The Studies Show. Live. In London. With Jesse Singal. Talking about controversial science. Friday 9 May 2025. What more need we say? Well actually, we say a bit more in this brief podcast.Get your tickets HERE!Or go to bit.ly/tss_live.See you there! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe
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Paid-only Episode 18: Abortion
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.comAs if the basic “pro-life vs. pro-choice” issue wasn’t controversial enough, there’s been a decades-long scientific debate on the impact of abortion on mental health. Does getting an abortion cause a lifetime of depression? Or do most women think that in retrospect it was the correct choice?As it happens, this issue opens up some massive questions about meta-analysis, bias, and the impact of legal threats on science. Tom and Stuart discuss them in this paid-only episode of The Studies Show.To hear the full episode and read the show notes, you’ll need to become a paid subscriber at thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe.With apologies from Tom for lateness because he forgot to press send.
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Episode 67: Seed oils
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. thinks that seed oils—like sunflower or soybean oil—are causing terrible damage to people’s health. And now he’s the US Health Secretary (wait, what?!) we should probably take him seriously.In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart trace the origins of the idea that seed oils are uniquely unhealthy, and look at all the best evidence from randomised trials on whether it’s remotely true.The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress magazine, where you can find detailed, beautifully-written essays on technology and progress. If you need something to read that’s full of unexpected and inspiring ideas about how science and technology can make the world better, you can be confident that you’ll find it at worksinprogress.co.Show notes* Joe Rogan’s interview with the aptly-named dietary influencer Paul Saladino* A typical anonymous tweet about the supposed effects of seed oils* Article about Ray Peat’s advice on how often to measure your temperature for optimum health* Guardian article on RFK Jr. and his views on seed oils* Dynomight on seed oils* 2013 systematic review on linoleic acid and inflammation* 2017 systematic review on randomised trials of linoleic acid* 2015 meta-analysis of cohort studies looking at linoleic acid and coronary heart disease* 2020 meta-analysis of saturated fat and health outcomes* The safflower oil study beloved of seed oil worriers* And the Minnesota Coronary SurveyCreditsWe’re very grateful to Stevie Miller for helping us with the research for this episode. 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 www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe
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Episode 66: Superforecasting
Whether it’s the 1903 New York Times article that claimed a flying machine was ten million years away, or the record executive who (allegedly) told the Beatles in the early 1960s that guitar bands were on the way out, predictions are hard.In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart discuss the psychologist Philip Tetlock’s research on superforecasters, the people who make the most accurate predictions of all. Even if you can’t become a superforecaster yourself, it turns out there’s a lot we can learn from them about how to form beliefs—and how to be right more often.The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress magazine, where this week Tom has written a review of the new book, Doctored, about fraud in Alzheimer’s research. Read that and many other short pieces on the Works in Progress Substack at worksinprogress.news.Show notes* A book chapter on the “Expert Political Judgement” study from Philip Tetlock* Research on how people interpret terms like “a serious possibility” and “likely”* Research that argues against the idea that teaming up makes superforecasters better* Study on the correlates of being a good superforecaster (i.e. having a low Brier score)* A paper on “small steps to accuracy”: how people who update their beliefs more often are better forecasters* Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner’s book Superforecasting* Julia Galef’s book The Scout Mindset* Tom’s book, Everything is Predictable* Tom’s review of Mervyn King’s book, Radical UncertaintyCreditsThe 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 www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe
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Episode 65: Havana Syndrome and mass hysteria
Beginning in 2016, diplomats at the US Embassy in Havana started reporting strange concussion-like symptoms, even though they hadn’t taken a blow to the head. Some claimed they’d been the victim of a mysterious “sonic weapon”, aimed at them from somewhere outside and accompanied by a loud, high-pitched noise. Several scientific papers followed that appeared to confirm they’d been attacked. In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart tell the whole story of Havana Syndrome, and dare to touch on the highly controversial theory that the symptoms might’ve been the result of mass hysteria (or as it’s now known, “mass psychogenic illness”).The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress magazine. Their Substack is full of shorter articles that highlight apects of science and technology you might never have considered. This week: the surprising story of “The Prophet of Parking”. You can find that any all of their shorter items at worksinprogress.news.Show notes* The most recent (January 2025) development in the story of Havana Syndrome* Stuart’s New Statesman article on Havana Syndrome from 2021* Long and detailed ProPublica article from 2018* Wikipedia articles on the LRAD and the Active Denial System* NY Times article from around the time, about the Trump administration’s reaction to the “attacks”* US Senate hearings on the “attacks” led by Marco Rubio* Initial 2018 JAMA article with cognitive and other tests* Response letters 1, 2, and 3 (“cognitive impairments everybody has”)* 2019 JAMA article on brain imaging results* Stuart’s 2015 study on brain imaging in ageing* Entomologists report on the similarity of the recorded sound to that of a cricket* Declassified US report that agrees* A history of mass psychogenic illness* BBC article on “The Bristol Hum”* Guardian article on the bizarre phenomenon of Morgellon’s Syndrome* Article arguing that critics of the “mass psychogenic illness” theory have misunderstood the condition* 2020 National Academy of Sciences report* Putin bragging about high-tech Russian weaponsCreditsThe 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 www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe
Ireland