Skeptoid

Skeptoid cover art, from skeptoid.com

Skeptoid is a weekly podcast created and hosted by American skeptic and author Brian Dunning. The show follows an audio essay format, and is dedicated to the critical examination of pseudoscience and the paranormal.

Along with similarly themed Point of Inquiry, Skepticality: The Official Podcast of Skeptic Magazine, and The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, it is a Top-50 program on the iTunes (US) Science & Medicine podcast charts. Skeptoid has been featured on the Science Podcasts front page of iTunes since January 2008,^{[citation needed]} and in December 2011 claimed to have a weekly average of 174,000 downloads.

Each roughly ten-minute Skeptoid episode focuses on a single pop culture phenomenon that is pseudoscientific in nature. Episodes usually fall into one of four categories:

• Quackery medical modalities: such as homeopathy, reflexology, detoxification, or chiropractic
• Popular cultural misconceptions: such as organic foods, SUVs, and global warming
• Urban legends: such as crop circles, the Amityville Horror, the Phoenix Lights, or the Philadelphia Experiment
• Religion and mythology: such as creation legends, New Age religions, and concepts of sin

In May 2007, Skeptoid was announced as a qualifying media outlet for the James Randi Educational Foundation's "One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge". Applicants to the challenge must have a presence in popular broadcast media in order to qualify. By passing a simple test of their paranormal ability and having it reported on the Skeptoid podcast, applicants can satisfy that primary requirement and then proceed to apply for the Challenge.

Episode 300

In celebration of the 300th episode of the podcast, Brian Dunning, composer Lee Sanders, singer Rachel Bloom, artist Jesse Horn, director Ryan Johnson and sound editor Bill Simpkins produced the animated musical short, The Gypsy Queen. It is the story of a young girl who challenged the Queen and her rats who sold everyone in the village a uber-scarf which when worn across the eyes blinds the wearer to all unpleasantness. The villagers, once the uber-scarf was removed discovered they had been scammed, and while blind the rats had emptied the homes of food and valuables. The premier was released at the University of Irvine March 3, 2012. Entertainment that evening featured comedians Penny Chan and Matt Kirshen. Mentalism by Mark Edward, emceed by Emery Emery.

Dunning announced that Skeptoid will soon become a non-profit charitable organization. "The major product will be freely downloadable lesson plans for teachers..."

Skeptoid 300th Episode Party - Brian Dunning, Ryan Johnson, Jesse Horn, Lee Sanders and Bill Simpkins in Q&A discussing premier of "The Gypsy Queen"

Books

Two books have been published, Skeptoid, and Skeptoid 2, which are based on content from the podcast.

External links

• skeptoid.com Official website
• Subscribe via iTunes
• Skeptoid Forum at the James Randi Educational Foundation
• The Skeptics Guide to the Universe interview with Brian Dunning
• The Reason Driven Podcast's interview with Brian Dunning
• Dogma Free America podcast interview with Skeptoid host Brian Dunning
• Ross, Patrick (May 18, 2008). "Smashing Pseudoscience with Skeptoid". New University. http://www.newuniversity.org/2008/05/features/smashing_pseudoscience_with_skeptoid154/. Retrieved October 16, 2011. 
• Video of interview with Dunning about Skeptoid by Ann Althouse on Bloggingheads.tv