Tania Israel is a Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Tania's book Beyond Your Bubble: How to Connect Across the Political Divide, Skills and Strategies for Conversations That Work (APA, 2020) grew out of Dr. Israel’s skill-building workshop that she developed and delivered to hundreds of participants following the 2016 election. Dr. Israel’s honors include 2019 Congressional Woman of the Year (CA 24th District), Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Award for Excellence in Mental Health from the California Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, and Emerging Leader Award from the APA Committee on Women in Psychology. Tania and I discuss debating topics with people on social media, trust and relationships, vaccine hesitancy, abortion, polarization in 2021, the history of conflict and polarization, stress caused by political division, the media and it's influence on division, political extremes and the center, and more topics. To learn more, visit taniaisrael.com or connect with her on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram (@BYBDialogue) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support

Dr. Jonathan Howard is a neurologist and psychiatrist based in New York City who has been interested in vaccines since long before COVID-19. He works treating MS and on the neurology and psychiatric wards at Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the United States.   We discuss Myocarditis (from Covid-19 vs Vaccines), vaccine eligibility in ages 0-12, bias among average citizens vs doctors, triaging at hospital ICUs based on vaccination status, similarities between Covid-19 and the 1918 pandemic, children & Covid-19 and the law of large numbers, vaccine mandates, COVAX/GAVI and vaccine boosters, and more topics.   He can be found on twitter at @JHowardBrainMD --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support

Scott Flansburg is from upstate New York and he is known worldwide as the Human Calculator. He holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest mental calculation after adding the same number to itself more times in 15 seconds. He is also an annual host and founder of The National Counting Bee, a fast-paced annual competition to find the fastest human counters.  Flansburg discovered his mental calculation ability at the age of 9 when his maths teacher asked him to add four numbers. He can mentally add, subtract, divide and multiply numbers with the accuracy of the calculator naturally. In 1990, he started using his abilities in the education and entertainment industry. To date, he has published books like Math Magic and Math Magic For Your Kids. Scott has been featured in popular shows around the world like The Ellen Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, USA Today, BBC breakfast, ESPN, History Channel, and many more. We discuss how he discovered his abilities, learning 0-9 instead of 1-10, numerology, how kids should or shouldn't learn math, democratic schools, and more! He can be found at @HumanCalculator on social media or at www.humancalculator.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support

Yuri Deigin is a Russian-Canadian biotech entrepreneur and life extension activist whose primary area of expertise lies in the field of drug discovery and development. He wrote a 16,000 word essay on Medium where he argued that the Wuhan Lab Leak theory of Covid-19's origins has strong evidence for it. Many virologists disagree with this sentiment, but Yuri doesn't think it should be dismissed. He has also been vocal on Twitter against Bret Weinstein and his Dark Horse Podcast regarding Bret's encouragement of Ivermectin use and anti-vaccine rhetoric.   We discussed life extension goals and challenges, gene therapy, ivermectin, vaccines, the Wuhan lab leak and Covid-19's origins, as well as the current state of geopolitics regarding Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan this week following the US military leaving the country.   Yuri can be found on Medium and on twitter at @ydeigin --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support

Andre Pineda is a Scientific Advisor and Communicator, he holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences and is based in New York but originally from Hamilton, Ontario. Andre and I discuss science communication, legal scientific advisory, scientific literacy, public trust / trust in experts, challenging beliefs and worldviews, and we tackle some Covid-19 misinformation surrounding viral load, what causes variants, and immunization records / vaccine passports. Andre can be followed at @DreTheScientist --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support

Lalo Dagach is the 'Chilean Palistinean', and he hosts the Lalo Dagach podcast. Lalo has appeared on shows like the Dave Rubin show and has a prominent twitter following.  We discussed Chilean history, the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, Chilean politics and the election in 2021, Venezuela, the Iraq War, and a bit about Covid-19 and vaccines including mandatory vaccines / vaccine passports, vaccine hesitancy and efficacy and more.  Follow him at @LaloDagach on all platforms. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support

Erick Galindo is a Telly Award and James Beard Foundation-winning Latino filmmaker, journalist, and culture writer who has published and produced work for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, KPCC/LAist and more. Erick is the host of “WILD,” a new podcast from LAist Studios about perseverance in the face of moments that feel too big to overcome but end up changing the trajectory of our lives forever. The first season features optimistic stories from the time spent at home the past year and a half, focusing on how that time has shaped us in the present as the world begins to reopen. Erick and I discussed the personal side of the pandemic, the stories he explores on WILD, getting tired of data and headlines from the pandemic news cycle, living through the current 'event horizon' of the end of the pandemic, vaccines and vaccine hesitancy, american individualism, growing up as an immigrant in south-east LA, and more! Listen to 'WILD' wherever podcasts are found. Twitter @ErickGEEE // Instagram @erickgalindo --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support

Mick West is a British-American science writer, skeptical investigator, and retired video game programmer. His book is Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect.  Kevin M. Folta is a professor of the horticultural sciences department at the University of Florida. Kevin hosts the Talking Biotech podcast.  Lalo Dagach is the Chilean Palestinian and the host of the Lalo Dagach podcast. He has appeared on the Rubin Report, and has studied film and politics.   **********************   In Deekast #94 we discuss with Mick, Kevin and Lalo: the Covid-19 origins investigation by the WHO, the possible outcomes and rejections or acceptance the outcomes will face, as well as the potential outcomes of the Pentagon's upcoming UFO/UAP disclosure report. We also discuss topics like zoonotic viruses, vaccines and lockdowns in Chile, gain of function research, the Wuhan Lab, wet markets and their history and economics, China and political secrecy, Twitter as a platform for conspiracy theories and as it relates to converting or convincing people, skepticism, rationality, scientific literacy, media literacy, the media 'getting it wrong', how to know which sources of news to trust, the degradation of various popular media outlets integrity over time, and many more topics. ********************** Follow @MickWest, @kevinnfolta, and @LaloDagach on twitter for more!   Visit metabunk.org, or listen to Tales from the Rabbit Hole, the Talking Biotech podcast, or the Lalo Dagach podcast wherever you get your podcasts! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support

Lorenzo Hagerty is the host of the Psychedelic Salon podcast, he is an author and formerly an attorney, U.S. Naval officer, electrical engineer, motivational speaker, and corporate geek. We discuss Lorenzo's past as an attorney in Texas, his first time trying MDMA, resorting to dealing MDMA to support a failing computer company being run out by IBM, psychedelics, the war on drugs and current drug laws, Terrence McKenna, Ram Dass, J. Krishnamurti and more. @PsychedelicLozo on Twitter www.psychedelicsalon.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support

Dr. Dan Wilson holds a PHD in molecular biology and hosts a YouTube channel called Debunk the Funk. His latest series called Debunking the Disinformation Dozen tackles a specific group of anti-vaxxers and covid-deniers who have been shown to produce 65% of all anti-vaccine misinformation posted online. He uses plain English and logic to examine various claims made on their videos and interviews. We discuss conspiratorial thinking, science communication and literacy, rhetoric and debate techniques like gish galloping, the concept or defense of 'questioning things', we break down various myths and debunk specifically: the Wuhan lab leak theory, event 201, death certificates and doctors receiving extra funding to lie about death causes, co-morbidities, the 6% myth, should young healthy individuals get vaccinated and why, counter-factuals and examining consequences of taking no action against covid19, the concept of forced vaccines and vaccine passports, vaccine patents, past warnings of pandemics and warnings for future ones, among other topics. Check out Dr. Wilson on twitter at: @Debunk_the_Funk And his YouTube channel at 'Debunk the Funk' --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deekast/support