Episode #72

News Items

    Interview with Ken Macleod

    • Dr. MaCleod is the lead author on a new article favoring the single-impact theory of the K-T extinction event that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. rcp.missouri.edu/articles/macleod-dinosaurextinction.htmlDr. MaCleod’s Homepage: rcp.missouri.edu/geosci_macleod/index.html

    Hi from Down Under

    • Hey peopleHow I love to hear the new episodes of your show. Just the thing to listen to while walking through the streets of Sydney. I have recorded a short greeting and a question for you (attached). Maybe you can be a guest on my podcast sometime? Wishing you well and another year of podcasting.Richard SaundersProducer of the TANK podcast Home Pagewww.MysteryInvestigators.com/richardInvestigator / Editor / Film Makerwww.MysteryInvestigators.comAustralian Skeptics Incwww.skeptics.com.au
    • Hi,As always, I really enjoy your show. I am a former chiropractor, now skeptic, who listens every week.The reason I am writing you is because I found a great article (or series of articles, rather) that you can possibly discuss on your show. I’m not sure if you have ever done a program on people who deny that HIV is the cause of AIDS, but recently there was a THREE PART interview in ‘Today’s Chiropractic Lifestyle’ magazine promoting this theory. Here are the links:www.todayschiropractic.com/issues/2006/oct_nov/bull.htmlwww.todayschiropractic.com/issues/2006/oct_nov/bull_02.htmlwww.todayschiropractic.com/issues/2006/oct_nov/bull_03.html’Today’s Chiropractic Lifestyle’ is published by Life University in Marietta, Georgia. It is where I attended chiropractic college. While at chiro college, I was misinformed about almost every public health topic you can imagine. This article above is a good example of chiropractic misinformation and seems to contain almost every ‘HIV denialist’ argument available today.I am happy to no longer be a quack and enjoy learning about science and reality from your podcast. Keep up the good work!Jeff Jones, D.C. (Life University class of 2001)Tokyo, Japan
    • I have begun listening to your show very recently, and I’m trying to catch up on them.Tell Rebecca Watson that I got her skepchicks calendar yesterday, and after paging through it, I’m satisfied in a great investment. Anyway, on to the secondary reason for this message.I’d like you to take a look at this, and maybe see if there’s more information about this out there: http://www.carteblanche.co.za/Display/Display.asp?Id=3233There was another article, published over a year ago: http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/general/0,2172,93664,00.htmlTo me, it sounds like some kind of futuristic method of dowsing. The only positive results I’ve heard about this is from the articles, and they are obviously anecdotal. If the only evidence that it works is anecdotal evidence, should it be discounted? Is it too early to dismiss this, or should we give them time to come up with actual experimental data?Thanks for your time,Matt FredericksonSouth Dakota, USA
    • Hi guys (guys is non-gender specific in England)Love the podcast. I’ve nearly caught up with you now, I’m just on the October shows. It’s nice to be able to listen to voices of sanity in what can seem a pretty insane world.I have a question – more of a challenge – for you.I know ID is not a science, and the actual answer is ‘you can’t’ but I’d like to hear you guys trying to design some experiments for a science class on Intelligent Design.The issue is raising its head over here (only in a small way though) and I thought it might be fun to have a bit of ammunition.John Ansari (pronounced AN-SAAR-EE)UK

    Science or Fiction

    • Item #1 Science

      New study suggests that homo sapiens innovated male/female division of labor and this gave them a critical advantage over Neandertals.

    • Item #2 Fiction

      Newly published study has linked frequent cell phone use to declining cognitive function, as measured by standard IQ.

    • Item #3 Science

      New research shows that the effectiveness of advertising has nothing to do with the actual message they contain.

    Skeptical Quote of the Week.