The Studies Show

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Episode 72: Parenting (Part 1)
The Studies Show LIVE (with special guest Jesse Singal) is this week! Friday 9 May, Conway Hall, London, 8pm. Get your tickets AT THIS LINK or at bit.ly/tss_live. Welcome to a new series of The Studies Show, all about parenting. We’ll cover the weird claims, fads, and controversies about how you should raise your kids.In this first episode, which focuses on infancy, we cover some feeding-related topics (an update on breastfeeding, the question of sterilising baby bottles, and the idea of baby-led weaning) as well as “tummy time” and sleep training. Are any of these good for your baby? Are any of them bad? Tom and Stuart look through the evidence.Let us know which parenting-related claims you want us to look into as the series continues!The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress magazine. In their recent issue you can find out about surprising policy screwups, the latest fertility techology, the history of the pineapple, and why all that steam comes out from the roads in New York City. It’s all available for free at worksinprogress.co. Show notes* Breasfeeding:* 2024 meta-analysis of health effects of breastfeeding* 2024 study from Uganda on “topping up” breastfeeding with formula milk* Bottle sterilising:* UK NHS advice on bottle sterilisation* Advice from other countries/states: Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Alberta (Canada), Israel, Norway, Sweden, US CDC, Texas Children’s Hospital, France* Lab research on germs passing from hands to bottles* 2006 observational study on health and sterilising bottles* Baby-led weaning* 2017 review and discussion of the history of baby-led weaning* 2023 Turkish randomised control trial* 2017 report from the NZ “BLISS” study* 2022 French Academy of Paediatrics statement on baby-led weaning* Tummy time* UK NHS advice on tummy time* 2023 protocol for a randomised trial* Very low-quality Indonesian study on tummy time* Sleep training* Weird 2012 “cortisol synchrony” study* Debate about the measurement of cortisol* 2020 study claiming no effects of sleep training on attachment; response 1; reply from the authors; response 2* Emily Oster’s ParentData piece on sleep trainingCreditsThe Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe
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1:17:52
Episode 71: The autism epidemic
The Studies Show LIVE (with special guest Jesse Singal) is next Friday, 9th of May, at Conway Hall in London. Get your tickets right HERE! Or go to bit.ly/tss_live. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. can’t be wrong about literally everything, can he? His latest controversial statement is that he wants to find the “environmental exposure” that has been causing the huge spike in autism rates over the past few decades.In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart look into whether there really is an autism epidemic in the first place—and if there isn’t, why the diagnoses might be going up so quickly anyway.The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress magazine. This week we discussed the article from the most recent issue about the UK’s land value tax—a cautionary tale of a policy that might sound good on paper, but was utterly cursed in practice. Find this and so many more fascinating articles about human progress at worksinprogress.co.Show notes* RFK Jr’s latest claims about autism (and his plans to gather data)* His statement “I believe autism comes from vaccines”, from 2023* His “Children’s Health Defence” org from 2015* CDC data on autism rates in the US* And similar data from the UK* A paper on the much lower rates in 1966* “Early infantile autism” - the original 1944 paper by Leo Kanner* Hans Asperger’s similarly-timed research* And on his collaboration with the Nazis* On “refrigerator mothers”* Data from after the MMR vaccine was split in Yokohama, Japan* The DSM-V checklist for autism spectrum disorder* Scott Alexander’s controversial piece “Against against autism cures”* 2023 paper on the prevalence of profound autism* Article on the growing waiting lists for autism diagnoses* More details on the same* 2022 paper on the genetics of autism* Article on rates of extra time in exams in the UK* Adam Hunt’s post about Renée Thornton, hot-air balloonist* The Economist’s Bagehot column on the “tyranny of turning up”* Underdiagnosed autism in girlsCreditsWe’re grateful to Adam Hunt for talking to us about psychiatric diagnoses for this episode. The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe
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54:31
Paid-only Episode 19: Circumcision
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.comSome scientific controversies are quite surprising (why would the shape of the Earth be controversial, for example?). But some aren’t. The controversy surrounding circumcision—which involves disputed medical science, bodily autonomy, children, disease, religion, sex, tradition, family, and, of course, genitalia—is about as fiery as it gets. In this paid-only episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart discuss the very sensitive issue of circumcision, covering the health benefits or lack thereof, the alleged risks, and the unbelievably bitter scientists who are battling it out over this unlikely topic.If you’re not a paid subscriber, you’ll just hear the very tip of the show—you’ll need to go to www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe to read the show notes and hear the whole thing.
