Serious Inquiries Only

You've heard me reference Be Reasonable about a billion times lately. Well, that's because it's truly a fantastic show! On it, Marsh talks to people with extremely weird and terrible beliefs, but in a respectful and kind manner. And now that I've finished binging every episode, I wanted to have Marsh on for a discussion! We talk about platforming and de-platforming, arguing vs discussing, which beliefs are beyond the pale, and the ONE time that Marsh genuinely got angry on the show. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Like, at all. Now that might sound like me, an atheist, trying to bash the bible and point out the obviously flawed nature of it, but no, this is like, a respectable scholarly take on it. Today I'm joined by the two Dans of Data over Dogma! It's a cool new bible podcast that features an actual scholar. And not an atheist one, either! We talk about the good book and some things about it you really might not have ever heard! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

This is part 2! Make sure you listened to part 1! Dr. Elizabeth has a PhD in Organizational Psychology. She did a massive dive into the research on college selection and whether or not it makes a difference in outcomes. In part 2, we get to more recent studies and studies that looked at slightly different questions around this. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

This episode, like a few before it, was inspired by a Dear Old Dads! A while back, Tom dropped the bombshell over there that which college you go to really doesn't matter much. Dr. Elizabeth Deitch happens to be a listener of both shows and has a PhD in Organizational Psychology, and was very curious to see if this was an accurate representation of the available data. So, she underwent a massive deep dive! So, listen in and find out what the science says! This was such a massive research undertaking that Beth actually has two episodes worth of goodness for us. Listen to part 2 on Patreon now! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Psychology professor Dr. Ashley Scolaro is back! This time she's giving us a primer on the psychological theories about conspiracy theories. I think this will be the beginning of a series on this, since it might be the most important issue of our time. A whole lot of people right now believe a whole lot of really stupid things that are disconnected from reality. So, let's try to understand why, and to start the process of figuring out how to deprogram people. Should be super easy, simple, done in like 10 minutes. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Also what the hell is that? What would that mean for society? Is it even physically possible? Or is this all some sort of hoax? We've got Quantum Anne back for a third time to explain all this stuff to us and more! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Astrophysicist Dr. Bryan Gillis is back! It's another really fun one as Bryan teaches us some phascinating physics by way of the Portal video game universe. Why do we have conservation of momentum? Energy? But wait do we REALLY have conservation of energy? What if that was just made up by physicists to sell more physics? Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

My guest today is Dr. Heidi Pearson! She's a marine biologist and someone who had no idea I was going to ask about when whales attack rich people boats. But she was more than ready for the question! Her paper on whales and the carbon cycle caught our eye here, and the interview was definitely more about that but let's face it, we all want to know about the boat attacks first and foremost. But after that, we talk about animal intelligence, evolution, climate change, and so much more! Dr. Pearson was a delight, don't miss this interview! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Hey folks, if you're not a 2nd Tier Patron or above, you should fix that, but if you can't for some reason, I wanted to make sure you can still enjoy the fun of Seriously Awful Movies 1: Armageddon! It's so, so bad. And don't worry, this isn't some stingy 4 minute preview, you're getting an entire hour! It's so much fun and stands on its own with a bunch of fun jokes and science, even if you can't afford to jump on the 2nd Tier Patron list for the rest of it. I truly hope you enjoy! Thank you for listening! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, and 2nd Tier and above gets Seriously Awful Movies!

Today's guest is Dr. Ashley Scolaro! She is a cognitive neuroscientist who teaches psychology and whose research includes taboo language, conspiracy theory belief, and memory and decision making. And she is here to tell why maybe it's totally fine to swear around your damn hell ass kids! F yeah! But also we delve into a lot of brain stuff too that's super fascinating regardless of the parenting angle. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

I recently came across a headline that read: "NASA Confirms That Cosmic Object Is so Bright That It Defies Laws of Physics. It's definitely not an optical illusion." So... what does Dr. Bryan Gillis think? We have a really fun time on this one crafting the headline into something a bit more... accurate. And Bryan teaches us some really cool space stuff along the way! The article: https://futurism.com/nasa-confirms-object-so-bright-defies-physics The original paper: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac8d67#apjac8d67s2 Check out Bryan's YouTube Channel! Bridge Portal Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8927tjnHt4 Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

