slagging off Mother Theresa), and turned out to be actually right?
• Hitch’s contribution to skepticism as a movement – what did he bring to the table?
• Who is the next Hitchens? Can we prematurely enoble someone as “the next Christopher Hitchens?”

…and so on. If you’ve got any other ideas for features we could have, let us know in the comments below. And if you’d like to contribute, drop me a line on editor@poddelusion.co.uk.

Higgs Update (2:26) by Kash Farooq (ft Jon Butterworth)
Comic Sans (11:50) by James O’Malley (ft Vincent Connare)
BBC Micro (19:05) by Salim Fadhley (ft Steve Furber)
Anti-Vax Folk Fest (26:54) by Andrew Gould
Solar System: From iPad to book (33:40) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Marcus Chown)
Sesame Street Socialists (42:47) by Tom Hodden
Festival of the Spoken Nerd (47:48) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Matt Parker, Helen Arney & Steve Mould)
Science Cabaret (55:38) by Dean Burnett
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Help deputy-editor Liz!

• Liz’s CV and contact details – can you help?
• James’s blog thanking you for supporting Liz
• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here)

Follow-Up Links:

• Salim’s interview with Steve Furber in full:
  
• Liz’s interview with Marcus Chown in full:
  
• Buy Marcus Chown’s new book here
• Dean’s full Science Cabaret report:
  

Festival of the Spoken Nerd Tickets

You can buy FOTSN tickets online here.

To get tickets for £10 instead of £12, you’ll have to call the Bloomsbury box office on 020 7388 8822 (or visit in person) and quote “GEEK PARTY” to get the discount. This has to be before December 31st.

Kepler-22b (2:55) by Kash Farooq (ft Robert Simpson)
NHS Data Sharing (13:22) by David Eastman
Virtual Models at H&M (17:41) by Steven Sumpter
Voyager’s Final Frontier (22:30) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Ed Stone)
Corporate Responsibility (33:06) by Adam Jacobs
Declining Education Standards (39:10) by Peter Rowlett
Tribal Scientist (45:11) by Kylie Sturgess (ft Michael McRae)
Humans Are Amazing (54:44) by Drew Rae
The sketch is by David Lovesy & Brian Two
The Godel Song is by Ben Jones

Help deputy-editor Liz!

• Liz’s CV and contact details – can you help?
• James’s blog thanking you for supporting Liz
• Make a donation to the Pod Delusion
• Subscribe £5/month to help the Pod Delusion (or subscribe £10/month here)

Follow-Up Links

• Full interview with Ed Stone from NASA on Voyager:
  
• Historical Maths Quotes
• Mathematics at the Transition to University: A Multi-Stage Problem?
• The Tribal Scientist

Don’t worry – I’m not sacking her from the Pod Delusion (that would certainly make things awkward when we’re sat watching telly together) – it was her real job. Y’know, the one that pays the bills. The blog post with her CV on was posted maybe within 20 minutes of us finding out (I was sat across from her when she received the e-mail). My interest in this, for those of you who haven’t figured this out yet, is that I live with her and she is my partner. And any emotional nonsense aside, I can’t afford the rent on our flat alone.

So anyway, the reason I’m writing this post is because it turns out that our listeners, our followers, our friends and our community are absolutely amazing. Upon the alarm being raised you lovely, lovely people starting retweeting, researching and calling in favours. And whilst Liz hasn’t found anything just yet she’s already received lots of leads to follow up – including some which seem rather promising.

So THANK YOU EVERYONE. I LOVE YOU ALL. You’ve all been amazing during this, er, time of need, if I can use such a phrase when it’s not linked to either bereavement or tragedy (either way, it’s a bit of a pisser). It really is heartwarming and humbling to see everyone helping her out – I’m not a good enough writer to accurately articulate my gratitude towards everyone.

If you’d like to help out Liz in the meantime, you can find her CV and contact details here. I can vouch for her being amazing – though if you’ve listened to the Pod Delusion you’ll already know that. Or if you’re feeling generous, why not subscribe and donate a fiver (or a tenner) a month to the Pod Delusion?

Skills

Project management: Planning, research, logistics, quality control, Prince2 Foundation attained

Research: Participation in numerous research projects, primary and secondary source expert, archive research, survey research, business research

IT skills: MS Office (Excel, Visio, Word, Outlook, Power Point), solid understanding of SQL queries, web-admin, community based forums, Salesforce (CRM), wikis, HTML, Photoshop, Google Apps

Editing/Proofreading: Copy editing, proof reading, marketing, expert in alternative format processes, audio/video editing

Event planning: Logistics, organization, speaker sourcing, speaker liaison

Communication: Social Media: (Twitter, Facebook, etc), blogging platforms, online forums, international meeting set up, phone/video conferencing set up, email, telephone, face-to-face meetings, CEO level contact with multinational corporations, interviews

Education

Birkbeck College, University of London (2010)

• Masters Degree – History

University of Western Ontario (2004)

• BA (hons) – History

Qualifications

Prince2 – Project Management 2011

• Passed with certificate

ISO 9001 – Internal Auditor 2010 (updated)

• Passed with certificate

Contact Details

• E-Mail: liz@poddelusion.co.uk
• Twitter: @sillypunk
  

URGENT: Our deputy editor, Liz Lutgendorff has lost her job. We live together in London and are at risk of losing our home if she is out of work. Can you help? Find details of her skills and qualifications here. Please spread the word.

Canadian Air & Space Museum (1:39) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Rob Godwin)
Economic Woe (10:59) by Pete Hague
Venus Transit Expedition (19:25) by Kash Farooq (ft Huw James)
Confidence & Class (28:59) by Dean Burnett
Timetravellers (39:22) by Leila Johnston
Christmas Traditions (45:16) by Tom Hodden
The sketch at the end was by David Lovesy, Brian Two and Steve Clark

Follow-Up Links:

• Canadian Air & Space Museum
• Full Interview with Huw James:
  (Coming soon)
• Venus Transit Expedition

Pod Delusion Extra:

• Ada Lovelace Day Live
• Graeme Archer at Westminster Skeptics
• A Walk On Part – Politics and the Arts Debate
• CineSci6: The Science Behind Moon

Various Plugs:

• PubSci Christmas Pub Quiz on Tuesday
• We’re coming to Portsmouth in January!
• We’re coming to QEDCon in March!

