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75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Serious Inquiries Only

Join Thomas for some critical thinking on questions of science, philosophy, skepticism and politics. These serious topics are discussed with some serious guests, but in an entertaining and engaging way! This is not your typical interview podcast; it’s a friendly dialogue, conducted thoughtfully and with plenty of humor. It"s Serious Inquiries Only; but like, not boring or anything.

news politics

All Episodes

01:00:03

SIO511: What a Recent Chappell Roan Incident Teaches...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/04/18

Well, what do you know - it's a day that ends in y so the internet has a woman to hate. You might have seen some of the chatter about child-hating Chappell Roan lately, and it's just so depressing every single time one of these hate campaigns rears its ugly head. Lydia joins the show as resident Chappell Roan fan to discuss what actually happened, and why society so quickly jumps on these opportunities to hate women. The Chappell Roan Harassment Campaign Is Plain Old Misogyny (Alex Nguyen - Mother

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56:16

SIO510: Digging Into the Science of the Placebo Effect

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/04/12

Popular media will tell you that placebos, inert inactive substances taken as if they’re medication, can work miracles. …Placebos don’t “work”. But what does that even mean? And if that’s true, why would we include a placebo group in a study? Is there anything remotely like a “true”’placebo effect, where belief in a medication could influence the body? Jenessa walks us through scientific study design, statistical artifacts, and one study that shows maybe just maybe there’s a little something like

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56:10

SIO509: What Project Hail Mary Gets Right (And Very...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/04/04

Everyone's favorite biologist and dinosaur enthusiast Dr. Eric Jaffe is back! Project Hail Mary is a very fun, and quite good, sciency movie that is cleaning up at the box office right now. You should see it! Eric is going to take us through the biology of the movie (and book) and what it gets right, and what it gets quite wrong.

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01:10:40

SIO508: The Data Shows That Authoritarianism Is Very...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/03/31

“Yes we can” vote and protest our way out of authoritarianism. It’s a classic case of academic literature never making it to mainstream consumption. Hang around social media long enough and you’ll hear that we’re basically screwed. A complete fascist take over is either extremely likely, inevitable, or it’s already here. And there’s not much we can do about it. Unless some other country invades us, we’ll be waiting for a civil war or a bloody military coup to hopefully maybe turn things around

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43:48

SIO507: Shirley You're Joking, Minnesota Fraud Man!

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/03/26

It's part 2 of the Minnesota fraud stuff. We get a little more Nick Shirley, dumbest person ever to testify in congress. And then I debunk the main claims against Gov. Walz and AG Ellison. Did Walz un-stop the payments to Feed Our Future? Did Ellison meet with, and then get campaign donations from the fraudsters?

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47:48

SIO506: Minnesota Fraud and the Death of Information

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/03/24

So now that we've covered a real hearing with brave whistleblowers that got NO attention, it's time to look at what happens over on the other side of the aisle.

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01:19:28

SIO505: The ICE Whistleblower Hearing Was...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/03/15

Last month, there was a devastating hearing featuring a victim of ICE, an ICE whistleblower, and a previous DHS attorney. It revealed what, in any other time, would have been a massive scandal likely resulting in multiple firings. But we live in the bad times, which means this hearing took place in a maintenance shed barely on Congressional property during lunchtime put on by a ragtag team of the few remaining people who give a shit about constitutional rights. I take you through the hearing, and

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01:02:01

SIO504: The Other Kind of Nut Allergy. Well, Both...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/03/15

Part 2! Even more fun Quibbies. Allergies Bansal, A.S., Chee, R., Nagendran, V., Warner, A., & Hayman, G. (2007). Dangerous liaison: Sexually transmitted allergic reaction to Brazil nuts. Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology, 17, 189-191. Testosterone University of Zurich (2009, December 9). Testosterone does not induce aggression, study shows. ScienceDaily. Eisenegger, C., Naef, M., Snozzi, R., Heinrichs, M., & Fehr, E. (2010). Prejudice and truth about the

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51:19

SIO503: Viral Post Claims Texas Has More Democrats...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/02/26

It's Quibi Time (tm) with Jenessa! (Don't worry, I'll explain...) It's 2 debunks for the price of 1, or actually 5 debunks for the price of 2, because this is a two-parter! Here are the first two: AI girlfriend Caramela, S. (2025, January 31). Most Men Would Marry Their AI Girlfriend if it were Legal. Vice. Fiorillo, C. & Bartlett, S. (2025, January 28). AI girlfriends could be a thing of the future as men admit they would marry robot lovers. The Mirror. Koetsier, J. (2025, April 29). 80% Of

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02:27:19

This Is The Dark Place. Why Aren't We Acting Like It?

