Science Fictions

Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie

A weekly podcast about the latest scientific controversies, with Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie

sciencefictionspod.substack.com

Subscribe Listen in podnod RSS feed Show website

144 episodes
Updated Yesterday

Episodes144

Newest first

Dec 5, 2023 · 1 hr 7 min
Episode 19: Science and politics
“Science is political”. How could it not be? It’s done by humans, whose political biases will influence not just the topics they choose to study but also how they study them. But does that mean it’s fine for scientists to blatantly bring their politics into their work? Does that mean it’s okay for scientific journals to endorse political candidates? In this slightly unusual episode of The Studies Show (which doesn’t include very many actual studies), Tom and Stuart discuss the never-ending debate over where politics begins and ends in science, debate whether it’s possible for science to be politics-free, and cover the recent story of the scientific journal editor fired for expressing a (pretty mild, all things considered) political opinion on Twitter. The Studies Show is brought to you by the i, the non-partisan UK daily newspaper for readers with open minds. For the best insights into British politics, as well as extensive interviews, lifestyle insights, and all the rest, consider subscribing to the paper. You can get a money-off deal on your digital subscription by following this special podcast link. The Studies Show is also sponsored by Works in Progress, the online magazine about science, technology, and human progress. Their newest November 2023 issue is packed with data-driven, deeply-researched articles on the history and future of the science and tech that shapes our world. It’s all freely-available right here at this link. Show notes * Eisen’s joke about a worm which caused a racism/sexism row * His fateful tweet about Hamas that eventually got him fired as editor of eLife * Coverage of his firing in Nature News; in Science * Nature endorses Biden in 2020 * Tom’s article in Unherd about politicising science * Tom’s article in Unherd about the importance of “decoupling” * Stuart’s Substack article about how science is political - but that’s a bad thing * Astral Codex Ten article about the arrogance of presuming it’s not possible to be any more rational than you are right now * Study of how Nature’s political endorsements affected people’s trust in the journal * Stuart’s article in the i on this study; summary in Politico * Nature’s editorial response, arguing that they’ll do endorsements anyway Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Nov 28, 2023 · 10 min
Paid-only Episode 3: Pornography and "No Nut November"
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com It’s November, so a strange subset of “very online” men are trying to avoid, er, “self-abuse” for the entirety of the month. They’re doing it because they believe it has all sorts of psychological and health benefits. But others argue that No Nut November could itself cause you harm. Who’s right? In this ADULTS ONLY episode of The Studies Show which they…
Nov 21, 2023 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode 18: Phonics and the reading wars
Teaching kids how to read is amazingly controversial. Or at least, it was controversial until recently, when we achieved a proper scientific consensus that the best way to teach them is to use systematic phonics. This method has seen big successes here in the UK, and is helping thousands of children achieve proper literacy. …that’s the story, anyway. But how strong is that scientific consensus? What evidence do we have that systematic phonics is the best way to learn to read? In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart look into the work of a prominent “phonics sceptic”, and find his arguments pretty compelling. The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress, the online magazine about science, technology, and human progress. Their new November 2023 issue is out now, full of fascinating, well-researched essays on how mathematics drove the industrial revolution, the history of asbestos as a building material, how we might harness geothermal energy to power the world, and much more. It’s all freely-available right here at this link. The Studies Show is also supported by the i, a snappy, non-partisan UK newspaper for people with open minds. Insights on UK politics, world affairs, a whole range of voices in the opinion section: it’s all here. You can get a money-off deal on your digital subscription—which includes full access to all Stuart’s science writing—by following this special podcast link. Show notes * Big 2018 review article on “ending the reading wars”, with excellent background on the debate and on the science of reading more generally * Tom’s WIRED article on numeracy, with mention of the history of literacy efforts in the UK * “fish” = “ghoti” * The UK’s 2006 Rose