You can hear the play here: (And go see the play, it’s ace!)

This recording includes talks from a variety of women on a variety of topics. It was hosted by Kate Smurthwaite and included talks from: Maggie Philbin, Sara Pascoe, Sue Black, Gia Milinovich, Helen Arney and the person who started it all Suw Charman-Anderson. Helen Keen and Maggie Alderin-Pocock also gave talks at the event but they are not included in this recording.

In this third podcast, Simon Frantz discussed the 2009 film Moon with astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell and Moon’s Concept Artist & VFX supervisor Gavin Rothery. You can hear it below or subscribe to the special CineSci6 podcast.

CineSci6 is organised by James Robson and Paolo Viscardi, and facilitated by Kate Coventry. The discussion is led by Simon Frantz.

Mars Science Lab (1:40) by Kash Farooq (ft Claire Cousins)
SOPA (9:42) by James Firth (ft Cathy Gellis)
Darknet (19:07) by Salim Fadhley (ft Hose Manuel)
Curing Cancer (26:54) by Matt Kaiser
The BBC & Open Access (33:34) by Pete Hague
Tweeting the Universe (38:32) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Marcus Chown)
A Walk On Part (47:11) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Steve Marmion, John Hodgkinson, Michael Crick, Diane Abbott and Don Foster)
Solipsism (54:57) by Sean Ellis
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two
Thanks to Hayley Stevens and Dave for supplying the dogs (!)

Follow-Up Links:

• Claire Cousins
• Full interview with Marcus Chown:
  
• Buy Tweeting The Universe by Marcus Chown and Govert Schilling
• Solar System for iPad, by Marcus Chown
• A Walk-On Part at Soho Theatre

Like the show? Support us by subscribing for £5/month here (or £10/month here).

Tom Morello on Occupy (1:50) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Tom Morello!)
Phobos-Grunt (13:52) by Kash Farooq (ft Lewis Dartnell)
Frozen Planet by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Mark Brandon)
Microprocessors at 40 by Sean Ellis (ft Greg Yeric)
Political Lies (43:01) by Steven Sumpter
The Christ Myth Theory (50:51) by Salim Fadhley (ft Robert M Price)
Engaging with others (59:32) by Tannice Pendegrass
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Tom Morello’s new album, World Wide Rebel Songs
• Full Mark Brandon Interview
  
• Dr Mark Brandon
• Lewis Dartnell
• Lewis Dartnell’s book ‘Life in the Universe: A beginners guide to Astrobiology’
• Full Greg Yeric Interview:
  
• More on microprocessors
• A history of lithography

Winterval (1:45) by Dave Cross
Libel Reform Lobby (8:43) by Trish Hann
Silencing Protest (12:46) by Steven Sumpter
Necromancy (17:59) by Drew Rae
Talking to the Dead (22:21) by Sarah Angliss
Space Toys (29:27) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Craig Leff & Kevin Fong at London Science Festival)
Guerilla Skepticism (41:21) by Kylie Sturgess (ft Susan Gerbic)
Prime Numbers (50:39) by Peter Rowlett (ft Samuel Hanson)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

If you enjoy the show please leave us a nice review on iTunes!

Libel Reform Links:

• The Libel Reform Campaign

Space Links:

• London Science Festival
• Craig Leff
• Kevin Fong

Sarah Angliss’s Links:

• Fortean Times Unconvention
• Florence Nightingale’s voice (original recording is in the British Library)
• Venetian Moon (performed by Rae Eleanor Ball) –
  Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, University of California

• Herb Morrison, reporting on the arrival of the ill-fated Hindenberg airship, Lakehurst, New Jersey, 6 May 1937
• Memento mori – Victorian post-mortem photographs (Possibly NSFW – it’s pretty disturbing anyway)

Kylie’s Links:

• Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia
• Milton’s Awesome Music (he does the Pod Delusion themetune too!)

Peter’s Links:

• Acme Science

Seven Billion (1:25) by Michael Grayer
Plan C (7:50) by Prateek Buch
White Poppies (15:36) by Tessa Kendall
Non-Prophet Week (20:05) by James O’Malley (ft Jenny Bartle)
AIDS at the Science Wooseum (23:51) by Kash Farooq (as read by Alex Foster)
The Oil Kings (29:41) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Andrew Scott Cooper)
Historical Narratives (39:56) by Nick Boorer
Ear Candling (47:00) by Tom Williamson
Skeptical Purity Test (54:03) by Drew Rae
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Radical Statistics Population Studies Group
• IIASA report on timing of “seven billion” and other things
• ‘Plan B’ for the economy
• Prateek’s ‘Plan C’ for the economy
• Social Liberal Forum on Plan B
• Non-Prophet Week
• Liz’s full interview with Andrew Scott Cooper:
  
• Buy ‘The Oil Kings’ by Andrew Scott Cooper

Nadine Dorries & “Extreme Humanists” (1:42) by Dave Cross
New Humanist Respond (7:12) by James O’Malley (ft Paul Sims)
Anonymous (13:42) by Drew Rae
Church Tax Dodgers (20:27) by Salim Fadhley (ft Annie Laurie Gaylor)
SRE And Anti-Choice (28:23) by Laura Hurley & Lisa Hallgarten
Pi Digits (37:21) by Peter Rowlett
LHC Update (42:57) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Jon Butterworth at UCL, as part of the London Science Festival)
Conway Memorial Lecture (49:15) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Philip Schofield)
Breast Cancer Marketing (57:30) by Paul Day

Follow-Up Links:

• New Humanist Bad Faith Award
• Education for Choice
• Listen to the Conway Memorial Lecture in full
• The Bentham Project
• London Science Festival
• The Holyoake Lecture in Full
• Islam in a Secular Europe Debate

The video of the guinea pig to watch to accompany the SRE report is after the break.

The Conway Memorial Lecture is organised by South Place Ethical Society, and this podcast was recorded on the 26th October 2011. They’ll be an interview with Professor Schofield on Pod Delusion episode 108.

A prophet is usually understood to be a person who, inspired by supernatural agency, speaks on behalf of that agent and predicts the future. But Bentham himself pointed out that the original Greek meaning of the term referred simply to a person who ‘speaks out’, and in a more limited extent to a person who ‘foretells’.

