Episode #98

News Items

    Correction

    • Dear Skeptics,

      On Episode #97 Perry incorrectly attributed the quote of the week to George Bernard Shaw, British playwright of some note. The quote would instead have been more correctly attibuted to George Bernard Shaw, IRISH playwright of some note. (And, interestingly, the only person ever to be awarded both a Nobel prize and an Oscar.)

      Thanking Perry in advance for his correction,

      Liam Kidney (An outraged Irish listener)

    • Fox news just reported that police presence will be increased in Brighton because of increase in violent crimes during the full moon. This was reiterated in reports in BBC news (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/6723911.stm) which site a 1998 study and another German study in 2000… I am still a bit skeptical (A 3 month study seems a little too short to come to any conclusions).
      I thought this ‘lunacy theory’ was all bunk… what do you think?

      B. Baggott
      USA

      Good skeptical overview of the lunar effect
      skepdic.com/fullmoon.html

      Study referenced in BBC article
      www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=16407788&ordinalpos=10&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

      Recent negative study of lunar effect on behavior
      www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=12131634&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

    • Hello,
      I just found the podcast and I love it. I haven’t had time to hear all of them so if this has already been covered then please dismiss. I’ve been reading about several ‘healing’ techniques and almost all of them come with the possible side effect of what’s called a ‘Healing Crisis’ or ‘Herxheimer Reaction’. The claim is that your body is flushing out so many toxins that you become ill because of it. I would love to hear what you think of this.

      Keep up the good work,

      Eric Kemp
      Houston Area, Texas

    • Hey guys (and gal),

      I found your pod cast three months ago and I have been avidly listening since my first download. Congratulations on the outstanding content. You are all very entertaining.even Perry. The reason for this e-mail is that I’m hoping you could address the issue of Chemtrails. Unfortunately, I am dating a woman who has two brothers in their 20’s who spend most of their day combing the web for more information on how ‘The Government’ is trying to take over the.government? I guess Chemtrails are one of the many things our corrupt government is trying to do to kill people and assume control over the world (and we vote for these guys!). I’ve never heard of Chemtrails before and from what I can gather, they are caused by ‘The Government’s’ attempts to control the weather and global warming. I can already hear new reasons for Katrina.

      While researching the subject on the web, I found a Contrail vs Chemtrail argument. Unfortunately the skeptic becomes confused and looses the judged argument, which was surprising because he did use a solid skeptical approach. I’ve attached the link and I was hoping you could share your thoughts: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread77252/pg1

      Anyway, thanks for the great hours of listening.

      Eric Cattani
      Wyattstorch
      Las Vegas

      Sources:
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory
      www.nmsr.org/chemtrls.htm

      Funny pro-conspiracy article
      www.rense.com/general54/blatantABCchemtrail.htm

    Science or Fiction

    • Item #1 Science

      Researchers have successfully turned a mature skin cell into a stem cell that is identical to an embryonic stem cell.

    • Item #2 Science

      Once thought impossible, researchers have captured the motion of a single electron on a home video camera.

    • Item #3 Fiction

      In order to address faculty shortages, a nursing institute has recently employed a robotic instructor to teach some classes.

    Skeptical Quote of the Week.