Report into the best ways to teach reading * Survey showing a lot of teachers don’t like the Phonics Check * In defence of phonics, by Prof. Kathy Rastle * Prof. Jeffrey Bowers’s 2020 article on “Reconsidering the evidence” that systematic phonics is better than other ways to teach reading (see here for references to all the individual meta-analyses mentioned in the show) * One of several critiques of Bowers * Bowers’s 2023 reply to several critics * Bowers’s blog (many posts about various aspects of the phonics debate; see the comment sections for contributions from his critics and further debate) * Report on England’s 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) scores Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Nov 18, 2023 · 14 min
Mea Culpa 2
Here’s another brief episode covering the errors we’ve made in our last few episodes, from the very minor to the somewhat more serious. We’re grateful to listeners who pointed these out - please keep doing so! If you’ve noticed an error on The Studies Show, let us know and we’ll correct it on a future episode like this. Contact details are on the About page. Show notes * UNSCEAR numbers on birth defects caused by Chernobyl * Adjusting for publication bias makes the effect of cash transfers on mental health disappear * Explanation of the paradoxical effect of healthier, longer-living people having a higher risk of dementia if you control for age * Retraction note to one of criminologist Eric Stewart’s papers notes that the study was retracted due to “a mistake in the way the original data were merged… [which,] in conjunction with the discovery of other coding and transcription errors, collectively exceeded what the authors believed to be acceptable for a published paper”. That is, not retracted for “fraudulent data”, as we stated * Analysis by one of Stewart’s co-authors concluding that the studies were “likely fraudulent”, even if they weren’t technically retracted for that reason * The location of Cornwall. It’s in the south-west. Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Nov 14, 2023 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode 17: Your shrinking attention span
The thesis of Johann Hari’s bestselling 2022 book Stolen Focus is that tech companies—via the internet, smartphones, and social media—are wrecking our attention spans. Hari argues that Facebook, Apple, and all the rest, in their deliberate attack on our ability to concentrate, are doing huge damage to the human species. In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart (whose microphone sounds a bit odd this week - sorry about that!) discuss the data on whether people’s attention spans are getting shorter, ask whether there’s evidence people are too distracted to finish tasks—such as writing podcast descriptions—that they’ve started, and The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress, the online magazine about science, technology, and human progress. Find all their deeply-researched, beautifully-written essays about ideas that have changed, and will change, the world right here at this link. The Studies Show is also supported by the i, a snappy, non-partisan UK newspaper for people with open minds. You can get a money-off deal on your digital subscription—which includes full access to all Stuart’s science writing—by following this special podcast link. Show notes * Pre-order Pete Etchells’s book Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time (and how to spend it better) * Johann Hari’s 2022 Guardian article on attention spans * Stuart’s review of Stolen Focus, including some background on Hari’s “interesting” journalistic career * “You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span Than a Goldfish”, apparently * Just watch this video. No spoilers. * The lizardman’s constant is 4% * 2009 PNAS study on multitasking * 2021 Cyberpsychology meta-analysis on cognitive control and multitasking * 50% of people think tech is ruining people’s attention spans * Satirical study from 2020 on the addiction to “spending time with friends” * One of Matthew Sweet’s Twitter investigations of Johann Hari’s references * Stuart’s look at some of the other studies cited in the book Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Nov 7, 2023 · 1 hr 3 min
Episode 16: Alzheimer's and the amyloid hypothesis