In opposition to the prevailing mores of his day, Bentham proposed that all sexual activity that was consensual—whether with oneself, whether with partners of the same or the opposite sex, whether with partners of different species—should be made free from legislative interference. In the post-Malthusian age, non-prolific modes of sexual activity were rather to be welcomed than condemned. In short, Bentham saw sexual morality as a key battleground in the fight to divorce morality and legislation from the influence of religion. The thousands of manuscripts on homosexuality, Christian teachings and the influence of the church on the state that Bentham was reluctant to publish during his lifetime reveal that his thoughts were certainly well ahead of his time, and seemingly foretell the development of secular attitudes to sexual morality.

This is a remarkable opportunity to hear a world renowned expert discuss one of Britain’s greatest thinkers and will fascinate those interested in secularism, liberalism and the history of ideas.

Philip Schofield is Professor of the History of Legal and Political Thought, Director of the Bentham Project and General Editor of the Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham. Chairing the lecture will be Dr Evan Harris, former Liberal Democrat MP, Honorary Associate of the NSS and Vice-President of the BHA.

Increasingly, it is assumed that human beings are best understood in biological terms; that, notwithstanding the apparent differences between humans and their nearest animal kin, people are, at bottom, organisms.

Presented by Professor Ray Tallis, author of Michelangelo’s Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence and Aping Mankind. Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity, this year’s Holyoake Lecture will explore arguments against biologism. Tallis will argue that “the degrading image of man as just another animal is not only inaccurate but contrary to the spirit of humanism.”

Chaired by Professor John Harris, philosopher, bio-ethicist and distinguished supporter of Humanism. Professor Harris is the author or editor of fifteen books and over two hundred papers, and has written extensively on bio- and medical ethics, including The Value of Life, Introduction to Medical Ethics, On Cloning, a forceful defence of human cloning, and Enhancing Evolution: The Ethical Case for Making Better People.

More Secular Europe shenanigans:

• Audio from the March & Rally For A Secular Europe
• Pod Delusion Episode 103

2011 Nobel Winner Brian Schmidt Interview (1:36) by Kash Farooq
David Willetts Roberts Lecture (13:26) by James O’Malley
Roberts Lecture Reactions (15:57) by Liz Lutgendorff
Dale Farm (25:30) by Adam Jacobs
Evangelical HIV Cures (35:29) by Naomi Phillips
Transgender and the Media (41:00) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Nathalie McDermott)
Translating Solaris (48:19) by Salim Fadhley (ft Bill Johnson)
End Of The World (Again) (57:28) by Tom Hodden
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Kash’s Interview with Brian Schmidt in full:
  
• David Willetts giving The Roberts Lecture in full
• London Science Festival
• Trans-Media Watch
• On-Road Media
• Listen to Juliet Jacques full talk about trans-issues to Westminster Skeptics
• Family Radio

Pod Delusion EXTRA:
LOADS of stuff on the Pod Delusion Extra this week:

• CineSci6 episode 2 – Forbidden Planet

• Edward Presswood – Why you can’t count on a rational NHS
• The Rise of Skepticism in Uganda with James Onen

(Image: Belinda Pratten)

If you can’t get enough David Willetts, we’ll have a (very) brief interview with him on Pod Delusion episode 107, along with some of the people who attended the lecture. We had another brief interview with him on episode 86. You can also hear him participate in a panel debate on science careers organised by Science is Vital here.

In this second podcast, Simon Frantz discussed the 1956 film Forbidden Planet with science writer Oliver Morton. You can hear it below or subscribe to the special CineSci6 podcast.

CineSci6 is organised by James Robson and Paolo Viscardi, and facilitated by Kate Coventry. The discussion is led by Simon Frantz.

Dr Edward Presswood is a hospital doctor in North London. Throughout his medical practice he has been alarmed by the persistent intrusion of superstition and religion into the National Health Service. Increasingly aware of the harm caused by irrational beliefs, Edward calls for a rational NHS and a society that appreciates science.

The irrational practices in the NHS are well-intentioned but Edward suggests that they undermine the foundations upon which medicine stands. What superstitions does the NHS pander to? Should the NHS respect all of your beliefs? Should the hospital do everything it can to make you feel better? Should your taxes continue to fund irrational beliefs? Would you rather an expensive medication, or would having the cash actually make you feel better? All these questions will be discussed as Edward reveals how even numbering the hospital beds isn’t free from superstition.

Freethought in Uganda (2:06) by James O’Malley (ft James Onen)
New Ice Age? (10:40) by Andy Russell
Bletchley Park (17:21) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Sue Black)
Teen Tech (22:36) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Maggie Philbin)
40 Days of Treats (27:15) by Liz Lutgendorff & Carmen D’Cruz
Video Games & Violent Crime (33:06) by Salim Fadhley (ft Mike Ward)
Cameron & Gay Marriage (41:41) by Nick Boorer
Helen Keen Interview (49:50) by Kash Farooq
Ricky Gervais & Twitter (59:08) by Tom Williamson
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy, Brian Two and Steve Clark

Pod Delusion EXTRA:
On the Extra Feed this week, we have lots of exciting things:

• The Pod Delusion’s LIVE Second Birthday Show
• James Onen’s Rise of Skepticism in Uganda talk in full

James Onen Follow-Up Links:

• Freethought Kampala

Andy Russell’s Follow-Up Links:

• Guardian on scientists checking articles
• Carbon Brief ice age fact checking
• Ineson et al. (2011) Nature Geoscience
• Haigh et al. (2010) Nature

40 Days of Treats:

• 40 Days of Treats website / Tumblr
• @40DaysOfTreats on Twitter
• 40 Days of Treats on Facebook

Helen Keen Links:

• Spacetacular at London Science Festival, October 20th
• The Astronomers Ball, London Science Festival, Greenwich Observatory, October 22nd
• Spacetacular at Manchester Science and Industry Festival, October 28th
• All Helen’s upcoming gigs

The event was organised by the British Humanist Association and recorded on the 12th October 2011.

