The first line of the Ukraine national anthem translates to ‘Ukraine is not dead yet’This episode is a special about the Russian war and invasion of Ukraine. No TWISH, no Pope and no surprise as to who gets the Really Wrong award*). We do urge anyone who can to support the people of Ukraine, and provide links to some of the charities you can donate to. Topics we discuss are:UKRAINE: DW Fact Check – Do any of Putin’s claims hold water?INTERNATIONAL: Media giants clamp down on Russian state-own propaganda channels, RT and SputnikRUSSIA: Partial restriction on access to Facebook to Protect Russian mediaRUSSIA: Thousands of people arrested at anti-war protestsCZECHIA: Chief prosecutor warns against public support for Russian aggression (what about free speech?)UKRAINE: Fake videos showing Russian invasionUKRAINE: Chernobyl radiation levels increase significantly after heavy fighting around the areaUKRAINE: Is the Ghost of Kyiv real?UKRAINE: World’s heaviest aircraft confirmed destroyedSPACE: Franklin Mars rover likely not a go this year due to Russia’s warSPACE: UK satellite company OneWeb cancels all Russian launches after dramatic fallout with space agency*) Spoiler, it’s Putin.Segments: Intro; Greetings; News; Really Wrong; Charities For Ukraine; Quote And Farewell; Outro;

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Also, Benedict works in mysterious waysWe talk about the great new CFI fellows announced, wonder what happens to Ukraine (please note that we recorded this episode one day before the invasion…) and welcome the fact that the Philippines plan to roll out production of Golden Rice. In TWISH we hear about Gutenberg and his bible that was published this week way back in 1455. Pontus pokes both popes and then we look at the news:FRANCE: Djokovic keeps being wrong…GERMANY: Association of Catholic Doctors and homeopathic conversion therapyINTERNATIONAL: Scientists call for science collaboration to be put before politicsINTERNATIONAL: New study: The Einstein Effect – how people believe weird shit if they think it was said by scientistsEUROPE: Black death not as devastating all over Europe as previously thought?UPDATE FROM LAST WEEK: Great response to call for skeptical translators! Join them!Meta gets today’s Really Wrong Award for keep saying that they don’t allow misinformation when in fact they promote it, and the Swedish authorities gets a Really Right for regulating health claims on supplements and food.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Popes; News; Really Wrong / Really Right; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Translating the works of Skeptical ScienceBärbel Winkler is the project coordinator for the translation projects at Skeptical Science and has been organising the translation of documents like the two consecutive versions of The Debunking Handbook, the Uncertainty Handbook, The Conspiracy Theory Handbook and the COVID-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook, to mention only a few. And now she’s busy coordinating the translation of the Cranky Uncle game, an awesome tool, which we have mentioned on several occasions on this podcast.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Edzard Ernst joins us to tell all about his new book.Before we get into the interview with Edzard Ernst we are a bit nostalgic about hearing that the end of the ISS is getting closer. András has an update to the Favipiravir controverse from last week and then we get to hear from the horses mouth how Prince Charles became the ‘Alternative Prince’. IN TWISH we learn about Dmitri Mendeleev and his periodic table. After that, we get into the news:SWEDEN: Agency to tackle foreign misinformation re-establishedROMANIA: 2/3 people believe COVID was imposed on the world by global elite for control, 1/3 thinks microchips are being implanted with vaccinationSWITZERLAND: Man in Geneva hears God after antibiotic treatmentINTERNATIONAL: Cranky Uncle game now available in Dutch and GermanEnjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; TWISH; News; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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We are all animalsAnnika is back in Europe and for unclear reasons we may all move to an uninhabited island in Sweden (don’t hold your breath). The German Informations­-Netzwerk Homöopathie (INH) is sending an open letter to the new German health minister Karl Lauterback – we should all retweet about this to make sure he reads it! In TWISH we hear about how one of the worst fraudulent scientific(?) papers ever, authored by Andrew Wakefield, was finally retracted in 2010. No pope to poke today, so we then head for the news:EUROPE: WHO – 732 days in 15 figuresEUROPE: WHO – End of pandemic in sight?FINLAND: Biodiversity-loss denial is the new craze?HUNGARY: The Hungarian Medicines Agency files official complaint over misleading claims about FavipiravirGERMANY: The bright side of having pseudosciences around?UK: Measles warning for children as jab rate falls in EnglandUK: People’s preference for honesty is key for a working democracySeveral awards to hand out today: Eric Clapton gets a dishonorable mention, the Polish PiS-party get a repeat prize and the German Catholic Church gets a brand new Really Wrong Award for persecuting and harassing their own people for their sexual orientation. Journalist Hajo Seppelt gets a Really Right Award Award for his documentary “Wie Gott uns Schuf”.