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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SIO368: The Euclid Space Telescope Just Launched! What Will It Teach Us and How?
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!
SIO367: Science Says Slurs Are Bad, No Matter the Context
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!
SIO366: Learning Styles Are BS?!
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!
WTW2 part 2
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!
WTW2 part 1
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!
Huge Announcement! A New Podcast Has Entered the Chat
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
SIO365: I Finally Get To Defend Myself. A Little.
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.
SIO364: How To Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, According to the Data
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!
May Bonus! Thomas and Lydia Roast "Marriage and the Public Good"
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!
SIO363: Study Shows Video Games Are Good! See Mom, I Told You
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!
SIO362: The Whale and Fatphobia
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.
SIO361: Seasoning Liberally, with Cecil!
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!
SIO360: How Gravitational Lensing Helps Us Understand the Universe
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.
SIO359: How Different Are The Adult Children of Parents Who Have Same-Sex Relationships?
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
Bonus: Heath and Thomas Watch Republican Ads!
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