What causes Alzheimer’s? The main theory is that it’s due to a build-up of amyloid plaques in the brain. But some scientists think that’s hopelessly wrong, and that a hidebound belief in the amyloid hypothesis is stopping us from finding a cure. In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart talk about the amyloid hypothesis of Alzheimer’s, ask whether all the hype over the three recent Alzheimer’s drugs (“a momentous breakthrough!”) is justified, and look at some ways we could do better research on dementia. The Studies Show is supported by the i, the UK’s smartest daily newspaper. You can get a money-off deal on your digital subscription—which includes full access to all Stuart’s science writing—by following this special podcast link. The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress, the online magazine about science, technology, and human progress. If you’re a listener to The Studies Show, it’s a dead-cert that you’ll love Works in Progress - and it’s all available for free. Find the magazine at this link. Show notes * The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) - the test Stuart quotes at the start * NHS list of Alzheimer’s symptoms * List and discussion of possible theories for the cause of Alzheimer’s * Chris Hemsworth interview about finding out he’s at high genetic risk of Alzheimer’s * Potential clues about the origin of Alzheimer’s from Down Syndrome * Sharon Begley’s STAT article on “how an Alzheimer’s ‘cabal’ thwarted progress toward a cure for decades” * Science investigation of potential fraud in the original Aβ*56 study * Explanation of why it’s bad, but not devastating for the amyloid hypothesis * Independent panel urges the FDA not to approve Aducanumab - but they do so anyway * Derek Lowe’s highly sceptical discussion of the “disgraceful” approval * Stuart’s sceptical article in the i on Lecanemab (link to the trial itself) * BBC article on the “momentous breakthrough” * “16 cautionary notes” on Lecanemab * Stuart’s sceptical article in the i on Donanemab (link to the trial itself) * And Stuart’s Twitter thread on “clinically meaningful” effects in Alzheimer’s * BBC More or Less episode discussing the problems with measuring the effect of an Alzheimer’s drug * How do the new Alzheimer’s drugs work in theory? One potential explanation * Paper by Elliot Tucker-Drob on how we measure dementia and how we forget about individual differences while doing so Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 31, 2023 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode 15: Halloween special on parapsychology
Welcome to a very spooky episode of The Studies Show, on the topic of parapsychology. Tom and Stuart discuss telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and more, and look at some of the most recent attempts by scientists to show that these weird—and did we mention spooky?—psychic phenomena are real. Can it really be the case that studies claiming the existence of psychic powers get published in mainstream scientific journals? What does this mean for how seriously we take scientific journals? And is Stuart right that a parapsychology study published earlier this year might be the best psychology study ever? Happy Halloween! 🎃 The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress, the best place on the internet to read about science, technology, and human progress. As well as its main website, Works in Progress has a Substack called Notes on Progress, with shorter—but no less fascinating—pieces on similar themes. You can find Notes on Progress at this link. The Studies Show is also sponsored by the i, the UK’s smartest daily newspaper. You can get a money-off deal on your digital subscription—which includes full access to all Stuart’s science writing—by following this special podcast link. Show notes * Article on parapsychology calling it “the unwitting jester in the court of academia” * 2021 “umbrella review” of many parapsychology meta-analyses * 2023 in-progress meta-analysis of ganzfeld telepathy research * Book chapter discussing parapsychology and quantum physics * Study showing how meta-analysis can overstate effect sizes * Daryl Bem’s famous 2011 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology * Critical analysis by Tal Yarkoni of Bem’s experiment and his statistics * Failed replication of Experiment 9 from that study by Stuart, Chris French, and Richard Wiseman * The Transparent Psi Project study from 2023 * Audit of the Transparent Psi Project finding a few mistakes (now corrected in the original study) * Example of high-quality research practices in parapsychology: a “registered report” from the 1970s Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 24, 2023 · 11 min
Paid-only Episode 2: Long COVID
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com If you catch COVID, what’s the chance the symptoms will last for months? And what’s the chance they’ll be so debilitating that they ruin your life? Different studies have given wildly different answers to these questions - in part because they define “Long COVID” in all sorts of different ways. In this paid-only episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart try to work out what’s going on. How good is the research in this area? And, more to the point, can they talk about this topic for a whole hour without offending anyone? To listen to the full version of this episode and see the show notes, you’ll need to be a paid subscriber to The Studies Show podcast on Substack. See below or go to www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe for the options. If you’re already a paid subscriber: thank you!
