Episode #768

News Items

  • Snake Oil for COVID-19
  • Fake Dead Sea Scrolls
  • Cannabinoids for Acute Pain
  • Why Do Females Outlive Males

              • Science or Fiction

                • Item #1 Science

                  A new study finds that learning through VR was no different in outcome from traditional computer or hands-on learning methods. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/03/video-game-experience-or-gender-may-improve-vr-learning-study-finds

                • Item #2 Science

                  The results of a new study suggest that snake venom evolved largely for hunting prey, and not self-defense. https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/03/snake-venom-evolved-for-prey-not-protection/126834

                • Item #3 Fiction

                  A new study finds that renewable energy plants can be placed safely in protected regions with little environmental impact. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52023881

                Skeptical Quote of the Week

                ‘The way infectious diseases have begun to come back shows that we remain caught in the web of life – permanently and irretrievably- no matter how clever we are at altering what we do not like, or how successful we become at displacing other species.” ― William H. McNeill, historian, from his book Plagues and Peoples, 1976