It's another quantum SIO! Hopefully you caught Ann's last appearance when we discussed quantum computing. This time we're going more basic! Quantum entanglement, non-locality, Schrödinger's Cat... all that good stuff. But, with a bit of a twist. Ann tells us about how she actually accomplishes this stuff in the real world, and it's so much... messier than you would think. It's fascinating! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

It's part 2 with Adrienne Martin! Her story just does not quit! We haven't even gotten to her viral video moment, and on the way there she tells us about a Christian Karen who is a main force behind the attempted book bans, and her gay son she disowned who fought back. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

"The speakers speaking about what great Christians they are? Great. Go tell your pastor. Our schools are not your church.” If you happen to recognize those words, that means you've seen the viral video in which Adrienne Martin fought back against moral panicking conservatives at a Texas school board meeting. But how did she get here? There's so much to it, and it makes for a really fascinating and inspiring story. Listen to how this, in her words, "typical suburban mom" went from hairdresser to superstar activist! And also still a hairdresser. It's not like grassroots activism is super lucrative or something... Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Today's guest is Hannah Edwards, a neuroscience grad student at Washington University in St. Louis, and part of the Cirrito Lab, which has released a new study on Alzheimer's and stress in mice. Stress causes the levels of Alzheimer's proteins to rise in females' brains but not males' brains. This difference may shed some light on the greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease that women have. Hannah will take us through the study and also teach us a bit of the basics on Alzheimer's along the way! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Don't worry, Euclid hasn't been canceled or anything this is JUST about the science! Dr. Bryan Gillis joins us to talk about the fascinating science behind the Euclid Space Telescope! How does it work? What data are we looking to get? How will it be interpreted? Is the universe infinite? Are there aliens? WAIT those last two were part of the conversation available for patrons only! That's right, this episode has an extendo version for patrons! And it contains the most interesting stuff imaginable, not to overpromise or anything. So make sure to pledge at the link below! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Maybe this sounds like a "no duh" but it's not neceessarily so straightforward. There are plenty of people who believe that not saying certain words gives them more power and we ought not to be afraid of them. Specifically, when the context is informational and not at all meant to be offensive. Dr. Alan Smerbeck is here to present the science of slurs and bad words and the effects they can have on us. Plus, there's plenty of interesting stuff along the way! The website Stormy recommended at the end was https://bethematch.org/. I'm thinking I'll sign up too! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Oh come on, ANOTHER thing we thought we all knew was true isn't? That's what today's expert, Madalyn Wilson-Fetrow, says! They are a PhD student in learning sciences at the University of New Mexico and they are here to explain what the science actually says! But it's not only a debunk, Madalyn also has some very useful info for us on how to ACTUALLY learn things more effectively! You don't want to miss it! (also I said this was 367 but I got mixed up from all the WTWing. It's 366.) Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Now here's the second half of the monster part 2 of WTW2! This one's a beast so I'm breaking it in two here, but you can get it all at once over at the Where There's Woke patreon or main feed! Reminder, once we get to July the podcasts will fully go to their separate corners and we'll be on a regular schedule for both shows independently!

We're starting on the second episode of Where There's Woke! This one's a beast so I'm breaking it in two here, but you can get it all at once over at the Where There's Woke patreon or main feed! Reminder, once we get to July the podcasts will fully go to their separate corners and we'll be on a regular schedule for both shows independently!

Yayyyyyyy I'm finally getting this out to you! Listen for the details, but this podcast is splitting in two. The other half will become Where There's Woke. I'm so excited! Please, pretty please check it out and support at patreon.com/wherethereswoke

Hey folks, this is an episode related to the crap. Just be forewarned this isn't like a normal standard expert interview one. Thank you for listening. Andrew's counter suit stuff Docs backing up everything I'm saying.

This admittedly will sound like a very dark topic, but I promise the conversation was actually quite pleasant and VERY useful. Dr. Alan Smerbeck joins us to give actual, real, evidence based information on what to look out for to prevent child sexual abuse. But also, we talk quite a lot about kid body curiosity stuff and how to tell what's totally normal and what might be concerning. As a parent, I found this conversation incredibly useful and I think you will too!

