Episode #341
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: the psychic Criswell played by actor Jeffrey Jones from the movie ‘Ed Wood’
Interview with Sean Carroll
- http://preposterousuniverse.com/
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
Chemists have created the first completely synthetic cell membrane. http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressreleases/envelope_for_an_artificial_cell/
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Item #2
Science
Physicists have created the first atomic X-ray laser. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125132819.htm
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Item #3
Fiction
New computer models show that adding sulphate particles to the stratosphere to reflect the sun’s light could completely compensate for the effects of man-made global warming. http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-sulfate-particles-stratosphere-wont-fully.html
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” ― Isaac Asimov