In a special Halloween episode of the Origins Podcast, which I’ve have decided to call “Spooky Physics!”, I explore why you shouldn’t be afraid of the unknown, and in particular of supernatural gobbledygook. We look at the fundamental physics that debunks popular supernatural ideas.

Take ghosts, for example. Physics is a two way street. If you can see a ghost, it must interact with light. But that very interaction, electromagnetism, is what stops you from walking through a wall. A ghost simply can’t have its cake and eat it too; it either goes through walls or you can see it. Not both.

I also confront one of the biggest misuses of physics today: the co-opting of quantum mechanics. People seize on Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance” to argue that consciousness can change the universe just by thinking. This is complete nonsense. I explain what entanglement really is and why it does not allow you to affect things remotely, no matter how much you might want to.

The moral of today’s topic is simple: don’t be afraid. And more importantly:

The real universe, with its actual quantum wonders and black holes, is far more interesting than any supernatural fantasy.

Enjoy Halloween…especially the candy.

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

As The War on Science continues to circulate and reach readers around the world, I had the privilege of closing our Origins mini series, The War on Science Interviews, with my colleague and book contributor Gad Saad. It felt fitting to end the series with a candid and provocative conversation that reflects the spirit of the project itself.

The essays and interviews collected around this book address a wide range of concerns: the ideological corruption of science, the erosion of free speech in academia, the replacement of scholarship with activism in many disciplines, and the disruptions now spreading from mathematics to medicine. We explore how cancel culture and DEI bureaucracies weaken excellence, how biology is distorted for political ends, and how false premises about gender and sex compromise both science and medicine. The conversations are blunt and challenging, but they also aim to outline principles that can help universities recover integrity, trust, and the courage to return to embracing free inquiry.

Gad and I discussed many of these themes directly. He confronts the absurdities of modern campus culture, and his voice joins those the other contributors who have argued that ignoring these trends will not make them disappear. Many academics have hoped the problems would fade on their own. They have not. The internal culture war in academia must be confronted openly if scholarship and science are to thrive in the West.

I am hopeful the book will spark debate in universities and among the wider public. If you would like the full context for this episode, you can watch the complete War on Science Interviews mini series at this link here. In the meantime enjoy this episode now.

With this finale, Origins now returns to its regular biweekly release schedule. We have some fascinating new conversations, educational content, and science news in store that I am excited to share.

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book. Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day. Interviewees in order, will be:

Richard Dawkins July 23rd

Niall Ferguson July 24th

Nicholas Christakis July 25th

Maarten Boudry July 26th

Abigail Thompson July 27th

John Armstrong July 28th

Sally Satel – July 30

Elizabeth Weiss – July 31

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz – August 1

Frances Widdowson – August 2

Carole Hooven – August 3

Janice Fiamengo – August 4

Geoff Horsman – August 5

Alessandro Strumia – August 6

Roger Cohen and Amy Wax – August 7

Peter Boghossian – August 8

Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau – August 9

Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin – August 10

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan – August 11

Dorian Abbot – August 12

Karleen Gribble – August 13

The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war.

The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west. We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses. Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away. It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.

The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began. Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat. But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west.

I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia. With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book. Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day. Interviewees in order, will be:

Richard Dawkins July 23rd

Niall Ferguson July 24th

Nicholas Christakis July 25th

Maarten Boudry July 26th

Abigail Thompson July 27th

John Armstrong July 28th

Sally Satel – July 30

Elizabeth Weiss – July 31

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz – August 1

Frances Widdowson – August 2

Carole Hooven – August 3

Janice Fiamengo – August 4

Geoff Horsman – August 5

Alessandro Strumia – August 6

Roger Cohen and Amy Wax – August 7

Peter Boghossian – August 8

Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau – August 9

Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin – August 10

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan – August 11

Karleen Gribble – August 12

Dorian Abbot – August 13

The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war.

The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west. We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses. Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away. It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.

The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began. Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat. But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west.

I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia. With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book. Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day. Interviewees in order, will be:

Richard Dawkins July 23rd

Niall Ferguson July 24th

Nicholas Christakis July 25th

Maarten Boudry July 26th

Abigail Thompson July 27th

John Armstrong July 28th

Sally Satel – July 30

Elizabeth Weiss – July 31

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz – August 1

Frances Widdowson – August 2

Carole Hooven – August 3

Janice Fiamengo – August 4

Geoff Horsman – August 5

Alessandro Strumia – August 6

Roger Cohen and Amy Wax – August 7

Peter Boghossian – August 8

Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau – August 9

Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin – August 10

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan – August 11

Karleen Gribble – August 12

Dorian Abbot – August 13

The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war.

The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west. We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses. Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away. It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.

The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began. Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat. But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west.

I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia. With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book. Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day. Interviewees in order, will be:

Richard Dawkins July 23rd

Niall Ferguson July 24th

Nicholas Christakis July 25th

Maarten Boudry July 26th

Abigail Thompson July 27th

John Armstrong July 28th

Sally Satel – July 30

Elizabeth Weiss – July 31

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz – August 1

Frances Widdowson – August 2

Carole Hooven – August 3

Janice Fiamengo – August 4

Geoff Horsman – August 5

Alessandro Strumia – August 6

Roger Cohen and Amy Wax – August 7

Peter Boghossian – August 8

Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau – August 9

Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin – August 10

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan – August 11

Karleen Gribble – August 12

Dorian Abbot – August 13

The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war.

