Welcome to Citation Needed!

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new weekly podcast, Citation Needed, where we shine a light on the most unhinged corners of modern academic scholarship. Every Saturday, we dissect two pieces of supposedly “scholarly” work—whether published in peer-reviewed journals, doctoral dissertations, or popular media—and break down exactly where and how they go off the rails.

The subjects we cover range from the hilariously bizarre to the deeply disturbing. In our first episodes, we look at a dissertation about “hydrosexuals” marrying brine shrimp and an academic push to “queer” babies. These aren’t fringe blog posts on Tumblr—they’re being produced, published, and rewarded by real scientific publishers and institutions. Our goal is to explain, in plain language, how these woke projects hijack the language of science and scholarship to advance radical activist agendas at the expense of truth, reason, and intellectual rigor.

One of us (Colin) is an evolutionary biologist with a background in scientific research. The other (Brad) is a political commentator who’s spent years covering the excesses of cultural and academic ideology. Together, we offer a balance of scientific insight and social commentary—and a healthy dose of humor. Because frankly, if we didn’t laugh at this stuff, we might cry.

Each Citation Needed episode features two examples: the first half is available for free, and the second is reserved for our paying subscribers. We created this show not just to poke fun at academia’s wildest ideas, but to help the public understand how far many scholarly fields have drifted from reality—and why that matters.

So if you've ever read a headline about some absurd new study and thought, “How did that get published?”—this show’s for you.

Subscribe now and tune in every Saturday. You’ll never look at academia the same way again.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.citationneededpodcast.com/subscribe