In Pontus' absence Annika is back for a quick visit before her planned return next month. We mention the terrible assassination attempt against Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico and how it's a new source of fake news. On TWISH you can hear about Franz Anton Mesmer, who was the foremost proponent of "animal magnetism". Then, we look at the news:

• GERMANY: GWUP has a new leadership - Congratulations!
• VATICAN CITY: The Inquisition introducing new rules for the assessment of potentially "Supernatural Phenomena"
• SCOTLAND: According to 2022 census released recently, majority of people not affiliated with any religions.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Quote and Farewell; Outro

00:00:25Intro

00:00:51Greetings

00:09:05TWISH

00:17:20News

00:30:11Quote & Farewell

00:33:50Outro

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meeting up with fellow skeptics is always a blast. We recommend reading the recent article in Skeptic UK about the history of European skepticism and ECSO – the ESC (European Skeptics Congress) is only two weeks away! Pontus reports from last week’s annual meeting with VoF (the Swedish Skeptics) and in TWISH we hear about Pierre Curie who, apart from being a brilliant scientist also was intrigued by spiritualism. Then, it’s time for the news:

• SWEDEN: Fake news during Eurovision Song Contest
• GERMANY: German Medical Association wants to ban homeopathy
• SWEDEN: SD and the troll factory
• UK: Whooping cough surging

Tadusz Wojda is the head of the Catholic Church in Poland, and he proves again that the Church has no morals. For that, he receives this week’s award for being Really Wrong.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes

0:00:27 Intro

0:00:51 Greetings

0:12:55 TWISH

0:20:15 News

0:37:46 Really Wrong

0:42:17 Quote And Farewell

0:44:04 Outro

0:45:19 Out-Takes

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tickets for QED in Manchester (19-20 October) are now on sale and don’t forget Skepticamp on the day before! If all goes to plan, both András and Pontus may be among the speakers. But first we are looking forward to the European Skeptics Congress 2024, less than a month from now, 31 May – 2 June in Lyon, France! In TWISH we hear about how smallpox was announced eradicated this week in 1980 and then we take a look at the news:

• INTERNATIONAL: Big data reveals true climate impact of worldwide air travel
• SWEDEN: Swedish Skeptics’ awards for 2023
• INTERNATIONAL: Scottish Medical Journal retracts 13 papers due to concerns over potential paper mill activity
• FRANCE / INTERNATIONAL: Didier Raoult vs. Elisabeth Bik – case dismissed!

The Really Wrong Award goes to the UK for two cases of educational malpractice regarding allowing religious indoctrination.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes

Show notes: https://theesp.eu/podcast_archive/theesp-ep-426.html

0:00:27 Intro

0:00:51 Greetings

0:07:02 TWISH

0:15:16 News

0:37:39 Really Wrong

0:41:56 Quote And Farewell

0:44:57 Outro

0:46:12 Out-Takes

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.