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong / Really Right; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Djokovic wrong again, and both popes get pokedWe start with the fact that everyone and his uncle seems to have covid nowadays, and access to testing is hard. As mentioned last week, the episode of the Skeptic Zone with Pontus is now out. In other news anti-restriction demonstrations are all around and the Nazis somehow always seem to show up. In TWISH we learn about the birth in 1900 of Theodosius Dobzhansky, who was very important for the field of evolutionary biology. Double whammy for the popes this week, both Benedict and Francis have some explaining to do as Pontus Pokes the Popes. Then we look into the news:CZECH REPUBLIC: Folk singer Hana Horka dies after catching COVID intentionallyUK: Link found between trust in public figures and vaccine hesitancyGERMANY: Many lost faith in God over pandemicUK: Prof Sir Paul Curran Award for Excellence in Academic Journalism 2021 goes to Caitjan GaintyWe end with another double hitter when Novak Djokovic gets the first ever twice-in-a-row Really Wrong Award. His friend Zlatan Ibrahimovic share in on the shame.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Popes; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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No mercy for No-vaxx DjokovicSweden had some unusual northern lights last weekend (which Pontus missed) and the Tonga volcanic eruption had an impact on Annika’s plans. Don’t miss Pontus on next week’s Skeptic Zone with Richard Saunders! In TWISH we hear about Baron d’Holbach who created an important encyclopedia and organised great Skeptics in the Pub meetings back in the 1700s. Pope Francis hates that people are getting pets instead of generating new baby Catholics, totally missing the irony of himself opting out of parenthood. Then we take a look at the news:EUROPE: Increase in attacks against journalists for reporting on COVIDITALY: Nurse in Palermo arrested for administering fake jabsWORLD: 2021 was the fifth warmest year on recordINTERNATIONAL: YouTube called on by factcheckers to tackle misinformationINTERNATIONAL: Homeopaths urging WHO to begin training homeopathsSWEDEN: Tik Tok – Children get bombarded with news of imminent Russian invasionSWITZERLAND: Publisher Frontier in crisis?UK: Edzard Ernst did it again… new book coming!Novak Djokovic is this week’s Really Wrong Award winner for his covid pass shenanigans and anti-vaxx nonsense.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; Pontus Pokes The Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Watch out researchers!This week we have a special treat for you – we’re joined by the one and only Elisabeth Bik! Our interview with her takes us into the wonders of how to expose fraudulent (or just sloppy) science.Elisabeth Bik is a Dutch-American microbiologist, whose specialty is spotting photo duplications in scientific publications. As a result of her efforts, hundreds of papers have been retracted due to evidence of misconduct. She’s a founder of the Microbiome Digest Blog and the Science Integrity Digest Blog. Her work is also frequently featured on Retraction Watch and she’s a regular contributor at PubPeer. She has received several prizes for her outstanding work in science popularisation and science integrity. In November 2020 she received the the Peter Wildy Prize by the Microbiology Society for communication of microbiology in education and to the public. In 2021 she was awarded two prizes, both very highly regarded by skeptics, the John Maddox Prize and the Ockham Award, both of which we reported on here on the ESP.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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Special report: Large Study Released by the Swedish Skeptics (VoF)We start out welcoming the new year and chatting about the James Webb telescope, Omicron and that the Swedish King and Queen just tested positive. Also, András got caught on tape singing on New Year’s Eve! In TWISH we hear about a famous (but not too convincing) UFO encounter in Trans-en-Provence in France. No pope today, so we go directly into the news:INTERNATIONAL: Retraction statistics show an increased rate of publishing questionable contentINTERNATIONAL: Vaccine hesitancy and how to deal with itAUSTRIA: The level of education is a booster for the willingness to vaccinateEU: Some gas and nuclear to be listed as green energyInstead of a Really Wrong we get a Special Report about a Swedish study conducted by VoF. The VoF-study presents all about what the Swedish public actually believes in, from ghosts and homeopathy to 911 conspiracy theories and racism.Enjoy!Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Special Report; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes;

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With Eggman at the helm, we close the year.We hear about Brian’s adventures at “Scotland’s most haunted hotel“, hear about the passing of biologist E O Wilson and rejoice at the (so far) successful journey of the James Webb telescope. In TWISH we learn why New Year’s Eve is known as “Sylvester” in many countries and then we look into truth behind Pope Francis’ families values. Then it is time for the year’s last news round:GERMANY: Covid demonstration strollsINTERNATIONAL: WHO weighs in on plant-based nutrition issuesINTERNATIONAL: Aliens and what we learned about them in 2021?GERMANY: Natalie Grams latest fellow of CSISCOTLAND: Scottish Independence / SNP conspiracy theories. Most notably, the ongoing conspiracy theories about the death of Willie MacraeA young dealer called Jack Finney illustrates just why you should never buy diet pills on the dark web and gets a 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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