5—6—3—4—3—1—7—2In the first episode under our new podcast name (it’s now the Science Fictions podcast!), we ask whatever happened to all those games that claimed to tell you your “brain age”—games that turned into a whole scientific literature on brain training. We discuss: the still-unresolved question of whether training one specific cognitive ability makes you generally smarter; seemingly endless contrasting meta-analyses; and the small matter of what brain training might tell us about the nature of intelligence.(If you can repeat the list of numbers from the top in reverse order then you have the brain of a 25-year-old. If you’re 25 or younger, then I don’t know what to tell you.)We’re now an official part of the Works in Progress podcast world. You can find their other podcasts, including Hard Drugs, the one we talked about on today’s episode (about the remarkable development of a drug for HIV), at podcast.worksinprogress.co. Show notes* The 2008 PNAS paper that started the craze for working memory training* The under-discussed rebuttal* 2013 meta-analysis concluding there’s no evidence for far transfer* 2015 meta-analysis concluding there is no convincing evidence brain training is effective* 2016 meta-analysis saying there is no convincing evidence brain training is NOT effective* Very useful and detailed 2016 review of the evidence and the methodological issues inherent in brain training (including active vs. passive control groups)* 2020 meta-meta-analysis arguing that the active-passive distinction doesn’t matter* 2023 review criticising the meta-meta-analysis* And the authors’ own 2020 meta-analysis* 2022 meta-analysis of commercial brain training in older peopleCreditsThe Science Fictions podcast 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 sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
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Episode 83: Dark matter and dark energy
Where is most of the universe? And why don't we know yet? Yes—we’re talking about dark matter and dark energy, the mysterious stuff that’s predicted by physical theory, but which still remains elusive in experiments.After speaking to an actual physicist, Tom and Stuart attempt to explain what dark matter and dark energy are supposed to be, and what physicists would have to see in their experiments to know that they exist. They also come down with a serious case of physics envy.The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress magazine, which has just published this excellent new article on the history of French nuclear power. Why has France been so successful at building nuclear plants while other countries have dropped the (radioactive, probably flourescent green) ball? “Liberté, Egalité, Radioactivité” tells you everything you need to know. Find it and much more, all for free, at worksinprogress.co.Show notes* August 2025 Science article about a “big blob” of dark matter in the Milky Way* LIGHTS ALL ASKEW IN THE HEAVENS* Cosmic microwave background? Or pigeon droppings?* 1984 Nature paper about “cold dark matter” and the formation of galaxies* WMAP probe map of the cosmic microwave background* Two papers from 1998 on the accelerating expansion of the universeCreditsWe’re very grateful to Prof. Andrew Pontzen of Durham University for talking to us for this episode (all mistakes are our own). 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 sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
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Episode 82: Paper mills
In our last standard episode, we talked about retraction—removing papers from the scientific literature. Well, it turns out there’s an awful lot of retraction to do, in large part due to paper mills. These are fraudulent enterprises that take money from nefarious scientists to put their name on fake scientific papers, and get them published in whatever journal will accept them. Sadly, paper mill papers are now rife. In this solo episode of The Studies Show (Tom is away at a wedding), Stuart talks through a new paper showing just how badly these paper mills have poisoned the scientific literature.Show notes* The new PNAS paper using various techniques to examine coordinated attempts at scientific fraud* A response from PLOS* The Retraction Watch article on ARDA* A few interesting recent articles on paper mills* The Nature News article on the universities with the most retractions* AI versus paper millsCreditsThe 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 sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
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Unpaywalled: Diversity training
We’re very sorry about the disrupted service over this summer! It’s been hectic with work and a house move and various things. To tide you over, here’s a formerly paywalled episode: our very first one.…If you’ve ever done a diversity training session at work, you’ll almost certainly have learned about unconscious bias, microaggressions, stereotype threat, and trigger warnings. Prejudice, racism, and trauma are apparently simmering constantly, just under the surface of our conscious minds.It turns out that each of these concepts has been subject to a lot of scientific research. It also turns out, perhaps unsurprisingly, that they’re all extremely controversial. In this first paid-subscriber-only episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart look at each of them in turn and try to decide which of them—if any—stand up to scrutiny.To listen to the full version of this episode and see the show notes, you’ll need to be a paid subscriber to The Studies Show podcast on Substack. See below, or go to www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe, for the options.If you’re already a paid subscriber: thank you!Show Notes* Unconscious bias:* The Implicit Association Test at Harvard* The 2019 meta-analysis on experiments that try to change implicit, explicit, and behavioural biases* Article by Patrick Forscher, meta-analysis co-author, on unconscious bias training in CapX* Equality & Human Rights Commission Report on unconscious bias training* Microaggressions:* Original 2007 American Psychologist paper on microaggressions* Scott Lilienfeld’s 2017 critique of microaggression research* His article in Aeon summarising the critique* Response to Lilienfeld by Monnica Williams* Lilienfeld’s reply to Williams* Stereotype threat:* In the UK, girls now do better than boys at maths* 2015 meta-analysis on sex-related stereotype threat for maths* 2018 follow-up study by the same authors* 2019 meta-analysis on sex- and race-related stereotype threat* Planned meta-analysis on the decline effect in stereotype threat research* Trigger warnings:* The 2023 meta-analysis on trigger warning research* Scott Alexander on “The Wonderful Thing About Triggers”* Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American MindCreditsThe 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 sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
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Episode 81: Retraction
RETRACTED // In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart discuss retraction, the process of removing articles from the scientific record. How often is it due to fraud? How many papers get retracted—and is the number increasing? Is it good or bad for a scientist to retract an article? // RETRACTEDWant even more podcasts? Now our sponsor, Works in Progress magazine, has a podcast where their editors talk to people with interesting progress-related ideas. One such person is the historian Anton Howes, who is interviewed about the unexpected origins of the Industrial Revolution in the latest episode. Find it at worksinprogress.news.Show notes* Retraction Watch, the extremely useful website that tracks and investigates retractions* Science’s writeup of the long process of retracting the GFAJ-1 “arsenic bacteria” paper* Original paper; retraction note; response from the authors* The first known retraction, from 1755* Retraction Watch’s discussion of it* Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky on tracking retractions over time* 2022 PLOS ONE article on the number of retractions over time* Scholarly Kitchen post on the rate of retractions over time* Nature article on the 10,000 retractions in 2023 alone* 2011 article on the causes of retractions* 2012 article on the same: misconduct is found to account for the biggest proportion* James Heathers on the disastrous story of Wiley buying Hindawi* The retraction guidelines from COPE* The paper with a diagram of a very well-endowed rat* Are authors punished for retractions? Not necessarily* Reputational advantage from correcting errors* 2022 article on how scientists still regularly cite retracted papers (without knowing they’re retracted)CreditsWe’re very grateful to Ivan Oransky from Retraction Watch for his help with this episode. Any mistakes are ours. 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 sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
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