Oct 17, 2023 · 1 hr 9 min
Episode 14: Scientific fraud
With major (alleged!) misconduct cases happening at some of the biggest US universities, scientific fraud has been in the news a lot recently. If you’re a scientist you’re supposed to be discovering the truth - so why do some scientists (allegedly - please don’t sue us!) just make all their results up? In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart discuss some outrageous instances of scientific fraud, and how they were discovered. They look at all the reasons a scientist might decide to break the rules and falsify or fabricate their data - and talk about ways we might try and prevent these scientific crimes in future. *EDIT 22 October 2023: In the podcast we say that Eric Stewart’s papers were retracted for “fraudulent data”. Whereas he has been accused of fraud by at least one of his co-authors (and others), and whereas he claims to have lost all the original data files so they can’t be checked, it’s not correct to say this is why his studies were retracted, as per the publishers’ retraction notes. They were retracted for gross errors and incompetence rather than fraud. The Studies Show is sponsored by the i, the UK’s smartest daily newspaper. You can get a money-off deal on digital subscriptions—which include full access to all Stuart’s science writing—by following this special podcast link. The Studies Show is also sponsored by Works in Progress, an online magazine about science, technology, and human progress. Did you know that, in addition to the main magazine, Works in Progress has a Substack called Notes on Progress, with shorter pieces on the same themes? You can find Notes on Progress right here. Show notes * Big New Yorker article about Dan Ariely and Francesca Gino * Data Colada article on Dan Ariely’s study; and the first of several articles on Francesca Gino’s research * New York Times article on the fallout from the Gino case * GoFundMe page for Data Colada’s legal defence * 2009 review of surveys asking scientists whether they’ve committed fraud, and how much fraud they think there is * Example studies asking questions on fraud as well as sub-fraud “questionable research practices”: psychologists, economists, biomedical statisticians * The Retraction Watch Leaderboard of the most-retracted scientists * Story of anaesthesiologist Joachim Boldt, current leader in number of papers retracted from the literature * Book on the fraudulent semiconductor physicist Jan-Hendrik Schön * News of recent retractions by a superconductor physicist at the University of Rochester * Article on John Carlisle, fake RCT-spotter extraordinaire * Article on Elisabeth Bik, expert on spotting fake scientific images; Bik’s paper on the prevalence of problematic images * Description of the GRIM test by Nick Brown and James Heathers * BBC Radio 4 programme by Michael Blastland about scientific fraud-spotters, featuring Bik, Brown, and Heathers (and also Stuart) * Recent article on using Benford’s Law to discover fraud * Story of Hwang Woo-Suk, the audacious cloning fraudster at Seoul National University * Story of Eric Stewart, researcher of systematic racism at Florida State University * Story of Paolo Macchiarini, windpipe surgery fraudster and convicted criminal * Stuart’s article on why we need to actually punish fraudsters Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 10, 2023 · 59 min
Episode 13: Football and dementia
We’ve all heard of football players (that’s “soccer players” for US listeners) tearing their hamstrings, spraining their ankles, and injuring their knees. But could all that heading of the football, whether or not it causes a concussion, be having a subtler but much more damaging long-term effect on the player’s brain? In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart—the latter of whom, as you’ll discover, is not a massive fan of sport in general—discuss research on whether playing the nation’s favourite sport might lead to dementia in later life. If it does, how does it happen? And is playing football worthwhile regardless? The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress, an online magazine filled with longform essays on science, technology, and human progress. How do we encourage people to support economic growth? How did Mexico build its state in the 19th Century? And why did it take so long to develop a malaria vaccine? These are just some of the topics covered in the most recent issue. The Studies Show is also sponsored by the i, the UK’s smartest daily newspaper. It’s filled with exclusive reporting, comment, analysis, and so much more, and you can get a cut-price deal on digital subscriptions—which include full access to Stuart’s columns and his subscriber-only science newsletter—by following this special podcast link. Show Notes * University of Edinburgh profile page for Prof. Alan Carson, with links to his publications on concussion and sport and related topics * Scotland bans football players from heading the ball a day before and a day after a game * 2012 study on “neurodegenerative causes of death” among US NFL players * The FIELD study: 2019 study on causes of death among Scottish football players * Lothian Birth Cohort studies on how alcohol and job complexity relate to cognitive test scores in late life, before and after controlling for how smart someone was as a child * Does traumatic brain injury relate to more amyloid plaques and/or tau tangles in your brain? Example of a study that says yes; example of a study that says no * 2019 review of possible mechanisms for why brain injuries might lead to dementia * “The pig as a preclinical traumatic brain injury model” * The “3 Rs”, to Replace, Reduce, and Refine animal research Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 3, 2023 · 10 min
Paid-only Episode 1: Diversity training
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com If you’ve ever done a diversity training session at work, you’ll almost certainly have learned about unconscious bias, microaggressions, stereotype threat, and trigger warnings. Prejudice, racism, and trauma are apparently simmering constantly, just under the surface of our conscious minds. It turns out that each of these concepts has been subject to a lot of scientific research. It also turns out, perhaps unsurprisingly, that they’re all extremely controversial. In this first paid-subscriber-only episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart look at each of them in turn and try to decide which of them—if any—stand up to scrutiny. To listen to the full version of this episode and see the show notes, you’ll need to be a paid subscriber to The Studies Show podcast on Substack. See below, or go to www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe, for the options. If you’re already a paid subscriber: thank you!
