Last week the Church of England’s synod voted overwhelmingly to allow women to be ordained as bishops. Worried that some might mistakenly connect the Catholic Church with such tolerance, the Vatican announced three days later that in its establishment the same actions would constitute a ‘grave crime’, putting it in the same category as clerical sex abuse of minors. I think it might be time to employ a new head of PR.

Read the Guardian’s news coverage here.

Watch the BBC’s news coverage here.

[Video via Atheist Media Blog]

Scientology’s problem with Twitter

Last year, Cardiff councillor John Dixon happened to pass a local branch of the Church of Scientology. He reached for his phone and Tweeted “I didn’t know the Scientologists had a church on Tottenham Court Road. Just hurried past in case the stupid rubs off.” Now he faces a disciplinary hearing for breaching the code of conduct for local authority members.

In response, the term #stupidscientology has become a trending topic on Twitter. For those of you whose lives don’t revolve around what Stephen Fry has for tea each day, that means it’s one of Twitter’s most talked about topics in the UK today. I only hope that the tweets are to say what a first-rate job the church (it’s definitely a church) is doing, which I want to make clear is my view.

Read the Guardian’s news coverage here.

Watch BBC Newsnight’s interview with Councillor John Dixon here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

£17,500 fine over ‘spiritual healer’ advert

This week TV watchdog Ofcom bared its teeth and fined a television network £17,500 for airing a spiritual healing advert ‘likely to exploit vulnerable people’. The ad promoted ‘spiritual healer’ Professor Mohammed Zain, whose advise to one client was to credit his account with £110, pray for a week and call him back. She did so, and upon receiving her call Zain told her to cough up a further £1,400 and in return he would find her a prince. Charming.

Read the Guardian’s news coverage here.

The missing pope petition

Those of you who signed the ‘Protest the Pope’ petition will have recently received an email with the official response from the Prime Minister’s office, which is essentially ‘The Pope is coming to dinner. The UK taxpayer has to fork out a shedload of cash for it.’ Your reaction was probably similar to mine: ‘We know all this. That’s what we’re protesting against!’

So in essence Downing Street ignored the petition. But if that wasn’t bad enough it’s now been removed by Whitehall officials, more than three months before it was scheduled to close. It seems that only selected petitions are allowed.

Don’t let it end there. The Protest the Pope Coalition plans to rally against the Pope’s visit on Saturday 18 September in London. Anyone who isn’t there is a kiddy-fiddler.

Read more here.

Find out more about the rally and other events here.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Chicken eggs and Ham

Last week MSNBC reported that scientists have ‘proven’ that the chicken came before the egg – a claim despairingly debunked by PZ Myers. At least one reader was convinced though. This week Ken Ham smugly blogged on the discovery’s consistency with the Bible’s creation myth. Looks like Bananaman’s got a new partner in crime: Eggface.

Read more here.

[Via Pharyngula]

BHA condemns “appalling decision” to give education award to creationist zoo

Gone are the days when we could say ‘only in America’. The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, an initiative of the last UK government set in place to promote educational school trips, has awarded creationist Noah’s Ark Zoo a ‘Quality Badge’ in recognition of its educational programme. Setting aside the biblical myths that are its backbone, the programme denies a host of scientific facts that conflict with the establishment’s views including radio carbon dating, the fossil record and the speed of light. The British Humanist Association is urging for the award’s retraction.

Read more here.

[Via Planet Atheism]

Facing Mecca when you pray doesn’t matter says Islamic leader

Indonesian Muslims have been praying in the wrong direction. Rather than facing Mecca it turns out that the country’s mosques had people facing Africa. The head of the Indonesian Ulema Council – the organisation responsible for the mix up – assured Muslims that their prayers had still been heard by Allah. That’s one bit of superstition ignored, only the rest of the Koran to go.

Read more here.

[Via Friendly Atheist]

********************************

Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Dispatches: Africa’s Last Taboo

Completely devastating but equally compelling, Africa’s Last Taboo examines African attitudes towards homosexuality and the government policies they inform. The program opens with a hook: stay tuned to find out what’s driving the African anti-homosexuality movement. I don’t want to give away the ending, but I’m sure one guess is all you’ll need anyway.

