Episode 26: Exposing the Many Faces of Planet X, with Stuart Robbins

Pseudoscientific belief in mysterious non-observable planets in the far off solar system span the gamut from small Earth-size objects to brown dwarf failed stars, the source for such nearly mystical beliefs range from Sumerian tablets to the  Biblical Book of Revelation. On today's episode, Dr. Stuart Robbins, host of the Exposing Pseudoastronomy podcast, joins Justin Trottier at The Star Spot, to discuss the varieties of Planet X. The two also discuss how Dr. Robbins first became interested in responding critically to misinformation, what motivates his continued passion, and what lessons we can learn from true believers who promote pseudoscience over genuine discovery. About Stuart Robbins Dr. Stuart Robbins in a postdoc at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the first recipient of the Baruch Blumberg Citizen Science postdoctoral fellowship through the NASA Lunar Science Institute. He is the Science co-Lead on the citizen science project "Moon Mappers" and maintains active involvement tin education and public outreach in astronomy. In particular, he leads a project called Exposing Pseudoastronomy, a blog and podcast of the same name that responds to bad science in the fields of astronomy, physics and geology, taking on topics such as UFO's, young earth creationism, astrology, galactic alignment paranoia and russian meteor conspiracies. Current in Space Mallory Warren joins Justin Trottier to ruminate on the puzzling dearth of dwarf galaxies in our neighborhood, and what the discovery of the Higgs Boson might mean for the future of existence.