Skeptoid Podcast
Skeptoid is Dunning's weekly podcast. The show follows an audio essay format, and is dedicated to the critical examination of pseudoscience and the paranormal. In May 2012, Skeptoid became a California state non-profit corporation.
Along with similarly themed Point of Inquiry, Skepticality: The Official Podcast of Skeptic Magazine, and The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, it is a Top-50 program on the iTunes (US) Science & Medicine podcast charts. In December 2011, Skeptoid claimed to have a weekly average of 174,000 downloads.
Each roughly ten-minute Skeptoid episode focuses on a single pop culture phenomenon that is pseudoscientific in nature. Episodes usually fall into one of four categories:
- Quackery medical modalities: such as homeopathy, reflexology, detoxification, or chiropractic
- Popular cultural misconceptions: such as organic foods, SUVs, and global warming
- Urban legends: such as crop circles, the Amityville Horror, the Phoenix Lights, or the Philadelphia Experiment
- Religion and mythology: such as creation legends, New Age religions, and concepts of sin
In May 2007, Skeptoid was announced as a qualifying media outlet for the James Randi Educational Foundation's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge. Applicants to the challenge must have a presence in popular broadcast media in order to qualify. By passing a simple test of their paranormal ability and having it reported on the Skeptoid podcast, applicants can satisfy that primary requirement and then proceed to apply for the Challenge.
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