Skeptics in the Pub Podcast - Cambridge

Laughter is a universal human behaviour about which we have very little insights - we like to laugh, but we don't always know why we are laughing. In Sophie Scott's talk she will explore how the emerging science of laughter is shedding new light on this common behaviour.Sophie Scott has worked in psychology and cognitive neuroscience for over 20 years and she is funded by the Wellcome Trust. Sophie Scott is interested in the human voice, how we use it to communicate and what we can do when this communication goes wrong.

Dr Iroise Dumontheil is a lecturer in the Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London. She obtained a PhD from the University of Paris VI and then was a postdoc in labs in London, Cambridge and Stockholm. Her research focuses on the typical development of social cognition and cognitive control during adolescence and their functioning in adulthood. Her studies combine a variety of methods to study brain and cognitive development including functional and structural neuroimaging, behavioural assessments, and genetics. She is further interested in the potential implications of this neuroscience research for education.

Electric cars? They're rubbish aren't they?! Nothing but glorified golf carts that take forever to charge and then run out of power on the way to the shops. Try finding somewhere to charge them. They cost a fortune to buy and another fortune to replace the battery when its range drops to half after 500 miles. You don't want to believe all that nonsense about them being environmentally-friendly. They are actually worse than petrol-powered cars because the batteries are made from dirty lithium and use electricity made from dirtier coal. There isn't even enough lithium in the world to make all the new batteries we'd need anyway. Electric cars are just rubbish. Aren't they? - Robert says no. This evening he'll tell us why he thinks we need to put away our prejudices and think seriously about electric vehicles as the future of transport.Robert Llewellyn is an actor, writer, comedian, TV presenter and self-described wishy-washy liberal best known for playing the android Kryten in the long-running BBC sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf. He presented Scrapheap Challenge for 10 years and these days he can be seen on TV presenting the shows CarPool on Dave and How Do They Do It? on Channel 5. He is probably the UK's most prominent advocate of electric vehicles (EV) and presents a YouTube-based show called Fully Charged that documents current developments in the electric vehicle industry. In February 2012 he debated the motion "This House Believes Electric Cars are the Future of Transport" at the Oxford Union. The motion was carried.

Magic boffin Oliver Meech meddles with forces we barely understand, in a comedy magic show for the QI generation. Expect brain-boggling tricks inspired by mind-blowing science. It's the Natural Selection!“real gasps of awe” - Broadway Baby**** “funny, endearing, impressive showmanship”  - ThreeWeeks“could rival superstar Derren Brown” - Theatre WalesSell-Out performances at Brighton Fringe, Oxford Fringe and Green Man Festival. After melding magic with Neuropsychology (Ed Fringe 2011) and Time (Ed Fringe 2010) in previous hit shows, Oliver turns his attention to the rest of the universe.Oliver Meech studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, Creativity at top London ad agencies and Trickery at The Magic Circle. He fuses all three to produce magic that's ‘fascinating and different from other magicians' (GWJWTBE blog). When not performing at Fringe festivals around the country, he hops between the UK's Science, Cabaret and Comedy circuits.

The term ‘teenager' is a 20th Century invention, but conceptions of adolescence as a time of emotional upheaval, peer influence and risk-taking can be found throughout history. Recent brain imaging evidence suggests that this might not just be down to ‘hormones', as considerable brain development is still taking place during the teenage years. I will start by describing the changes occurring in the brain during this time, and will then talk about how brain development may influence behaviour. I would like to explore the idea that, while adolescence may be a time of vulnerability to mood and behaviour problems, it is also an exciting opportunity for learning and developing adult capacities. How can we best take advantage of this opportunity?Dr Catherine Sebastian is a Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is interested in how young people learn to regulate or control their emotions, how brain development may contribute to this process, and how this ability relates to wellbeing and mental health.

Why disconnect a daughter from her mum? Who is Xenu? Does Tom Cruise believe in a space alien satan? Which MP, CoE Bishop and British TV star defend Scientology? What kind of Church hires private eyes?  'John Sweeney is psychotic, a bigot and a liar'

Kate Smurthwaite is a comedienne and feminist, atheist activist. She is best known for a gone-viral video clip taken from BBC One show The Big Questions known as "Atheist B*tchslap" and also for her annual one woman show "The News At Kate" at the Edinburgh Fringe and other national and international comedy festivals. "My talk is about how the overhang of religious dogma has left us with a don't-talk-about-sex culture which is damaging everyone, especially women. The gap is being exploited (I shall argue) by a multi-billion-dollar sex "industry" that, like all massive industries has profit, rather than our best interests, at heart. Caught as we are between the no sex campaign and the bad sex industry, the time has come to reclaim good sex. There is so much to be gained, I will argue including an end to war, famine and climate change, and of course the possibility of great sex!"

When Rhys Morgan was 15 years old and diagnosed with the painful condition Crohn's Disease, he logged on to a support forum - where he discovered that a very dangerous "miracle" cure was being peddled.After doing some research, he discovered that forum members were being actively encouraged to drink "Miracle Mineral Solution" which turned out to be a solution of bleach, and to continue with this treatment even when they suffered resulting symptoms such as burning. Upon challenging its promoters, Rhys was banned from the forum.You can read how that went here at "Bleachgate", and take a look at this list of links to see the results of Rhys's determination to get more knowledge out there. It went as far as to be banned in Kenya, and Rhys got on the BBC (twice), Wales Online, and won the James Randi 2010 award for "Grassroots Activism".Since then, he has also written about the Burzynski Clinic in the US, which claims to treat cancer with "antineoplaston therapy". This resulted in a representative issuing libel threats and, upon learning that Rhys was a teenager, threatening to inform his school and sending him an image of his house. Similar threats were made to other UK bloggers (highlighting the need for libel reform in the UK), but none have yet been followed through. Rhys asks here in the Guardian why the Burzynski Clinic is unwilling to simply publish its methodology and results, rather than threatening its critics.Rhys, now 18, plans to continue his campaigns against unproven and dangerous "miracle cures", and will be talking to us about both these episodes as well as a history of the "miracle cure". You can also catch up with him on his blog and follow him on Twitter at @rhysmorgan

Of all the slang names for the British, none is more iconic than 'Limey'. While the the term provokes majestic images of the Golden Age of Sail, scurvy cost countless sailors and seamen their lives. It was once not unheard of for nine out of every ten members of a ship's crew to have succumbed to scurvy by the time it returned to port. The results of James Lind's work on the HMS Salisbury in 1747, which led to a cure, without doubt saved innumerable lives. Yet in Cherry-Garrard's account of Robert Falcon Scott's 1911 expedition to the South Pole, he writes: "There was little scurvy in Nelson's days; but the reason is not clear, since, according to modern research, lime-juice only helps to prevent it." So why did Lind's results get forgotten?

Meng-Chuan Lai is a neuroscientist/psychiatrist at the Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge. This talk will first introduce the evolving definitions and concepts of autism (or 'autism spectrum disorders/conditions'), then discuss two (out of many) issues that we have learned, and are still learning from autism: how humans interact with each other (the 'social brain' hypothesis), and the strength of individuals on the spectrum (the 'autism and talent' hypothesis).