"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.

Though the celebrated and the famous have long used the glare of the spotlight to highlight personal causes, rarely has fame been used to such staggering effect as by Jenny McCarthy. Since 2007, this former Playboy model now turned autism activist has advocated for parents to stop vaccinating their children against deadly diseases. This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Derek Bartholomaus, creator of “The Jenny McCarthy Body Count” website. This chilling and controversial site utilizes data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to keep a running tally of illnesses and deaths from vaccine preventable diseases - a sobering reminder of the human cost of anti-vaccination rhetoric. On a lighter note, Derek & Swoopy also talk with Junior Skeptic Editor Daniel Loxton about the launch of the “Skeptics Mix Tape” project. This eclectic collection of songs of science and skepticism are available as free MP3s from Skeptic.com.

Mass extinctions, rising temperatures, and changing glaciers may sound like current events, but Earth scientists are learning that this type of climate change is nothing new.   This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Dr. Donald R. Prothero about his new book Greenhouse of the Dinosaurs: Evolution, Extinction, and the Future of Our Planet. Prothero discusses the links between the climate changes that have occurred over the past 200 million years.   Dr. Prothero also discusses "Ida," a 47-million year old fossil the media is hailing as yet another "missing link." Is Ida all she is hyped up to be — or is this Darwinius masillae just one more transitional fossil supporting the theory of evolution?

This week Skepticality is pleased to have back paranormal investigator Benjamin Radford. Derek talks with Ben about his recently concluded "Great Psychic Detective Challenge" which came about through amazing claims made to Ben while he was a guest on the Skeptiko Podcast. We also catch up with JREF (James Randi Educational Foundation) President Dr. Phil Plait about the upcoming Amazing Meeting 7, to be held in Las Vegas July 9-12.

This week Skepticality is pleased to once again speak with noted 'Quirkologist' Richard Wiseman, the Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom and fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). Swoopy talks with Professor Wiseman about his recent paranormal investigations and the initial findings from his Hauntings: The Science of Ghosts project that was presented as part of the 2009 Edinburgh International Science Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.

This week Skepticality celebrates it's long awaited 100th episode with a look back at past shows, thoughts about future installments and well wishes from their friends the skeptic community including Dr. Phil Plait (the Bad Astronomer), George Hrab (The Geologic Podcast) and Brian Dunning (The Skeptologists).

Why do we think aliens are out there? Is Earth really being visited? Will aliens really be short, gray, and hairless? What happens if we pick up a signal from another world?  These are just a few of the questions this week's guest tackles regularly, in his role as the senior astronomer for the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute. Dr. Seth Shostak talks with Swoopy about the ongoing search for life in the universe, as chronicled in his new book Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

In 2007, Junior Skeptic Editor Daniel Loxton called for renewed focus on classical skeptical activism in an essay entitled "Where Do We Go From Here?" Released simultaneously as a PDF from Skeptic.com and as an audio essay on Skepticality, this article drew tremendous positive response. But many listeners wanted to know, what’s the next step? How does one become a skeptical activist? This week, Skepticality and Skeptic.com are pleased to release the follow-up project, "What Do I Do Next?: Leading Skeptics Discuss 105 Practical Ways to Promote Science and Advance Skepticism." Daniel Loxton returns to tell Swoopy how a panel of 13 skeptics contributed almost 30,000 words of impassioned, in-depth commentary to this groundbreaking document — and how skeptics like you will take it to the next level.

This week's Skepticality hits the highlights and plays excerpts from Atlanta Skepticamp. Topics from the two day "un-conference" included: raising children to be critical thinkers; homeopathy; the question of what organic food labels really mean; and (in discussion with the hosts of the American Freethought podcast) the role of new media in promoting the growth of the skeptical community. Also, Derek & Swoopy check the Skeptic events calendar to keep listeners updated on upcoming Skepticamps and other events for skeptics around the world.

On a special Thursday edition of Skepticality, Swoopy talks with Dr. John M. Harris, curator of the George C. Page Museum at Rancho La Brea. Yesterday, it was announced that a new excavation near La Brea has unearthed the largest known cache of fossils from the last ice age including an eighty percent in-tact mammoth, named Zed.