Watch Dispatches: Africa’s Last Taboo here. (This video is unfortunately available in the UK).

Church members sue after doomsday fails to occur

Two former church members are suing their ex-pastor and his associates for conning them out of a combined $1.4m by lying about a doomsday that never came. I’m not sure how Australian church Agape Ministries claimed it would put their money to use – first-class tickets to the pearly gates perhaps? In any event, here’s where the line between giggles and sh*ts gets blurred:

Ms Baligod said she believed many other people wanted to come forward with civil claims, but were scared. “A lot of them have been threatened by insiders, with death threats as I understand it,” she said.

Read the ABC news coverage here.

[Via Planet Atheism]

Australian antivax group slammed for “misleading and inaccurate information”

And now, some good news for Australia: An Australian government investigation has called antivax group Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) out on their manipulative and dishonest peddling of misinformation. The report found that AVN, who claim not to be antivax, cherry-pick data and even invent sheer lies to steer anyone who’ll listen away from dreaded, life-saving vaccines. Unfortunately there is no real punishment in store for AVN, but they will now have to include on their website a prominent disclaimer stating their antivax position.

Read more here.

Watch Australian news program Lateline’s coverage here.

[Article via Discover Blogs | Bad Astronomy]

[Video via Sean the Blogonaut]

‘Forbidden Art’ show organisers convicted of “fuelling religious hatred”

The organisers of a 2006 Russian exhibition called ‘Forbidden Art’, which featured works considered ‘too outrageous to show elsewhere’, have been found guilty of fuelling religious hatred. Although the works included depictions of Jesus as Mickey Mouse and Lenin, organisers say it was not their intention to offend, but rather to draw attention to censorship issues.

The organisers were sentenced with heavy fines, which disappointed many Russian Orthodox believers, who had hoped for a prison sentence. Also disappointed was a group of artists, who felt the verdict was an infringement on free speech and expressed their outrage with fitting creativity – by releasing thousands of cockroaches in the court building.

Read the Moscow Times’ news coverage here.

Watch Russia Today’s news coverage here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe: Episode 260

There’s no real reason for my including this particular episode of The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe in this week’s roundup, but I so rarely get around to listening to them and every time I do I’m reminded of how great they are. So if you’re new to The Guide, you’re in for a treat; if like me you rarely listen to them, let this one remind you why you should do more often; or if you’re so hooked you can recite them all word for word, as you were.

Listen to the latest episode of The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe here.

Topics of discussion include: fin to limb evolution; Pat Boone on the laws of physics; ice patch archaeology; Steven Barratt sued; your questions and emails; flag worship; and science or fiction?.

[Via The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe]

The Age of the Genome: Episode 4

Richard Dawkins’ Radio 4 program The Age of the Genome has reached its fourth and final episode and I’ve neglected to tell you about it, so if you haven’t found it by other means I’m afraid you’ve got some catching up to do.

In episode four, Dawkins talks to Craig Venter – who recently unveiled the world’s first self-replicating species whose parent is a computer – and other leading scientists about the potential powers of genome science in the future. What could be better?

Listen to all episodes of The Age of the Genome here.

French lawmakers vote to ban burqa in public

Women in France could be fined or required to attend citizenship classes for wearing full-length veils in public if a new bill is passed. This week the lower house of parliament approved the bill by an overwhelming majority of 335 to 1, but it must still be vetted by the Constitutional Council and approved by the Senate in September.

Whatever your thoughts on that, you can’t disagree with the section of the bill that would impose a €30,000 fine and a one-year prison sentence on anyone who forces another person to cover their face.

Opponents of the bill see it as a violation of the rights to freedom of expression and religion. Proponents consider it vital for furthering women’s rights and maintaining the country’s reputation for fashion.

Read Reuters’ news coverage here.