Sep 26, 2023 · 1 hr 2 min
Episode 12: Nuclear power
Nuclear power seems like exactly what we want: a reliable, low-carbon source of huge amounts of energy. So why does it produce less of our electricity per capita now than it did decades ago? A major reason: nuclear power suffers from very bad PR. In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart discuss the ever-present safety fears surrounding nuclear power, the problems of nuclear waste, and the reasons that nuclear power is so drastically expensive. How many people died in the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, anyway? Could new reactor designs fix some of nuclear power’s problems? And is nuclear power so irredeemably unpopular that we should just give it up and move on to renewables? The Studies Show is sponsored by the i, the UK’s smartest daily newspaper. You can get a half-price deal on digital subscriptions to the whole paper, including full access to Stuart’s columns and his subscriber-only science newsletter, by following this special podcast link. The Studies Show is also sponsored by Works in Progress, an online magazine about science, technology, and human progress. The newest issue of Works in Progress is out now, with essays on topics like the discovery of the malaria vaccine and the surprising economics of copper. Show Notes * Fumio Kishida eats a Fukushima flounder; John Selwyn Gummer eats a British beef burger (with his daughter) * Graph showing the plateau in nuclear power generation * Hannah Ritchie on the safest sources of energy; review comparing health effects of different sources of electricity generation * Jack Devanney on plutonium in Works in Progress; and on why the “Linear No-Threshold” model is “nonsense” * Jason Crawford summary & review of Devanney’s book Why Nuclear Power Has Been a Flop * Article on the wildly-varying cancer and death numbers suggested for Chernobyl * UNSCEAR report; IAEA estimate of deaths; Alternative TORCH estimate; IARC estimate of cancers up to 2065 * IAEA analysis of Fukushima water and comparison to normal levels of radiation * Report on deaths from the evacuation after the Tōhoku earthquake/tsunami * Tom’s article in the i on Fukushima and nuclear power’s PR problem * Article on spent fuels and waste from nuclear reactors * Summary of “breeder” and “burner” reactors * Hannah Ritchie on mining for low-carbon energy vs. mining for fossil fuels * Article on the pollution produced from lignite mines * Sceptical view of new nuclear plant technologies * Graph of solar panel prices dropping over time Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 19, 2023 · 1 hr 10 min
Episode 11: The AI apocalypse debate
Is artificial intelligence going to lead to the extinction of humanity? What would that even look like? Everyone’s got an opinion: mostly either “that sounds absolutely ridiculous” or “that sounds absolutely terrifying”. In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart do something slightly different. Stuart plays the role of an AI apocalypse sceptic, and grills Tom on all the arguments about the coming AI apocalypse. Happily, Tom has already written a whole book on the subject, so he knows all the answers. The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress magazine, the best place to find insightful essays on science, technology, and human progress. There’s a new issue out right now! We’re very grateful for their support. Show notes * Tom’s book, The Rationalist’s Guide to the Galaxy * arXiv preprint on evolving AI * Katja Grace’s survey of AI researchers * Timothy B. Lee’s Substack post about why he’s not worried about the existential risk of AI * Nature editorial arguing that the AI revolution hasn’t yet helped chemistry * Nature editorial arguing that worrying about AI doomsday is a distraction Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 12, 2023 · 58 min
Episode 10: Cash transfers
