Podcast For Inquiry – Centre for Inquiry Canada

A podcast for scientific, skeptical, secular, rational and humanistic inquiry.

You’ve got answers? We’ve got questions.

A podcast for scientific, skeptical, secular, rational and humanistic inquiry.

You’ve got answers? We’ve got questions.

Could we communicate with aliens if we found them? Daniel Whiteson wants to know.

Daniel is a professor of physics at UC Irvine, researching particle physics at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. He is the co-host of the podcast ‘Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe’ and the author of several books about physics for a general audience, including “Do Aliens Speak Physics?” And “We have no idea”.

In today’s episode, Daniel explores many questions, including:

Would we recognize an alien message if we received one?
If aliens landed in Central Park, would we be able to communicate?
How can we catch a baseball if we ignore all the interactions at the quantum level?
Why is even our best physics only an approximation?

Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.

January 28, 2026

Dr. Rodney Schmaltz says Scientific Skepticism can Save Society

Dr. Rodney Schmaltz is a professor in the Department of Psychology at MacEwan University. His research focuses on the psychology of belief, with a particular interest in how people evaluate extraordinary claims. He is committed to helping people develop strong critical thinking skills and an appreciation for the value of scientific evidence in everyday life. His work aims to improve scientific literacy in both academic and public settings, using research-based strategies to help people separate good information from bad.

In today’s episode, Rodney explains the importance of critical thinking – though he prefers the term scientific skepticism – and why we should expand science education to include how we know what is true, and not just the facts and frameworks of scientific knowledge. We talk about how being intelligent and educated is not related to belief in pseudoscience, and how it’s dangerous to dismiss someone you disagree with as a “conspiracy theorist” in a world where some conspiracies are real.

If you learn half as much as Leslie did from this conversation, you’re going to love today’s episode of Podcast for Inquiry with Rodney Schmaltz.

Email: rodney.schmaltz@macewan.ca

Website: https://www.rodneyschmaltz.com

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rodneyschmaltz

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rodney.schmaltz.9/

January 14, 2026

Podcast for Inquiry celebrates four incredible years

Podcast for Inquiry continues to be my pride and passion, and I am delighted every day that I get to have probing conversations with fascinating people, brought to you every two weeks by the team at CFIC.

This year featured four hard-hitting episodes focused on Canadian politics, a diatribe from Leslie on AI, and a couple more about corporations and the concentration of markets into an ever-shrinking number of firms. But the bulk of the year was spent inquiring about science, philosophy, religion, and the environment. There are many challenging issues (and a few controversial ones) to explore in 2025’s Podcast for Inquiry’s archive.

Dive in and enjoy! We are all looking forward to bringing you more in-depth conversations on topics that cover the breadth of the human experience in 2026.

Please feel free to share your feedback about the Podcast for Inquiry at podcast@centreforinquiry.ca. Leslie reads every message.

Politics:

Science and Environment:

Philosophy and Religion:

Business and Economy:

January 1, 2026

Living life as a Humanist, with Steve Ghikadis

Steve Ghikadis is a Humanist Officiant, who conducts secular marriages, memorials, and other life affirming celebrations. Raised as a freethinker, Steve has been married to a Christian for over a decade. Steve serves as an Ambassador for Humanist Canada, Recovering from Religion, and Sunday Assembly.

Leslie speaks with Steve about his book, Humanism from the Heart. They discuss the many themes and ideas in Steve’s book, including:

– Why Steve tried to become a believer many times throughout his life

– Purpose, meaning, and destiny

– What “soft determinism” means

– The dynamics of a family with one Christian and one Humanist parent

– The value of the answer, “I don’t know”.

December 17, 2025

Can We Have a Conversation? Exploring Polarization to Find Common Ground, with Jasmin Faulk

Leslie’s conversation with Jasmin Faulk begins with what Saudi Arabia was like when she was growing up, and what has and hasn’t changed since then. Jasmin talks about the fire of youth, the wisdom that comes from age, and how society needs both activists and advocates to move forward. She also shares her desire to have genuine and difficult conversations with people with very different worldviews in an attempt to find, or create common ground.

December 3, 2025

The building blocks of corporate scandals: Guido Palazzo reveals the Dark Pattern

Corporate scandals are depressingly common, and it’s all too easy to chalk them up to individual bad apples. Unfortunately, this simple explanation is not accurate. Guido’s research led him to write The Dark Pattern: The hidden dynamics of corporate scandals, which details the nine building blocks that lead otherwise good people to do bad things. He explains the importance of context, why psychopaths are wildly overrepresented in corporate boardrooms, and the societal structures that too often lead to egregious behaviour from companies across the globe.

November 19, 2025