''Skepticality'' is the official

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

The Skeptics Society The Skeptics Society is a nonprofit, member-supported organization devoted to promoting scientific skepticism and resisting the spread of pseudoscience, superstition, and irrational beliefs. The Skeptics Society was co-founded by Michael S ...

's ''

Skeptic Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the ...

'' magazine. Beginning in May 2005, the podcast explores rational thought,

skeptical Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

ideas, and famous

myths Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

from around the world and throughout history. Each episode is an audio magazine featuring regular segments by contributors who are specialized in specific areas of critical thought followed by featured content which is usually in the form of an interview with a researcher, author, or individual who is helping promote skeptical thought and/or science in an effective way. It has featured interviews with

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skepticism, scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific cla ...

, and scientists, such as authors and astronomers

Phil Plait Philip Cary Plait (born September 30, 1964), also known as The Bad Astronomer, is an American astronomer, skeptic, and popular science blogger. Plait has worked as part of the Hubble Space Telescope team, images and spectra of astronomical objec ...

and

Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a p ...

Greg Graffin Gregory Walter Graffin (born November 6, 1964) is an American singer and evolutionary biologist. He is most recognized as the lead vocalist and only constant member of punk rock band Bad Religion, which he co-founded in 1980. He embarked on a s ...

from '' Bad Religion'',

Adam Savage Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and fabricator, actor, educator, and television personality and producer, best known as the former co-host (with Jamie Hyneman) of the Discovery Channel televisi ...

from the ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...

'', songwriter

Jill Sobule Jill Sobule (born January 16, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter best known for the 1995 single "I Kissed a Girl", and "Supermodel" from the soundtrack of the 1995 film ''Clueless''. Her folk-inflected compositions alternate between ironic, ...

, author

Ann Druyan Ann Druyan ( ; born June 13, 1949) is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning American documentary producer and director specializing in the communication of science. She co-wrote the 1980 PBS documentary series ''Cosmos'', hosted by Carl Sagan, ...

and science communicator Bill Nye. ''Skepticality'' is co-hosted by Derek Colanduno and "Swoopy" Robynn McCarthy. The last released episode is from 28 August 2019.

History

The concept and the name ''Skepticality'' were created in May 2005 by Robynn McCarthy and Derek Colanduno, after the two became friends in Las Vegas. At the time, Colanduno was working at a national Sports Radio network and a privately owned Alternative Rock Station (KEDG) during the overnight shift. Skepticality gained notability on September 7, 2005 during a keynote address, when

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

CEO Steve Jobs mentioned it as one of the top nine podcasts at the iTunes Music Store. On August 14, 2006, ''Skepticality'' became ''Skeptic'' magazine's official podcast.

Featured segments

Tim Farley Timothy Patrick Farley (born August 12, 1962) is a computer software engineer, writer and instructor who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He is an expert in computer security and reverse engineering as well as a skeptic. He was a research fellow of t ...

of ''

What's The Harm? What's The Harm? is a website providing a catalog of stories where people have been injured, killed, or otherwise disadvantaged (sometimes financially) by believing in misinformation, especially but not limited to accounts of harm caused by pse ...

'', ''Skeptools.com'' and ''Virtual Skeptics.com'' regularly contributes pieces of skeptic history with this segment titled ''Skepticism, Past and Future''. First called ''A Few Minutes of Skeptic History'', it debuted on episode 123 on March 3, 2010. * Bob Carroll from ''

The Skeptics Dictionary ''The Skeptic's Dictionary'' is a collection of cross-referenced skeptical essays by Robert Todd Carroll, published on his website skepdic.com and in a printed book. The skepdic.com site was launched in 1994 and the book was published in 2003 wi ...

