Serious Inquiries Only
Join Thomas for some critical thinking on questions of science, philosophy, skepticism and politics. These serious topics are discussed with some serious guests, but in an entertaining and engaging way! This is not your typical interview podcast; it's a friendly dialogue, conducted thoughtfully and with plenty of humor. It's Serious Inquiries Only; but like, not boring or anything.
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SIO397: Why Is Flying Not Any Faster Than 60 Years Ago?
It's a phun physics phepisode! Dr. Bryan Gillis is here to teach us about some of the interesting physics of air travel. Why is breaking the speed of sound so difficult? What's a sonic boom? How do flights make up time in the air? And probably some way more interesting stuff as well! Veritasium video on turbulent flow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zI9sG3pjVU Extra-Life charity link: https://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=517279 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!
SIO396: "This Didn't Happen In A Vacuum"
That's what the UN's top official Secretary General António Guterres said recently. Israel completely blew a fuse over that sentence, and demanded he resign or be removed. They canceled UN Visas. They canceled diplomatic meetings. They say his statement "justifies terrorism." But is he right? I've collected some elements of the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict you might not be aware of, and my contention is that this situation is far from a "vacuum." 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!
SIO395: Are We Complicit In A Genocide?
It's Israel's 9/11. Or as Biden says, it's like 15 9/11s. So I guess they get to do 15 Iraq Wars? This feels like an incredibly difficult time to do anything other than sympathize with the Israeli victims of the brutal, horrifying terror attack. But right now 7,000 Palestinians are dead, 19,000 are injured, and 1.2 million are displaced. When is enough enough? What exactly is justice? We need to speak up. Our (American) tax dollars are funding a genocide. 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!
SIO394: New Law Makes Sesame 9th Allergen. Companies Are Now Adding Sesame to Foods To Get Around It
Hey everyone, a big heads up. This episode is about an issue that is literally life or death for our son Arlo. This was not easy to talk about and things get emotional. I did my best to edit all that out but some of it is still pretty tough. (At least normies have auto-ads to break up the tension in the worst possible way though!) A new law went into effect this year adding sesame as the 9th allergen with all the requirements that go with that. Arlo has a pretty bad sesame allergy. So... great, right? Yeah except due to capitalism, companies are literally adding sesame to everything to get around the law. It seems impossibly cruel and stupid, but it's true. Arlo has already been affected twice by this. We tell a bit of our family story around this, and then Lydia takes us through some of the public policy history. We also stop by Joe Manchin's daughter making millions from ripping us off on Epipens. (no, really.) Be sure to stay for the end, if you can, to hear our interview with incredibly cute and silly expert Arlo Smith. 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!
SIO393: Dr. Alan Smerbeck on Trigger Warnings
Stormy's back! Dr. Smerbeck joins us today to discuss the current research around trigger warnings. Are they a no-brainer or are there downsides? If there are, are we going anti-woke and telling triggered snowflakes they need to be able to handle different ideas? Or is that still dumb? But first we start off with a fantastic update from the Little Library Project that Stormy has been spearheading. Be sure to check out sharebannedbooks.com to donate books for this initiative! A big shout out and thank you to Bookishly for providing READ BANNED BOOKS bookmarks to include in each book. And, if you live in an area where books are at risk or have already been banned, censored, or challenged, please consider signing up to deliver gifted books to a Little Library near you! 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!
SIO392: How Taxes on Foods Affect Health and Climate
Dr. Wisdom Dogbe, an agricultural economist out of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, joins me to discuss a recent study he led investigating consumer choice with regard to taxing foods that are categorized as high fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS) in the UK. Does it change behavior? How much? And what are the consequences of that? It's a really fascinating story of the trade-offs involved in public policy. 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!
SIO391: Astrophysicist Wet Blankets All The Alien Talk
Dr. Bryan Gillis is here to tell us why it just isn't aliens. Sorry. BUT WHAT IF IT WERE. That question too. This one is a super fun and educational deep dive on space, space travel, the Drake Equation, and more! I also get Bryan's best guess for how aliens ever COULD visit. 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!