Super hottie Lydia Smith is on today so that we can evaluate whether or not our marriage is really helping the public good, according to this Catholic propaganda bull shit. You may remember that this was referenced by Dr. Alan Smerbeck (Stormy Decisis) in our recent episode. It sounded like a fun thing to... do a little review of. We had a great time, hope you enjoy! Listen to the full thing at patreon.com/seriouspod!

Today I'm joined by Dr. Bader Chaarani, Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont Ph.D. in Biomedical engineering. Dr. Chaarani is here to break down the study he led that has us all yelling at our parents in 1994 saying why didn't you just let me play as much SNES as I wanted! You guys are the WORST! This sucks! Anyway, also surprise-ish announcement to go along with this episode, my amazing wife Lydia and I are going to stream Tears of the Kingdom on twitch tomorrow! That's twitch.tv/srsnes, Thursday May 18th 2pm pacific! Come hang with us!

This movie was just so needlessly cruel. It was also, and this is true, f$%&ing terrible. It was so bad. Seriously, if you haven't seen it you might not even believe it when we tell you about it. Charone Frankel joins me to discuss the shocking fatphobia of this film, and how its writer and director were seemingly completely oblivious to it.

Today's expert is longtime friend of the show Cecil, from Cognitive Dissonance and Citation Needed! You might not know, but Cecil is also a trained chef with a delightful YouTube channel called Season Liberally. It is absolutely as delicious as it sounds and you should definitely check it out! Cecil and I chat about when and how he became a professionally trained chef, and he gives us some great tips on how to be (in my case) slightly less shitty at cooking! This one is so much fun, I hope you'll give it a listen!

Dr. Bryan Gillis is back! This time he's here to teach us about gravitational lensing. And along the way, we learn about dark matter and dark energy! What the hell are they? What the hell aren't they? Could you have a black hole made out of dark matter? So much fascinating stuff! Links: ESA Euclid Page, Euclid Wikipedia page, Vimeo Channel for the Royal Observatory.

It's a science thingy breakdown! This one can barely be called a science thingy. It's not great. Dr. Alan Smerbeck is here to debunk one of the go-to citations for conservatives' homophobia. Does it hold up? No. Look I'm not going to pretend like it's a close call. Listen to find out why this is a shit study. Regnerus, M. (2012). How different are the adult children of parents who have same-sex relationships? findings from the new family structures study. Social Science Research, 41(4), 752-770 Cheng, S., & Powell, B. (2015). Measurement, methods, and divergent patterns: Reassessing the effects of same-sex parents. Social Science Research, 52, 615-626 Rosenfeld, M. (2015). Revisiting the data from the new family structure study: Taking family instability into account. Sociological Science, 2(23), 478-501 And the Witherspoon Institute's weird marriage spiel

My podcast colleague and hopefully one day boyfriend if I can ever get him to commit, Heath Enwright, of Puzzle in a Thunderstorm podverse joins me to roast some Republican Ads! This is a Patron bonus but I wanted to give you folks a preview. But also it's a full self-contained segment so even if you can't become a patron, it's still super fun listening! I hope you enjoy, and please consider pledging to hear the rest of the ads, they are INCREDIBLE. Hear the full 64 minutes, covering 6 ads! patreon.com/seriouspod. Here's the ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLMMxgtxQ1Y&ab_channel=GOP

Racist nazi prick Tucker Carlson was fired by Fox News. But how should we feel about that? Can we have nice things? Or like sort of ok things? And how the hell did this happen? And what happens next? Will he run for president? I share my thoughts, and play a few of his shittiest hits to send him off properly.

Are all our password not belong to us? Part 2 of quantum computers! Our expert Anne tells us about the current landscape of actual quantum computers in the real world. It may not be what you think! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

What is this wizardry? I'm joined by a semi-anonymous expert who explains all about quantum computers. How they work, how they don't work, what's a qubit, all that kind of stuff. She also explains the limitations. After that, I explain why the delay in episodes and go on an unhinged rant about my new obsession... quantum computers... They're impossible and it's amazing! Look for part 2 soon, in which Anne tells us how far away we actually are from real, working quantum computers. Are they about to crack all our passwords?

