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The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe - Podcast 297 - 3/24/2011
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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.

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Podcast 297 - March 24, 2011

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This Week in Skepticism: Hale Bop Cult
News Items: Meier Earthquake Non-prediction, Swarm Robots, Sexual Preference, Pre-biotic Chemistry, Science fact vs fiction
Who's That Noisy
Your Questions and E-mails: Radiation Hormesis, Overunity, Fecal Transplants
Science or Fiction



Segment:   This Day in Skepticism     
March 26 - 1997     Thirty-nine bodies are found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(cult)> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//wiki/Cult_suicide>

Segment:   News Items     
Meier Earthquake Non-prediction     http://theyflyblog.com/stunning-meier%E2%80%99s-prediction-of-the-japanese-earthquake/03/17/2011
Swarm Robots     http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-honey-bee-strategy-robot-swarms.html
Sexual Preference     http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12825688
Pre-Biotic Chemistry     http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12813081
Science Fact vs Fiction     http://www.birminghamsciencecity.co.uk/news/time-to-turn-on-the-tardis/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12758575

Segment:   Who's That Noisy     
Who's That Noisy     Answer to last week: Steve Wozniak

Segment:   Questions and Emails     
Question #1 - Radiation Hormesis     This was published in the conservative media. It seems likely that this is a horrid case of cherry picking and distortion but I would like to know you opinion, any merit to this viewpoint? http://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2011/03/16/a_glowing_report_on_radiation Michael Michalchik California
Question #2 - Overunity Claims     My uncle recently sent me a you tube link about Doug Konzen. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHpikCPKPiE). I agree with my uncle that he's definitely a wack-job. He's claiming that his "unity pulse motor" is over 100% efficient. Now, I just took thermodynamics last fall and know from my studies that this is an impossibility. I'm sure there is more than one way to tackle this one. However, If you guys have the time could you tell me why this guy's a fraud by using electron flow as your central method? thanks, Philip Guilford FL btw. thanks for making a southern kid feel better about the world, down here there isn't much light...

Segment:   Science or Fiction     [ Click Here to Show the Answers ]
Item #1     Male genital amputation is an adaptive strategy, according to findings recently published by biologists from the Smithsonian and the National University of Singapore. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W9W-52FKJ68-1&_user=911953&_coverDate=03/23/2011&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000047881&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=911953&md5=16eb41a604027b1e237b1a41dda7108b&searchtype=a
Item #2     A team of geologists have just launched an expedition off the coast of Costa Rica where they plan to be the first to drill into the "Moho discontinuity", the upper boundary of Earth's mantle. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v471/n7339/full/471437a.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20110324
Item #3     The Oxford English Dictionary has traced the origin of the initialism OMG, which means Oh My God, to a 1917 letter from a British Admiral, who wrote " I hear that a new order of Knighthood is on the table—O.M.G." http://oed.com/view/Entry/293068
Item #4     Archaeologists in Brazil have discovered a saber-toothed vegetarian dinosaur. http://www.foxreno.com/news/27310921/detail.html

Segment:   Skeptical Quote of the Week     
Skeptical Quote of the Week     "Galileo was a man of science oppressed by the irrational and superstitious. Today, he is used by the irrational and the superstitious who say they are being oppressed by science. So 1984." - Mark Crislip
 
 
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