Exposing PseudoAstronomy

Episode 170 - Interlude, and Another Podcast Endeavor

After being gone for a bit of time, I return to discuss where I have been, what to expect for the future (when more episodes will air), and if you need your fix of Dr. St

Episode 169 - Modern Eclipse Lunacy, Part 3: Richard Hoagland's Claims

In the final regular episode in the three-part Solar Eclipse of August 2017 series, several of the claims made by Richard Hoagland are addressed. Three types of claims ar

Episode 168 - Common (and False) Fine-Tuned Universe Beliefs, Discussed

An exploration into four groups of fine-tuning arguments used by some to say that we are special: Solar outbursts, habitable zone, lunar origin and effects, and giant pla

Episode 167 - Modern Eclipse Lunacy, Part 2: Flat Earth

The August 2017 total solar eclipse was seen by hundreds of millions of people, and yet some of them have tried to use it to promulgate pseudoscience. In this Part 2 epis

Episode 166 - Stellar Evolution, Age of the Universe, and Young-Earth Creationism

The half-truth and misconception addressed in this episode is whether the age of a star with error bars that overlap with the age of the universe means all of science is

Episode 165 - Little Things in Space

Three separate topics all tied together by a commonality: A little bit of something that you tend to only experience in space. First up is microgravity, then near-vacuum,

Episode 164 - The World Didn't End on September 23, 2017

The world did not end, again, on September 23, 2017. However, the story behind this latest doomsday prognostication may surprise you -- it did me as I investigated it.

Episode 163 - Modern Eclipse Lunacy, Part 1

This past eclipse on August 21, 2017, was perhaps one of the most-hyped and most-viewed solar eclipses in human history. As with any such mass-sighted event, pseudoscienc

Episode 162 - Geocentrism, Take 2

Young-Earth creationists who are not geocentrists - those who accept the Copernican Revolution so far as Earth's place in the universe - have a vested interest in combatt

Episode 161 - Water on Earth— Coriolis and Tides

Inspired by one of the longest-running primetime television shows in history, and frustration with late-night radio hosts pretending they can Science, this episode addres

Episode 160 - Apollo Hoax: The US Flag Waving, and the Moon of No Return

A return to a tried-and-true subject of skepticism: the Apollo Moon Hoax. In this shorter episode, I discuss two of the most common claims that you may hear: Why does the

Episode 159 - A Proposal for the Geologic Definition of Planet, Interview with Kirby Runyon

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union sparked an uproar and furious debate among scientists and non-scientists alike when they voted for a definition of the word,

Episode 158 - Getting Beyond the Photograph: Image Tricks with Dr. Tod Lauer

In past episodes, I have talked about how you can't get any more information out of an image than what is in a single pixel. Dr. Tod Lauer is an astronomer who has worked

Episode 157 - Special Cross-Over Episode with The Reality Check, Astronomy Edition

In a special cross-over episode, the cast of The Reality Check (Cheque?) podcast come over and we all did short-ish segments on astronomy-related topics: Do we live in a

Episode 156 - The Scientific Method: How We Get to What We Know

The scientific method is the process through which most modern science is done. Whether done explicitly in its formalized steps or not, it underlies the very basics of ho

Episode 155 - New Science: Evidence for the Mandela Effect?

Magic mirror on the wall, when will reality shifts affect us all? A phenomenon known as the Mandela Effect has been making the rounds of paranormal shows for the last yea

Episode 154 - Impact Crater Pseudoscience Mishmash

Impact craters form the basis of, or fit into the claimed evidence for, several different kinds of pseudoscientific claims. In this episode, I review two of them and also

Episode 153 - What Is Radiation?

Radiation is a mechanism for a large array of pseudosciences out there today, almost on par with quantum mechanics. The purpose of this episode is to provide a primer of

Episode 152 - Modern Flat Earth Thought, Part 3 (Young-Earth Creationists Debunking Flat Earth)

This podcast show most often focuses on refuting pseudoscience with real science, but it rarely sets out to make a positive case for real science. This episode is one of

Episode 151 - The Fake Story of Planet X, Part X - Nancy Leider Redux and Planet Nine Claims of 2016

Planet X is one of those topics that keeps coming up in pseudoscientific circles, in part because people who have been claiming it will come by and cause destruction cont