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The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe - Podcast 279 - 11/15/2010

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The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, LLC - dedicated to promoting critical thinking, reason, and the public understanding of science through online and other media. The first episode of the SGU podcast went online on May 4th, 2005. It soon became a popular science/skeptical podcast, and remains one of the most popular science podcasts on iTunes.

SGU Podcasting Awards: SGU on XM: You can listen to the SGU on America's Talk XM 166 every Saturday night from 8-9pm Eastern.

Podcast 279 - November 15, 2010

Interview with D.J. Grothe
News Items: NASA Discovers Mysterious Bubbles, Exploiting "Psychic" Kids, More Homeopathy Spin
Who's That Noisy
Your Questions and E-mails: Lunar Weather Predicting, Caffeine and Sperm Count
Science or Fiction



Segment:   News Items     
NASA Discovers Mysterious Bubbles     http://topnews.co.uk/216718-nasa-discovers-two-mysterious-bubbles-centre-galaxy
Exploiting Psychic Kids     http://skepchick.org/blog/2010/11/psychic-kids-letter-writing-campaign-edition/
More Homeopathy Spin     http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/11/08/rheumatology.keq265.full

Segment:   Who's That Noisy     
Who's That Noisy     Answer to last week: Forlorn Beaver

Segment:   Your Questions and E-mails     
Lunar Weather Predicting     Subject: Ken Ring's ability to predict the weather purely by the moon http://www.predictweather.co.nz/ Hi sceptics. Here in New Zealand we have a forecaster of weather who uses only tho moon to predict weather. He does not belive in chaos in weather and can therefore forecast as far ahead as he likes. He claims an 85% accuracy rate. Seems a lot fishy to me. Is there any good science in solely lunar weather forecasting? Shane Lust Auckland, New Zealand
Caffeine and Sperm Count     Hey Skeptics! Just a quick question. My wife and I are about to start trying for our first child. She suggested that I lay off the caffeine while we try because caffeine is known to lower a man's sperm count. I did a brief search on the Interwebs and found conflicting "evidence." Some articles suggested caffeine could actually be a boon to those with lower sperm counts. Some articles pointed to cola drinks, not caffeine specifically as the culprit (i.e. coffee and tea are still cool). Anyway, I thought I'd turn to you for the definitive answer regarding my little swimmers. Do I really have to choose between Cherry Coke and children? Thanks. Matt Nelson Utah

Segment:   Interview     
Interview with D.J. Grothe     D.J. Grothe is the president of the James Randi Educational Foundation (http://www.randi.org) We talk about the skeptical movement and the Season of Reason campaign http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/jref-news/1142-season-of-reason-a-bright-future.html

Segment:   Science or Fiction     [ Click Here to Show the Answers ]
Item #1     A new study finds that high-intensity narrow spectrum (HINS) light is effective in treating bacterial infections, even in some deep tissues. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Item #2     The remains of Tycho Brahe were recently exhumed in order to obtain evidence as to the cause of his death - specifically that he may have been poisoned, with one of the suspects being Johannes Kepler. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/11756077
Item #3     New consumer research finds that consumers may prefer a credit card with a 1% interest over a 0% interest rate because the number zero can cause confusion. https://http://www.jcr-admin.org/pressreleases/111510111603_Palmeirasrelease.pdf

Segment:   Quote of the Week     
Quote of the Week     "We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course. But we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same time. It is therefore at least millions to one that the reporter of a miracle tells a lie." Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
 
 
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