Episode #741
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: Bélinographe
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
Dragonflies may swarm in groups so large, numbering in the billions, that they show up on weather radar. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/12/us/dragonfly-weather-radar-scn-trnd/index.html
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Item #2
Fiction
Of the over 7,000 species of dragonfly, a few dozen have venomous bites or stings, but none threatening to humans. https://worlddragonfly.org/resources/do-dragonflies-bite-or-sting/
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Item #3
Science
Dragonflies are voracious predators, and the large ones have been reported eating hummingbirds and other small vertebrates. https://www.reddit.com/r/natureismetal/comments/5fyzky/a_dragonfly_eating_a_rubythroated_hummingbird/
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
‘The Laetrile proponents maintained that even if the drug did not work, people should still have the right to take it because they deserve ‘freedom of choice.’ But the sellers of Laetrile did not offer a free choice – they persuaded cancer victims, desperate and dying, to buy a drug that did not work on the basis of false hope. Only informed choices are free.’ FDA Commisioner on banning laetrile