Featuring…
Is Science More Important Than Arts? by Jon Treadway
Cameron Therapy by Sean Ellis
Science Wooseum Update by Marianne Baker
Faulty Memories by Sophie Scott
Incest! by Jess Vautier
Riot Olympics by Salim Fadhley
Arab Spring by DLandonCole
Perception by Dr*T
Cognitive Economics by Leigh Caldwell
Amazing Music by Helen Arney

Follow-Up Links:

• Helen Arney on Bandcamp
• More Helen Arney (including live dates)

Royal Society One Culture Festival by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Sir Paul Nurse, Ian Stewart, Sunetra Gupta & Uta Frith)
80mph Speed Limits by Adam Jacobs
Non-Prophet Week by James O’Malley (ft Mike Paynter)
Kim Howells Interview by Blakeley Nixon
Nobel Prize Faff by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Simon Frantz)
Science Is Vital’s Report by James O’Malley (ft Jenny Rohn)
Localism Bill & Referendums by Cory Hazlehurst
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy, Brian Two and Steve Clark

Follow-Up Links:

• The Royal Society
• Non-Prophet Week
• The full Science is Vital Science Careers Report

The emergence of gender variant people, practices and identities following the publication of Magnus Hirschfeld’s Transvestites (1909) and the inter-war invention of sex reassignment technologies posed considerable challenges to conservative, socialist, feminist and gay/lesbian politics: if ‘male’ and ‘female’ were no longer true, then what was?

Consequently, transgender people became an object of fascination, and plenty was written about them – by the mainstream media, feminists and the medical establishment whose management of transsexualism has proved especially controversial – with transgender people themselves frequently excluded from the conversation, with their identities erased or discounted, or having their experiences framed by people or outlets with no lived experience of being transgender.

Juliet Jacques author of the Guardian’s Transgender Journey series which documents the gender reassignment process from a first-person perspective, critically examines some of the ideas and myths that grew around transgender people, and the gulf between mainstream political and media discussions of transgender issues and the autonomous transgender theory and identities that developed in response.

Faster Than Light Neutrinos (1:53) by Kash Farooq (ft Ben Still)
Lawrence Krauss Interview (12:18) by Liz Lutgendorff
BCE-Gate (25:00) by Dave Cross
Pope in Germany (30:41) by Sven Rudloff
Spontaneous Human Combustion (39:03) by Sean Ellis
Protesting (46:15) by Nick Boorer
Reflective Learning (51:55) by Drew Rae
Architecture (58:03) by Andrew Gould
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Full interview with Ben Still:
  
• Ben Still’s Blog on Neutrinos
• Festival of the Spoken Nerd (Helen Arney, Matt Parker, Baba Brinkman) in New York!

Lawrence Krauss Lecture:
Find more information and buy tickets to see Lawrence Krauss speak at Conway Hall in London on 16th October 2011 here. Enter code “KRAUSS” to receive a 2-for-1 discount!

Pod Delusion EXTRA:
On the Extra Feed this week, we have lots of exciting things:

• Listen to the first CineSci6 Podcast discussing the science of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with author Simon Ings
• The second batch of podcasts from the National Secular Society’s Secularism 2011 Conference

Secular Europe March (1:26) by James O’Malley (ft Keith Porteous Wood and David Pollock)
Death Penalty (11:22) by Drew Rae
Teach Kids To Code (19:33) by Salim Fadhley (ft Emma Mulqueeney)
Ada Lovelace Day (27:44) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Suw Charman-Anderson)
Michelle Bachmann (35:57) by Adam Cuerden
Keep God Out Of Government (44:05) by James O’Malley (ft Jon Holmes)
BHA Creationism Letter (52:38) by Blakeley Nixon (ft Richy Thompson)
Debating Religion (pt 1) (58:18) by Justin Brierley
Debating Religion (pt 2) (65:40) by Richard Firth-Godbehere
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links for Drew:

Unfortunately, the sources for Drew Rae’s report are all paywalled. Here are links to a few abstracts which give a flavour of the research he summarised.

• Emotion and Capital Punishment Attitudes
• Push-polling to determine which arguments work
• Who supports the death penalty
• The Marshall Hypothesis

Other Follow-Up Links:

• Listen to the full Secular Europe rally & more of our reports from the day here
• Young Rewired State
• Emma’s Downing Street Programming Petition
• Ada Lovelace Day
• Ada Lovelace Day Android Programming Event
• Ada Lovelace Day Live (Comedy Gig)
• Full interview with Suw about Ada Lovelace Day:
  
• Jon Holmes’ Twitter and Facebook (watch for location of his alternative sermon)
• The BHA’s Evolution Not Creationism website
• Sign the BHA’s creationism petition
• William Lane Craig Tour Info
• William Lane Craig tour Tickets

Pod Delusion EXTRA:
On the Extra Feed this week, we have lots of exciting things:

• Listen to the first CineSci6 Podcast discussing the science of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with author Simon Ings
• The second batch of podcasts from the National Secular Society’s Secularism 2011 Conference

Baroness Turner
Barnoness Turner of Camden was created a Life Peer in 1985. She was a member of the Equal Opportunities Commission 1982-88, the Occupational Pensions Board 1977-93; Council Member OPAS (Pension Advisory Service) 1989-2007; and Chair, PIA Ombudsman Council 1994-97. She has spoken out in the House of Lords about faith schools, collective worship and RE and is a firm supporter of gay rights.

Anthony Lempert (Part 2!)
Dr Lempert’s second talk to the assembled conference, this time telling a horrifying story about his experiences when withdrawing his daughter from her school’s curriculum mandated ‘compulsory daily worship’. A must listen for any parents!

Keith Porteous-Wood
Keith is the Executive Director of the National Secular Society. He lobbies in Westminster, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, working with sympathetic lords and MPs. He led the NSS campaign to end the blasphemy laws and is currently behind their intervention at the European Court of Human Rights to defend the UK’s equality laws from religious attacks.

Sue Cox
Sue is co-founder of Survivors Voice Europe and Director of the addiction specialists SMART UK. Survivors Voice Europe is an international community of men and women, all of whom have been sexually abused by catholic clergy. Along with her colleagues Ton Leerschool from Holland and Tomasso Dellora from Rome, Survivors Voice Europe has made connections in many countries, and made real headway in connecting isolated survivors to each other and to empowerment.

Listen to the other talks from the conference here!

The following is a Pod Delusion Extra podcast of the rally in its entirety – take a listen!

