Episode #809

Episode #809

News Items

• Canyons on Mars
• Ethics of Brain-Machine Interface
• Belief in Learning Styles
• Ravens and Ape Intelligence

Science or Fiction [ Show Answers ]

• Item #1 Science

  All land plants derive from a common terrestrial ancestor, which was a green algae.https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.14975

• Item #2 Fiction

  The first seed-bearing plants were cycads, palm-tree like gymnosperms that are still extant as a group today. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/evolution-of-seed-plants/

• Item #3 Science

  The first trees appeared around 419 million years ago, consisted of multiple columns around a hollow trunk and connected by soft tissue, and have no living descendants. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/10/world-s-first-trees-grew-splitting-their-guts

Skeptical Quote of the Week.

‘Science and secrecy do not sit comfortably together. In technologically advanced democracies, it is almost an article of faith that openness is essential both for the advancement of science and for its beneficial interaction with society.’ Sheila Jassanoff, Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School