The Rogues' Gallery

News, Opinion, and Interesting Items in Science and Skepticism

Podcast #548 - January 9th, 2016

Main Image for Episode 548
Forgotten Superheroes of Science: Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green
News Items: FTC Smacks Down Lumosity, Picky Eaters, New Elements
Who's That Noisy
What's the Word: Fugacity
Name That Logical Fallacy: Learning Styles
Science or Fiction

Forgotten Superheroes of Science

  • Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green an inspirational young physicist who received a $1.1 million grant to pursue her breakthrough in treating cancer using lasers and nanoparticles

News Items

  • FTC Smacks Down Lumosity https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/ftc-slaps-down-brain-training-claims/
  • Picky Eaters http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-picky-eating-becomes-a-disorder/
  • New Elements http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/standards-organization-accepts-completion-of-last-row-of-periodic-table/

Who's That Noisy

  • Who's That Noisy Answer to Last Week: The Cage

What's the Word

  • What's the Word Fugacity

Name That Logical Fallacy

  • Name That Logical Fallacy “You really did your research on this one. You just took the word of one literature search study. They didn't actually study anything, except paper.” “Hang on a second. As a 30-year teacher here, a couple of caveats. 1) This premise could be reduced to 'everyone learns the same way.' Not true. 2) It presupposes that students will do just as well in learning information/acquiring skills in an 80-minute lecture instead of being presented the material in different formats that work different modalities. Not true 3). There is also a mountain of evidence to show students have 'learning preferences' as opposed to 'learning styles.' --It *is* true that one's 'learning style' (determined from assessments) *does not* have good predictive powers like a good scientific theory should. (Just because one is a visual learner doesn't mean she will need that modality to learn the next new thing) .....however, teachers absolutely should present material in different ways because we do all learn differently. Different cultures, different families even, value a wide range of acquiring skills and knowledge.” “SGU - Please review the studies I linked and come back when you have more than a mag share to contribute.”

Science or Fiction [ Show Answers ]

  • Item #1 A newly published paper suggests that globular clusters would be a likely location for extraterrestrial civilizations. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2016/01/06/Globular-clusters-most-likely-to-host-interstellar-civilizations/5311452101852/
  • Item #2 A new study finds that there is no negative correlation between hours of work and relationship satisfaction for dual career couples. http://phys.org/news/2016-01-mythdoes-affect-relationship.html
  • Item #3 Researchers have found a strong correlation between homophobia and the belief that sexual orientation is a choice rather than biologically determined. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/uota-us010416.php

Skeptical Quote of the Week

  • Skeptical Quote of the Week 'We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?” ― Richard Dawkins