The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west. We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses. Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away. It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.

The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began. Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat. But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west.

I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia. With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book. Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day. Interviewees in order, will be:

Richard Dawkins July 23rd

Niall Ferguson July 24th

Nicholas Christakis July 25th

Maarten Boudry July 26th

Abigail Thompson July 27th

John Armstrong July 28th

Sally Satel – July 30

Elizabeth Weiss – July 31

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz – August 1

Frances Widdowson – August 2

Carole Hooven – August 3

Janice Fiamengo – August 4

Geoff Horsman – August 5

Alessandro Strumia – August 6

Roger Cohen and Amy Wax – August 7

Peter Boghossian – August 8

Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau – August 9

Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin – August 10

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan – August 11

Karleen Gribble – August 12

Dorian Abbot – August 13

The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war.

The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west. We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses. Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away. It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.

The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began. Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat. But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west.

I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia. With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book. Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day. Interviewees in order, will be:

Richard Dawkins July 23rd

Niall Ferguson July 24th

Nicholas Christakis July 25th

Maarten Boudry July 26th

Abigail Thompson July 27th

John Armstrong July 28th

Sally Satel – July 30

Elizabeth Weiss – July 31

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz – August 1

Frances Widdowson – August 2

Carole Hooven – August 3

Janice Fiamengo – August 4

Geoff Horsman – August 5

Alessandro Strumia – August 6

Roger Cohen and Amy Wax – August 7

Peter Boghossian – August 8

Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau – August 9

Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin – August 10

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan – August 11

Karleen Gribble – August 12

Dorian Abbot – August 13

The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war.

The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west. We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses. Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away. It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.

The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began. Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat. But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west.

I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia. With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book. Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day. Interviewees in order, will be:

Richard Dawkins July 23rd

Niall Ferguson July 24th

Nicholas Christakis July 25th

Maarten Boudry July 26th

Abigail Thompson July 27th

John Armstrong July 28th

Sally Satel – July 30

Elizabeth Weiss – July 31

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz – August 1

Frances Widdowson – August 2

Carole Hooven – August 3

Janice Fiamengo – August 4

Geoff Horsman – August 5

Alessandro Strumia – August 6

Roger Cohen and Amy Wax – August 7

Peter Boghossian – August 8

Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau – August 9

Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin – August 10

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan – August 11

Karleen Gribble – August 12

Dorian Abbot – August 13

The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war.

The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west. We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses. Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away. It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.

The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began. Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat. But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west.

I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia. With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

To celebrate the release on July 29th of The War on Science, we have recorded 20 podcast interviews with authors from the book. Starting on July 22nd, with Richard Dawkins, we will be releasing one interview per day. Interviewees in order, will be:

Richard Dawkins July 23rd

Niall Ferguson July 24th

Nicholas Christakis July 25th

Maarten Boudry July 26th

Abigail Thompson July 27th

John Armstrong July 28th

Sally Satel – July 30

Elizabeth Weiss – July 31

Solveig Gold and Joshua Katz – August 1

Frances Widdowson – August 2

Carole Hooven – August 3

Janice Fiamengo – August 4

Geoff Horsman – August 5

Alessandro Strumia – August 6

Roger Cohen and Amy Wax – August 7

Peter Boghossian – August 8

Lauren Schwartz and Arthur Rousseau – August 9

Alex Byrne and Moti Gorin – August 10

Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan – August 11

Karleen Gribble – August 12

Dorian Abbot – August 13

The topics these authors discuss range over ideas including the ideological corruption of science, historical examples of the demise of academia, free speech in academia, social justice activism replacing scholarship in many disciplines, disruptions of science from mathematics to medicine, cancel culture, the harm caused by DEI bureaucracies at universities, distortions of biology, disingenous and dangerous distortions of the distinctions between gender and sex in medicine, and false premises impacting on gender affirming care for minors, to, finally, a set of principles universities should adopt to recover from the current internal culture war.

The dialogues are blunt, and provocative, and point out the negative effects that the current war on science going on within universities is having on the progress of science and scholarship in the west. We are hoping that the essays penned by this remarkable group of scholars will help provoke discussion both within universities and the public at large about how to restore trust, excellence, merit, and most important sound science, free speech and free inquiry on university campuses. Many academics have buried their heads in the sand hoping this nonsense will go away. It hasn’t and we now need to become more vocal, and unified in combatting this modern attack on science and scholarship.

The book was completed before the new external war on science being waged by the Trump administration began. Fighting this new effort to dismantle the scientific infrastructure of the country is important, and we don’t want to minimized that threat. But even if the new attacks can be successfully combatted in Congress, the Courts, and the ballot box, the longstanding internal issues we describe in the new book, and in the interviews we are releasing, will still need to be addressed to restore the rightful place of science and scholarship in the west.

I am hoping that you will find the interviews enlightening and encourage you to look at the new book when it is released, and help become part of the effort to restore sound science and scholarship in academia. With no further ado, The War on Science interviews…

As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.