John L. Taylor is Head of Philosophy and Director of Critical Skills at Rugby School, UK. Before taking up his post at Rugby he tutored in the Philosophy of Science at Oxford University. Since 1999 he has directed the "Perspectives on Science" (PoS) project. Dr Taylor is also a Chief Examiner for the Extended Project.

Astronomy has been the subject of wonder and speculation for as long as historical records exist. As with all science, people got some things right – and, even with the best methods available, other things wrong.

Since 2007, Alice Sheppard has run the Galaxy Zoo Forum, the discussion area for an online astronomy project with 300,000 members worldwide. Galaxy Zoo has so far produced 21 papers, whose authors and acknowledged contributors include several ordinary citizens. Some of its findings were a direct result of questions or collections of objects created by the users, who became “Citizen scientists”.

Alice takes us through some of the best and worst of astronomical history, and what ancient and modern mistakes are made today. We will hear the questions people have come to Galaxy Zoo with, the ways in which biases were found and dealt with by the scientists and participants, the beautiful and inspiring projects created by untrained people and the scientific thinking they learnt for themselves to apply.

We also take a look at citizen science in general, how Galaxy Zoo taught large numbers of people to understand and use science, and explore what this might mean for skepticism.

Alice co-founded Cardiff and Hackney Skeptics in the Pub and Galactic Orchids, a fundraising astronomy talk series. In her past life she was thrown out of a teaching career for being too interested in science and not interested enough in exams. She’s currently in London doing an MSc in Astrophysics – all Galaxy Zoo’s fault, obviously.

In the meantime, you can classify a few galaxies for yourself at www.galaxyzoo.org.

Anthony Grayling MA, DPhil (Oxon) FRSL, FRSA is Master of the New College of the Humanities, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. Until 2011 he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy and other subjects; among his most recent are "The Good Book", "Ideas That Matter", "Liberty in the Age of Terror" and "To Set Prometheus Free". For several years he wrote the "Last Word" column for the Guardian newspaper and a column for the Times. He is a frequent contributor to the Literary Review, Observer, Independent on Sunday, Times Literary Supplement, Index on Censorship and New Statesman, and is an equally frequent broadcaster on BBC Radios 4, 3 and the World Service. He writes the "Thinking Read" column for the Barnes and Noble Review in New York, is the Editor of Online Review London, and a Contributing Editor of Prospect magazine.

In addition he sits on the editorial boards of several academic journals, and for nearly ten years was the Honorary Secretary of the principal British philosophical association, the Aristotelian Society. He is a past chairman of June Fourth, a human rights group concerned with China, and is a representative to the UN Human Rights Council for the International Humanist and Ethical Union. He is a Vice President of the British Humanist Association, the Patron of the United Kingdom Armed Forces Humanist Association, a patron of Dignity in Dying, and an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.

Anthony Grayling was a Fellow of the World Economic Forum for several years, and a member of its C-100 group on relations between the West and the Islamic world. He has served as a Trustee of the London Library and a board member of the Society of Authors. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2003 he was a Booker Prize judge, in 2010 was a judge of the Art Fund prize, and in 2011 the Wellcome Book Prize. He supports a number of educational charities and is a sponsor of Rogbonko School in Sierra Leone.

Anthony Grayling's new book, "The God Argument" was published in March 2013.

Wacky belief systems abound. Members of the Heavens Gate suicide cult believed they were taking a ride to heaven on board a UFO. Muslim suicide bombers expect to be greeted after death by 72 virgins. And many fundamentalist Christians insist the entire universe is just 6,000 years old. Of course its not only cults and religions that promote bizarre beliefs significant numbers of people believe that aliens built the pyramids. How do such preposterous views succeed in entrenching themselves in the minds of sane, intelligent, educated people and turn them into the willing slaves of claptrap?

Stephen Law is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London. He has written several well-known introductions to philosophy, including the prize-winning The Philosophy Gym, and edits the Royal Institute of Philosophy journal THINK: Philosophy For Everyone. Stephen is Provost (or Head) of the new Centre For Inquiry in the U.K. and puts on regular events. He was also commissioned by Oxford University Press to write their Very Short Introduction to Humanism.

