Episode #43

News Items

    Interview with Ray Hyman

    • Ray Hyman has a PhD in psychology from Johns Hopkins U., he taught psychology statistics at Harvard University, and in as expert in self and other deception and evaluating studies involving humans. He is a prominent critic of paranormal research, and wrote the definitive critique of the Ganzfeld experiments.

      Author of: Hyman, Ray. The Elusive Quarry : a Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1989)

      And Water Witching U.S.A. (with Evon Vogt)

      Ray Hyman has been awarded CSICOP’s In Praise of Reason award:

      www.csicop.org/si/2004-03/ray-hyman.html

      Very telling article by a psi-proponent critical of Ray Hyman: www.victorzammit.com/skeptics/rayhyman.html

    The Unexplained

    • Hi Guys,
      First off I’d just to to say that I really enjoy the podcast. I’m always fascinated by the paranormal and I happened to came across your podcast by accident while searching itunes. What a great show. I’ve realised that I’m also fascinated by the skeptics point of view, and although I really like the idea of a paranormal universe it’s nice to get a slap of reality from you guys. Keep up the good work.

      So with that in mind I’m curious about you guys. Have you ever come across any paranormal claims that made you think twice? or that you just can’t explain?

      Anyways, I still have six episodes to catch up on!
      Again look forward to hearing from you.

      Regards,
      David O’Donovan,
      Dublin.

    • Hey guys,
      Love the show, listen every week, keep up the good work, yada yada, onto the actual issue:

      I hear a lot of people in the skeptical/scientific community talking about what crummy science education standards we have in the U.S., and how most high school text books water down the teaching of evolution, so I thought it might be worth noting one of the exceptions. In our small town of Valdez, Alaska (pronounced Valdeez), the science education is great. My girlfriend is a high school senior, and the longest chapter in her biology book is ‘The Theory of Evolution.’ There’s a separate chapter on human evolution. Also, it doesn’t beat around the bush; in the very beginning of the chapter it states that evolution is the single most fundamental theory in all of biology.

      And speaking of Valdez, if Perry will be spending any time here, tell him to drop me a line and maybe we can do lunch or something.

      Danny McGee

      Valdez, Alaska

      Here is a negative assessment of highschool biology textbooks by the AAAS:

      http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-1/biology.htm

      However, there are excellent textbooks out there. Here is one by Ken Miller and Joe Levine, already adopted by a few school systems: http://www.millerandlevine.com/intro.html

    • I looked up the article talking about the perceptics course, but unfortunatly I only found one article that everyone is linking to. Is it a reliable site? Doesnt seem like it. But great topic to discuss, very fun.
      Laughed out loud.

      Great podcast.

      Wendy Bombardi

      Here are some further resources on this:
      www.holysmoke.org/cos/superpower-building.htm
      www.rickross.com/reference/scientology/history/history100.html

    Science or Fiction

    • Item #1 Science

      Physicist have discovered a way to cause light to travel backwards.

    • Item #2 Fiction

      Based upon recent observations of the most distant quasars, physicists have recalculated the age of the universe up from 13.7 billion years to as high as 19 billion years.

    • Item #3 Science

      Physicists, in a recent publication, claim to provide evidence for the existence of a contracting universe before the big bang.

    Skeptical Quote of the Week.