SIO390: So Wait, Are There Aliens? What Were Those Hearings
So what's the deal with all this? UFOs or now UAPs... government programs... crash retrieval... basically... what the hell? Also werewolves. Hot correspondent and now FULL TIME PODCASTER Lydia Smith is here with the skinny. It actually ties back to some of our other work in an unexpected way... THEN In part 2, astrophysicist Dr. Bryan Gillis will science the heck out of about why it isn't aliens! We've also got some really cool announcements at the end of 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!
SIO389: "Wikipedia Is the Most Accurate Form of Information Ever Created"
So says my esteemed guest, Dr. Amy Bruckman! Is she right? I won't be coy, I tend to think she is. But what a fascinating statement! And her thesis makes for an equally fascinating book - Wikipedia: The Most Reliable Source on the Internet? So let's dig in! 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!
SIO388: Get Psyched! More Dr. Decisis QnA
We've got even more great answers to questions in part 2! Many are about therapy. How do you know when you need it? How do you make sure you're getting good therapy? Should you change therapists? And more! One more reminder about Stormy's Woke Little Library Project. If you are able to contribute to these efforts, you can purchase banned books through the following Amazon wishlist accounts, where three incredible people will be ensuring their communities have access to topics that are being targeted and censored. http://tiny.cc/kbannedbooks http://tiny.cc/lbannedbooks http://tiny.cc/sbannedbooks 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!
SIO387: Chemical Imbalance, Personality Tests, Double Empathy Problem, and More! It's a Psych QnA!
It was such a great turnout of questions for our first ever Q&A with Dr. Smerbeck that we ended up going double! This first part touches on the misnomer of "chemical imbalance" with regard to depression, personality tests, and Alan's favorite dinosaur, among other things. Be sure to check out Part 2 later this week! Dr. Smerbeck also shares an update on the Woke Little Library Project, and if you are able to contribute to these efforts, you can purchase banned books through the following Amazon wishlist accounts, where three incredible people will be ensuring their communities have access to topics that are being targeted and censored. http://tiny.cc/kbannedbooks http://tiny.cc/lbannedbooks http://tiny.cc/sbannedbooks 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!
SIO386: Actually, Opposites Very Much Do NOT Attract
It's another fun science thingy! Today's guest is Tanya Horwitz, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Institute for Behavioral Genetics with University of Colorado at Boulder. She is one of the lead authors on a new meta-analysis of studies including millions of couples over more than a century. In the vast majority of traits, sames(?) attract. There are a few exceptions that are interesting to talk about and we go through those as well. This one is fun and relatable, and even if the top-line conclusion is pretty predictable, the data is very interesting and the discussion was great! 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!
SIO385: What Exactly Is A Psychological Diagnosis?
And perhaps more importantly, what ISN'T it? Lots of people are diagnosing themselves and others via social media these days, and you're never going to believe this, but they're not always doing it right. After far too long, we welcome back Dr. Alan Smerbeck to the show to discuss what exactly is a diagnosis in mental health and whether or not we give them too much weight. It's science, it's philosophy, it's a little personal too - you don't want to miss it! Could be a product of long COVID or Stormy is just the best, but he's dialed freedom up a notch in Little Library advocacy - if you're up for it, please visit this link to submit your information and Dr. Smerbeck will set up an Amazon Wishlist just for you to help supply your neighborhood with "woke" books. bit.ly/wokebooks ALSO, if you have any questions for Stormy, drop them here! We're thinking of maybe doing a psych QnA! 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!
SIO384: Even More Askings of Astrophysicist Bryan!
It's part 2 of astrophysicist Dr. Bryan Gillis answering all your amazing questions! Time to learn even MORE about the universe! So much universe knowledge is now yours! 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!
SIO383: Ask An Astrophysicist Anything!
I thought it would be cool to have patrons pose whatever questions they wanted to our illustrious astrophysicist Dr. Bryan Gillis. Well, they must have agreed because they came through with some great ones! We've got a two-parter this week, as we learn a bunch of cool new space stuff! 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!