Here’s some of the audio we posted throughout the day…

The first people were arriving:

Some right-wing secularists:

The AHS (Student Groups) Contingent:

Getting ready to set off on the march (ft National Secular Society Executive Director Keith Porteous Wood):

BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson leading the chants as the march sets off:

The Pod Delusion’s Liz Lutgendorff starts a chant:

Chatting to David Pollock, President of the European Humanist Federation:

Drew from the Pagan Federation at the rally:

President Jesus (0:52) by Paul Day
Exoplanets (10:06) by Kash Farooq & Dr Matt Burleigh
Rodial (14:42) by Adam Cuerden
Ask For Evidence (22:08) by James O’Malley (ft Sile Lane from Sense About Science)
Chinese Censorship (29:50) by Nick Boorer
NASA and Asteroids (37:24) by Drew Rae & David Couch
Peter Atkins Interview (43:50) by Gavin Hubbard
Comics Film (50:36) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Dave Kellett & Fred Schroeder)
The sketch was by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

Peter Atkins’ book, On Being: A scientist’s exploration of the great questions of existence
• Sense About Science: Ask For Evidence
• Full Comics Interview:
  
• Stripped: The Comics Documentary
• Sheldon Comics

Pod Delusion EXTRA:
On the Extra Feed this week, we have lots of exciting things:

• Listen to the first CineSci6 Podcast discussing the science of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with author Simon Ings
• The first batch of podcasts from the National Secular Society’s Secularism 2011 Conference

In this first podcast, Simon Frantz discussed the classic Fritz Lang film Metropolis with author Simon Ings. You can hear it below or subscribe to the special CineSci6 podcast.

CineSci6 is organised by James Robson and Paolo Viscardi, and facilitated by Kate Coventry. The discussion is led by Simon Frantz.

Nick Cohen
Nick is an Observer columnist and author of Cruel Britannia, Pretty Straight Guys: The Strange Death Of Labour England, among others. Nick Cohen is an eloquent supporter of secularism and regularly takes a swipe at the growing number of church-run schools and the Left’s tendency to pander to religious fundamentalists. The Orwell Prize for political writing shortlisted What’s Left? in 2008. His latest book, in 2009, is Waiting for the Etonians: Reports from the Sickbed of Liberal England. Fourth Estate will publish You Can’t Read This Book, his history of modern censorship in January 2012.

Dr Anthony Lempert (Part 1 – on secularism in medicine)
Dr Lempert was at the conference representing the Secular Medical Forum, which campaigns to a secular approach to major health issues such as abortion.

Baroness Mary Warnock
Baroness Warnock was created a life peer in 1985. She is by professional training a philosopher. She has also been a prominent figure in education, a fellow and tutor in Philosophy at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, Head Mistress of Oxford High School and Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge. She is author of a number of books, most recently Dishonest to God: On Keeping Religion Out of Politics.

Baroness Warnock was a member of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) from 1973 to 1981. She was chair of the UK committee of inquiry into special education (1974–78), and from 1979 to 1985, she advised the UK committee on animal experiments. From 1982 to 1984 she chaired an inquiry into human fertilisation, the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology, whose final report is often called the Warnock report.

Anne Marie Waters
Anne Marie is spokesperson for the One Law for All Campaign which works to end sharia courts and tribunals in Britain on the grounds that they work against human rights and equality before the law. She is a lawyer with a strong interest in family law and human rights, and the interaction of the two.

Paul Blanchard
Paul has been an active secularist and humanist for over twenty years. Paul is Chair of the Labour Party Humanists and runs Right Angles, a PR and Social Media consultancy. He recently was involved in organising last years “Protest the Pope” rally and has been very active in the campaign to remove bishops from the House of Lords. He frequently appears in the media putting forward the atheist/secular position, and is a regular on BBC’s The Big Questions and The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2.

We’ll be posting more soon!

Topics tackled include churnalism, linking to papers, and the changes in the landscape of science journalism over the last couple of years.

03:09 – 13:27 Discussion about the background of the Guardian’s Science Weekly Podcast
13:28 – 17:44 How much science literacy can you assume in your audience when reporting on science?
17:55 – 32:07 Churnalism.What is it and how common is it in terms of Journalism and Blogging?
32:10 – 36:10 Including links to Science Manuscripts in online news articles
36:11 – 42:15 George Monbiot’s Guardian article “Academic publishers make Murdoch look like a socialist”
42:16 – 52:01 The change in the landscape/ecosystem of science blogging over the last 12 months or so
52:07 – 52:44 The use of social media during the recent riots in London and elsewhere
52:50 – 58:37 World’s first clinical trial of stem cells to treat strokes is set to move to its next phase

50p Tax (2:30) by James Firth
Abortion Counseling (11:34) by Tania Glyde
The Spectre of Racism (15:46) by Henry Boddington
Four Lions (23:24) by Tom Williamson
Synchrotrons! (30:16) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Andy Dent)
Science Is Vital (39:12) by James O’Malley (ft Della Thomas)
CineSci6 (41:50) by James O’Malley (ft Paolo Viscardi & James Robson)
Skepticism and the Arts (44:06) by Trent Burton (ft Robin Ince)
The sketch was by David Lovesy and Brian Two
The song was written by Drew Rae and performed by David Lovesy

Please come to our second birthday LIVE RECORDING in LONDON! Details here.

Follow-up Links:

• Full Andy Dent / Synchrotron Interview
  
  

• Pictures of the synchrotron and Liz’s blog about it
• James and Liz review the synchrotron:
  
  

• Science is Vital science careers campaign
• CineSci6
• Alternative (Play about alternative medicine)

So if you like, science, skepticism, a bit of politics and some INTERESTING THINGS. Then come on down, it’ll be a great evening!

When?
Tuesday 13th September, 7pm

Where?
The Monarch Bar
40-42 Chalk Farm Road
Camden
London NW1 8BG

And if you’re coming, do tell us on the Facebook event or in the comments below:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=224691614241155

nb: This is on the main Pod Delusion feed, so check your podcast software to make sure you also get this week’s regularly scheduled programme… episode 100!

