Skeptoid

The story goes that this stone covered with Viking runes was found in a Minnesota field in 1898. Its true history is much more interesting.

Get the snazzy new Skeptoid Hydro Flask tumbler or radical new Skeptoid coffee mug. Both are engraved so they’ll never fade. Now available at the Skeptoid store at Skeptoid.com.

Was the SARS-CoV-2 virus of natural origin, or was it engineered in a Chinese research lab?

A close look at where recycling of some common materials is actually at these days.

It's time once again for Skeptoid to correct another round of errors in previous shows.

Some say creepy children with huge balloon heads stalk the woods at night, waiting to attack you.

The not-so-famous UFO case that caused the US Congress to spend millions of taxpayer dollars.

This controversial treatment for PTSD involves moving the eyes side to side.

Part 3 in our roundup of scientists who took the ultimate plunge and experimented on themselves.

In 2006, a flying saucer spent minutes literally hovering right above Chicago's O'Hare International Airport... so the story goes.

Can everything important about you and those you interact with be boiled down to a single digit?

What were these early UFOs that chased and harried World War II fighter pilots?

Were two waves of ax murders in the American south in the early 20th century truly associated with Louisiana Voodoo?

Proponents of alien visitation often claim the Alcubierre drive makes faster than light possible. Here's why it can't exist.

Skeptoid is looking for institutional partners and/or title sponsors for a proposed video series.

Was this infamous 1976 dioxin disaster as bad as reported, or might it have been much worse than we thought?

The carcasses of headless goats are floating in the Chattahoochee River; too many for a prosaic explanation.

A Benedictine monk is said to have built a device allowing him to see and hear historical events.

We break down four popular myths about Martin Luther King Jr. that just won't go away.

A failure mode analysis of my most-hated episode ever: #230 on the use of DDT to fight malaria.

Skeptoid rapid fires a bunch of mini-episodes in answer to your questions.

A year-end Ask Me Anything session to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about Skeptoid and more.

Help us say goodbye to 2023, Skeptoid style.

Does science have a way to reliably cure the hiccups?

This Brazilian island is said to be too dangerous to visit due to countless venomous snakes.

Some believe that taking a deadly frog poison confers a vast array of New Age wellness benefits.

Some believe this speculative rogue planet is on a collision course with the Earth.

Much content online is designed for high engagement, not for accuracy.

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors in past episodes pointed out by listeners.

Celebrating Halloween with the creepiest ghost stories sent in by you, our listeners.

Do lots of famous pop musicians really die at the age of 27, or is there something in science that just makes us think so?

Did the village of Nazareth exist at the time of Jesus, making it possible for there to have been a Jesus of Nazareth?

Some claim that artificial turf sports fields emit poisonous chemicals, making them dangerous for children.

What better way to celebrate 17 years of the Skeptoid podcast than a 17-question pop quiz!

Does a monster salamander the size of Asia's largest live undiscovered in the Pacific Northwest?

If you're going to be at CSICon 2023, join the Skeptoid Flashmob! skeptoid.com/store

Can you really make your eyesight better with a simple series of eye movements and exercises?

Severed feet have been washing up on the shores of the Salish Sea since 2007. What could be the cause?

How an old Italian UFO hoax became proof of alien visitation to the US Congress

This supplement is claimed by social media influencers to be Nature's Ozempic.

Reports from some extreme adventurers say that a benevolent presence sometimes appears to provide comfort.

Pop culture tells us the famous Norden bombsight from World War II was actually terribly inaccurate. Was it?

This greatest of all imaginable treasures from the Dead Sea Scrolls probably never existed.

Is the world record highest air temperature a solid measurement, or might it be invalid?

Are these remarkable stones natural, or proof of an ancient advanced civilization?

Were these two men from an Amazon tribe that had been massacred, or could their story be explained more simply?

A look into the origin story of swamp gas as the explanation for UFOs.

A roundup of the ways that work — and that don't work — to help a conspiracy theorist free himself from the rabbit hole.