Thinking of giving money to charity? Maybe you should give to a charity that does cash transfers - that is, gives the money directly to low-income people with no or minimal strings attached. Many in the “effective altruism” movement, which aims to find the best ways to spend money to improve people’s lives, are big fans of cash transfers to people in developing countries. But lately, some blockbuster studies on cash transfers have come under heavy criticism. Does this cast doubt on the whole idea? In this episode, Tom and Stuart look at these new studies, and the evidence on cash transfers in general. How much do cash transfers really help when it comes to poverty, health, child development, and homelessness? The Studies Show is brought to you the i, the UK’s smartest daily newspaper. Right now you can get a half-price deal on digital subscriptions, including full access to Stuart’s columns and his weekly subscriber-only science newsletter, by following this special podcast link. The Studies Show is also sponsored by Works in Progress, an online magazine about science, technology, and human progress. There’s a new issue of Works in Progress out now, with essays on topics like vaccines, architecture, and the post-war Baby Boom. Show notes * Cost of a guide dog versus the cost of a cataract (or other sight-saving) operation * GiveWell’s page on cash transfers * Trial of GiveDirectly’s programme in Kenya; one of a programme in Uganda * 2016 systematic review on cash transfers from the Overseas Development Institute * 2019 systematic review of cash transfers on many different outcomes * Reviews and meta-analyses of the evidence on cash transfers for: HIV prevention; stunting; young people’s mental health; adolescent and adult mental health * Nature paper on cash transfers for preventing early mortality * Stuart’s critical article in the i * PNAS paper on cash transfers in the US on children’s brain development * Stuart’s critical article in the Atlantic * Andrew Gelman’s post on the study * The book Brainwashed: The Seductive Allure of Mindless Neuroscience * PNAS paper on cash transfers in Canada for homelessness, and its press release * Jon Baron’s critical thread Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 5, 2023 · 58 min
Episode 9: The placebo effect
If you give someone a sugar pill but convince them it’s a real medicine, they might get better because of the power of belief. That’s the standard story, anyway. But as Tom and Stuart find in this episode, the more you dig into the science on placebo effects, the more you begin to doubt that the placebo effect is some innate bodily healing process that responds to beliefs. Instead, it might all just be due to mistakes and biases in the studies. Do we need to completely change the way we think about placebos? The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress magazine, an online magazine full to the brim with the best writing on science, technology, and human progress. Read any of the essays in Works in Progress magazine and you’re guaranteed to come away with a new idea or a new understanding of how things work - we can’t recommend it highly enough. The Studies Show is also sponsored by the i, the UK’s smartest daily newspaper. Right now you can get a half-price deal on digital subscriptions, including full access to Stuart’s weekly subscriber-only science newsletter, by following this special podcast link. Show notes * “The Powerful Placebo” - the paper from 1955 that made the placebo effect famous * The 1965 study on placebo effects when participants know they’re getting a sugar pill * Bad Science column from 2008 on the power of the placebo effect, “the coolest strangest thing in medicine” * Review from 2017 on “open-label placebo” studies * 2018 review on mechanisms of how “placebos without deception” might work * Slate Star Codex article the 5-HTTLPR gene * New England Journal of Medicine review of the placebo effect from 2020 * Response to the NEJM review by Dahly and Rafi * 2010 Cochrane review of “Placebo effects for all clinical conditions” * “The pervasive problem of placebos in psychology” * Review & meta-analysis of the placebo effect in studies on back pain Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Sep 2, 2023 · 37 min
Mea Culpa 1
On The Studies Show, we’re all about trying to get it right. But sometimes we get it wrong. Every so often, we’ll do a feedback/corrections/clarifications episode where we go back and try to correct any errors in the last few episodes, and reply to your more general feedback. This is the first one of those, covering Episodes 1-8. Our thanks go to everyone who pointed out our mistakes. Please keep the feedback coming! Show notes * Retatrutide phase 2 trial; semaglutide vs. tirzepatide cost-effectiveness study * The IARC’s useful, detailed report on (e.g.) whether being a firefighter is a cancer risk; the FDA disagrees with the IARC on whether aspartame should be labelled as a “possible” cause of cancer * The newest published trial of psilocybin for depression * Stuart’s more recent article on ultra-processed foods, with discussion of mechanisms; Chris Snowdon’s two part review of Chris van Tulleken’s book; interview with Herman Pontzer on his book Burn Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Aug 29, 2023 · 1 hr 5 min
