About The Hosts
Dr. Steven Novella
Dr. Novella is on a mission to teach science and critical thinking to the world. He has decades investigating conspiracy theories and exposing pseudoscience and bad logic, and is an internationally recognized science communicator. He is the host of the award-winning science podcast, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.
The show has gained extreme popularity for tackling science news and controversies in an engaging and entertaining format. When not podcasting he also authors the popular and award-winning NeuroLogica blog and is the executive editor of Science-Based Medicine. He is the author of three books, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe about critical thinking and science, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future about futurism and technology, and the audio book, The Skeptics’ Guide to Alternative Medicine.
Dr. Novella has made multiple appearances on NPR: All Things Considered and is a frequent guest on radio talk shows and science podcasts. His television credits include The Dr. Oz Show, Penn & Teller Bullshit, 20/20, Inside Edition, The History Channel, The Unexplained on A&E and Exploring the Unknown. During this time he has also worked as a physician – an Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology at Yale University, with subspeciality certification in both neuromuscular and headache medicine (recently retired). His knowledge of neuroscience has been critical to his work in promoting critical thinking, exploring the many ways in which we are deceived by our own brains.
He has produced two video courses for The Teaching Company, including Medical Myths and Your Deceptive Mind, combining his medical training with his knowledge and experience as a science communicator and skeptic.
Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy
Andrea Jones-Rooy, Ph.D. is a data scientist, educator, and speaker who applies quantitative methods to seemingly intractable challenges, such as polarization, misinformation, and authoritarian censorship, as well as empowers others to think scientifically and creatively about their most pressing problems.
To this end, she regularly advises Fortune 100 companies, tech firms, nonprofits, and government agencies, including the United Nations, on how to thoughtfully use data science and AI to answer their toughest social and political questions. In addition to being a sought-after keynote speaker and consultant, Andrea has contributed to outlets such as FiveThirtyEight, The Daily Beast, Quartz, Harvard Business Review, and The Washington Post, among others.
For many years, she was a professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the NYU Center for Data Science, where she developed and taught the flagship, and perpetually waitlisted, course Data Science for Everyone, along with advanced courses in natural language processing. She previously taught international relations at Carnegie Mellon University and NYU Shanghai, where she founded mainland China's first undergraduate program in quantitative social science.
In addition to co-hosting Political Reality, Andrea is also the host of the podcast Behind the Data, which highlights the importance of understanding where data comes from in the first place in order to make sense of our world. The first two seasons have covered topics from political polls and misinformation to curing rare diseases and understanding our place in the universe.
Andrea holds a Ph.D. in political science and complex systems from the University of Michigan. When she's not doing all of the above, she is a standup comedian and circus performer specializing in trapeze and fire.