Two stories today! First a more upbeat delightful one. The musician Afroman had his home raided by police for reasons no one seems to know for sure. He and his wife took footage, and he used that footage in music videos and on merch. The police want... a cut? Or something. And Matt also gives us a breakdown of the Clarence Thomas situation. Look we all already know there's not a damn thing we can immediately do about it, but that doesn't mean we should give up and not be angry. It truly is an astonishing breach of ethics. Follow Matt Cameron on twitter! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

When I saw the headlines that Adnan Syed's murder conviction had been reinstated, I asked our friendly SIO legal expert Matt Cameron to take a look. We both assumed it was likely just some procedural thingy that would be quickly resolved. Well, turns out there's a lot more to it than that. Find out what happened and why Matt thinks there's a chance the conviction might not be going away after all. Follow Matt Cameron on twitter! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content! Matt's footnotes: 85-page Court of Appeals decision in Lee v. State reinstating Adnan Syed’s conviction (3/28/23) Mosby’s Sep 14, 2022 motion to vacate Adnan Syed’s conviction Judge Phinn’s September 19, 2022 order on motion to vacate Attorney General Brian Frosh’s statement re: SA Mosby’s motion to vacate Attorney General’s fiery response to Adnan Syed’s motion to disqualify AG’s office from representing the state of Maryland in this appeal More on the feud between the Attorney General and Baltimore City State’s Attorney over the Adnan Syed conviction: “Maryland AG questions integrity of process used to exonerate Adnan Syed,” Maryland Daily Record (10/25/22) Full transcription of prosecutor’s handwritten note which Mosby alleged constituted Brady evidence and more information in this Baltimore Banner story: “Was Adnan Syed Note Misinterpreted?” Baltimore Banner, (11/1/2022) Appellant Young Lee’s brief in Lee v. State Defendant Adnan Syed’s brief in Lee v. State 2019 Court of Appeals case finding ineffective assistance of prior counsel in Adnan Syed’s case, but not enough prejudice to justify a new trial: State v. Syed :: 2019 :: Maryland Court of Appeals Decisions Jay Wilds Plea Agreement (adnansyedwiki.com)

Or wait... is it a special episode on General Relativity? Find out! Dr. Bryan Gillis takes us through some fascinating history on the discoveries and experiments that ultimately led to Einstein's Theory of Relativity. How did they measure the speed of light in like 18 dickety 2 or whatever? Impossible. Also why is faster than light travel equivalent to time travel? So much fun. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

HOLY SHIT WE GOT ONE JUSTICE UNIT POSSIBLY! THAT'S SO MANY MORE JUSTICE UNITS THAN WE'VE EVER RECEIVED WITH REGARD TO TRUMP! Matt was kind enough to join me for a late night emergency recording on the Trump indictments. 34 counts!!!! And Lydia makes a quick guest appearance for an indictment toast! This is going to have to take the place of the patron bonus I had planned. I'll save that for April. Only so many hours in the day!

It's another delightful and educational journey through sci-fi! In a Star Trek Next Gen episode, we learn about the famous Picard Maneuver - where Picard made his ship appear in two places at once. As much as this may sound like unrealistic sci-fi flair, could it actually work? Dr. Bryan Gillis says yes! Kind of. Come learn cool things about astrophysics and relativity and whatnot! Make sure to pledge to get Part 2 early! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Matt's back! Ok so Trump was not arrested or indicted last week. What happened? No idea. But, Matt's here with some more in depth coverage of the cases we discussed last week. There's some fascinating stuff here and still reason for optimism. Does a letter by Michael Cohen ruin the whole Stormy case, as some pundits think? No. But is there a different, less... completely stupid reason the case might be problematic. Also, more from Georgia, and some SPEED law happened. Follow Matt Cameron on twitter!

Today's expert is none other than Stormy Decisis himself, Dr. Alan Smerbeck! Alan heard a recent episode of Dear Old Dads in which I talked about my efforts to get an ADHD diagnosis and it raised all kinds of interesting questions. Here's the volunteer link Alan told us about! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

Dr. Bryan Gillis breaks down some bad astrophysics in The Last Jedi, and we have some fun trying to reconstruct it to make sense! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please consider supporting SIO on Patreon! You get an ad free show, and goodies! Right now patrons are 1 episode ahead!

