Episode #334
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: Joe Rogan
Interview with Lawrence Krauss
- http://krauss.faculty.asu.edu/
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Fiction
Contrary to popular belief, yawning has been shown to have an arousing, rather than sleep inducing, effect. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20357462
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Item #2
Science
A large study of yawning finds that yawns are significantly more contagious from family members and friends than acquaintances or strangers. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0028472
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Item #3
Science
Yawning has been observed in every class of vertebrates. http://baillement.com/yawn-reflex.html
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
’The scientific method consists of the use of procedures designed to show not that our predictions and hypotheses are right, but that they might be wrong. Scientific reasoning is useful to anyone in any job because it makes us face the possibility, even the dire reality, that we were mistaken. It forces us to confront our self-justifications and put them on public display for others to puncture. At its core, therefore, science is a form of arrogance control.’ ’Mistakes were made (but not by me)’, by social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson – Carol Tavris