You have a choice. There’s the long way: boring, repetitive, hard work. Or the shortcut: a cunning, less intuitive path to your goal. Shortcuts have enabled so much of human progress, whether in constructing the first cities around the Euphrates 5,000 years ago, using calculus to determine the scale of the universe or in writing today’s algorithms that help us find a new life partner.

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

Is Wikipedia a worldwide network with secret members, seeking to influence humankind? Or is it a web forum, where one can publish their opinion? How does Wikipedia work? And how can you make a difference? Even among skeptics Wikipedia is still looked at with scrutiny. Is it reliable? Are there mechanisms and processes to make Wikipedia more valid and protected?

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

Why must Luke Skywalker turn off his targeting computer at the climactic moment of Star Wars? Despite starting a revolution in cinematic special-effects, the film shows a deeply rooted anxiety about the right uses of technology. So what can Star Wars teach up about Luddism?

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

Many people experience a tangible fear when facing anything to do with numbers. The root of the problem lies in the fact that no one is ever taught what maths actually is. Once we understand mathematics – the art of more — we can begin to see mathematics as more than just a maze of numbers: we see it as the pinnacle of human achievement.

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

Through interviews with QAnon converts, apostates, and victims, as well as psychologists, sociologists, and academics, Mike Rothschild is uniquely equipped to explain the movement and its followers. In The Storm Is Upon Us, he takes readers from the background conspiracies and cults that fed the Q phenomenon, to the storming of the Capitol, and on.

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

In the 1700s, the English believed a woman could give birth to rabbits; a man could climb inside a two pint bottle and sing inside it; and a blond-haired European was born in Taiwan. Based on his recently published book, Ian Keable demonstrates how 18th century hoaxes are memorable not only for their imaginative nature but also because of the differing motives of the tricksters.

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

It is difficult to imagine admitting to something that you didn’t do, but people do. Aside from those who voluntarily confess, others are vulnerable to persuasive interviewing tactics, and some even come to believe that they are guilty. From personality factors to threats and torture, join Faye to explore the psychology of false confessions and what can be done to prevent them.

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

Everyone knows “you can’t believe everything you read in the papers,” but few people realise it extends far beyond the celebrity pages and gossip columns, and spills into ‘real’ news. Here, the near-invisible influence of PR companies is often pivotal in deciding what news gets told, and how it gets reported. Michael Marshall will show why you really, really can’t believe everything you read in the papers.

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

We've discovered thousands of exoplanets around stars that are not our Sun. In fact, own solar system may be far from the norm. These alien worlds are often hot, massive, and perplexing to astrophysicists – just how do these objects form, and what processes make them different to our own, and what could this all mean for finding life elsewhere in the universe?

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.

To defend evidence-based reasoning and knowledge in a “post-truth” era, we must understand the strategies by which the post-truth world is driven forward. Did the post-truth era arise spontaneously, or is the result of a highly effective political movement? This talk will focus on three strategies and present evidence for their existence and impact, and how it might be countered.

This event will be online, on the Skeptics in the Pub Twitch channel.