'' debuted with a segment on

logical fallacies In philosophy, a formal fallacy, deductive fallacy, logical fallacy or non sequitur (; Latin for " tdoes not follow") is a pattern of reasoning rendered invalid by a flaw in its logical structure that can neatly be expressed in a standard logic syst ...

called ''Unnatural Virtue'', March 27, 2012. * Jarrett Kaufman and Wendy Hughes from the

Independent Investigations Group The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a US nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal, as well as to fight the influence of religion in government. History The Center for Inquiry was established in ...

debuted April 25, 2012 with a segment centered on the coincidence website ''The Odds Must Be Crazy''. Kaufman was replaced by John Rael on September 10, 2012. Rael is best known for his creation of ''skepticallypwnd'', a group of comedic skeptics, or skeptical comedians, whose objective is to question pseudoscience in a humorous way. *

Heather Henderson Heather Henderson (born March 7, 1973) is a professional burlesque dancer, singer, model, filmmaker, producer, and podcast host who uses the stage name Baby Heather. She performs with Penn Jillette's No God Band and is an advocate for skeptic ...

was a contributor from November 2012 and April 2013 with a segment entitled ''The News in Religion.'' In it, Heather presents current events and opinions around the topics of atheism, deism and the effects of religion on the general population. Heather is currently the lead vocalist of

Penn Jillette Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured ...

's NoGod Band in Las Vegas and along with

Emery Emery Emery Emery (born December 25, 1963) is an American comedian, film editor and producer, and outspoken atheist, known for his contribution to numerous comedy-related films and TV shows, his two podcasts, ''Skeptically Yours'', and the award-winni ...

publishes two podcasts, ''Ardent Atheist'' and ''Skeptically Yours.'' * Robert Blaskiewicz and Eve Siebert joined Skepticality with their segment ''Skeptical Humanities'' in Episode 226 on February 18, 2014. The segment presents examples of mainstream research & critical thinking as it pertains to the humanities such as art, philosophy, history, literature, rhetoric, aesthetics, literary criticism, pop culture studies, folklore, and cultural studies. *

Susan Gerbic Susan Gerbic (born 1962) is an American studio photographer who became known as a scientific skepticism activist, mostly for exposing people claiming to be mediums. A columnist for ''Skeptical Inquirer'', she is the co-founder of Monterey Cou ...

of Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) has also made regular appearances on Skepticality, providing updates about the GSoW project since January 2013.

Recurrent guests

The show has a number of guests who have been featured on more than one show. Amongst them are

Pamela Gay Pamela L. Gay (born December 12, 1973) is an American astronomer, educator, podcaster, and writer, best known for her work in astronomical podcasting and citizen science astronomy projects. She is a senior education and communication specialist ...

and skeptical musician George Hrab.

Asteroids

In an interview with Derek during the June 1, 2006 episode of ''

Slacker Astronomy A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic. Origin According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early t ...

'', the naming of Asteroids 106545 Colanduno and

106537 McCarthy 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

was announced to the world. The asteroids were named in homage to the hosts of ''Skepticality'' by their discoverer Jeff Medkeff, who said, "My naming of these asteroids for you is a token of my esteem for you and your accomplishments."

Awards

In 2007, ''Skepticality'' was recognized for excellence in podcasting with the Best Speculative Fiction News Podcast award at the

Parsec Awards The Parsec Awards were a set of annual awards created to recognize excellence in science fiction podcasts and podcast novels. The awards were created by Mur Lafferty, Tracy Hickman and Michael R. Mennenga and awarded by FarPoint Media. They were ...

and Best Science Podcast award at the Podcast Peer Awards, selected by registered fellow podcasters. Both presentations were made at

Dragon*Con Dragon Con (previously Dragon*Con and sometimes DragonCon) is a North American List of multigenre conventions, multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia ...

2007 in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. On November 22, 2007, the ''Skepticality'' podcast was listed as "Site of the Week" on SciFi.com's ''

Sci Fi Weekly Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Laun ...

''. On August 9, 2008, ''Skepticality'' was named "Podcast of the Week" by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. In April 2014, ''Skepticality'' received the Ockham Award at QED for Best Podcast. The award was accepted on behalf of Derek and Swoopy by Susan Gerbic. Skepticality Interview of Julia Sweeney 2007.jpg, Swoopy interviews

Julia Sweeney Julia Anne Sweeney (born October 10, 1959) is an American actress, comedian, and author, who gained fame as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1994. She played Mrs. Keeper in the film ''Stuart Little'' and voiced Brittany in ' ...

2007 Recording Skepticality at TAM 2013.JPG, Recording at TAM 2013 Skepticality Podcast wins Ockham Award QED 2014.JPG , Skepticality Podcast wins Ockham Award QED 2014

References

External links

* {{Skeptical podcasts Audio podcasts Science podcasts Scientific skepticism mass media 2005 podcast debuts