Episode 8: Growth mindset
In any given school, you’re never more than 6ft away from a poster about “growth mindset”. It’s the massively-popular idea that if you believe that people can change, you’ll put more effort into a task (like studying) and end up doing better at it. On the other hand, if you have a “fixed mindset” and think talent is innate and unchangeable, you won’t put in the effort and you’ll fail to reach your potential. In this episode, Tom and Stuart talk about how the claims about the power of growth mindset have changed over the years, and explain the convoluted back-and-forth story of recent studies and reviews of the evidence. Do growth mindset interventions help kids get better grades? Is growth mindset even a thing? Take a listen to find out. The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress magazine, an online magazine full to the brim with the best writing on science, technology, and human progress. Read any of the essays in Works in Progress magazine and you’re guaranteed to come away with a new idea or a new understanding of how things work - we can’t recommend it highly enough. Remember that you can subscribe to The Studies Show and get an email every time there’s a new episode - just enter your email address in the box below. We’d also love it if you’d consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting the show - you can also do that below, and you’ll get access to the comments, ask-me-anything opportunities, and (soon) subscriber-only episodes: Show Notes * Tom’s 2017 article on growth mindset on BuzzFeed news * Stuart’s 2022 Substack article “How Growth Mindset Shrank” (including discussion of the various Middle East Peace Process studies) * The 2018 meta-analysis * The 2019 large-scale study of growth mindset in the classroom * Useful online tool to calculate and visualise effect sizes * “Does psychology have a conflict-of-interest problem?” - Tom’s 2019 Nature News article * The first 2023 meta-analysis (the more growth mindset-sceptical one) * The second 2023 meta-analysis (the more growth mindset-supporting one) * Critique of the first 2023 meta-analysis * Devastating response to the critique (and Brooke Macnamara’s thread on the same) Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Aug 22, 2023 · 1 hr 6 min
Episode 7: The LK-99 superconductor, and other physics false dawns
If you were anywhere near social media at the start of August, you’ll have seen endless claims of a massive, world-changing breakthrough in physics: the LK-99 room-temperature superconductor. In this episode, Tom and Stuart—neither of them anything approaching a physicist, so caveat emptor—discuss what a superconductor is, why it would be exciting (or not) for it to work at room temperature, and ask why people online got so excited over claims that one had been discovered… when it actually hadn’t. The Studies Show is sponsored by the i, the UK’s best daily newspaper. You can find the latest deals—including a 50% off deal for digital subscriptions—at this link. Thanks to the i for their support! If you’re enjoying The Studies Show, then please consider becoming a subscriber. You can join as a free subscriber and get an email whenever we release an episode. If you join as a paid subscriber, you’ll be able to access some features like ask-me-anything chats with Tom and Stuart, and (soon) paid-only episodes. Either way, you can subscribe by typing your email address below: Show Notes * Video of the Meissner effect - the eerie levitation of superconducting materials * The initial LK-99 preprint on arXiv * Stuart’s article from the day LK-99 went viral * Statistical model that many thought proved LK-99 really was a room-temperature superconductor * Article in Nature News explaining why the LK-99 material might’ve seemed to have superconducting properties * Story on the retractions of work by another room-temperature superconductor researcher * Actually-exciting superconductor advance 1 (and replication); actually-exciting superconductor advance 2 (and replication) * Article on the Fleischmann & Pons “cold fusion” debacle * Story of the “faster-than-light neutrino” error * Plastic Fantastic, the book about the fraudulent semiconductor studies in the early 2000s * Article on “quantum computing’s reproducibility crisis” and the Majorana particle Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Aug 15, 2023 · 54 min