Featuring…
The Third University by Jennifer Jones
Blasphemy Laws by Liz Lutgendorff
Curing Evangelicals by Sean Ellis
Eden Project Woo? by Pete Hague
Comics and Representation by Andy Waterfield
Teacher Training by Alex Foster
Skeptical About Marriage by Johnnie Shannon
Yahweh’s Last Stand by Blake Hutchings

Analogue Missions (1:45) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Prof Gordon Osinski)
FOIA (12:54) by James Firth
Deconversion (21:07) by Drew Rae
Guides Inclusivity (28:32) by Salim Fadhley (ft Tessa Kendall)
Too Many Ministers (35:39) by Cory Hazelhurst
Spine Wizards (42:30) by Trish Hann
Celebrity Skeptics (47:54) by Keir Liddle
Secular Europe Campaign (53:42) by James O’Malley (ft Andrew Copson)
QED 2010 (61:10) by James O’Malley (ft Michael Marshall)
The sketches were by David Lovesy, Brian Two and Steve Clark

Follow-Up Links:

• Liz report in full:
  
  

• Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration
• ILSR Analogue Mission blog
• Is chiropractic x-raying illegal?
• The University of Vienna paper that Cory cites
• The PASC report that Cory cites
• Norman Baker’s Ministerial Responsibilities
• Secular Europe Campaign
• QED Con

I think Graham’s plan is to touch on issues as diverse as churnalism, the science blogging landscape, social media and linking to sources – can you think of anything we can add to this?

Let us know in the comments below!

They very kindly asked us to host a live podcast recording – so we did something daring. We hosted essentially an ‘open mic’ night where the attendees could tell an interesting story, make an interesting point – or generally be interesting. And tremendous fun it was too!

So tune in and hear what everyone had to say!

(Thanks to Richy and Andrew for inviting us along!)

Cosmos Remake (1:33) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Neil Degrasse Tyson!)
Mabus (17:13) by Keir Liddle
Mental Health Checks (24:32) by Tannice Pendegrass
Arms Trade Response (32:16) by Adam Jacobs
Cycle Helmet Safety (38:53) by Drew Rae & David Couch
On Skepticism… (42:23) by Tom Williamson
How to land space ships on stuff (49:09) by Kash Farooq
Millennium Seed Bank (53:30) by Sean Ellis
Anthony Nolan Trust (59:11) by Alex Foster
The sketch at the end was by David Lovesy, Brian Two, and Steve Clark

Follow-up links:

• Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Star Talk Radio
• Anthony Nolan Trust

If you enjoy the programme, please support us by subscribing to donate so we can continue doing what we do.

Care Footprint (1:52) by Simon Howard
The Vorderman Report (9:24) by Peter Rowlett
Slaughterhouse Five Banned (16:54) by Salim Fadhley (ft Marc Leeds)
Parliamentary Censorship (25:42) by Blakeley Nixon (ft Craig Reucassel and Helen Lewis-Hasteley)
The Arms Trade & Slavery (38:41) by Henry Boddington
Geek Nation (47:42) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Angela Saini)
Christian Skeptic (56:10) by Bethany Jenkins
Mysticism in Pregnancy (59:57) by Matt Kaiser
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Show Notes:

• Peter’s full analysis of the Vorderman report
• Blakeley’s full report – including extended interviews with Craig from the Chasers & Helen from the New Statesman
  
  

• The Chasers
• Liz’s full interview with Angela Saini
  
  

• Listen to Angela Saini discussing Geek Nation at London Skeptics in the Pub
• Buy Geek Nation here
• Campaign Against The Arms Trade

• Buy Geek Nation: How Indian Science Is Taking Over The World
• Angela will be on Pod Delusion episode 98 to speak briefly about the book
• Listen to the excellent Little Atoms podcast who interviewed her a few months ago

If you enjoy the programme, please support us by subscribing to donate so we can continue doing what we do.

Technology and Riots (2:10) by Martin Robbins
Crowd Control (8:08) by Dean Burnett
Reading and Riots (15:20) by Frank Key
Pandemrix and Narcolepsy (20:21) by Simon Howard
Lords Reform (29:32) by Cory Hazelhurst
Morrissey Response (35:32) by Dan Swindlehurst
Electric Cars & Top Gear (40:22) by Tom Hodden
Maperton Trust (48:25) by Adam Cuerden
Free Beer (55:48) by Adam Jacobs
The sketches are by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Stuff:

• Adam’s Maperton Trust report in full:
  
  

If you enjoy the programme, please support us by subscribing to donate so we can continue doing what we do.

Flying Monsters 3D (1:36) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH)
Morrissey’s Comments (12:33) by Tom Williamson
Susan Greenfield’s Comments (17:46) by Martin Robbins
Madness Gone Politically Correct (23:50) by Philippa Willitts
Faith Schools (31:51) by Salim Fadhley (ft Richy Thompson)
Richard Dawkins Does Not Exist… And We Can Prove It by Liz & James (ft Charlotte Young & Mark Quinn)
Lawrence Leung Wants A Jetpack by Liz & James (ft Lawrence Leung)
The sketches at the end are by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Extended David Attenborough Interview
  
  

• EXCLUSIVE: Recording of Attenborough’s Q&A Session at the screening:
  
  

• Flying Monsters 3D website
• Clapham Picturehouse
• Extended Lawrence Leung Interview
  
  

• Buy tickets to Lawrence Leung wants a jetpack at the Soho Theatre, London
• Lawrence Leung’s website
• Psst! You can watch Lawrence’s Australian TV series ‘Unbelievable’ in its entirety on YouTube here.
• Buy tickets to Richard Dawkins Does Not Exist at The Canon’s Gait, Edinburgh

Like our previous live shows, we’ll be following the usual format – but with the added bonus of a live audience. We’ll be teasing some of the topics we’ll be talking about nearer the time, but I can guarantee that it will be an eclectic mix and you’ll go away having learned something – not from me, but from our awesome contributors.

When?
Tuesday, August 16 at 7:30PM

• Download iCalendar file (e.g. import to Outlook or Google Calendar)
• Add yourself to the Facebook Event here.

Where?
Square Bar
5-9 Hotel Street
Leicester
LE1 5AW

See you there, yeah?

If you enjoy the programme, please support us by subscribing to donate so we can continue doing what we do.

Oslo Eyewitness (1:35) by Trish Hann
Copyright Censorship (8:47) by James Firth
What’s Wrong with ATOS? (15:19) by Steven Sumpter
Patent trolls vs Inventors & Developers (26:24) by Salim Fadhley
The AHS (36:05) by James O’Malley (ft Jenny Bartle and Mike Paynter)
AltMed Regulation (45:16) by Dr*T
Michael McIntyre Response (49:14) by Steve Leedale (performed by Alex Foster)
Edinburgh Ghost Tours (53:00) by Ash Pryce
The sketches were by David Lovesy, Brian Two and Steve Clark

Follow-up Links:

• The AHS
• Skeptics on the Fringe
• ‘Alternative’ is previewing this week!
• See The Pod Delusion on BBC Click this week!

