Episode #775
News Items
- Do Facemasks Work?
- Carbon Dioxide and the Pandemic
- Distrust of Expertise Online
- Closest Black Hole to Earth
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: John Cleese
Interview with Gerald Posner
- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07THB8GRL/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Fiction
Researchers find that multitasking in the office leads to greater satisfaction and decreased depression. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200511154850.htm
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Item #2
Science
A new study finds that choosing leaders partly at random reduces abuse of power. https://www.elsevier.com/about/press-releases/research-and-journals/randomly-selecting-leaders-could-prove-to-be-a-remedy-for-hubris
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Item #3
Science
A study of teen video gamers finds that 10% display pathological video game addiction. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-video-game-addiction-real.html
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
“You might use a simple model and find weird behavior and ignore it. But you shouldn’t ignore it, because that very weirdness is significant.” Dr Robert May