🎧 Flat Earth, Conspiracies & How Our Brain Tricks Us (Part 2)

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Sources

YouGov, 2018. Most flat earthers consider themselves very religious

Psychology of conspiratorial mind study:
Bowes, Shauna & Costello, Thomas & Tasimi, Arber. (2023). The Conspiratorial Mind: A Meta-Analytic Review of Motivational and Personological Correlates. Psychological Bulletin. 149. 259-293. 10.1037/bul0000392.

The Conspiratorial Mind: A Meta-Analytic Review of Motivational and Personological Correlates

YouTube video of Professor Dave Explains: https://youtu.be/h0H-amOti_o?si=yxxwBDu1gpLw-g8Z

"You are not so smart" Podcast episode 299 - Debunkbot: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6aWubjGqJeWXAXZXy831eR?si=YCvR0xYITFKkAPP90X92rw

Debunkbot study:

Thomas H. Costello et al. ,Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI.Science385,eadq1814(2024).DOI:10.1126/science.adq1814
Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI | Science

Debunkbot: DebunkBot | Conspiracies

In Part 2 of What on Earth, we move beyond Flat Earth itself and into something even more fascinating: how our brain works - and why conspiracy theories can feel so convincing.

We start with a simple but uncomfortable idea: could anyone fall for conspiracy thinking? From there, we explore the psychology behind it - and what makes certain explanations so appealing, even when they don’t hold up scientifically.

We talk about cognitive biases like confirmation bias and the Dunning–Kruger effect, and how confidence can sometimes be mistaken for expertise. Along the way, we break down how scientific thinking actually works - from observations and hypotheses to experiments and theories - and why evidence matters more than intuition.

We also touch on an important nuance: not every conspiracy is false. History has shown us real examples that were later confirmed. But the key difference is evidence - and how we evaluate it.

This episode is part psychology, part science, and part understanding how we make sense of the world - especially when things feel uncertain or complex.

So grab your favorite mug ☕ (we definitely did), and join us as we unpack how belief, bias, and evidence collide.

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✨ Stay curious and keep asking yourself… What on Earth?!

Flat Earth, Conspiracies & the Science of Belief

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In this episode of What on Earth, we take on one of the most persistent and fascinating conspiracy theories out there: Flat Earth.

We start with a simple question: what on Earth makes people believe the Earth is flat?

We explore how long humanity has known that Earth is a sphere, from ancient Greek observations to early measurements of Earth’s circumference, and why, despite this, Flat Earth ideas still exist today. It turns out the story isn’t just about science, but about trust, perception, and how we process information.

This episode is part science, and part navigating the strange (and sometimes entertaining) ways we try to make sense of reality.

So grab your favorite mug - we definitely did - and join us for a deep dive into facts, beliefs, and everything in between.

Stay curious and keep asking yourself… What on Earth?!

Please remember to follow, like and share!

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In this episode of What On Earth?!, we’re diving into geological time. This is Part 1.

Ever wondered how scientists make sense of 4.6 billion years of Earth history? How do you even begin to divide that into something understandable? And why do some chapters of Earth’s past end so dramatically?

We’re going all the way back to the Precambrian and the Paleozoic, a time when Earth was a very different place.

We start in the Precambrian, where life is tiny, the atmosphere is changing, and the planet is still forming into the layered, dynamic system we know today. Think rising oxygen, shifting supercontinents, and even moments where ice may have covered almost the entire globe.

Then we move into the Paleozoic, where life really starts to get interesting. Oceans fill with bizarre creatures, early fish begin to appear, and for the first time ever, life starts making the move onto land. Plants, insects, and eventually vertebrates begin exploring a completely new world.

Along the way, we touch on moving continents, changing climates, and the big events that shape life on Earth, including one of the most dramatic mass extinctions in our planet’s history.

If you like big stories, strange lifeforms, and understanding how our planet became what it is today, this episode is for you.