Consilience (podcast)

Consilience

Hosting	Owen Swart Angela Meadon Michael Meadon
Updates	Weekly
Debut	March 16, 2011
Genre	Science and skepticism
Website	consiliencecast.wordpress.com

Consilience is a weekly hour-long podcast recorded in Johannesburg, South Africa. The show features discussions on science history, myths, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, the paranormal and religion from the point of view of scientific skepticism with special focus on events in Africa. The show also features discussions of recent scientific developments and interviews science journalists, people in the area of science and other famous skeptics.

Consilience is the official podcast of the Gauteng Skeptics, a non-profit organisation which focuses on building a community of skeptics in and around Gauteng, South Africa.

Production

The show is recorded in person and each of the hosts contributes towards the editing of the podcast before it is released. Cathy Wagner provides the voice overs for the introduction and closing credits of the show.

Segments

Opening

Consilience opens with co-host Owen Swart introducing each of the hosts and giving the date on which the show was recorded.

Teaching Angela To Appreciate History

In this segment the hosts discuss an historical event that occurred on, or close to, the date that the show is recorded. The name of the segment is a reference to Angela Meadon's alleged disdain for historical events.

Updates and Feedback

During this segment the hosts respond to listener feedback and update developments on previously covered news topics.

News

The News segment makes up the majority of the show. The hosts cover scientific and skeptical news events from the week prior to the recording date.

Interviews

The hosts regularly interview scientists and skeptics.

Guests

• Steve Novella of NeuroLogica and The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
• Adrian Tiplady one of the project leaders for the South African Square Kilometre Array
• Rebecca Watson the founder of Skepchick.org
• Ed Yong author of Not Exactly Rocket Science
• Carl Zimmer science journalist and author of Science Ink and A Planet of Viruses
• Bianca Verlinden a research scientist involved in Malaria prevention.
• Jacques Rousseau the founder and chairman of the Free Society Institute and columnist for the Daily Maverick.
• Claire Lee a particle physicist at CERN.
• Esta Van Heerden manager of the Metagenomics Platform and an associated professor in Biochemistry at the University of the Free State in South Africa.