''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 Micha ...

'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 th ...

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

rational thought Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reasons. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an abili ...

, skeptical ideas, and famous

myths Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...

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 skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010p. ...

, 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 obje ...

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 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 televi ...

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 internation ...

'', songwriter Jill Sobule, author Ann Druyan and science communicator

Bill Nye William Sanford Nye (born November 27, 1955), popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American mechanical engineer, science communicator, and television presenter. He is best known as the host of the science television show ''Bill ...

. ''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 A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

address, when

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

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...

mentioned it as one of the top nine podcasts at the

iTunes Music Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

. On August 14, 2006, ''Skepticality'' became ''Skeptic'' magazine's official podcast.

Featured segments

* Tim Farley of '' What's The Harm?'', ''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'' 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 sy ...

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

'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-winnin ...

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 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 and skeptical musician George Hrab.

Asteroids

In an interview with Derek during the June 1, 2006 episode of '' Slacker Astronomy'', the naming of Asteroids 106545 Colanduno and 106537 McCarthy 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 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 multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. , the convention draws attendance of over 80,000, ...

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 498,71 ...

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

SciFi.com 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. Launc ...

's '' Sci Fi Weekly''. 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'' ...

''. 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