Episode #718

News Items

Who's That Noisy

  • Answer to last week: Black bear

Question #1: Corrections

  • Mexican Wave
  • Long time listener, first time questioner. Today I came across this article on NPR… https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news …suggesting that banning plastic bag usage in favor of paper and reusable canvas bags is actually worse for the environment. Their main thrust seems to be that people tend to use their plastic grocery bags as garbage bags when they are done with them. So when plastic grocery bags are banned, it leads to an increase in usage of standard garbage bags, which are a heavier gauge, and an overall increase in plastic usage. I understand the logic used here, but something just doesn’t smell right to me. I’d love to hear the team dive into this topic a bit. Thanks for all you do. James Shaffer Minneapolis, MN

Science or Fiction

  • Item #1 Fiction

    A Big Pharma lobbyist was secretly behind the study that showed the 5-year survival rate for Gerson Clinic’s cancer patients was only 10%.

  • Item #2 Science

    During the cold war, Canada developed a machine to identify gay men who were illegally working for the government.

  • Item #3 Science

    The US Military has developed and successfully deployed technology that can change the weather.

Skeptical Quote of the Week.

“Reality provides us with facts so romantic that imagination itself could add nothing to them.” ― Jules Verne