Woman on ‘Wife Swap’ makes her surrogate family train for 2012

Last week’s episode of Wife Swap USA brought reality television into the realms of fantasy as a crazed woman had her surrogate family train for the 2012 apocalypse. The filmmakers can’t have believed their luck; you know you’ve hit comedy gold when the cameras are rolling and you’ve got a fully-grown man fitting a life-jacket onto a dog.

Read io9’s blog post and watch a clip from the show, here.

[Via Skepchick]

‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’ cartoonist put on execution list

A terror preacher linked to the botched Times Square bombing has put the creator of ‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’ on an execution hit list. Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki wrote in Inspire, a new English-language Al Qaeda magazine aimed at recruiting westerners, that “the medicine prescribed by the Messenger of Allah is the execution of those involved”. Awlaki also damned eight other cartoonists, journalists and authors for their involvement with the ‘blasphemous cartoons’.

Read NY Daily News’ coverage here.

[Via Skepchick]

‘The Hills’ finale: Fake set emerges as Kristin Cavallari and Brody Jenner say goodbye

Who’d’ve thought it? The Hills - that emotional rollercoaster tracking the day-to-day lives of glamorous guys and girls, managing to neatly tie up each episode’s storyline after half an hour – is faked. As the show’s finale closed the cameras pulled out to reveal a Hollywood set and the fans rushed to Twitter in search of shoulders to cry on. Don’t worry guys, you can always rely on the integrity of Laguna Beach.

Read NY Daily News’ coverage here.

********************************

Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Helen Keen is a stand-up comedian and writer, she was a finalist in the 2005 Funny Women competition and the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition and has been nominated for the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year award. She won the first Channel 4 New Comedy Writing Award in 2005. Since then she has written for, among others, Channel 4′s Friday Night Project and BBC Radio 4′s The Now Show and is currently developing scripts with BBC3, Channel 4 and BBC Radio 4. Helen’s award winning show about space, It is Rocket Science!, is being re-launched at this years Edinburgh Festival and is currently being developed into a show for Radio 4. Helen is also co-hosting a new show, Starstruck!, at Edinburgh with Astrophysicist Dr Sophia Khan.

Leaving the Cult

Leaving the Cult follows three teenage boys after their escape from ‘The Crick’, the area inhabited by their polygamist Mormon families. Although painfully difficult to watch, it is essential viewing, and will leave you with a new outlook towards the Mormon missionaries you meet in the street, and if you’re anything like me, an excruciating desire to adopt them.

Watch Leaving the Cult here. (Unfortunately this video is available only to UK residents.)

Attempted intimidation by a quack

Dr. Stephen Barratt of QuackWatch, an excellent organisation dedicated to exposing bogus medical claims, is being sued by the ‘lab’ Doctor’s Data, whose reports Barratt claimed were manipulated to instil unnecessary fears in patients and direct them towards chelation therapy. The case should increase the transparency of Doctor’s Data’s dishonesty, but will cost Barratt much time and money in the meantime. To financially support Barratt you can make a donation to QuackWatch here.

[Via Pharyngula]

Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman convicted of adultery, has been sentenced to death by stoning. Mina Ahadi, an activist based in Germany and who was herself forced to flee a death sentence in Iran, is now leading the opposition campaign. She explains that the only chance to overrule this sentence is to have activists worldwide encourage European governments to put pressure on the Islamic regime in Iran, but time is running out. You can help by forwarding a copy of this email (scroll down) to the UN High Commissioner for the Office of Human Rights. It doesn’t take a second and won’t cost you anything.

Read more here.

Watch CNN’s news coverage here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

Muslim parents banning children from music lessons

Hundreds of British Muslims are withdrawing their children from music lessons, despite having no legal right to do so. Apparently the prophet Muhammad was not a music-lover, and forbid learning a musical instrument, but that’s not even the point. Music lessons are a part of the national curriculum and children are therefore obliged to attend them. Some teachers and Ofsted inspectors however, are turning a blind eye to this breach of the law so as not to enflame public unrest. The worst part of course, is that the poor people at One Law for All barely had time to celebrate the success of their recent rally before this news broke.

