The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe



"''You're listening to The Sceptic's Guide to the Universe;

your escape, to reality.''"

- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe opening

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is the weekly Podcast of the New England Skeptical Society (NESS) in association with the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), hosted by Dr. Steven Novella, Robert Novella, Rebecca Watson, Evan Bernstein, and Jay Novella. It is dedicated to covering the latest news on controversial claims, paranormal events, and fringe science, and they spend most of the show shedding light on whatever unscientific and illogical things they find while discussing events in the skeptical movement.

Not to be confused with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, though the podcast was named as a tribute to it.

Inspired the creation of the Skeptoid podcast.

You can follow their podcast through their website -- Contains examples of:
 * Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti - Unidentified animals and hoax monsters will occasionally pop up in the news, but no one on the show ever really takes them seriously.
 * Brief Accent Imitation - Almost everyone hosting has slipped into a British accent on occasion. Its also a "rule" that whenever a guest-host is serving as the Rogue for the week, they must do this at least once in the show.
 * The Host - There's Robert, Rebecca, Evan, and Jay, but its pretty obvious that Steven is the one in charge. He also hosts the Science or Fiction segment, while everyone else plays along.
 * Left It In: The podcast started off very PG, as the host Steven Novella would edit out profanity. The show has gradually gotten more adult thanks in part to this trope.
 * Science Hero applies to everyone on the show, and a good number of the guests also. Being a part of the skeptical movement, the NESS has a hand in calling out unsafe medical practices, denouncing anti-vaccination protesters, stopping creationists from getting the upper hand in schools, disproving psychics, and have generally tried to become a force for change and for legislation that supports science.
 * Witty Banter
 * You Fail Logic Forever - The hosts spend most of their time on the show picking apart people's evidence and logic, and there is even the occasional Name That Logical Fallacy segment.