Big Picture Science for Mar. 09, 2026: Skeptic Check: Moon Conspiracy

Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Moon Conspiracy

As NASA’s Artemis program promises to take us back to the moon for the first time in fifty years, we consider what it means that as many as 10% of Americans don’t believe we went there in the first place. Why, despite all the evidence, has the faked moon landing conspiracy persisted? We explore why this falsehood has such staying power and what it reveals about our relationship with science and its findings.

Meanwhile, lunar science continues unabated. Scientists open a lunar soil sample that’s been vacuumed sealed for a half-century and receive a blast of four and a half billion-year-old solar wind.

Guests:

• Peter Knight – professor of American Studies, English and American Studies and conspiracy expert at the University of Manchester, U.K.
• Ryan Zeigler – planetary scientist and NASA’s Lunar Sample Curator at Johnson Space Center

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-moon-conspiracy

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for Aug 07, 2023 - Skeptic Check: UFO Conspiracy

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: UFO Conspiracy

UFOs are back. This time they’ve landed on Capitol Hill in the form of a public, congressional hearing. We watched the hearing with great interest, but felt dissatisfied when it came to evidence. Claims that the government has alien technology are obviously tantalizing. So tantalizing, in fact, that it’s easy to overlook logical fallacies in how these claims are presented. We identify a few of the missteps. But what would convince you that the government is aware of alien visitation? Is the word of an authority figure all we need to accept that “they’re here?” 

Guests:

• Benjamin Radford - Research fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
• Nadia Drake - Science journalist and member of NASA’s UAP group
• James McGaha - Retired military pilot and astronomer he's a longtime investigator of UFO reports and claims and he's a scientific consultant to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
• Mick West - A skeptical investigator who looks at claims of UFOs

Download podcast at - https://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/skeptic-check-ufo-conspiracy

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!

Big Picture Science for 02/20/12 - Skeptic Check: Saucer's Apprentice

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Saucer's Apprentice

ENCORE They’re here! About one-third of all Americans believe we’re being visited by extraterrestrial spacecraft. But wait, you want evidence?

UFO sighting are as prevalent as flies at a picnic. But proof of visitation – well, that’s really alien.

Hear why belief in extraterrestrial UFOs persists … and why military sightings that “can’t be explained” don’t warrant rolling out a welcome mat for ET.

Plus, the most fab UFOs in the movies!

It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!
Guests:

• Phil Plait – Keeper of the skeptical website badastronomy.com
• Benjamin Radford – Research Fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and managing editor of “Skeptical Inquirer Science Magazine”
• Leslie Kean – Journalist, and author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record
• Susan Clancy – Psychology Researcher, Harvard University
  and author of Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens
• Thomas Bullard – Folkorist at Indiana University and author of The Myth and Mystery of UFOs

First aired November 15, 2010.

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Saucer_s_Apprentice

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Big Picture Science for 08/15/11 - Skeptic Check: Plotting Along

Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Plotting Along

It’s been ten years since the fall of the Twin Towers, but some still believe that the attack was an inside job. They’re not the only ones to buy into a conspiratorial view of world events. Others deny

President Obama’s American birth… link autism with vaccines… and even claim that the fluo
ride in our drinking water is there to control our minds. Is it the truth – or the fringe groups – that are “out there?”

Find out why some tinfoil hat ideas never go away. Also, the roots of rational argument: did our brains evolve to seek the truth… or just win arguments?

It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!

Guests:

• Jonathan Kay – Managing editor of National Post in Canada and author of Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America’s Growing Conspiracist Underground
• Michael Shermer – Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine and author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies – How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them As Truths
• Phil Plait – Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog, badastronomy.com
• Hugo Mercier – Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania
• Darcia Narvaez – Psychologist at the University of Notre Dame
• Ben Recht – Computer Scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of the paper “On the Effectiveness of Tinfoil Hats”

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Plotting_Along

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 11/15/10 - Skeptic Check: Saucer's Apprentice

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Saucer's Apprentice

They’re here! About one-third of all Americans believe we’re being visited by extraterrestrial spacecraft. But wait, you want evidence?

UFO sighting are as prevalent as flies at a picnic. But proof of visitation – well, that’s really alien.

Hear why belief in extraterrestrial UFOs persists … and why military sightings that “can’t be explained” don’t warrant rolling out a welcome mat for ET.

Plus, the most fab UFOs in the movies!

It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Keeper of the skeptical website badastronomy.com
• Benjamin Radford – Research Fellow with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and managing editor of “Skeptical Inquirer Science Magazine”
• Leslie Kean – Journalist, and author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record
• Susan Clancy – Psychology Researcher, Harvard University
  and author of Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens
• Thomas Bullard – Folkorist at Indiana University and author of The Myth and Mystery of UFOs

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Saucer_s_Apprentice

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 04/05/10 - Skeptic Check: Conspiracy!

Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Conspiracy!

The Apollo moon landing is a hoax! 9-11 was an inside job! Our government keeps alien bodies racked and stacked in an underground bunker! And as for the evidence … well … put on your tin hats, folks, we’re going deep, deep, deep into conspiracy with journalist David Aaronovitch.

Also – the truth is out there, but it’s ignored. Jonah Lehrer on why scientists can overlook evidence.

Plus, money for meters and your spooks for free: ghost detectors hit the market.

And Hollywood Reality Check and Phil Plait on bogus bomb detectors.

It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!

Guests:

• Phil Plait – Astronomer, keeper of badastronomy.com, and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
• David Aaronovitch- Columnist with the Times newspaper of London and author of Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History
• Jonah Lehrer – Contributing editor at Wired magazine and author of How We Decide
• Matt Lowry – High school physics teacher and keeper of the Skeptical Teacher web site
• Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, West – Los Angeles

Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Conspiracy_

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.