Cryptozoological creatures like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and the Chupacabra have fascinated and inspired monster hunters for generations, providing endless reports of sightings, unverified film footage and blurry photographs to feed the public imagination. Thankfully, this kind of speculation and storytelling has also given rise to a new generation of skeptical investigators who use the tools of science to dig into monster claims. This week on Skepticality, Derek & Swoopy talk with Benjamin Radford, Dr. Karen Stollznow, and Blake Smith — the team from the podcast MonsterTalk.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy catches up with biologist-turned-filmmaker Dr. Randy Olson, whose latest book, Don't Be Such A Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style deals with the image and communication issues facing scientists in the new media era. Some of the book's key messages (don’t be so cerebral; don’t be so literal-minded; don’t be such a poor story teller; don’t be so unlikable) are also on display in Dr. Olson's newest feature film, Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy.  The new movie, a mockumentary that humorously relates just how hard it is to get a film about science made in style-conscious Hollywood, is the closing film at the Imagine: Science FIlm Festival in New York this week.

One of the refrains of skepticism is that reality is often more amazing than fiction. This is most assuredly true of the stories reported by investigative journalist, filmmaker and author Jon Ronson, who has delved time and again into the worlds of conspiracy theorists and extremists. This week on Skepticality Swoopy talks with Jon Ronson about his experiences bonding with skeptics at the recent Amazing Meeting London, his bizarre cruise (and rare interview) with psychic Sylvia Browne, and his 2004 auto-biographical book The Men Who Stare at Goats which will be released this November as a feature film starring Ewan McGregor and George Clooney.

On this week's Skepticality, Derek and Swoopy have just returned from Charlotte PopFest, a unique music festival with proceeds benefitting the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Unexpected local media backlash against the PopFest benefitting a group of "evolutionists" is further evidence why events like this one, the first of it's kind, are so important. These sentiments are echoed in this week's short interviews with PopFest musician Jill Sobule, members of the Charlotte Atheists and Agnostics and Keith Williams, a local Charlotte skeptic who wrote a letter to WBTV Charlotte to express his concern over their reporting of the PopFest as an example of "Science and religion butting heads".

This week, Derek and Swoopy recap Skeptrack at Dragon*Con 2009 and chat with musician James Deem about the upcoming music festival Charlotte Pop Fest. Not your average music festival, this year Charlotte Pop Fest (September 24-26th) will celebrate the life of Charles Darwin and all proceeds from the event will benefit the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science.

On April 20, 1999, two boys left an indelible stamp on American society when they carried out their plan to kill as many of their high school classmates as they could. The very word "Columbine" has come to represent a specific brand of unthinkable horror: when children make a calculated decision to murder their teachers and peers. In the chaos and aftermath of that April day, legends and misinformation quickly proliferated. A great deal of what was reported about Columbine was simply not true. Author Dave Cullen has spent the last ten years of his journalistic career studying the lives of the residents of Littleton Colorado as they were before, during, and after this shattering event. Cullen's seminal book on the subject, Columbine, delves deep into the psyches of the killers, the victims, and their families — to set the record straight not only about what really happened on that fateful day, but why.

This week Skepticality releases the entertaining wealth of recent audio Derek recorded at the James Randi Educational Foundation's "Amazing Meeting 7" conference in sunny Las Vegas. The diverse nature of modern skepticism is well represented in interviews featuring Jennifer Ouellette (author of The Physics of the Buffyverse) and magician Michael Goudeau (executive producer of Penn and Teller's Bullshit!). Best of all, Skepticality shares thoughts from one of the founding fathers of the skeptical movement — psychologist Dr. Ray Hyman.

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Dr. Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado and author of Wild Justice. His book examines the differences—and startling similarities—between the observed morality and emotions of human and non-human animals.

This week on Skepticality, Derek & Swoopy recap The James Randi Educational Foundation's Amazing Meeting 7 conference, which took place this past week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Derek recounts his many adventures as a TAM7 attendee, including his interviews and discussions with TAM Guests including Ray Hyman, Jennifer Oullette and MythBuster Adam Savage. Looking at this epic convention in a new way, Swoopy shares her impressions of following the conference from home via social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and uStream.

"Don't try this at home! …This trick just might kill you! … Fool your friends, amaze your family and scam your way to free drinks!" These taglines and more invite the average college student to study with spiky-haired rabble rouser, Brian Brushwood — skeptic, author and award winning magician — via his popular podcast Scam School. This week Derek & Swoopy talk with Brian about his work. Digging into the biggest scam of all, they reveal that Brian Brushwood is the epitome of the modern skeptic. Beneath the bar room bravado lurks the mind of well-studied, articulate critical thinker.