Covid death toll is more likely 15 million according to WHOAnnika is back! and after discussing stupid Putin and his failed war a little, we turn our focus to space. We look towards the black hole in the Milky Way to get as far away as possible and yes, Norway really has this very special space programme about fish in space. In TWISH (This Week in Skeptical History) we revisit the legend of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Fàtima since it all started this week in 1917. No pope today, so instead we travel on right into the news:INTERNATIONAL: European populism linked to vaccine hesitancy, but more research is neededINTERNATIONAL: Almost 15 million excess deaths due to covidHUNGARY / V4: Coordinated online troll activity detected in relation to the war in UkraineHUNGARY: Fidesz supporters prefer Putin to western political leaders – SurveyEUROPE: WHO to bring the Europe region closer to a cervical cancer-free future – with HPV vaccinesUK: Why girls don’t necessarily choose to pursue studies into physicsThis weeks Really Wrong Award goes to ‘Antroposophian’ Harad Matthes who went on television claiming to ‘prove’ severe risks with covid vaccines when in fact he is just a crank. The TV network MDR also gets a prize for giving him a platform.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes

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Russia takes post-truth to new levelsMostly bad news this week, but on the bright side we have The Skeptic’s Guide soon to come out with their new book The Skeptic’s Guide to the Future (pre-order it now!) and the upcoming European Skeptics Congress in Vienna. See you there! This week we celebrate Sir David Attenborough‘s 96th birthday and we take a look at Pope Francis and his dealings with the other “Pope”, Patriarch Kirill, also known as Putin’s altar boy. Then we go through some news:RUSSIA: Russian long-term recruitment programme disguised as educationINTERNATIONAL: Measles is the new-old threatUKRAINE: The fake news factory on this side of the fence…SPAIN: Families in despair over IM Academy: ‘The crypto-sect has kidnapped our children’INTERNATIONAL: Hepatitis cases cause for concern – and the disinformation factory keeps rollingSWEDEN: Macchiarini trial started this week – Procecution says surgery was experimental, cruel, and against all science and evidenceUK: GCSE in Natural History announced and brings hope for environmentalismPontus gets really angry with Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov this week and hands him a hard Really Wrong Award. There’s also a “Bonus Bad Award” to the Russian propaganda machine that implies that Swedes are Nazis.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Social Psychology and conspiracy theoriesIn quick news the Hungarian Skeptics has announced Gábor Varga as their Flat Earth Award winner for 2022 and also we keep reminding all listeners to sign up for European Skeptics Congress in Vienna in September.This week we interview Péter Krekó who is a social psychologist and an expert in conspiracy theories. We talk about everything from state propaganda and the pandemic to how social media has changed the environment for all of us and how and why it has increased the polarization in politics.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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In other news, don’t leave a mark on your pyjamasIn Hungary they are busy preparing for the flat Earth awards and András will be one of many excellent speakers at SkeptiCal in California. Here in Europe you should still sign up for the European Skeptics Congress! This week sees the birthday of “the Iceman”, Wim Hof. Don’t fall for his pseudo-nonsense. Nonsense is also rampant in the Archdiocese in Cologne but Pope Frankie is saying ‘la-la-la’ and looking the other way. Then, of course we have the news:GERMANY: Radical covid antivaxxers planned to kidnap German health ministerGERMANY: EU survey of attitudes towards vaccinationUKRAINE: So, what happened to ‘the Moskva’?UK / ITALY: Guy doesn’t believe shroud of Turin is forged, willing to pay £1 million for proofINTERNATIONAL: Boiron sued by the Center for InquiryDanish so-called ‘politician’ Rasmus Paludan stirs up riots in Sweden by burning the Quran and for that he, as well as the rioters, are Really Wrong.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Zelensky is not Soros’ cousinWe remind you again to sign up for the European Skeptics Congress! It’s going to be great!In other news, Darwin’s iconic ‘evolution as a tree’-notebook has been mysteriously returned which is good news in a pink bag. Our notes on conversion therapy last week got some terfs really upset on Twitter, but of course they get it all wrong. For TWISH we celebrate the birth of Christiaan Huygens, a true spirit of the enlightenment already in the 17th century. No poking this week, so we then dive into the news:INTERNATIONAL: Homeopathy Awareness WeekUKRAINE: Zelensky not related to SorosINTERNATIONAL: Pinterest to ban climate misinformationUK: Anglo-European College of Chiropractic offering MSc courseTo round off, the charity organisation ‘Thinking Autism’ promotes CEASE therapy and anti-vaxx nonsense and so they get his week’s Really Wrong award.