The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is an American weekly skeptical podcast hosted by Steven Novella, MD, along with a panel of contributors. The official podcast of the New England Skeptical Society, it was named to evoke The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The show features discussions of recent scientific developments in layman's terms, and interviews authors, people in the area of science, and other famous skeptics. The SGU podcast includes discussions of myths, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, the paranormal, and other forms of superstition, from the point of view of scientific skepticism.
Hosts
The SGU podcast was first released in May 2005. The original lineup of the podcast consisted of the Novella brothers, Steven Novella, Robert "Bob" Novella and Jay Novella, along with Evan Bernstein, and Perry DeAngelis. DeAngelis contributed until his death in 2007, shortly before his 44th birthday. Rebecca Watson joined in 2006 and later left the podcast in 2014. Cara Santa Maria joined the cast in July 2015.The podcast is affiliated with the New England Skeptical Society and with the SGU Productions LLC.
Until late 2018 there were no full-time employees of the podcast. Co-host Jay Novella stated that this was partially a result of the financial drain from a protracted defamation lawsuit, filed by Edward Tobinick, which had "consumed financial resources that would have otherwise been available" for hiring staff. The transition to full-time status for Jay Novella was a result of three concurrent factors in 2018: the favorable resolution of the lawsuit, the end of Novella's existing career job, and the podcast successfully reaching its funding goal of over 3,000 patrons on Patreon. As the podcast's first full-time employee, Novella's role expanded beyond co-host and website manager to focus on business operations, project management, and growing the podcast's audience, which included launching a new website and newsletter.
Production
Segments include interviews, discussions of significant but largely unknown figures in science, and games played with the audience or between the panelists, such as "Science or Fiction" and "Who's That Noisy?". The show typically closes with a "Skeptical Quote" read by a host.Most episodes last approximately 80 minutes. On September 23, 2011, the SGU produced a 24-hour live podcast titled "SGU-24" to mark the year 2012 approaching, featuring contributions from skeptics worldwide.
Theme music
The show's theme music is "Theorem" by the San Francisco rock band, Kineto. The theme was acquired from the Podsafe Music Network. Prior to the November 2, 2005 show, the initial theme song was Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me with Science," which the hosts selected because "it seemed to fit."Guests
Many Skeptics' Guide episodes contain interviews. Often the interviews feature well-known scientists or skeptics, for instance Massimo Pigliucci or Joe Nickell. Rarely the guests are proponents of fringe or pseudoscientific views. Some episodes have guest rogues, such as Bill Nye, participating in the entire podcast. Notable guests include the following:| Show date | Episode | Guest | Description |
| Frequent guest | --- | James Randi | A Canadian-American stage magician and scientific skeptic, founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation |
| Frequent guest | --- | Phil Plait | An American astronomer and skeptic, former president of the James Randi Educational Foundation, known as "The Bad Astronomer" |
| Frequent guest | --- | George Hrab | Musician, skeptic podcaster |
| Frequent guest | --- | Richard Saunders | An Australian skeptic, podcaster and professional origamist |
| 5 | Michael Shermer | Founder of The Skeptics Society, author of Why People Believe Weird Things | |
| September 7, 2005 | 12 | Steve Milloy | Founder of junkscience.com |
| 15 | Chris Mooney | Author of The Republican War on Science | |
| 50 | Gerald Posner | Author of Case Closed | |
| 51 | Neal Adams | A proponent of the hollow and expanding earth hypotheses | |
| 63 | Michael Shermer | Founder of The Skeptics Society, author of Why People Believe Weird Things | |
| 73 | B. Alan Wallace | The president and founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies | |
| 80 | Teller | One-half of the illusionist team Penn and Teller | |
| 81 | Adam Savage and Tory Belleci | From the Discovery Channel show MythBusters | |
| 82 | Christopher Hitchens | Journalist and literary critic, author of God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything | |
| 82 | Matt Stone | Co-creator of South Park | |
| 83 | Julia Sweeney | Former Saturday Night Live cast member | |
| 91 | Susan Blackmore | PhD in parapsychology, skeptic, and author | |
| 105 | Jimmy Carter | 39th President of the United States, Nobel laureate | |
| 111 | Bill Nye | "The Science Guy" | |
| 121 | Paul Kurtz | Committee for Skeptical Inquiry founder and chairman of the Council for Secular Humanism | |
| 156 | Neil deGrasse Tyson | An American astrophysicist and science communicator | |
| 162 | Richard Saunders | An Australian skeptic, podcaster and professional origamist | |
| 168 | PZ Myers | An American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and the author of the Pharyngula science blog | |
| December 16, 2008 | 178 | Richard Wiseman | A psychologist and professor of the public understanding of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire |
| 182 | Michio Kaku | Theoretical physicist | |
| 196 | Seth Shostak | An American astronomer and senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute | |
| 199 | Rusty Schweickart | An American Apollo astronaut | |
| 219 | Mark Edward | Mentalist | |
| 245 | George Hrab | Musician, skeptic podcaster | |
| 265 | Rhys Morgan | Teenage consumer advocate | |
| 304 | Jon Ronson | Author of The Psychopath Test | |
| 331 | Neil deGrasse Tyson | An American astrophysicist and science communicator | |
| 333 | Rhys Morgan | Teenage consumer advocate | |
| 373 | Billy West | Voice actor on Futurama and other shows | |
| 376 | Pamela Gay | Astronomer and podcaster | |
| 379 | Jamy Ian Swiss | Close-up magician | |
| 383 | Bruce Hood | Psychologist and author | |
| 385 | Banachek | Mentalist and director of the JREF Million Dollar Challenge | |
| 390 | Massimo Pigliucci | Philosopher and author | |
| 393 | Zack Kopplin | Educational activist | |
| 398 | Jon Ronson | Journalist and documentary film maker | |
| 408 | Don McLeroy | Creationist and former member of the Texas State Board of Education | |
| 414 | Daniel Loxton | Illustrator and editor of Junior Skeptic magazine | |
| 417 | Paul Offit | Pediatrician and vaccine advocate | |
| 421 | Michael E. Mann | Climatologist | |
| 423 | Sanal Edamaruku | Author and founding president of Rationalist International | |
| 424 | Cara Santa Maria | Science communicator | |
| 430 | Marty Klein | Sex therapist and author | |
| 434 | Chris Mooney and Indre Viskontas | Science writers and Podcasters | |
| 435 | Gerald Posner | Journalist and author | |
| 438 | Susan Gerbic & Tim Farley | Founder of Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia & The creator of WhatsTheHarm.net | |
| 443 | Mark Crislip | Medical doctor and podcaster | |
| 445 | Karen Stollznow | Linguist and podcaster | |
| 451 | Michio Kaku | Physicist and science communicator | |
| 453 | Jennifer Ouellette | Science writer | |
| 456 | James Marsters | Actor and musician | |
| 460 | Elise Andrew | Founder and maintainer of the "I Fucking Love Science" Facebook page | |
| 481 | Daniel Dennett | Philosopher and cognitive scientist | |
| 680 | Bill Nye | "The Science Guy" | |
| 701 | Susan Gerbic | Founder of Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia discussing that project | |
| 713 | Susan Gerbic | Founder of Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia discussing New York Times coverage of psychic sting operation on Thomas John |
Recognition
The Skeptics' Guide won the 2009 Podcast Awards in the "Education" category, and the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014 Podcast Awards in the "Science" category.It was also a 2014 "Dose of Rationality" Top 10 Podcast, and a 2010 Physics.org Best Podcast nominee.
Sponsors and membership
On July 30, 2013, Steven Novella announced that the SGU would begin offering membership and airing sponsors. Novella went on to say that the money raised would go into funding skeptical activities, including but not limited to, development of skeptical educational content and web-series such as "Occ The Skeptical Caveman". The addition of sponsors is not permanent, according to Novella, they shall be removed "if 4% of listeners support the SGU through membership at an average of the $8 per month level."Though membership has begun, the SGU continues to publish a free weekly sponsored podcast. Membership entitles one to an ad-free version of The SGU, extra content, and discounts to NECSS. Membership range from $4/month to $200/month.
Additional financial support from listeners is provided through Patreon. The SGU has established several goals after achieving a certain number of financial supporters. A major benchmark was reached in 2018 with 3,000 Patreon supporters that sustained enough predictable income for a full-time employee. Other benchmarks include a 12-hour and 24-hour live show after reaching 4,000 and 5,500 supporters, respectively. These live shows may be located on the most complete and accurate reproduction of the Starship Enterprise Star Trek: The Original Series set, which was built by James Cawley and can be seen on the SGU Patreon page introduction video.
As of early 2026, the show is supported by over 7,700 members. This funding has facilitated large-scale projects, including studio upgrades and live touring events such as the "SGU Extravaganza."
Books
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (2018)
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake is a 2018 book written by Steven Novella and co-authored by the other current co-hosts of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast—Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein. It also contains posthumous material from former co-host Perry DeAngelis. The book is meant to be an all-encompassing guide to skeptical thinking. In an interview with The European Skeptics Podcast, Jay Novella describes their approach to writing the book from the "point of view of an alien species observing the earth from a skeptical perspective using critical thinking," reminiscent of the podcast's namesake The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.The Skeptics' Guide to the Future (2022)
In September 2022, the hosts published their second book, The Skeptics' Guide to the Future: What Yesterday's Science and Science Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow. The book examines historical predictions of the future that failed, explores the reasons why futurism is often inaccurate, and speculates on potential technologies such as genetic manipulation and quantum computing.It received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, which described it as "pop science done right" and an "antidote to spreading anti-scientific sentiments." Barnes & Noble named it one of the "Best Science Books of 2022."