Read and watch the BBC’s news coverage here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

Pope visit protest warning

Lord Patten, the Conservative peer helping organise the Pope’s upcoming visit to the UK, has warned those planning demonstrations that they risk sparking outrage among the wider public. Scary. The UK taxpayers’ estimated financial obligation towards the four-day visit has increased from £8m to between £10m and £12m, disregarding policing costs. The total cost is set to be closer to £20m. I guess that’s how much it costs to hire a good anti-equality preacher these days (also available for weddings and office functions).

Read more here.

Find out more about demonstrations against the Pope’s UK visit here.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Iranian government bans ‘immoral’ mullets

Hippity-hop to the barber shop, but be careful what you ask for. The Iranian government this week unveiled a list of approved hairstyles, which basically extends only to a short back and sides for men, making Iran the first country to officially recognise that ponytails and mullets are out.

Watch Al-Jazeera’s news coverage here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

********************************

Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Timothy Garton Ash is the author of eight books of political writing or “history of the present”. They include The Magic Lantern, The File, History of the Present and Free World. His latest is Facts Are Subversive: Political Writing From a Decade Without a Name. He is Professor of European Studies and Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His essays appear regularly in the New York Review of Books and his weekly column for the Guardian is widely syndicated in Europe, Asia and the Americas. He has received many awards for his writing, including the Somerset Maugham Award and the George Orwell Prize.

In association with TAM London 2010

Wednesday 20th October 2010, 19.00 – 21.00 @ The Horse Hospital.

Central to the ideologies of the totalitarian regimes and authoritarian governments of the 20th century, conspiracy theories were commonly used against groups; socialists, anarchists, the Kulaks, the Jews. Then something changed, and conspiracy theories became in the popular imagination something that was committed by the government. From Pearl Harbour to JFK, from the Moon landings to Princess Diana time and again the government, the establishment or “Military-Industrial complex” is seen to act against the people’s interests. By the time we get to 9/11, it seems that people are willing to believe governments capable of anything. How did this change in emphasis arise? Is it justified? Joining Neil Denny, presenter of the Little Atoms Radio Show to discuss the rise of the conspiracy theory are;

David Aaronovitch – Writer, broadcaster and commentator, Times Columnist and author of Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History.

James McConnachie – Author of The Book of Love: In Search of the Kamasutra, The Rough Guide to Sex, and co-author ofThe Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories.

Jon Ronson – An acclaimed filmmaker and broadcaster, who made the 5 part series Secret Rulers of the World and the award winning Tottenham Ayatollah for Channel 4, and author of Them: Adventures with Extremists and The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Francis Wheen – Deputy editor of Private Eye, and a News Quiz regular. Author of How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions and Strange Days Indeed.

This event is ticketed. Tickets cost £4 each and can be purchased via Paypal below.

Gillard Won’t Play Religion Card

Julia Gillard, Australia’s new Prime Minister, is an atheist. Her predecessor Kevin Rudd is Catholic, and before him they had a young-Earther in the hot seat. What’s great is not Gillard’s lack of faith, but her openness about it. In a recent interview she explained that she will not pretend to have a faith that she does not feel and will not go through religious rituals for the sake of appearance. They may be down and under, but they ain’t all backward.

Read more here.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Tell the President to Keep His Word to End Religious Discrimination in Faith-Based Initiatives

On July 1, 2008, then-senator Obama promised to modify Bush’s Faith-Based Initiatives program to end proselytizing and religious discrimination by organisations that receive tax dollars. Under the Bush administration such organisations were able to discriminate against potential employees on the basis of their religion, or lack of, and they still are. Now the Secular Coalition for America is calling on all US citizens who believe in a separation of church and state to tell their president to keep his promise, which he can do ‘at the stroke of a pen’, requiring no congressional action. In the words of that interminable woman from Jesus Camp ‘don’t be a promise-breaker, be a history-maker’.

Read more here.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Pakistan to Monitor Google and Yahoo for ‘Blasphemy’

In May Pakistan banned access to Facebook after it hosted a ‘blasphemous’ competition to draw the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Now Pakistani authorities will monitor seven major websites, including Google and Yahoo, blocking individual content deemed blasphemous. Get with the twenty-first century people. I mean really, who uses Yahoo nowadays?

