Nullius In Verba

Nullius In Verba

@nulliusinverba.bsky.social

Nullius in Verba is a podcast about science—what it is and what it could be. Hosted by Smriti Mehta (@smritimehta.bsky.social) and Daniël Lakens (@lakens.bsky.social). nulliusinverba.podbean.com

1,406 Followers 753 Following 72 Posts Joined Aug 2023
11 minutes ago
Episode 77: Miscitatio | Nullius in Verba In this episode, we discuss the problem of miscitation. How often are citations to the scientific literature outright misleading? Do we really need to spell out that people  are supposed to read what ...

New episode on miscitation:
nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/ep-77-misc...
How often are citations to the scientific literature outright misleading? Do we really need to spell out that people are supposed to read what they cite? And should we review citations as they do in law?

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3 weeks ago
Episode 75: Incitamenta - I | Nullius in Verba In this two-part episode, we discuss incentives in science and academia. We discuss the various incentives in science, including recognition, citations, money, and the kick in the discovery.   Shownot...

Our new episode on incentives in science is out now! We talk about the different kinds of incentives (prestige, awards, money, tenure, etc.)--when they help and how they might hurt science. nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/incentives...

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1 month ago
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Episode 74: Notiones Vague | Nullius in Verba In this episode, we discuss the problems associated with vague concepts in psychological science. We talk about the jingle-jangle fallacy, the trade-off between broad concepts and more precise…

New episode of Nullius In Verba! We discuss the jingle-jangle fallacy, the problem of vague concepts, how the incentive structures promote vagueness, why people who prefer more rigour have to be called the validity 'police', and much more!

nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/episode-74...

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1 month ago

One of the best episodes so far (both parts)! Loved the back and forth and the camaraderie between @lakens.bsky.social and Smriti Mehta. Found myself laughing out in the train a few times! 😅

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1 month ago
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Episode 73: Scientismus - II | Nullius in Verba In this episode, we continue our discussion of scientism. We talk about 6 problems with scientism that have been raised by Susan Haack, if we should feel bad about having some sympathy for scientism,…

Part 2 of our discussion on Scientism at Nullius in Verba is out:
nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/episode-73...

We talk about 6 problems with scientism that have been raised by Susan Haack, and if we should feel bad about having some sympathy for scientism.

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2 months ago

Great podcast on scientific knowledge (and maybe other kinds?), with Daniël Lakens and Smriti Mehta 👍

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2 months ago
Episode 72: Scientismus - I | Nullius in Verba In this two-part episode, we delve into the topic of scientism. Is science the best way to generate knowledge? Or are we giving too much deference to science if we believe this? In this first part, we...

Starting the new year with a new podcast episode of Nullius In Verba on 'Scientism' nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/episode-72...

In the first of two parts, we ask if it is ok to think that science is the best way to generate knowledge, or if this is too dismissing of 'other ways of knowing'.

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2 months ago
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Our Spotify Wrapped tells us that collectively you have listened a total of 181 days to our podcast - and that's just for those of you using Spotify to listen to @nulliusinverba.bsky.social

Thank you all so much for listening!

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3 months ago

Extremely grateful that there are people who have spent almost a full day of this year listening to our little podcast! ❤️

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6 months ago
Preview
Prologus 66: The Psychology of Controversy (E. G. Boring) Podcast Episode · Nullius in Verba · 05/09/2025 · 1h 5m

@nulliusinverba.bsky.social This prologue episode is absolutely fascinating. As scientists we have to be able to argue the case for new ideas, and at the same time, be able to judge them dispassionately. Psychologically, this isn’t easy, even for psychologists.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...

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7 months ago
Episode 63: Experimenta Praematura | Nullius in Verba In this episode we discuss whether psychology is engaging in premature experimentation. Are experiments overused, and should we make greater use of other approaches to knowledge generation? If so, whi...

New episode on Premature Experimentation: nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/episode-63... Are experiments overused, and should we make greater use of other approaches to knowledge generation? If so, which methods should we use instead? Enjoy!

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7 months ago
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No new episode this week! Smriti is busy teaching an introduction to psychology course, and Daniel is relaxing in his garden with a new puppy.

