The Pod Delusion

Episode 191 – 14th June 2013

admin — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:45:05 +0000

This week we speak to pro-vaccine hero Dr Paul Offit about his new book, discover what they were protesting about at Bilderberg, ask pertinent questions about the Mid-Staffordshire Hospital investigation, and discover the science behind cosmetics.

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Paul Offit Interview (1:49) by Liz Lutgendorff
Bilderberg Protests (18:28) by Rob Brotherton & Mike Wood
MidStaffs (38:41) by Drew Rae
Girl On The Net (45:49) by Sean Ellis
Beauty By The Geeks (51:06) by Julie Gould
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

Buy Tickets to see Dr Paul Offit at Soho Skeptics on June 27th

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Episode 190 – 7th June 2013

admin — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 22:58:12 +0000

We use SCIENCE to find out the difference between a geek and a nerd, why school admission by religion is wrong, why advertisers aren’t all out to control us and much more!

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Fair Admissions (2:01) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Prof Ted Cantle)
John Carr is Wrong (11:10) by Kate Russell
Legal Aid (15:05) by Emma McClure
Carl Heneghan Interview (21:53) by Paul Hopwood
Advertising Conspiracy (36:46) by Koen VD
Parking Mad (43:36) by Paul Orton (ft Keith Porteous-Wood)
Geeks vs Nerds (51:51) by James O’Malley (ft Burr Settles)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

Episode 189 – 31st May 2013

admin — Thu, 30 May 2013 22:24:32 +0000

This week we talk fanfiction, fascism and internships! And.. er… fecal transplants. Plus James does a report for the first time ever!

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Fascism and Racism, Then and Now (1:53) by Victoria Stiles
Humanist Marriage Update (8:44) by Dawn Firth-Godbehere
Internships and Slavery (12:46) by Alex Brown
Fanfiction and Kindle Worlds (22:42) by James O’Malley (ft Kate Keen & Tanya Brown)
Fecal Transplants (32:37) by Julie Gould (ft Mary Roach)
Geek Stereotypes (38:01) by Tom Hodden
Platform Hegemony (45:05) by James O’Malley
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Episode 188 – 24th May 2013

admin — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:59:41 +0000

This week Liz speaks to internet legend Cory Doctorow about his recent Sense About Science lecture, Cory tackles apathy (if he can be bothered), a spat in the psychiatry world, and what if historians had time machines? And more!

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Cory Doctorow Interview (1:53) by Liz Lutgendorff
Political Apathy (20:30) by Cory Hazlehurst
DSM Spat (29:34) by Max Davie
ORGcon (35:44) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Peter Bradwell)
Historians and Time Travel (44:23) by Victoria Stiles
Nine Worlds (51:20) by James O’Malley (ft Ludi Valentine, Daniel Johnston and Erich Schultz)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

Cory Doctorow Interview in Full:
[Direct MP3 Link]
Cory Doctorow’s lecture as a podcast from the Grauniad
Cory Doctorow’s Blog
Hansard Society Engagement Report
ORGcon – get tickets now!
Nineworlds GeekCon – get tickets now!

Episode 187 – 17th May 2013

admin — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:50:32 +0000

MICHAEL GOVE SPECIAL! But don’t let that put you off. We’ve three pieces about the education secretary including an interview with the teacher Gove attacked for using Mr Men to teach history, a look at Gove’s approach to classic literature, and a piece on how he used PR surveys to justify policy. We also have some exclusive clips from an event celebrating the reform of the libel laws featuring the likes of Dara O’Briain, Nick Cohen, Brian Cox and many more.

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Mr Men History (2:36) by James O’Malley (ft Russel Tarr)
Gove and Prejudice (11:44) by Sean Ellis
Gove and One Poll (18:53) by Marsh
Libel Reform Celebration (28:01) by Liz Lutgendoff (ft Dave Gorman, Simon Singh, Chris French, Hardeep Singh, Brian Cox, Nick Cohen, Dara O’Briain and Evan Harris)
Cosmic Genome (36:48) by James O’Malley (ft Robin Ince and Trent Burton)
Humanist Weddings (45:51) by Blakeley Nixon (ft Pavan Dhaliwal)
Homosexuality and DSM (49:17) by Chris Chapman
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

Episode 186 – 10th May 2013

admin — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:21:30 +0000

This week is a bit of an accidental Sky at Night special: we look at the death of the Herschel space telescope with Chris North, and Carl has been speaking to Jon Culshaw and friends & colleagues of Sir Patrick Moore. We also speak to evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk about her new book, Paleofantasy, find out about the potential dangers of e-cigarettes and unpaid internships, and discover a new citizen science project.

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Herschel RIP (1:54) by Kash Farooq (ft Chris North)
Paleofantasy (13:08) by Dave Cole (ft Marlene Zuk)
Patrick Mem-Moore-ial (26:00) by Carl Hutchinson (ft Jon Culshaw, Bill Leatherbarrow, John Mason, Keaton Stone & Paul Abel)
Dangerous E-Cigarettes (38:40) by Hayley Johnson
Space Warps! (45:34) by Julie Gould (ft Phil Marshall)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

Episode 185 – 3rd May 2013

admin — Thu, 02 May 2013 23:10:17 +0000

Liz speaks to the creators of a videogame that taught the pirates a lesson, James looks at North Korea and Bob explains why 84 bloggers in Bangladesh are being threatened – and much more!

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Game Dev Tycoon Piracy Ruse (1:47) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Patrick Klug, the game’s creator!)
Should we worry about North Korea? (11:58) by James O’Malley (ft Alistair Coleman)
Bangladeshi Bloggers (19:46) by Bob Churchill
Synthetic Biology & Design Implications (26:06) by Julie Gould (ft David Benque)
Women on Banknotes (35:06) by Marianne Baker
Pythagorean Cabaret (41:59) by Dean Burnett

Follow-Up Links:

Episode 184 – 26th April 2013

admin — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:57:34 +0000

We speak to world renowned primatologist Frans de Waal about his new book, celebrate the passing of the new defamation bill and the libel laws being sorted. The science of nervous breakdowns, how Jehovah’s Witnesses have some dodgy views on domestic violence, and much more!

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Libel Reform Success! (3:20) by James O’Malley (ft Mike Harris)
Frans de Waal Interview (12:25) by Tessa Kendall
Smart Pills (23:31) by Chris Chapman
Nervous Breakdowns (28:35) by Dean Burnett
Jehovah’s Witnesses & Domestic Violence (39:31) by Naomi Wilcox
Cookie Stuffing (49:06) by Drew Rae
Jargon (55:35) by Alex Brown

Follow-Up Links:

Episode 183 – 19th April 2013

admin — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:54:50 +0000

What could have caused the Waco explosion, how one man managed to hack and control a plane with his mobile phone, why the government’s austerity agenda may be based on a faulty Excel spreadsheet, and banging out head against a brick wall over MMR.

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Waco Fire (2:36) by Kash Farooq (ft Claire Benson)
Plane Hacking (13:48) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Hugo Teso)
Austerity & Excel (27:04) by Keir Liddle
Wakefield Still Wrong (33:57) by Tannice Pendegrass
Thatcher Media Coverage (41:04) by Alex Fitch
Women in Science (51:48) by Elizabeth Donnelly (ft Aysha Raza)
Voyager (60:14) by Steve Dobson
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

The Pod Delusion at QEDcon 2013!

admin — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:52:47 +0000

Last weekend as QEDcon 2013 in Manchester, and in addition to picking up an Editor’s Choice Award at the Ockham Awards (thanks!), we also had an hour slot in which we could showcase some interesting people talking about interesting things. Here’s a recording of that.

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