Copy the feed link and paste it into your aggregator
Subscribe to this podcast with iTunes
This is the podcast feed for Skeptics in the Pub, Oxford. For the main website, including a calendar of future events, please go here.
This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Oxford Skeptics in the Pub events podcast
Thinking and drinking. That is the unlikely goal of our meeting. Each month we invite a speaker to talk about an area of belief and to invite critical debate. We encourage skeptical thought and we enjoy challenging discussions.
Gina Rippon: Blame the brain - How neurononsense joined psychobabble to keep women in their place
29-07-2016
There is a long history of debate about biological sex differences and their part in determining gender roles. In this talk, Professor Gina Rippon debunks bad science and discusses the real breakthroughs in our understanding of the human brain.
Filetype: MP3
Alok Jha: The extraordinary story of water, our most ordinary substance
06-07-2016
Water may seem the most ordinary of substances, but you would be surprised at how profoundly strange it is. Alok Jha explains how it has shaped life on earth, and how this molecule connects you and everyone else to the birth (and death) of the universe.
Filetype: MP3
Charlie Duncan Saffrey: Why scientists should listen to philosophers
29-05-2016
Science and philosophy are both brilliant and they'd both be even more brilliant if they could talk like grown-ups. Philosopher, writer and stand-up comedian Charlie Duncan Saffrey attempts to get better dialogue going between the two disciplines.
Filetype: MP3
Suzi Gage: No Turn Unstoned - The harms and benefits of recreational drugs
11-05-2016
The media love to sensationalise the dangers of illicit drug use, whilst downplaying the harms from legal drugs. Dr Suzi Gage discusses the scientific understanding of the harms, and also potential benefits of recreational drugs, both illegal and legal.
Filetype: MP3
Chris Peters: Ask for Evidence - Sense About Science
10-01-2016
How can we make companies, politicians, commentators and official bodies accountable for the claims they make? Chris Peters talks about the Ask for Evidence campaign and how you can get involved.
Filetype: MP3
Michael Marshall: Homeopathy in the UK - The NHS and beyond
01-01-2016
Michael Marshall highlights how much money is spent on homeopathic remedies, how this gives undeserved credibility to homeopathy, how such remedies can lead to genuine harm and what you can do to help.
Filetype: MP3
Sylvia McLain: Science! What does is really mean to be scientific?
31-12-2015
Dr Sylvia McLain talks about the history of science and its culture and the rise and fall of theories and laws and discusses what science means to us in the modern age.
Filetype: MP3
David Robert Grimes: Lies, damned lies and statistics - How we get science coverage wrong
30-12-2015
Physicist and science journalist Dr. David Robert Grimes discusses the problems in reporting science from misunderstandings to bad statistics to false balance, and how such problems can be remedied.
Filetype: MP3
Sarah Kendrew: The James Webb Space Telescope - From the first galaxies to the origins of life
29-12-2015
Sarah Kendrew gives an overview of the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble, and the exciting science it will do after launch. She talks about where the mission is right now, from her personal involvement in one the instruments onboard.
Filetype: MP3
Simon Clare: An atheist's guide to the Alpha Course
28-12-2015
Simon Clare, an unabashed atheist, signed up to his local Alpha Course in Brighton, wondering if his faithlessness would be challenged. Spoiler: He wasn't converted but he was surprised at what he learnt about faith.
Filetype: MP3
Michael Marshall: Lifting The Lid - Ongoing adventures in the world of pseudoscience
27-12-2015
Michael Marshall shows what happens when you begin to crack the surface of the pseudosciences that surround us – revealing the surprising, sometimes-shocking and often-comic adventures that lie beneath.
Filetype: MP3
Martin Robbins: Bad Science in the Developing World - Trailing homeopaths in East Africa
26-12-2015
Martin Robbins talks about his visits to homeopathic projects in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Filetype: MP3
Lloyd Chapman: Aid works (on average)
25-12-2015
Lloyd Chapman examines the successes of foreign aid and the dramatic impact they have for the overall success of aid.
Filetype: MP3
Tim Miles: No laughing matter? Why comedy is important to higher education
19-12-2015
Studying comedy offers us fascinating insights and important possibilities. The talk will explore a path through evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, health care, pedagogy, cultural anthology and the performing arts.
Filetype: MP3
Jon Butterworth: Smashing Physics - News from the energy frontier
04-05-2015
The discovery of the Higgs boson was the culmination of the largest experiment ever run, the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. But what is a Higgs boson? How was it found? And what will the LHC do next?
Filetype: MP3
John Sweeney: Church of Fear - Inside The Weird World Of Scientology
24-04-2015
Award-winning journalist John Sweeney tells the story of his investigation of the Church of Scientology
Filetype: MP3
Sanal Edamaruku: Superstition and Rationalism - the Indian battleground
15-04-2015
The president of the Indian Rationalist Association challenges the gurus and godmen who have such a pervasive influence in society.
Filetype: MP3
Neil Denny, 4 September 2013
08-04-2015
The Little Atoms Road Trip: A Scientific Odyssey across America
Filetype: MP3
Andy Lewis, 18 Mar 2013
31-03-2015
What every parent needs to know about Steiner Schools: Anthroposophy and Spiritual Science
Filetype: MP3
Andrew Steele, 9 Jan 2013
08-09-2013
Our investment in science is woefully small compared to the scale of the problems it's trying to solve. Dr Andrew Steele explains why our miniscule spending on science doesn't make sense, and why it's vital that we make science funding a political issue.
Filetype: MP3