His latest book is Believing Bullshit: How Not To Get Sucked Into An Intellectual Black Hole.

http://stephenlaw.blogspot.co.uk/

There are 650 MPs in the House of Commons. 158 have a background in business, 90 have been political advisers or organisers, and 86 are lawyers. Only one of them is a scientist. Is it any wonder that politics so often lets science down, and fails to exploit its skeptical methods to design policies that are fit for purpose?

In the Geek Manifesto, published by Bantam Press in May 2012, Mark Henderson explores this disconnect between science and politics, and charts the emergence of a new force that is promising to mend it. From the Simon Singh libel case to the sacking of David Nutt and the Science is Vital campaign, people who care about science are starting to stand up to be counted. The geeks are coming -- and our country needs us.

Tom Cruise and John Travolta say the Church of Scientology is a force for good. Others disagree. Award-winning journalist John Sweeney investigated the Church for more than half a decade. During that time he was intimidated, spied on and followed and the results were spectacular: Sweeney lost his temper with the Church’s spokesman on camera and his infamous ‘exploding tomato’ clip was seen by millions around the world.

John Sweeney tells the story of his experiences for the first time and paints a devastating picture of this strange organisation, from former Scientologists who tell heartbreaking stories of families torn apart and lives ruined to its current followers who say it is the solution to many of mankind’s problems.

Electric cars? They're rubbish aren't they?! Nothing but glorified golf carts that take forever to charge and then run out of power on the way to the shops. Try finding somewhere to charge them. They cost a fortune to buy and another fortune to replace the battery when its range drops to half. You don't want to believe all that nonsense about them being environmentally-friendly. They are actually worse than petrol-powered cars because the batteries are made from dirty lithium and use electricity made from dirtier coal. There isn't even enough lithium in the world to make all the new batteries we'd need anyway. Electric cars are just rubbish. Aren't they? - Robert says no. This evening he'll tell us why he thinks we need to put away our prejudices and think seriously about electric vehicles as the future of transport.

Robert Llewellyn is an actor, writer, comedian, TV presenter and self-described wishy-washy liberal best known for playing the android Kryten in the long-running BBC sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf. He presented Scrapheap Challenge for 10 years and these days he can be seen on TV presenting the shows Car-Pool on Dave and How Do They Do It? on Channel 5. He is probably the UK's most prominent advocate of electric vehicles (EV) and presents a YouTube-based show called Fully Charged which documents current developments in the electric vehicle industry. He also writes a column for the EV website The Charging Point. He has been notably critical of BBC Top Gear's position on electric vehicles - a case in point being theTop Gear "review" of the Tesla V in 2008 which is currently the subject of a lawsuit by Tesla. This February he debated the motion "This House Believes Electric Cars are the Future of Transport" at the Oxford Union. The motion was carried.

After being baptised in water shortly after his thirteenth birthday, Daniel began a spiritual journey to discover the real Jesus and learn the power of Faith in a world of sin, science and skepticism. His experience was not of a restrictive Christianity but instead of a liberal and charismatic church, of magical miracles and a future destined for heaven. Armed with all the right questions and debates, Daniel's mission was to explain the love of Christ to everyone and win over hundreds of hearts and minds to the Church. However in his early twenties, he turned away from his beliefs and started a new life as a non-believer. 

His is a story of Tongues, prayer, church, plenty of bible camps and one dangerous course in the Philosophy of Science. 

What makes a good skeptically-themed comedy song? While it's clear that Blake Hutchings doesn't know the answer to this question, he has a damn good go at trying to figure it out in this talk. Structured around the story of his effort to write the perfect skeptical song - his tribute to JREF president DJ Grothe - he also gives a sort of 'Skepticism 101' along the way, delving into the world of logical fallacies, reasoning errors, and taking great care NOT to call Sally Morgan a fraudulent litigious witch (which he doesn't say, and has never said). Punctuated with songs including "Yahweh's Last Stand" and "Rudolph the Gullible Reindeer" this somewhat unusual SitP talk promises to be an interesting and different night at your local skeptic group.