Read more here.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Richard Dawkins Interested in Setting up ‘Atheist Free School’.

Last week Richard Dawkins took a break from panel debates and news appearances to discuss the significance of religion in education on Mumsnet, a parenting website for mothers. On the subject of the coalition’s new ‘free schools’, one Mumsnet user suggested Dawkins set up an atheist school, an idea that he rightly tweaked into a ‘free thinking school’. Dawkins has no plans to realise such an institution, but did disclose plans to make a documentary on the subject of religion and education. I’ll keep you posted.

Read more here.

Doctors call for Homeopathy Ban

Amidst calls for NHS spending cuts the British Medical Association has voted against offering homeopathic treatment on the NHS, and that in pharmacies the remedies should be labelled ‘placebos’ rather than ‘medicines’.

You may have seen this story in the Telegraph or the Guardian and turned all giddy. So did I. But when I found that no other news sources had covered it I knew it was too good to be true. It turns out that the British Medical Association’s decision has no bearing on NHS policy. Maybe it should.

Read more here.

[Via Richard Dawkins]

Atheist Billboard in North Carolina Vandalised Within a Week

Last week the North Carolina Secularist Association erected a billboard on Billy Graham Parkway. The excerpt from the Pledge of Allegiance read ‘One Nation Indivisible’ until vandalised by some nut who presumably gets pissed off every time he reads anything that doesn’t mention god.

Read more here.

[Via Friendly Atheist]

Psychic Octopus picks Germany to beat Argentina

Get yourself down to the bookies now. I’ve got an inside tip that’s a dead cert. A psychic octopus that hasn’t failed yet in its (four) world cup predictions has picked Germany to beat Argentina tomorrow. Why are you still here?

Read more here.

[Via Skepchick]

********************************

Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

It is with sadness that I inform you that Mary Evans died peacefully in her sleep on the morning of 29 June. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's for the last four years. Further details of Mary's life can be found here.

Rebecca Skloot is a science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Discover, and many other publications. She is the guest editor of The Best American Science Writing 2011 , a contributing editor at Popular Science magazine, and has worked as a correspondent for WNYC's Radiolab and PBS's Nova ScienceNOW.

Skloot served for eight years on the Board of Directors of the National Book Critics Circle, where she was a vice president and judge for their yearly book awards. She has a B.S. in biological sciences and an MFA in creative nonfiction. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, her debut book, took more than a decade to research and write, and instantly became a New York Times best-seller.

One Law for All Rally against Sharia Law a Huge Success

Hundreds gathered outside Downing Street on Sunday to protest against Sharia law. The protest, organised by the One Law for All campaign, later joined a march organised by Iran Solidarity, but the event also attracted less savoury activists. First came the pro-Sharias wielding signs of ‘Democracy is Cancer. Islam is the Answer’, and then stepped in the inevitable National Front, or English Defence League, or whatever they’re going by nowadays. The former were only out in handfuls, the latter got locked up, and so the secularists brought home a much-needed victory for England. Well done to everyone involved.

Read more here.

Watch Russia Today’s news coverage here.

[Video via Atheist Media Blog]

Study Examines Scientists’ ‘Climate Credibility’

Ever debated a so called ‘climate change sceptic’ and come up against the idea that ‘loads of eminent scientists don’t believe in man-made climate change either’? Without having the figures to hand it’s always difficult to make credible your counterclaim that ‘the vast majority’ of scientists do in fact recognise man-made climate change. That’s when that particular avenue of discussion becomes a cul-de-sac. But now a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that 98% of climate scientists who publish research on the subject support the view that human activities are warming the planet. Unfortunately, only half of the psychiatric patients in ward three agree with these findings, so I guess there’s still controversy. 

Read the BBC’s coverage here.