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10:05
Episode 70: Bird flu
Don’t forget THE STUDIES SHOW LIVE—on 9 May in London! You can buy tickets at this link, or by going to bit.ly/tss_live.What’s going to be the next pandemic? For a long time you might’ve seen news stories about the current threat of H5N1 bird flu, but you probably haven’t paid much attention. In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart try and work out how worried we should be. Are COVID-scarred people freaking out over nothing? Or are we at the start of something much scarier?The Studies Show is brought you by Works in Progress magazine, a beautifully-produced magazine about science and technological progress. In the current issue you can read articles about new fertility technologies, land value tax, and the one we mentioned in the show, about prehistoric psychopaths. Find it all at worksinprogress.co.Show notes* The UK’s “Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy”* “Of course the UK had a herd immunity strategy”* Tom’s article on “the men who failed Britain”* The CDC on types of influenza virus* 2025 Harvard Medical School article on H5N1 bird flu* Article on the wild animal deaths caused by bird flu in the current outbreak* And the same for domestic animals* Egg prices! 1, 2* 2011 paper on haemagglutinin in avian flu viruses and its infectiousness to humans * Pigs as the “mixing vessel” for flu viruses* And the potential for cows to be the same* The controversial 2012 Science paper that modified a blue flu virus to be more infectious* The WHO’s seeming low level of concern about the bird flu outbreak* Pasteurised milk and its effects on bird flu transmission* The Swift Centre’s forecasts for the bird flu outbreak* Scott Alexander’s big piece on bird flu* The evidence for the effect of antivirals on bird flu* DOGE cuts to a programme that monitored bird flu in dairy products, and to animal monitoringCreditsWe’re very grateful to Claire Wang for her help with researching this episode. The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe
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55:25
Episode 69: Conspiracy theories
While you here do snoring lie, Open-eyed conspiracy His time doth take.If of life you keep a care, Shake off slumber, and beware: Awake, awake!…or so said William Shakespeare—about whom there are quite a few conspiracy theories, now we come to think of it. In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart do their best to waken you from your own slumber and open your eyes to the psychology of conspiracy theories. Why do people believe them? How do you even define a conspiracy theory? And is there anything we can do to shake people out of their mad “Truther” beliefs?The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress magazine. In the most recent issue you’ll find fascinating articles on subjects as wonderfully diverse as the land value tax, prehistoric psychopaths, and (as mentioned in this week’s episode) the history of the pineapple, the King of Fruit. Find it all for free at worksinprogress.co.Show notes* Loose Change, the viral 9/11 Truther video* 2023 conspiracy theory review in Annual Review of Psychology* Tom’s review of How to Talk to a Science Denier* Iran-Contra; the Invasion of Poland; the Invasion of Manchuria* The UK infected blood scandal* Kemi Badenoch accused of giving credence to a “conspiracy theory” about the Netflix show Adolescence* First study using the specific-conspiracy-list measure of conspiracy belief* 2013 study proposing a broader questionnaire on conspracies* 2022 meta-analysis of the correlates of conspiracy belief* Theory of the psychological motivations behind conspiracy theories from 2017* Associated meta-analysis from 2022* Paper proposing that there are “psychological benefits” of conspiracy theories* New York Times article on left-wing conspiracy theories during the 2024 election campaign* 2021 paper on left- vs. right-wing conspiracy belief* 2022 paper with cross-country data on conspiracy belief* 2024 Science paper on how talking to GPT-4 reduces conspiracy theory belief by 20%* David Aaronovitch’s book Voodoo HistoriesCreditsThe Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe
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