Episode #819
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: people
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
A new study finds that exposure to conspiracy theories, whether or not we believe in them, alters our behavior but did not reduce trust, in the experimental model. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/uoi-cti031721.php
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Item #2
Fiction
A study of people who share false news online shows that more than half of them know or strongly suspect the news is fake. https://news.mit.edu/2021/social-media-false-news-reminders-0317
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Item #3
Science
Researchers demonstrate that the anchoring bias not only works for numbers, but also for sensory modalities including sight, hearing, and touch. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-anchoring-biases-decisions-involving-sight.html
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst out ‘Don’t you believe in anything?’ Yes’, I said. ‘I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.” ― Isaac Asimov