It may seem utterly impossible to find a news source without some level of bias in today’s politically divided world, but that is just what Dr. Alison Dagnes, professor of political science, and Dr. Lawrence Eppard, assistant professor of sociology, hope they’ve created with their new podcast “Utterly Moderate.”

What started as two colleagues engaged in civil debates in their office, has turned into a podcast featuring “two reasonable social scientists (and published authors) analyzing important topics by clearing away politics, opinions and ideologies to get the facts.”

Hour-long episodes tackle a wide variety of issues and feature experts who help explain the facts without bias. Their goal is to be informative, interesting and when possible, fun. Topics so far have included climate change, healthcare, free speech and cancel culture, immigration and COVID-19.

“Lawrence and I agree that we need to lower the temperature in our politics and the volume of our discourse. This podcast is a tiny step toward that,” explained Dagnes.

“We are aggressively factual. We try to make sure we are representing the weight of the evidence on these topics. We achieve this through our own research in preparation for each episode as well as our selection of expert guests. We try not to venture out onto any non-empirical limbs,” explained Eppard.

In upcoming episodes both hosts are excited to explore the quality of new sources and journalism and the trend of disinformation in America. And while the goal is to inform the masses, the podcast experience and the experts they interview are impacting how they inform their students.

“Speaking with the experts we have interviewed has changed the way I teach, think, and talk about some of the most important topics of the day,” said Dagnes.

“And it is very rewarding finding out how many people hunger for the same things we do: good information, less ideology, less shouting,” added Eppard.

Check out all the episodes of “Utterly Moderate.”