In which I issue yet another round of corrections to past episodes.

Popular wisdom tells us that just touching fentanyl can produce a lethal overdose. What's the fact and what's the fiction?

Are ground sloths that somehow survived their extinction responsible for cryptid sightings in the Amazon?

Did giants really walk the Earth in our recent past?

Skeptoid answers a round of student questions recorded during a visit to the College of Central Florida.

Skeptoid answers a round of student questions recorded during a visit to the College of Central Florida.

This Bigfoot-like cryptid is said to haunt the swamps of Florida. But has the story been around as long as people think?

Watch out next time you take a poll... is someone trying to learn about you, or manipulate you?

The hunt for the greatest treasure of gold ever imagined.

The hunt for the greatest treasure of gold ever imagined.

The hunt for the greatest treasure of gold ever imagined.

A popular Internet claim asserts that the DNA of the octopus is literally alien in origin.

Although the Expanding Earth may seem like a silly conjecture, it was actually one of the leading geophysical models quite recently.

Is it true that the oil companies knew how much harm they were doing as far back as the 1970s?

Is it true that the oil companies knew how much harm they were doing as far back as the 1970s?

Today's quiz tests whether you've been skeptical of what you think you know about St. Patrick's Day.

Popular tales claim no plants at all will grow inside this round clearing in North Carolina, said to have been made by the Devil himself.

After every earthquake, there's always someone who claims to have predicted it. Is earthquake prediction possible?

The state of the climate so far... how we're doing, and what do we need to work on the most.

See if you can tell whether each of these popular beliefs about Valentine's Day are true or false.

Is there such a thing as a type of electricity running through your home's wiring that delivers horrific health impacts to anyone living there?

Stories of goat men are all over the world. Why is the Pope Lick goat man disproportionately famous?

Once again we round up the people working hardest to spread misinformation.

Skeptoid answers another round of questions sent in by friendly folks all over the world.

Some great ways to think about all the current UFO craze.

Was this megalithic site in the South Pacific built by the people who lived there at the time, or by aliens?

In which we wrap up 2022 by letting Skeptoid premium members Ask Me Anything.

The latest form of magnet therapy promises to cure everything from headaches to cancer.

Is it true that mosquitoes like some people better than others?

A look at some of the logically fallacious statements used to sell many of today's most popular products.

The latest news, and some clips, from my indie documentary The UFO Movie THEY Don't Want You to See!

Legend has it this ghost light has been spooking people in Missouri for hundreds of years.

A roundup of easy techniques anyone can employ to better discern accurate news reports from false ones.

In this bizarre psychiatric condition, healthy children lapse into a coma that may last for years.

Some say that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol actually has certain health benefits.

Skeptoid corrects another round of errors from past episodes.

Do humans use pheromones to turn each other on? The science so far says... uhh, we have no idea.

A look at six times when there was a major paradigm shift in science.

This 15-point checklist will help you tell science from pseudoscience.

Mercury amalgam fillings do not release toxic levels of mercury into the body, and are harmless.

Some creationists claim that evolutionary theory is invalid because it improves as our knowledge increases.

Contrary to what many supporters think, homeopathy is neither an herbal nor a natural remedy.

The best of listener feedback from the first 32 Skeptoid episodes.

The claim that the wars in the Middle East were about oil don't stand up to economic scrutiny.

This 100-mile track of footprints in 1855 probably was not laid by the devil.

Some claim that cooking your food ruins its nutrients or makes it poisonous, in a misguided effort to promote raw food.

Spirit orbs in photographs are not ghosts, but a common artifact of flash photography.

Natural Hygiene is a misguided, prescientific notion that nature provides everything to heal anyone of anything.

Some believe that airplane contrails are really dangerous chemicals being sprayed by the government.

Biodynamic agriculture is not a modern innovation, but rather a throwback to the Dark Ages.

The word "scientist" can mean just about anything you want it to mean.