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/01/27

I had a lot I needed to say about the ICE murders of Rene Good and Alex Pretti. And about the fascists who lie to our faces and know we can't do anything about it. And the concentration camps we already have. I did video because there was so much visual element to this, so watching would be best.

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50:41

SIO501: What Pluribus Gets Right about Neuroscience

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/01/07

Subject of much sci-fi media and philosophy discussions, the "hive mind" is also a key element of Vince Gilligan's (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) new show, Pluribus. Dr. Jenessa Seymour joins the pod to walk us through examples that we have studied of hive mind behavior (in the insect world), and why we can reasonably assert that you could not maintain your individuality if our brains directly communicated with each other (in the human world). Wolman, D. (2012). A tale of two halves. Nature,

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01:12:56

SIO500: A New Study Suggests Brain Imaging Might Have...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2026/01/01

Brain pics, or they didn't happen? There's a recent study that demonstrates that some brain region activity might interact differently with oxygen than previously assumed. This could upend significant neuroscience research spanning decades. Thankfully SIO has Dr. Jenessa Seymour to come in and break it all down for us! We start with a primer on the science of neuroimaging tools and the images they produce. How in the WORLD can we get a picture of a brain while a person is still alive? What are the

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01:09:36

SIO499: Trump Is Weaponizing Government Against...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2025/12/02

In late September, shortly after declaring antifa a "domestic terrorist", Trump issued a memorandum directing the IRS to investigate tax-exempt organizations that could be "directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism" and nonprofit organizations reasonably felt concerned of being targeted. A couple of weeks later, Lydia and Thomas ran into Nick Fish, President of the American Atheists, at California Freethought Day and asked how he and the organization were holding up

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01:09:06

SIO498: The Science of Hallucinations, Ear-worms, and...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2025/11/26

Dr. Jenessa Seymour is on to teach us more about the brain! What do hallucinations, ear-worms, and phantom limbs have in common? And is "hallucinating" really a good term for what AI does when it makes something up?

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01:13:32

SIO497: The Mamdani Machine Exposed! Part 2

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2025/11/05

Part 2 of Asra Nomani's insanely terrible Fox News article. Make sure you listened to part 1! This is big, folks. Think Watergate combined with Deflate-gate combined with Christina Applegate combined with the Bowling Green Massacre. THAT's how big of a scandal this is. You thought Zohran Mamdani was just an innocent 34 year old assemblyman who rose to stardom by being an incredibly good candidate and relentless campaigning an economic message in a positive way. But you were an idiot. Dummy. Asra

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49:28

SIO496: Asra Nomani Has EXPOSED the Mamdani Machine!

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2025/11/04

Part 1. This is big, folks. Think Watergate combined with Deflate-gate combined with Christina Applegate combined with the Bowling Green Massacre. THAT's how big of a scandal this is. You thought Zohran Mamdani was just an innocent 34 year old assemblyman who rose to stardom by being an incredibly good candidate and relentless campaigning an economic message in a positive way. But you were an idiot. Dummy. Asra Nomani broke it here, but let Jenessa and I explain it to you because clearly your

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58:15

SIO495: Can AI Chatbots Make You Delusional? A...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2025/10/30

Stormy Decisis AKA Dr. Alan Smerbeck is back! With multiple stories in the news of AI Chatbots potentially driving people to delusion or psychosis, Stormy wanted to explain to us what's going on and what the actual differences are between psychosis, delusions, schizophrenia, and more. Visit Stormy's amazing project, sharebannedbooks.com!

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48:58

SIO494: Autism and ADHD, Part 2

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2025/10/24

***This is a two-parter. Listen to part 1! Previously, the leading theory was that kids with autism and/or ADHD had mental health struggles due to emotional regulation issues or other direct elements of their neurodivergence. But what if it's actually that they have to deal with more stressors than the other kids? Dr. Jenessa Seymour, fellow haver of ADHD, is here to break it down for us!

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01:01:23

SIO493: Kids with ADHD/Autism Struggle with Mental...

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2025/10/24

Previously, the leading theory was that kids with autism and/or ADHD had mental health struggles due to emotional regulation issues or other direct elements of their neurodivergence. But what if it's actually that they have to deal with more stressors than the other kids? Dr. Jenessa Seymour, fellow haver of ADHD, is here to break it down for us! This is a 2-parter! Get part 2 on patreon.com/seriouspod, or just wait a little!

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54:48

SIO492: How Radicalized Was Kirk's Killer, Really?

Serious Inquiries Only ·

2025/09/26

Part 2 of my thoughts and observations based on all the info I could gather on Tyler Robinson. I think there's an aspect to him that isn't being emphasized enough that might help explain why he did what he did.

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