Episode #598
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: Corn
Interview with Brian Switek
- http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/feathered-dino-tail-trapped-in-amber/
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
A study found that subjects deliberately infected with hookworm had reduced symptoms of asthma and improved lung function. http://www.popsci.com/bloodsucking-hookworms-may-provide-treatment-for-asthma
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Item #2
Science
Scientists described a fossil of a 520 million year old arthropod with an exquisitely preserved nervous system, showing the structure of the ventral nerve cord, ganglia, and individual nerves. ttp://www.pnas.org/content/113/11/2988
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Item #3
Fiction
Measures taken to preserve the prairie dog inadvertently precipitated the extinction of the already endangered black-footed ferret, the prairie dog’s main predator. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/b/black-footed-ferret/
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
“In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.” – Carl Sagan