Ok I know how this sounds but like, it might actually happen. And it all links back to, no shit, Stormy Daniels. Having been a little preoccupied lately, I'm very lucky to have expert Matt Cameron on to catch me up and explain which of the eleventy billion crimes Trump has committed might actually come with consequences. Matt is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, serves on the board of the Student Immigrant Movement (“SIM”), and is an adjunct lecturer at Northeastern University. Hey go to patreon.com/seriouspod for the Star Wars episode and more to come asap!

Hey folks, I'm excited to get the show going again! In this update, I talk about my plans with it, and I put out a call for people to be on the show. Also, let's get the Facebook group active again! Thank you so much for your support, it means the world to me and my family in these times. You're the absolute best. Heart emojis and heart eyes emojis.

Andrew Torrez, Thomas's 50/50 partner in Opening Arguments Media, LLC has been accused of sexual misconduct and unwanted/uncomfortable behavior by many women and 1 Thomas. Thomas's allegations are here, major content warning. Here's Since then Andrew has gone off the deep end and completely stolen control of the show and company assets. Here's a drive link with tons of info. I talk about all that, how you can support me if you choose, and give a heartbreaking update: Lindsey Osterman has left SIO. So much heartbreak these past weeks. Please, pretty please, support this feed at patreon.com/seriouspod. Thank you so much, truly.

Science person and apparent druggy drug person Lindsey Osterman took us through what the science says on microdosing! Links: Cavanna et al (2022) Microdosing with Psilocybin Mushrooms, Lea et al (2020) Microdosing Psychedelics: Motivations, Subjective Effects and Harm Reduction, Goldberg et al (2021) Post-Acute Psychological Effects of Classical Serotonergic Psychedelics, Yu et al (2021) Psilocybin for End-of-Life Anxiety Symptoms Mason et al (2021) Spontaneous and Deliberate Creative Cognition During and After Psilocybin Exposure Amoroso & Workman (2016) Treating PTSD with MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy

This is perhaps the final part in our series on the Turnaway Studies. The last part focuses on what happens when women are made to undergo an unneccesary ultrasound as a condition to get an abortion. And also, another perhaps under-covered way that abortion care is even more unaffordable for many people. These are all things that are perpetrated on uterus havers by Republicans. So... I guess what I'm saying is VOTE THEM OUT Links: Kimport et al (2014) Beyond Political Claims: Women's Interest In and Emotional Response to Viewing Their Ultrasound Image in Abortion Care, Roberts et al (2014) Out-of-Pocket Costs and Insurance Coverage for Abortion in the United States , Guttmacher Institute: State Policies Regulating Abortion Coverage

It's a 3rd edition of turnaway studies! Links: Gould et al. (2012) Patient Education and Emotional Support Practices in Abortion Care Facilities in the United States, Gould et al. (2013) Predictors of Abortion Counseling Receipt and Helpfulness in the United States, Foster et al (2013) Effect of Abortion Protesters on Women’s Emotional Response to Abortion, National Abortion Federation Releases 2020 Violence & Disruption Statistics

Would I go so far to call this qna spooktacular? I don't know. We report, you decide.

Another very fascinating science thingy, in the realm of politics. This one is about how the right and the left perceive political consensus among their ranks and among the other side. It always feels harder to organize on the left... but should it? Links: Stern et al. (2014) Ditto Heads: Do Conservatives Perceive Greater Consensus Within Their Ranks Than Liberals?, Ondish & Stern (2018) Liberals Possess More National Consensus on Political Attitudes in the US: An Examination Across 40 Years

Science denialism kills. Anti-vax conspiracy theory kills. This was obvious. But what are the numbers? How many more Republicans died of COVID than might have anyway? A new study has done a rigorous job answering that question, and the answer is grim. Very grim. Links: Wallace et al. (2022) Excess Death Rates for Republicans and Democrats During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Pink et al. (2021) Vaccine endorsement from Republican leaders increases vaccine intentions in Republicans, Allcott et al (2020) Partisan differences in social distancing and transmission rates, KFF poll on partisan gap in COVID-19 vaccination status, Estimates of unnecessary deaths due to unvaccinated adults (Brown School of Public Health)