If you enjoy the programme, please support us by subscribing to donate so we can continue doing what we do.

Jonnie Marbles Interview (2:10) by James O’Malley
Jonnie Marbles Response (11:04) by Dave Landon Cole
BBC Science Reporting (19:23) by Adam Jacobs
Kirk Sorensen Interview (29:14) by Chris Huang-Leaver
Open University Fees (40:18) by Kash Farooq
In Defence Of MacIntyre (45:27) by Sean Ellis
Angry Birds (48:56) by Salim Fadhley and Paul Day
The sketches were by David Lovesy, Brian Two and Steve Clark

Follow-Up Links:

• The BBC Science report in full

Do you work for a company or organisation that would be interested in sponsoring an episode of The Pod Delusion? Get in touch if you’d like to discuss it: editor (at) poddelusion.co.uk.

After listening, why not go and subscribe to the Pod Delusion on iTunes or via our Podcast Feed?

And don’t forget to follow The Pod Delusion on Facebook and Twitter for more interesting news, features and interviews!

If you enjoy the programme, please support us by subscribing to donate so we can continue doing what we do.

Pro-Choice Protest (1:49) by James O’Malley (ft Dr Evan Harris and Kate Smurthwaite)
James Webb Telescope (9:10) by Kash Farooq
Elevatorgate Response (13:48) by Natalie Dzerins (read by Charlotte Hooson-Sykes)
Maths & Progess (19:40) by Peter Rowlett
Alternative (27:01) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Trent Burton & Maria MacLachlan)
PowerPoint (37:22) by Simon Howard
An Optimist’s Tour of the Future (42:23) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Mark Stevenson)
Sketches by David Lovesy and Brian Too

Follow-Up Links:

• Abortion Rights UK
• The ‘Alternative’ website
• Buy ‘An Optimist’s Tour of the Future’
• The League of Pragmatic Optimists (Mark Stevenson’s new project)
• Mark Stevenson interview in full
  
  

• Listen to Mark Stevenson’s full Skeptics in the Pub talk here

If you enjoy the programme, please support us by subscribing to donate so we can continue doing what we do.

Phone Hacking and the PCC (2:10) by Luxmy Gopal
Hacked Off Campaign (10:06) by James O’Malley (ft David Allen Green)
Sovereignty Creep (16:14) by James Firth
Feminism & Elevatorgate (22:42) by Pete Hague
Malton Faith School (30:04) by Salim Fadhley (ft Philippa Hare)
Red Tape Challenge (39:56) by Drew Rae & Tom Hodden
“Gaaaay” (48:52) by Anonymous
Toilet Paper (53:36) by Andrew Gould

Follow-Up Links:

• Hacked Off Campaign

Mark Stevenson has been to the future a few years ahead of the rest of us – and came back believing we still have everything to play for. His voyage of discovery took him to Boston to visit a robot with mood swings, to an underwater cabinet meeting in the Indian Ocean, and Australia to question the Outback’s smartest farmer, had his genome profiled, and glimpsed the next stage of human evolution … then he tried to make sense of what’s in store.

The result was An Optimist’s Tour of the Future, which is finding fans from schoolchildren through to Nobel Peace Prize winners. Mark will talk of the future of humanity and how technology will help remedy some of these problems.

Mark combines two careers – one as a successful writer and comedian and as co-founder and director of the cultural learning agency Flow Associates and the science communication agency ReAgency, Roving Learner at The Age of Smart, a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and Nibmaster General for the Ministry of Stories.

The debate was chaired by Lord Warner, and arguing for the bishops was Christina Rees (a member of the General Synod, though attending in a personal capacity) and Paul Bickley (from the thinktank Theos). Arguing against the bishops was Shadow Constitutional Reform Minister Chris Bryant and BHA Chief Exec Andrew Copson.

If you enjoy the programme, please support us by subscribing to donate so we can continue doing what we do.

Medicinal Magic Mushrooms (1:49) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Roland Griffiths)
Johann Harigate (11:51) by Dean Burnett
Bishops in the Lords (21:23) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Chris Bryant)
NHS Changes (25:45) by Adam Jacobs
Creationist Geology (32:59) by Salim Fadhley (ft Stephen Newton from NSCE)
Fragile Social Networks (42:42) by Steven Sumpter
Bad PR Results (48:14) by Michael Marshall
Smellytweet Update (58:26) by James Thomas
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

• Listen to the full Lords debate by clicking here!
• Liz’s full length interview with Roland
  
• The Magic Mushrooms Paper

If you enjoy the programme, please support us by subscribing to donate so we can continue doing what we do.

Marcus Brigstocke Interview (1:28) by Liz Lutgendorff
Smartphone Censorship (12:19) by Sean Ellis
Humanist Bus Campaign (18:21) by Salim Fadhley (ft Bill Burgess)
Government Attacking Disabled People (27:01) by Steven Sumpter
Bone Marrow (35:02) by Keir Liddle (ft Rebecca Sedgewick from the Anthony Nolan Trust)
I’m a scientist… get me out of here! (41:34) by Drew Rae (ft Dr Tom Crick)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy.

Follow-up Links:

• Full Marcus Brigstocke Interview:
  
• Buy Marcus Brigstocke’s book ‘God Collar’
• Sign up to donate bone marrow with the Anthony Nolan Trust here
• Drew’s I’m a Scientist page
• Tom Crick’s I’m a Scientist page

On being: The limitless power of science : Peter Atkins

Humanity should be proud of the fact that, through its collective endeavour, it has stumbled on to a way of discovering reliable knowledge about the nature, composition, and functioning of the universe. The question remains, however, whether its contribution to human understanding is boundless. I shall identify the great questions of existence that have been the focus of myth-making since mankind first sought to make sense of nature, and argue that the scientific method is capable of answering them all. Of course, it is necessary to distinguish the empty questions from the real, and it is important not to be distracted by questions that have simply been invented by philosophers and theologians. The essential point is that science is driven by optimism, and its current success encourages us to believe that it will resolve the question of the origin of the universe and the emergence of that most extraordinary property of matter, consciousness, just as it has revealed the process by which the biosphere has emerged and as it has illuminated the processes of birth and death. I shall argue that its power is limitless and that, through displacing poetic and vivid myths, it succeeds in deepening our wonder.

