A weekly podcast about the latest scientific controversies, with Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie <br/><br/><a href="https://sciencefictionspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">sciencefictionspod.substack.com</a>
The Studies Show
Claim This Podcastby Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie
4.7(201 reviews)
140 episodes
Updated Daily
Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇬🇧
68
Podcast Authority
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Quality96
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Engagement99
Podcast Overview
A weekly podcast about the latest scientific controversies, with Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie <br/><br/><a href="https://sciencefictionspod.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">sciencefictionspod.substack.com</a>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
7/24/2023
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68
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BetaGoodBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
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Engagement99
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Recent Episodes
May 12, 2026
Unpaywalled: The science of Johann Hari
Hosts Tom and Stuart critically examine journalist Johann Hari's science writing career and the research behind his popular books.
April 28, 2026
Episode 100: Replication, replication, replication
Host Julian Mayers analyzes four new Nature papers to assess the replication crisis in social and behavioral science.
April 21, 2026
Episode 99.5: Candidate genes
<p>Here’s another one for the annals of “entire scientific field becomes totally misguided for decades”. How could it have been possible that so many scientists fell for the idea of candidate genes—that there were individual gene variants that explained huge chunks of variation in depression, aggression, intelligence, and many more psychological traits? How could they have written literally hundreds of peer-reviewed papers based on completely false “results”?</p><p>Well, they did. Here’s the story.</p><p>(Why 99.5? We’re putting off doing Episode 100, just so we can mark the occasion with an even better topic).</p><p>The Science Fictions podcast is brought to you by <a target="_blank" href="https://worksinprogress.co/">Works in Progress</a><a target="_blank" href="https://worksinprogress.co/"> magazine</a>, the journal of underrated ideas for making the world a better place. Today we talked about the new article on <a target="_blank" href="https://worksinprogress.co/issue/why-japan-has-such-good-railways/">why Japan’s railways are so good</a> and what other countries can learn from them. Read all their articles, for absolutely zero cost, at <a target="_blank" href="https://worksinprogress.co/">worksinprogress.co</a>.</p><p>Show notes</p><p>* The <a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8929413/">first study</a> on 5HTTLPR and depression, from 1996</p><p>* Caspi et al.’s <a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12869766/">seminal 2003 </a><a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12869766/">Science</a><a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12869766/"> paper</a> on gene-environment interaction with 5HTTLPR and depression</p><p>* “Orchid genes” in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/12/the-science-of-success/307761/">The Atlantic</a>; <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wired.com/2012/03/can-genes-send-you-high-or-low-the-orchid-hypothesis-a-bloom/">Wired</a>; <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/opinion/sunday/the-downside-of-resilience.html">The New York Times</a></p><p>* Caspi et al’s <a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12161658/">2002 paper on </a><a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12161658/">MAOA</a>, the “warrior gene”</p><p>* Article on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ovid.com/journals/bioet/abstract/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2012.01970.x~the-warrior-gene-and-the-mori-people-the-responsibility-of?redirectionsource=fulltextview">Maori people and MAOA</a></p><p>* 2009 story on an Italian court <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ejhg201031">reducing a sentence</a> due to MAOA</p><p>* Though <a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34074149/">no such luck</a> in New Mexico in 2021</p><p>* Scott Alexander’s <a target="_blank" href="https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/05/07/5-httlpr-a-pointed-review/">classic 2019 article</a> on candidate genes</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15842033/">Failure to replicate</a> the 5HTTLPR GxE as early as 2005</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2938776/">2009 meta-analysis</a> with flat-as-a-pancake results for 5HTTLPR</p><p>* Letter about the <a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3667399/">lopsided nature</a> of its citations</p><p>* 2011 “<a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3222234/">critical review</a>” of candidate gene studies</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://matthewckeller.com/publications/Border_AJP_2019.pdf">2019 Border et al. study</a> attempting to replicate depression candidate genes</p><p>* <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)01415-6">2025 GWAS of depression</a></p><p>* A <a target="_blank" href="https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?as_ylo=2026&q=5HTTLPR+depression&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5">Google Scholar search</a> for “5HTTLPR depression”, restricted to articles published in 2026</p><p>Credits</p><p>The Science Fictions podcast is produced by Julian Mayers at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.yada-yada.net/">Yada Yada Productions</a>.</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2">sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe</a>
140 total episodes available with 8 transcripts
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Frequently asked questions
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This podcast updates daily.
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This podcast is available on 9 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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