Scientology Avoids Paying Tax in the UK

Ever since the Church of Scientology became officially unrecognised as a charity in the UK, it has avoided paying taxes here by claiming its entire UK operation to be a member of its Australian outfit. Australian law still recognises the cult as a religion, exempting it from paying tax there, so that explains that. Why they chose a small suburban house in Adelaide for their major headquarters is anybody’s guess. The building’s owner, who runs a gardening business, was as shocked as anybody to find out.    

Read more here.

Watch Australian current affairs programme Today Tonight’s coverage here.

[Via Atheist Media Blog]

Female Genital Mutilation at Cornell University

Paediatric urologist Dix Poppas of Cornell University is performing surgeries on girls as young as six to reduce the size of their clitorises, which he arbitrarily judges to be oversized. The operations involve removing some of the shaft whilst retaining the tip in an effort to save nerves. If that unnecessary and enforced ordeal doesn’t shock you the follow up treatment will. To test the level of nerve retention Poppas touches the reconstructed clitoris with a vibrator, despite knowing that if it hasn’t worked nothing can be done about it. It’s okay though, because the parents have consented (for some reason).

Read more here.

[Via Pharyngula]

Muhammad Believed in… What?

Islam is long overdue for an image makeover. In an effort to create one Muslims are getting in on the UK bus ads, but something tells me the pretty colours won’t be enough to distract the public from the questionable statements they surround.

All of the above statements are debunked here.

[Via Friendly Atheist]

Creationists Suffer another Legal Defeat

The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) has moved, and so have the times. While based in California the ICR’s Masters Degrees were officially recognised, but now in Texas… they ain’t. When they filed to get the Texas Higher Education Coordination Board’s approval for their accreditations the court’s response was that the ‘Plaintiff is entirely unable to file a complaint which is not overly verbose, disjointed, incoherent, maundering, and full of irrelevant information.’ Bitchslap! I hope you’ll join me in a celebratory firing of your pistols towards the heavens. Yeehaw!  

Read more here.

[Via Discover Blogs]

********************************

Please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

If you come across something that you think our readers would enjoy, send a tip my way at will [at] skeptic [dot] org [dot] uk.

Anil Ananthaswarmy is a consultant editor of New Scientist in London. He has worked at the magazine in various capacities since 2000, most recently as deputy news editor, and has written more than 250 news and features articles. He is also a contributor to National Geographic News. He studied electronics, electrical and computer engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (Bachelor of Technology), and the University of Washington, Seattle (Master of Science), and worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley before training as a journalist in the University of California Santa Cruz's renowned science writing programme. Anil is the author of The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth's Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe.

James Hannam is a historian of science specialising in the relationship between science and Christianity in the Medieval and Early Modern eras. He took Masters (2003) from Birkbeck College, University of London and a PhD (2008) in the History and Philosophy of Science at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. James' reviews and articles have been published in the academic journals British Journal of the History of Science, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliography Society, Science and Christian Belief and Perspectives on Science and Faith. James Hannam is the author of God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science.

Sue Armstrong is a science writer and broadcaster living in Edinburgh. As a foreign correspondent she worked for a variety of media including the New Scientist and BBC World Service. She has also undertaken a variety of assignments writing reports for the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS. Sue's latest book is A Matter of Life and Death: Inside the Hidden World of the Pathologist.

Join Neil this Friday evening at 19.00 on Resonance 104.4FM in London or via the live feed at www.resonancefm.com worldwide.

Martin Robbins is a researcher and science writer. he currently works in R&D solving scientific problems for a small software company, and previously worked as an ecological modeller for the British Antarctic Survey. The common research theme in Martin's career to date has been understanding complex systems in various domains. Martin is the proprietor of the Lay Scientist blog, and a regular contributor to the Guardian's Comment is Free. He is currently writing a book about Bad Science in the Developing World.

Richard Wilson read Philosophy at University College London and his first book, Titanic Express, recounts his search for the truth about the death of his sister Charlotte, who was killed in Burundi in 2000. He now works for a human rights organisation and lives in London. Richard's latest book is Don't Get Fooled Again: The Sceptic's Guide to Life.

Join Neil and Richard this Friday evening at 19.00 on Resonance 104.4FM in London or via the live feed at www.resonancefm.com worldwide.