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Tickets released for the European Skeptics Congress! Sign up!The Hungarian elections did not go well and that’s not a political statement but a skeptical one. Propaganda is everywhere, but we put our hopes in the European Skeptics Congress in Vienna in September. We will be there and we count on all of you to be there too! Chris French is the topic for TWISH (happy birthday, Chris!) and the Flat Earth award is coming up in Hungary. Pope Francis makes a decent apology but the legal stuff is yet to come. Then we have a look at the news:UKRAINE: Russia ‘allegedly’ guilty of massacre in Bucha?RUSSIA: Does Putin use alt med?INTERNATIONAL: Study – mitigating climate change wouldn’t hurt economiesUKRAINE: Chernobyl – Russian troops on a suicidal mission?PORTUGAL: And the Flying Unicorn flies to…PORTUGAL: Nominations for next year’s award are now openUK: Conversion therapy in the UK banned – but not for allINTERNATIONAL: Snopes’ plans for the year aheadMeta seems to be out to collect as many Really Wrong Awards they can get theirs hands on and we are here to please.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Charities For Ukraine; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Blast from the past: Nobody Silences Simon Singh!The Hungarian election is coming up, with a lot of Russian propaganda polarizing the public. In TWISH we remember the legal decision that cleared up how “happily promoting bogus claim” was a fair statement by Simon Singh against the British Chiropractic Association. Pope Francis will finally meet up with Canadian Indigenous delegations this week, but will they finally get their apology?Then we have the news:RUSSIA: Country’s scientists are to stay putHUNGARY: Pre-election state propaganda worsened by anti-Ukrainian sentimentINTERNATIONAL: Low vaccine uptake in Ukrainian population might be risk factor with refugeesRUSSIA: People turning to VPNs to access band websites and content on the internetRUSSIA: New developments in support of accident theory regarding Dyatlov Pass IncidentGERMANY: Homeopathy contracts cancelled in BremenThe Heilpraktiker system in Germany gets this week’s Really Wrong award. Come on, Karl Lauterbach, you can fix this!Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Don’t stare into the Sun! Both of the Earth’s poles are going through extreme weather at the moment. Does that mean the end of the planet is already here? In TWISH we hear about Mussolini’s rise to power and potential parallels to current world events. Pope Francis is said to take a stand against Russia, but we are not convinced. Then we have the news:EUROPE / SPACE: Russian cosmonauts dressed in colours of Ukrainian flag?– European Mars mission on hold as a result of cutting ties with Roscosmos– OneWeb turns towards Space-XRUSSIA: TikTok directs users to fake news about Ukraine warRUSSIA: Putin’s war propaganda becomes ‘patriotic’ lessons in Russian schoolsSCOTLAND: Late apology for witch-hunt casesPORTUGAL: Voting is open for the Flying Unicorn AwardsINTERNATIONAL: BMJ paper assesses publication bias in Homeopathy-related articlesThere are a lot of anti-abortion nuts in Poland ready to harass Ukrainian refugees and all of them share this week’s Really Wrong award.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Don’t lose yourself in the bad newsLots of bad news out there at the moment but try to not let it get to you. A Ukrainian drone flies all over Hungary undetected, some European leaders take the train to Kyiv and even in space, tension is mounting. This week is the celebration of the Hungarian revolution of 1848 but there’s a lot of misconceptions about it. Francis tries to do good but fails to impress. After that, we take a look at the news:INTERNATIONAL: Doomscrolling is becoming a serious concernRUSSIA: The power of state-controlled mediaRUSSIA: TV employee’s attempt to let people know the truthRUSSIA: Family members go head to head over different views on war against UkraineRUSSIA: What do Russians think of the war?INTERNATIONAL: Estimating excess mortality from COVID-19UK: Homeopathy as protection from radioactivity?INTERNATIONAL: The biggest increase in CO2 emissions everFRANCE: French skeptics’ questionnaire to presidential candidates answeredThe Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill thinks “Ukrainian Nazis” deserve what they get because they do not discriminate enough, and for that he is Really Wrong.Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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War and anti-vaxxersWe comment on some aspects of the war and also how you can best send help. In TWISH we celebrate good skeptic Massimo Polidoro and then we poke Pope Francis, whose buddy was just sent to jail for sex abuse. After that, we have the news:UKRAINE: The latest disinformation trendsRUSSIA: Why has the letter Z become the symbol of war for Russia?RUSSIA: Lawmakers approve decision to imprison anyone contradicting government propagandaUKRAINE: Putin’s denazification campaign ends up destroying holocaust memorialINTERNATIONAL: Lancet study of 300 million administered doses: mRNA vaccines are safe and side effects mildHUNGARY: Centre for Social Research – Study on vaccinated vs unvaccinated population reveals interesting factsHUNGARY: New study estimates just how profitable being and anti-vaxxer can beDanderyd Hospital in Sweden gets this week’s Really Wrong Award for allowing nonsense in their post-covid treatment program.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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