Episode 6: Ultra-processed foods
We’ve apparently found the culprit for the obesity epidemic, and it’s “ultra-processed foods”. They’re the plastic-wrapped, industrially-produced foods with long lists of ingredients that apparently make up 60% of the average UK diet. In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart tuck in to some “hyper-palatable” research on nutrition and health, discuss the main randomised trial in this area, and try (and immediately fail) to read out the whole definition of “ultra-processed foods” in one breath. The Studies Show is brought to you by the i, the UK’s best daily newspaper. You can find the latest deals for subscriptions—including a 50% off deal for digital subscriptions—at this link. Thanks to the i for their support! If you’re enjoying The Studies Show, then please consider becoming a subscriber. You can join as a free subscriber and get an email whenever we release an episode. If you join as a paid subscriber, you’ll be able to access some features like ask-me-anything chats with Tom and Stuart, and (soon) paid-only episodes. Either way, you can subscribe by typing your email address below: Show Notes * Chris van Tulleken’s Guardian article with a summary of the case against UPFs * The UN document giving all the details on the NOVA classification * Study rating people’s agreement on which foods are in which NOVA category * Stuart’s article on UPFs * Systematic review & meta-analysis on the UPF correlation with premature death * The NIH randomised controlled trial of UPFs versus unprocessed foods * Photos of the meals given in the experiment, from the study’s Appendix * Interesting Twitter discussion with the RCT’s lead author * Page with details on Stephan Guyenet’s book, The Hungry Brain Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
Aug 8, 2023 · 48 min
Episode 5: Vaping, smoking, and popcorn lung
Seemingly-reliable sources give you diametrically-opposed views on vaping. Are e-cigarettes “95% less harmful” than cigarettes, or aren’t they? Are vapes gateway drugs that lead people to smoke, or are they a great way to give up smoking? Is it both? Neither? In Episode 5 of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart look into the research on the health effects of vaping and try to answer these questions - as well as explaining the origin of the fabled “popcorn lung”. The Studies Show is brought to you by the i, the UK’s best daily newspaper. For the next 7 days only, you can take advantage of the i’s current deal: 50% off a full digital subscription + the physical weekend paper. Thanks to the i for their support! If you like the sound of The Studies Show, then please consider becoming a subscriber. You can join as a free subscriber and get an email whenever we release an episode. If you join as a paid subscriber, you’ll be able to access some features like ask-me-anything chats with Tom and Stuart, and (soon) paid-only episodes. Either way, you can subscribe right here: Show Notes * The WHO praises India for banning vapes * Article on The Conversation arguing the “vaping is 95% less harmful than cigarettes” claim has been debunked * Long UK Government/King’s College London report defending the “95% less harmful” claim (2022) * Earlier (2018) Public Health England report with similar conclusions * New Nicotine Alliance (unaffiliated anti-smoking charity) report with useful references on addictiveness, risk, etc. * Popcorn lung: Science-Based Medicine piece illustrated with lungs full of popcorn; Johns Hopkins piece saying popcorn lung is a concern; American Lung Association piece agreeing; Cancer Research UK piece saying no cases ever linked to vaping * Study retracted for erroneously comparing different age groups; study retracted for time-travelling heart-attacks * UK cigarette smoking rate dropping in adults; dropping in children * Tom’s article on this from 2017 * 2017 study showing vaping and cigarette smoking correlate in teenagers * 2022 Cochrane review on vaping and smoking cessation * Study of vaping in pregnant mice; press release; article in The Sun with scary headline * Study on vaping vs. nicotine patches for smoking cessation in pregnant women * People’s beliefs about vaping: increasing belief that it’s as dangerous as smoking in adults; in adults again; in children Credits The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe