The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

5,852
Science #36

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is a weekly science podcast discussing the latest science news, critical thinking, bad science, conspiracies and controversies. -The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: Your escape to reality - Produced by SGU Productions, LLC: https://www.theskepticsguide.org

Recent Episodes
  • The Skeptics Guide #1001 - Sep 14 2024
    Sep 14, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #1000 - Sep 7 2024
    Sep 7, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #999 - Aug 31 2024
    Aug 31, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #998 - Aug 24 2024
    Aug 24, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #997 - Aug 17 2024
    Aug 17, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #996 - Aug 10 2024
    Aug 10, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #995 - Aug 3 2024
    Aug 3, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #994 - Jul 27 2024
    Jul 27, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #993 - Jul 20 2024
    Jul 20, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #992 - Jul 13 2024
    Jul 13, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #991 - Jul 6 2024
    Jul 6, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #990 - Jun 29 2024
    Jun 29, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #989 - Jun 22 2024
    Jun 22, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #988 - Jun 15 2024
    Jun 15, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #987 - Jun 8 2024
    Jun 8, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #986 - Jun 1 2024
    Jun 1, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #985 - May 25 2024
    May 25, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #984 - May 18 2024
    May 18, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #983 - May 11 2024
    May 11, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #982 - May 4 2024
    May 4, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #981 - Apr 27 2024
    Apr 27, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #980 - Apr 20 2024
    Apr 20, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #979 - Apr 13 2024
    Apr 12, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #978 - Apr 6 2024
    Apr 6, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #977 - Mar 30 2024
    Mar 30, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #976 - Mar 23 2024
    Mar 23, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #975 - Mar 16 2024
    Mar 16, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #974 - Mar 9 2024
    Mar 9, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #973 - Mar 2 2024
    Mar 2, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #972 - Feb 24 2024
    Feb 24, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #971 - Feb 17 2024
    Feb 17, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #970 - Feb 10 2024
    Feb 10, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #969 - Feb 3 2024
    Feb 3, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #968 - Jan 27 2024
    Jan 27, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #967 - Jan 20 2024
    Jan 20, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #966 - Jan 13 2024
    Jan 13, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #965 - Jan 6 2024
    Jan 6, 2024 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #964 - Dec 30 2023
    Dec 30, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #963 - Dec 23 2023
    Dec 23, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #962 - Dec 16 2023
    Dec 16, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #961 - Dec 9 2023
    Dec 9, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #960 - Dec 2 2023
    Dec 2, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #959 - Nov 25 2023
    Nov 25, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #958 - Nov 18 2023
    Nov 18, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #957 - Nov 11 2023
    Nov 11, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #956 - Nov 4 2023
    Nov 4, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #955 - Oct 28 2023
    Oct 28, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #954 - Oct 21 2023
    Oct 21, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #953 - Oct 14 2023
    Oct 14, 2023 –
  • The Skeptics Guide #952 - Oct 4 2023
    Oct 7, 2023 –
Recent Reviews
  • Sjdnshdnsn
    Show
    Cara is the most boring “rogue.” How douchey it is calling themselves “rogues.” Steve talks over the other rogues. They can’t make one podcast without misusing the term “orders of magnitude.” So pretentious and incorrect.
  • Matthhjjj
    My favorite podcast
    This has been my favorite podcast for more than a decade. They are great at explaining concepts in plain English and giving actionable ways to think issues through. They also demonstrate how to disagree and learn from one another.
  • MarkChicagoIL
    Novella know it all
    Delete
  • Dreamingat30fps
    Use to be good
    Has gotten way too political for my taste. Especially since Cara came on. The guys use to at least try to act unbiased but Cara doesn’t even bother pretending. I think that has rubbed off on the others over the years and now I feel like practically every episode they go off on some political rant. Been listening since the Perry days, but it’s time to move on.
  • BW7140
    The Expert’s Fallacy
    Having a degree in one field doesn’t make you an expert in all fields. These people are as opinionated and inaccurate as the JRE but with none of the attempts at humor.
  • BigBobbyD!!!
    Hosts need to look in the mirror.
    Have listened to almost every episode. Been listening for a very long time obviously but with the last few years everyone has fallen into the pit of “I’m the expert”. Sadly they have all trended to the left and have let their bias dictate their reasoning. In 1 episode they talked about the difference between men and women in the Olympics and then continue on to talk about trans issues and how there is no difference in men who identify as women and real women. They all also want to present as if they are experts in anything they are discussing while also saying they don’t know the complexities of the subject but they know they are correct. Kara in particular (since earning her degree) feels the need to chime in on every topic to try to prove she know the subject, even when told she was wrong she tries to justify her answers. This was a great show, now it feels like any other show on cable tv, completely biased and willing to ignore science when it suits you. No different from far right or far left commentators. Sad really.
  • limp_triscuit
    Serious fun
    Dr. Steve and the nerds present the gold standard of skeptical, scientific podcasting. Just sit back, put your thinking hat on, and enjoy.
  • HideFromHider
    Weekly dose of science, critical thinking and nonsense debunking from personable hosts
    If you already consume facts from podcasts like Science Friday or Quirks
  • Ad haterer
    Freaking
    Awesome!
  • Miilliam
    Quality going down over the years
    I have been listening to this show for almost twenty years and sadly feel the quality has been steadily going down as the hosts get older. Frequently we are subjected to rants (especially from Jay) that can be boiled down to “straight white man shouts his beliefs as if they were facts.” As a program that is supposed to promote and support “evidence based” they have grown too comfortable stating their beliefs as fact.
  • Sugardisc3
    Hot Knife Cuts Through the Noise and Balogna
    Reason? Facts? Verifiable and repeatable results? This show shines the light on reason and good sense based on facts. Prepare yourself to adjust your understanding as new facts and information is absorbed! Great show, I have been a regular listener for years. Breathe the fresh air of truth by listening once a week, it may just save your life…(especially if you take herbal remedies or go to a chiropractor).
  • DigitalBeard
    Tired
    I used to love this show, and I have to give the SGU some credit for guiding me toward scientific skepticism. But man, this show has been circling the drain now for a few years…and it is just tired now. They’re all smart and charismatic enough, but there is a dismissiveness that really permeates so many of the segments these days. It’s become a weird show that’s not really fun to listen to anymore. There’s zero humility or chill. I liken the show’s collective attitude to Neil Tyson’s. He’s right almost every time. But he knows he’s right and is unrelentingly hoity-toity about it. The SGU are approaching this. It’s borderline obnoxious, and it bums me out to have to unsubscribe. (I barely make it through their opening remarks anymore.) Instead of converting people to skepticism, I think their tone and pompousness is more likely to turn people off. Which is a drag — it’s a movement that needs and deserves better. They invoke Carl Sagan often on the show, hero of science communication and a fundamental contributor to modern skepticism. Sadly, they seem to have lost track of why Sagan was so effective — it was his approach. He was inviting, warm, forgiving, and patient. He spoke plainly but eloquently, neither speaking down to the public nor jargon-ing up his takes. But of course, he could also eviscerate pseudoscience and baloney with wit and critique as needed. He just didn’t allow that to be his schtick unlike Steve, Bob, Cara, Jay, and Evan. They love that schtick. They swing that schtick. Still, there’s plenty to enjoy about this podcast, especially in old episodes, and I would be remiss not to commend them for taking on the occasional, necessary social topic du jour. Steve and Cara’s scientific explanation and defense of transgenderism was superb, for example. And maybe SGU doesn’t wanna be like Sagan. I get that. Perhaps modernity demands a more biting, scathing rebuke of ALL THINGS UNEXPLAINED (or explained poorly/unscientifically/nonsensically). I just wish it didn’t mean they had to prioritize that over being entertainingly and invitingly informative. At this point, they come across more as ivory tower bullies than friendly science
  • Nerdicus_Rex
    Research better
    For a show about science communication, the easiest way to show you don’t fully research is the constant mispronunciations. I can get it in the moment, but for a researched piece it shows a lack of professionalism. Bob is the only one worth hearing from - physics and all. Evan tries to be funny but falls flat, as does Jay. Steve is just a know it all who seemingly needs to out his approval on everything, and Cara is even worse with her constant interruptions and holier than thou comments. It used to be good, but I’m losing interest in spending the time, even at double speed.
  • Mr. La
    Oof. John Philip “Sow”-sa?
    Sousa. Hence the “Sousa”-phone. Those are those huge, marching tuba you see in marching bands, with the bells facing forward. they actually look much larger than a regular tuba. Also MOOG is pronounced Moge, rhymes with rogue. Other than that keep up the outstanding work. Voices of reason and inquiry in a desert of foolishness.
  • Borf
    Andrea Jones Rooy
    Been a an avid listener for a year. Today, I heard Andrea Jones Rooy—who easily equals my wife. She should be a mainstay.
  • GaTechDog
    Great show but you need to fire Bob today!
    I love the show! But you have to fire Bob and send him home, anywhere but Austin. Mostly cloudy on Monday for the eclipse. His record of spoiling eclipses will be unblemished if the weather forecast is accurate.
  • Hours listening
    Thanks
    Best scientifically skeptical podcast
  • Karl_from_Prairie
    One of my favorite podcasts
    I really appreciate the great work this team does. i’ve been a listener for well over a decade and love the content, which is both highly educational and entertaining. Keep up the great work!
  • mstar3552
    SGU is awesome!
    This show is the perfect antidote for all the misinformation out there today. Highly recommend!
  • _DcDesign
    Informed and helpful information presented by knowable experts
    Love this show. Great content.
  • notAlB
    Going downhill
    Show used to be great. Lately I notice more and more they assumptions and generalizations with no real data, they just say “most people” do this or that. Cara constantly interrupts and interjects as if she knows something that nobody else does, she is often wrong. I often fast forward through her segments.
  • Mshade88
    Best podcast I listen to
    I learn something interesting each and every week. They do a great job breaking apart complex topics and it is clear how much they like working together.
  • JJJJJJJJ2727
    One of the greatest podcast of all time
    I’ve been listening to all genres of podcasts for about a decade. And the one constant throughout is that this is the one podcast I make sure not to skip each week. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve turned around on an issue, not because they said so, but because of critical thinking and factual sources. It may be more important than ever in this age of misinformation. They keep it so the facts and the only time they delve into politics is when it’s relevant to science. And it’s very entertaining!
  • CC_moose
    As good a podcast as you'll find
    Critical thinking and science are becoming a lost art in our society. I wish every kid in school was exposed to these concepts. It's not too late to educate yourself. This podcast is very entertaining and thought provoking. The hosts should have their own tv show on PBS as far as I'm concerned. Listen to this podcast every week and you won't regret it.
  • jim99765
    Best Podcast Ever
    Hands down my favorite podcast of all time. I can’t wait until a new episode is released every Saturday.
  • Drjosh3040
    Great podcast
    Look forward the skeptics podcast every week. Become part of my weekend routine.
  • alpacafarmdominga
    Where have you been or where have I been?
    A friend of mine told me about your podcast a couple of weeks ago and despite being kind of a podcast junkie, you guys immediately leapt to the top of my list, and I subscribed on Patreon! You’ll find me on there as Jen, accredited sorceress of ChatGPT - And I was actually pretty tickled that you did the science or fiction this week through it! I’m a software engineer, and this last year has been really hard and I’ve actually been doing a lot of work with it on mental health, focused, specifically on PTSD, and depression and anxiety. I had some pretty interesting experiments that I have had some mixed success with, it might be a topic worth considering… But I got it to write emails to enterprise SAAS customers that sound like me on a good MH day, for those days when it’s difficult to function, but I still have an obligation to my team and to the clients. I’ll bet with some jiggling and a couple sharp kicks to the GPU cluster, I could at least get it to generate a “science or fiction” with a decent chance of success that it could be useful. (Did you know that you can actually build sub routines and variables in a thread and micro training it for specific purposes?) Anyway, thanks for doing what you do. In some way, you’ve helped reignite my passion for science, and optimism for the future. PS: thank you for debunking the Yellowstone super volcano. That’s one existential threat down, at least!
  • Factory Rat
    Vocal Fry
    I love the Science or Fiction segment. It is still the best science quiz on the web. I also love Cara except that she is cultivating an annoying vocal fry. I sure hope it is a phase that will go away.
  • LiQuiD 0v3rkiLL
    8 Year-long Weekly Listener
    Fantastic show, anyone with an interest in REAL and FACTUAL science, medicine and technology will love this show. Don’t leave a bad review because your personal opinions and beliefs don’t intersect with reality, people.
  • Ryfj
    Boring yet fancy themselves as edgy
    ​skittishly insulated. will never have on any guests that disagree in the least - not meaning cranks but even any credentialed person that dares see things differently. Steve Novella holds court and the others sycophantically cheer him on. try Michael Shermer's science podcast instead - he isn't afraid to be challenged. Neil DeGrasse Tyson much better as well and he (like Shermer) will go on mainstream shows to defend his positions. The SGU “rogues” never appear unless before a hall of their groupies.
  • @Marinachef
    Great show
    I can learn without reading. Who’d of thought. I look forward every week to listen
  • rozmit
    Skeptics Guide
    Love it. Have listened to every episode for years.
  • Bluecanary84
    Romano
    If there is ever a movie or series on the rogues lives, id really like to see Ray Romano be cast as Bob. Anyone else got casting ideas for the Skeptics Guide?
  • DominicCG
    Great science podcast
    I've been listening for years now, and have enjoyed every time. Great set of hosts and topics
  • Panelmember
    My favorite podcast
    Thanks for continually creating interesting episodes.
  • GoldilocksSF
    Driverless cars in SF
    Hey, devout SGU listener. Here in SF we take driverless cars all the time. They are everywhere. Great deal but sometimes they take a weird route. For example they could go straight up 7th ave to get you to your destination but they do a couple of unnecessary turns and circle a block. You get there in the end. But there is no one sitting in the drivers seat to say “hey, just go straight up 7th”. Other weird thing - they gave students a free pass (I think to do the computer learning and more “practice”) so high school students can ride for free after 9pm. My teen, all the time, “can’t get a car until 9pm, I’ll be home in 15 mins once I get a car”.
  • Ben Honey
    Reliably interesting science conversations
    I’ve listened to SGU every week for over 15 years. I dont always agree with the hosts, but I always learn something. They are the way I choose to stay aware of science news in this busy life without enough free time.
  • reason ranter
    Required listening for any thinking human engaged in seeking truth
    I can’t say enough good things about this podcast. As an ex-science teacher, the topics they cover and the way they cover them brings me joy. Everyone on the show is brilliant in their own way. Steve though…dude knows so much! Should be required listening for all late teens / young adults so they can hone their critical thinking skills before heading out into the world.
  • theburgerboy11
    Best science podcast out there
    The SGU has been a fixture in my feed since I first started listening to podcasts. Their depths of knowledge, insight, and humor shine through to create not only an informative listen, but an enjoyable one, as well.
  • Agustincarvajal
    Incredible show
    I’ve been listening for 10 years. It’s my favourite weekly show. It’s always fun, keep me up to date, engaged and interested in science. Thank you guys for all the hard work!
  • Susiespitz
    Best podcast
    Of all the many podcasts I've listened to this is by far the best. Entertaining, educational, accurate. I know I can trust any information I hear here. Rare these days!
  • Fjgfhgfghggfdg
    Honest and Thought Provoking
    This is the first podcast I’ve ever listened to on a regular basis. It never feels like I’m listening to a performance, which makes for an honest experience. I found out about the podcast after listening to The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe audiobook, and I’ve been slightly obsessed with science and critical thinking ever since. I would definitely consider myself a nerd who wants to understand the world for what it is, and this show definitely caters to that desire.
  • rd822821
    Great show
    I really love this show. Very interesting topics and fun chemistry between the hosts.
  • flickhuck
    Weekly staple
    Great show, one of my absolute favorites. Keeps me up-to-date with science news and thoroughly entertained!
  • Jimi 1
    Used to be good
    I used to love this podcast. Ever since they got their new host Kara Santa Morina (however you spell all that) it’s become an anti-Trump liberal California podcast. Can’t we just talk science and not politics? She’s not really the host but she might as well be. Steve barely gets a word in and she constantly blares in with her long winded boring opinions.
  • Anita Groves
    Good group to listen to
    I like the wide variety of topics covered, introduction was last week (8/21/2023) for the trans discussion and couldn’t be happier with good information being shared!!!
  • tlh314159
    A quick rundown of science news
    SGU is a trusted source of science news. Dr. Novella does a great job interpreting science studies
  • Duped…
    Great Objective Analysis of Science News
    My favorite show for objective analysis of science news. Always interesting topics and great commentary
  • PlantBased Solutions
    Best Podcast
    Weekly respite from the craziness of the world. Fun, smart, diverse topics on skepticism, current science, pseudo-science debunking & logic fallacies. Entertaining!!
  • Acecase
    They have drank the cool-aid
    What used to be an escape after a long day at work, listening to people talk about politics, is now just a continuation of it. They have jumped in to the ratings wheel and, no better than Fox News or CNN, they are dragging in emotional topics and being an echo chamber for listeners because that’s how you get ratings. It works, but there goes one of my last escapes from that trash. I hate it, but I’m not listening any more. The only thing worse than sitting through a bunch of political trash is getting nice and relaxed listening to good science content and then being dropped a load of political trash to wind me back up on my ride home. #mayaswelllistentorogan
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