Oldest Example of Biomineralisation (1:38) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Phoebe Cohen)
Slutwalk (11:28) by Christine Ottery
Pro-NCH (19:01) by James Firth
Anti-NCH (25:26) by Misty
Tim Harford Interview (30:26) by Dr*T
The Daily Express is Misleading (39:13) by Tom Hodden
FFRF vs The Rapture (45:51) by Salim Fadhley
Smellytweet Update (56:46) by James Thomas
The song at the end is by David Lovesy

Follow-Up Links:

• Full-length interview with Phoebe Cohen about the fossils:
  
  

• Geology Journal’s paper about the fossils
• Wired link with fossil photos
• The Complex Life Project
• Full length interview with Tim Harford:
  
  

• Buy Tim’s new book – ‘Adapt’.

Here’s the BHA’s statement they’ve just released to their subscribers:

Anthony Grayling, the President-elect of the BHA, has decided to step down from that position and not to take office as President on 1 July.

In doing so Professor Grayling said, ‘It was an honour to be named President of the British Humanist Association and I very much looked forward to working alongside the staff and trustees over the next two years to promote Humanism – a vitally important task in today’s world. Unfortunately, I believe that controversy generated by activities in another area of my public life will make it difficult in the next two years for me to be the sort of President that I would like to be for the BHA and all its members and supporters. In deciding to stand down and let the Trustees of the BHA appoint an alternative President, I wish them all the best in their important task.’

Robert Ashby, Chair of the Trustees of the BHA, has responded, ‘We thank Anthony Grayling for the concern he has shown for the BHA and its work and regret the circumstances that have led him to step down as our President-elect. His decades of work in the causes that humanists espouse – secularism in our public life, freedom and human rights at home and globally, science and reason in our struggle to know the universe and humanity in our treatment of ourselves and other people – remain of great value.’

Polly Toynbee, currently President of the BHA, will continue as President until a new President is appointed by the Trustees later this year.

Many thanks to all of you for your ongoing support of the work of the BHA.

Richard Dawkins on the New College of the Humanities (1:15) by James O’Malley (ft an EXCLUSIVE clip of Dawkins talking about it)
PZ Myers interview (7:53) by James O’Malley and Liz Lutgendorff
Death of the Operating System (15:15) by Pete Hague
What are we running out of? (20:57) By Drew Rae
Germany’s lack of nuclear ambition (27:21) by Sven Rudloff
Nicked: The Nick Clegg Musical (38:20) by James O’Malley and Liz Lutgendorff
SmellyTweet (44:39) by James Thomas
Bad PR Predictions (49:22) by Michael Marshall
The sketch after the credits is by David Lovesy at TLC Creative

Follow-up Links

• The Richard Stallman essay Pete recommends in his report
• A preview clip of Nicked: The Nick Clegg Musical
• Full podcast of the PZ Myers/Dawkins event – listen here!
• See the video of protesters at the PZ Myers / Dawkins event after the break…

Science Careers (2:03) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Science Minister David Willets MP!)
Web Wars (16:38) by James Firth
Religion In The Surgery (25:30) by Luke Edwards
Religion In The Surgery II (32:16) by Salim Fadhley (ft Naomi Phillips)
Dead Bodies (40:17) by Simon Howard
The Daily Mail (47:12) by Will Parbury
Lady Gaga (54:52) by Martyn Norris
L’espirit de l’escalier (62:11) by Alex Gilbert

Follow-Up Links:

• Intelligence Squared Ideas To Change The World Event
• Like our Facebook page to enter the competition
• Listen to the Science Careers debate with David Willetts, Evan Harris & more here.

We will have interviews with some of the participants, including David Willetts on our main programme on Friday.

Hear the debate in full below:

What to do when you’ve listened…

• Listen to The Pod Delusion’s latest regular weekly programme
• Follow @PodDelusion on Twitter and/or ‘like’ us on Facebook to receive updates on when more Free Primates podcasts are available.

The Rapture (2:06) by Salim Fadhley
The Rap Guide To Evolution (17:58) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Baba Brinkman)
Australian Chaplains (28:04) by Robert Williams
Extreme Rambling (35:56) by James Thomas (ft Mark Thomas)
Skeptics In The Church (45:40) by Drew Rae
The Hargreaves Report (51:52) by Salim Fadhley (ft Emily Goodhand)
Traditional Chinese Medicine (61:01) by Kash Farooq
The song at the end is Natural Selection by Baba Brinkman

Rapture Survival Guide with Paul Day
Not featured on the main show – a bonus report by Paul Day, in which he presents us with a rapture survival guide. You should listen – your life may depend on it!

[Pod Delusion Extra Feed] [Add to iTunes]

Follow-Up Links

• In Newcastle? Go see Drew Rae’s talk at Newcastle Skeptics on Wednesday
• In London? Go see Baba Brinkman’s Rap Guide To Evolution Premier at the Prince Charles on Wednesday
• More Rap Guide To Evolution Stuff
• Buy Mark Thomas’s book ‘Extreme Rambling’
• Uncut interview with Mark Thomas:
  
• Uncut interview with Baba Brinkman
  

What to do when you’ve listened…

• Listen to The Pod Delusion’s latest regular weekly programme
• Follow @PodDelusion on Twitter and/or ‘like’ us on Facebook to receive updates on when more Free Primates podcasts are available.

Black and White Homeopathy Show (1:38) by Sean Ellis
LibDem Promises (6:24) by Jennie Rigg
Privacy, Injunctions & Twitter (14:28) by James Firth
Anonymous Pwnz Sony (23:56) by Salim Fadhley
Creationism in Schools Crisis (31:12) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Tessa Kendall)
Why We Believe (36:10) by Jourdemayne
Uganda’s Gay Ban (44:08) by Natalie Dzerrins

Follow-up Links

• Creationism in schools petition – sign it here
• Listen here to FREE PRIMATES, the official UNCAGED MONKEYS TOUR podcast, featuring Robin Ince, Brian Cox, Simon Singh and more!
• London Skeptics in the Pub podcast with Dr Ginger Campbell