

Science Fictions
Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie
A weekly podcast about the latest scientific controversies, with Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie sciencefictionspod.substack.com
Episodes
Mentioned books

15 snips
Nov 14, 2023 • 1h 2min
Episode 17: Your shrinking attention span
Exploring the negative effects of technology on our attention spans. Discussing the impact of smartphones on focus and flow state. Sharing experiences, promoting a magazine, and discussing architecture. Exploring the false dichotomy of modernist and traditionalist architecture. Delving into the impact of distractions and technology on attention. Discussing addiction, habits, and mindful usage of technology.

Nov 7, 2023 • 1h 3min
Episode 16: Alzheimer's and the amyloid hypothesis
The podcast discusses the controversies surrounding the amyloid theory of Alzheimer's disease, explores the challenges in diagnosing and researching Alzheimer's, uncovers scientific fraud in previous research, explores the harmful effects of misinformation on disease research, discusses the concept of grief for familiar faces on screen, examines recently licensed drugs for Alzheimer's treatment, and highlights the significance of practical improvements in patients' daily lives.

Oct 31, 2023 • 1h 1min
Episode 15: Halloween special on parapsychology
Tom and Stuart discuss telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition. They explore recent attempts to prove psychic phenomena. They question the credibility of scientific journals. They discuss a parapsychology study that may be the best psychology study ever. They mention meta-analyses supporting the existence of psychic powers.

Oct 24, 2023 • 11min
Paid-only Episode 2: Long COVID
The podcast explores the concept of long COVID and its controversial prevalence. The hosts discuss personal experiences, symptom definitions, and the divergence between the general narrative and reality of long-COVID symptoms.

15 snips
Oct 17, 2023 • 1h 10min
Episode 14: Scientific fraud
Discussing outrageous instances of scientific fraud, reasons behind falsifying data, and ways to prevent scientific crimes. Highlighting cases of fraud in prestigious institutions, including Harvard Business School and Duke University. Exploring the implications of fake and manipulated data, the reasons for paper retractions, and the occurrence of fraud in the field of physics. Investigating the challenges of detecting fraud and the potential use of AI in prevention. Emphasizing the responsibility of universities, journals, funders, and scientists in addressing fraud.

Oct 10, 2023 • 59min
Episode 13: Football and dementia
The podcast explores the controversial link between football and dementia, discussing specific incidents in rugby and football, and the measures taken to prioritize player health. It examines two studies indicating a significant risk of neurodegenerative diseases among contact sport players. The impact of subgroup analysis and the benefits of playing sports are also discussed.

Oct 3, 2023 • 11min
Paid-only Episode 1: Diversity training
In this paid-exclusive episode, the hosts dive into the controversial topics of unconscious bias, microaggressions, stereotype threat, and trigger warnings in diversity training. They explore the history and impact of unconscious bias training, discuss the concept of implicit bias and the use of the Implicit Association Test, and explore different types of prejudice and measuring behavioral bias.

4 snips
Sep 26, 2023 • 1h 2min
Episode 12: Nuclear power
This episode of The Studies Show delves into the safety concerns, problems of nuclear waste, and expensive nature of nuclear power. It explores the death toll of nuclear disasters, the potential for new reactor designs, and debates whether we should shift to renewables. The podcast also highlights the sponsors, the i newspaper and Works in Progress, and discusses issues like the safety of nuclear power compared to other energy sources and the challenges of disposing nuclear waste.

Sep 19, 2023 • 1h 11min
Episode 11: The AI apocalypse debate
In this episode, the hosts debate the potential of AI to wipe out humanity. They discuss concerns about narrow AI and artificial general intelligence, the capabilities of language models, risks and solutions with advanced AI, skepticism towards AI, and the concerns of killer robots and malicious AI.

21 snips
Sep 12, 2023 • 59min
Episode 10: Cash transfers
The podcast explores cash transfers as a means to improve people's lives. It discusses the evidence supporting cash transfers, concerns about misuse of funds, and the lack of evidence on long-term effects. The hosts also touch on subgroup analysis, pre-registration, technical language in neuroscience research, AI consciousness, and a Canadian study on homelessness inspired by cash transfers in developing countries.