Neil Denny is the producer and presenter of the Little Atoms Radio Show and podcast. Neil was the recipient of a Travelling Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and in May 2012 he embarked upon a month long, 6614 mile road trip across America. The aim of the trip was to produce a series of podcasts which present a wide-ranging overview of science and skepticism from an American perspective. Driving from San Francisco to Boston and calling in at Phoenix, Santa Fe, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York along the way, Neil recorded 39 interviews with scientists and science writers including Ann Druyan, Leonard Susskind, Kip Thorne, Priya Natarajan, Paul Davies, George Church, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Mary Roach, Edward Stone and Sara Seager. He recorded interviews at some major sites of scientific interest, including NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The Los Alamos National Laboratory, and The American Museum of Natural History. He also spent a less scientific day visiting Kentucky’s Creation Museum. The podcasts from Neil’s trip can be found at the following website: http://feeds.feedburner.com/littleatomsroadtrip. Find out more about Little Atoms here: www.littleatoms.com, and follow Neil on Twitter @littleatoms.

Ash Pryce of the Edinburgh Skeptics Society presents a fully interactive demonstration of various tricks that psychics have used over the years.

From the Fox Sisters through to Uri Geller, psychics have been claiming to be able to do things beyond our understanding, but Ash Pryce knows better. Nearly all of the major claims of psychics and mediums can easily be re-created and tonight Ash will be reproducing such famous feats as Uri Geller’s Telekinesis, Filipino Psychic Surgery, the Remote Viewing experiments of America’s “Stargate” program (The 70s CIA shenanigans and not the inter dimensional, Goa’uld busting kind) and much more – including an attempt to beat the odds of the Randi Million.

A fun, entertaining and magic filled evening that also takes a look at the history of psychic trickery and how it has become such a popular phenomenon. Warning to those on the front row – there will be blood!"

 Details coming soon!

Maryam will be speaking about Sharia law in Britain and across the globe, its violations of rights and equality, and the need for One Law for All, secularism and equal rights.

Maryam Namazie is Spokesperson for the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain, for the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and for Equal Rights Now - Organisation against Women's Discrimination in Iran. She is also an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society and the NSS 2005 Secularist of the Year award winner and was selected one of the top 45 women of the year 2007 by Elle magazine Quebec.

The werewolf is a common horror motif, but what did people during the witch-hunt of sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe really mean when they accused someone of 'lycanthropy'? An evening discussing films, history and analysis at which we will found out who is worse - man or beast.

Deborah Hyde blogs on ‘Superstition, Religion and Being Human’ as ‘Jourdemayne’

Prince Charles is a staunch defender and millions of people swear by it; most UK doctors consider it to be little more than superstition and a waste of money. But how do you know which treatments really heal and which are potentially harmful? Simon Singh and his co-author Professor Edzard Ernst investigated the evidence for and against alternative therapies and published their conclusions in “Trick or Treatment?”, an honest, impartial and hard-hitting examination and judgement of more than 30 of the most popular treatments. Singh, who has also authored “Fermat’s Last Theorem” and “Big Bang”, will discuss how and why he got involved in writing about alternative medicine. In particular, he will discuss the origins, philosophy and testing of acupuncture and homeopathy, two of the most popular forms of alternative medicine. Singh, who was unsuccessfully sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association, will also discuss the impact of libel laws on scientific journalism and the ongoing battle for libel reform.

After completing a PhD in particle physics, Simon Singh MBE joined the BBC and worked as a director and producer on programmes such as Tomorrow’s World and Horizon. He has also presented programmes on Radio 4, BBC4 and Channel 4. He is best known as the author of Fermat’s Last Theorem, The Code Book, Big Bang and Trick or Treatment?

True or False:

Personality type is a significant predictor of performance in certain jobs?

Getting the mix of personality types right is important for team performance?

Good teams perform better than the best performing individual member of the team?

"Team Building" exercises improve team performance?

Changing the culture of an organisation changes its performance?

All of these ideas are currently being applied in the management of many organisations. At least one of the ideas is backed by solid theory that has been repeatedly tested. At least one of the ideas is in total conflict with the body of evidence in its parent field of study. This Skeptics in the Pub talk is about Management Science. More specifically, how much of management is "science", how much consists of interesting but untested ideas, and how much is in ignorance or conflict with the evidence base?

Dr Andrew Rae is a researcher and lecturer in the field of system safety engineering. Decomposing the discipline: - safety is about preventing accidents - engineering is about applying scientific principles to solve real-world problems - systems engineering is about engineering the process and organisation of engineering itself Drew is an engineer by training and inclination, but his attempts to apply science to organisations have led him into the murky world of sociology, where rigorous research design competes with pseudoscientific fads.

Drew is a regular speaker on the Skeptics in the Pub circuit, and speaker convenor for York Skeptics.