Episode #480
News Items
- NASA Picks Crew Capsules
- Universe Ending Bubble
- Genetics of Schizophrenia
- National Academy of Sciences Anti-Biotech Testimony
- Artificial Sweeteners and Gut Microbiota
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: Verner von Braun
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
A long term study of tree growth in Europe finds that trees have been growing between 32 and 77% faster than they were in 1960. http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140912/ncomms5967/full/ncomms5967.html
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Item #2
Science
A scientist has demonstrated that the current Ebola outbreak has outstripped current mathematical models that have been used to predict the ultimate extent of previous outbreaks, making the current outbreak unpredictable. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/ebola_outbreak_147out_of_all_proportion148_and_severity_cannot_be_predicted1/
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Item #3
Fiction
The latest tornado statistics for the US indicate that the number of annual tornadoes has increased by about 20% between 1964 and 2012. http://news.agu.org/press-release/tornadoes-occurring-earlier-in-tornado-alley/ http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/climate-information/extreme-events/us-tornado-climatology/trends
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
‘False opinions are like false money, struck first of all by guilty men and thereafter circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime without knowing what they are doing.’ Joseph de Maistre