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8 months ago
Episode 62: Experimenta Exploratoria | Nullius in Verba In this episode we discuss exploratory experimentation, an iterative process used by scientists to better understand phenomena. We ask why exploratory research seems to be valued less in science, the ...

New episode of @nulliusinverba.bsky.social on exploratory experimentation. Why does exploratory research seem to be valued less? How can we do it well? nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/experiment...

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8 months ago
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We are very happy that the content of our little podcast is resonating with fellow academics. Although, with more than a thousand listeners per episode, maybe we are not that little anymore 🤗

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8 months ago

As a podcast that mainly tries to educate listeners about decade old papers, we very much agree!

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8 months ago

RE @nulliusinverba.bsky.social ep 59: Meehl seems to assume that research is harder than teaching; teachers should be paid less and if you can't do interesting research you're "demoted" to teaching. Why not the opposite? Why not pay teachers more and say "if you cannot teach, do"?

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8 months ago

It is clear Meehl thought he was much smarter than most other psychologist, so much is clear from his writing :)

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8 months ago

He discusses the tendency of scientists to call other scientists racists with no good arguments in the book.

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8 months ago
Episode 61: Septem Vacae Sacrae III | Nullius in Verba This is the final installment of the three-part series on Paul Meehl's unpublished book, The Seven Sacred Cows of Academia.

New episode! The 3rd and final part of our discussion of Paul Meehl's unpublished book 'The Seven Sacred Cows of Academia' nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/seven-sacr...

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9 months ago
Episode 60: Septem Vacae Sacrae II | Nullius in Verba This is the second part of a three-episode series on Paul Meehl's unpublished book, The Seven Sacred Cows of Academia.

Second part of @nulliusinverba.bsky.social discussing Paul Meehl's 7 sacred cows of academia. Meehl criticizes one of our favorite topics: The idea that all research professors do is worthwhile. nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/episode-60...

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9 months ago

Thanks for letting us know. I fear you are right! We will fix it one day in the future. :)

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9 months ago
Grandbrothers - Merchandise Shop By now the new Album ALL THE UNKNOWN - signed - from GRANDBROTHERS! Only available in their own Shop.

If you like our theme music, Grandbrothers will be releasing a new LP that you can pre-order: shop.grandbrothersmusic.com/products

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9 months ago

Thanks!

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10 months ago
Episode 58: Communicatio Scientiae | Nullius in Verba In this episode, we discuss science communication. What is the purpose of science communication? Who does or should engage in it? Are there negative consequences of communicating science to the public...

A little late, but the new episode on science communication is out now!
We discuss the Carl Sagan effect, pop science books, science journalism, YouTube channels, podcasts... and coffee and sandwiches. nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/science-co...

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11 months ago

🙏

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1 year ago
Nullius in Verba | Smriti Mehta and Daniël Lakens Nullius in Verba is a podcast about science—what it is and what it could be. It is hosted by Smriti Mehta from UC Berkeley and Daniël Lakens from Eindhoven University of Technology. We draw inspira...

3/ NULLIUS IN VERBA
Nullius in Verba investigates the roots of scientific ideals and practices. Why are some things called "scientific" and who decided that? (And a lot of Bacon quotes.)
nulliusinverba.podbean.com

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11 months ago

The book that they discuss on the Nullius in verba podcast suggested in my googledoc is focussed on 8 steps to develop and test theories - these steps could perhaps be utilised to develop a theory of impact? Dubin 1969 Theory Building

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11 months ago
Episode 29: Theoria Aedificans - Pars I | Nullius in Verba In this episode we discussed the 8-step method of theory building proposed by Robin Dubin in his classic 1969 book Theory Building.   Shownotes Dubin, R. (1969). Theory building. Free Press. http://c...

3. What does it mean to build a theory?
Nullius in verba episode 29: nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/theory-bui....

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11 months ago
Episode 56: Cur Plerumque Investigation Publica Falsa Est | Nullius in Verba Ioannidis, J. P. A. (2005). Why Most Published Research Findings Are False. PLoS Medicine, 2(8), e124. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124 Neher, A. (1967). Probability Pyramiding, Research E...

New episode of @nulliusinverba.bsky.social ! We (very) critically discuss the classic paper by John Ioannidis 'Why most published research findings are false'. What did he get wrong, and why is it still interesting to read the paper? nulliusinverba.podbean.com/e/episode-56...

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