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This week on Think Atheist Radio we have our chat with Dr. John W. Reich. Dr. Reich was educated at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Colorado. First engaging in psychological research, the then moved to teaching, first at the University of Oklahoma but then moving to the University of Arizona. He is now Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Arizona and the Associate Dean for Research at that institution's College of Public Programs. His research interests include using social psychology theory to investigate adult interactions and relationships. He is the author previously of Experimenting in Society: Issues and Examples in Applied Social Psychology and the co-editor of two books on the psychology of adult resilience. We asked Dr. Reich to join us to discuss his brand new book Radical Distortion: How Emotions Warp What We Hear. Quite timely given the state of our public discourse in the world today, Dr. Reich's new book discusses how "radical hearing" and radical speech trigger our emotions resulting in a reduced capacity for clear-headed decision making and belief-formation, retention, and modification. Want to think critically? You have to understand the obstacles in our innate cognitive psychology to doing so. Join us!

New research seems to show that skeptics subconsciously repress supernatural thoughts.

SpaceX lifted off with cargo for the ISS and a satellite for a private company in the first launch of its kind by a private company. Things looked great until one of the rocket's engines blew on the way up. The capsule containing the ISS's cargo made it safely to its destination but the satellite, necessarily launched at a lower altitude owing to the failed rocket, eventually deorbited and fell back to earth.

Why Antarctic ice is at a record high while Arctic ice is at a record low.

Turns out brainless slime mold has an external memory. Really cool.

A new Pew Research poll finds that 1/5th of Americans has no religion. But as Hemant Mehta points out, the real headline is that 1/3rd of Americans under 30 are religiously unaffiliated.

Some deluded neurosurgeon has published a book wherein he recounts his experiences while in a coma. It's while in that coma he says that he had a transformative experience that confirms that consciousness exists apart from the physical body. The number of plainly hilarious boners this guy offers to convince people of his claims are too many to count. PZ Myers offered some thoughts. Sam Harris too. Just as entertaining as Harris' response is neuroscientist and philosopher Colin Blakemore's.

Then there's Charlie Fuqua. Mr. Fuqua is a Republican (duh) candidate for the Arkansas House and is in favor of the death penalty for unruly children that disrespect their parents.

Jerry Coyne discusses a recent post at PuffHo by Victor Stenger stressing that there's a yawning chasm between theistic evolution and scientific evolution.

The Taliban has accepted responsibility for the shooting of a 14 year-old girl. What was her crime, you ask? Well now. Shining a light on The Taliban's disgusting policies of course. What else?

The Liars for Jesus have no shame. They've been caught calling people pretending to be in favor of marriage equality in order to get the person on the phone to vote the wrong way, against the person's position.

Three-quarters of Americans now believe that climate change is affecting our weather.

It was revealed that a Minnesota archbishop advised the mother of a gay child to reject her child or risk she herself going to hell.

The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard gave an epic speech against misogyny in the Australian Parliament. The New Yorker offers video and asks what Gillard's speech can teach president Obama.

63 Catholic former priests have signed a letter in support Washington's marriage equality measure.

I would have sworn I'd seen it all. But homeopathy as a treatment for domestic violence?

On the next wave of leaders of the atheist movement and white privilege.

The 5 biggest misconceptions of secularism. 

A 520 million year old fossil brain shows the beginning of an evolutionary arms race.

Turns out DNA has a half life that makes a Jurassic Park scenario impossible.

A 9,000 year old Earth? Here's what that was really like.

Also requiring a spanking this week was a blogger at PuffHo attempting to make the case for ESP.

A recently discovered exo-planet, a "super-Earth", appears to be made up of diamond.

The measurement that would reveal the world as a computer simulation.

Why do we downplay the horror of climate change?

The top 5 quotes of stupid America's war on smart people.

Could Martian bacteria could have seeded Earth?

How far do you go to confront a friend or family member about their anti-scientific beliefs?

Neil Godfrey began a review series on D.M. Murdock's The Christ Conspiracy. Already looks like this is going to be entertaining.

From cooling system to thinking machine: the long, strange history of ideas about the brain.