The Michael Shermer Show

Jacob Mchangama, a free speech scholar and founder of The Future of Free Speech, discusses why speech protections are eroding worldwide. He covers social media’s role, how power tempts censorship, legal limits like incitement, platform moderation and Section 230, hate-speech laws, regulating minors online, and the promise and peril of AI. Short, urgent, and wide-ranging.

A solo critique of newly released UFO files, highlighting blurry photos, redactions, and low-quality evidence. Discussion of why extraterrestrial visitations are unlikely given astronomical distances. Analysis of staged or misidentified images and social media hype. Examination of political misuse of UFO reports and what convincing proof would actually look like.

Stewart Brand, writer and environmentalist who founded the Whole Earth Catalog and Long Now Foundation, discusses maintenance as the hidden core of life and civilization. Short takes cover upkeep of bodies, machines, cities, and energy systems. Conversations jump from EVs, bicycles, and nuclear power to AI-shaped vehicles, shared mobility, and long-term population and space futures.

Jesse Bering, research psychologist and science writer, explores Ian Stevenson’s decades-long quest to investigate children’s claims of past lives. He discusses why afterlife questions persist, Stevenson’s methods and curious cases, cognitive reasons people imagine continuity after death, and the challenges of unexplained but unproven phenomena.

Hakeem Oluseyi, multidisciplinary astrophysicist, inventor, author and educator who rose from hardship to a Stanford physics PhD. He explores Big Bang puzzles, dark matter and dark energy, inflation and multiverse ideas. He probes time before time, fine-tuning and why technological aliens may be vanishingly rare. The conversation mixes big-picture wonder with scientific limits and practical space exploration steps.

A skeptical investigation into a viral story about missing and dead scientists tied to aerospace, defense, and UFO claims. Political alarm and media amplification get examined. The podcast surveys individual cases, base-rate statistics, pattern-seeking bias, and how selective reporting creates false mysteries.

Jack El-Hai, author and medical historian, discusses his research into Dr. Douglas Kelley and the psychiatric testing of top Nazi leaders. Short, sharp stories about Hermann Göring, courtroom strategy, and a manipulative duel with Kelley. Conversations explore normalcy among perpetrators, ambition and Dark Triad traits, limits of psychiatry, and lessons for preventing authoritarianism.

Daniel Coyle, bestselling author and advisor on high-performing cultures, explores how meaning and fulfillment grow from connection and shared projects. He discusses how institutions shape behavior, why flourishing is a process in communities, the power of vulnerability and iterative action, and how tough, collaborative projects transform people and create belonging.

Majid Fotuhi, neurologist and neuroscientist focused on brain health and neuroplasticity. He explains why Alzheimer’s is only part of the story and how lifestyle shapes cognitive aging. They cover five pillars for brain resilience, practical diet and exercise tips, when forgetfulness becomes concerning, and real-world cognitive training like language, music, and dance.

Matthew Avery Sutton, a historian of American religion and author of Chosen Land, traces Christianity’s deep entanglement with U.S. power. He discusses how religious competition, politics, media, slavery, social reform, and culture wars shaped both faith and the nation. Short, vivid stories sweep from colonial churches to televangelists and modern partisan realignments.