Dr. Jerry Weinberger from Michigan State University talks about his book, Benjamin Franklin: Unmasked – On the Unity of His Moral, Religious, and Political Thought. We talk about how the various masks of Franklin that reveal a remarkable, sophisticated thinker and philosopher-skeptic. (episode 6)

Hugh McDiarmid Jr., communications director from the Michigan Environmental Council, discusses how states, like Michigan, entice green energy manufacturing and generation; and to what degree its citizens can understand the political, economical, and logistical factors involved. Although we use Michigan as an example, if you’re listening to this from somewhere else, you may find what […]

Chris Bailey from Grimstone Incorporated discusses paranormal investigations.  He delineates between paranormal ghost investigation and ghost-hunting.  And we try to find a middle ground between my skepticism towards and his acceptance of the possibility that paranormal phenomena is real. You can find out more about his group at www.grimstone-inc.com. (episode 4)

Author Matt Bell discusses his book, How They Were Found, a collection of short stories published by Keyhole Press.  We talk about the writing process, as well as the ideas and inspirations behind a few of his stories, in particular the compelling and surreal “The Receiving Tower” and “His Last Great Gift.”  You can find […]

Dr. Greg Gbur discusses the physics behind invisibility cloaks. Gbur is a professor at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. He has an amazing blog called Skulls in the Stars which features bizarre science facts, as well as insight into how science has inspired science fiction and horror literature, and vice versa. (episode 2)

Dr. Steven Salzberg discusses direct-to-consumer genetic kits. Salzberg is a professor at the University of Maryland. He has a fantastic blog called ‘Genomics, Evolution, and Pseudoscience’ at http://genome.fieldofscience.com/ (episode 1).

This is Critical Wit, a podcast about science, literature, and the arts.  I’m Chris Lindsay.  And each week, I’ll talk with someone about a particular subject that hopefully will be interesting and entertaining to you.  The show will be released every Thursday, and the average episode will be about 20 minutes. Critical Wit is licensed […]