SGU Episode 302

Introduction
You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.

This Day in Skepticism

 * April 30, 1878: http://www.todayinsci.com/4/../12/12_27.htm#Pasteur Louis Pasteur lectured at the French Academy of Science in support of his germ theory of disease, in which he held that many diseases were caused by tiny organisms. Since he still met with opposition from some scientists, he called their contrary opinions 'fatal to medical progress.' Pasteur also described ways to prevent infection, and provided the skeptics with an experiment with which to prove the theory to themselves

A Skeptic in Oz

 * http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=12199 http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/alternative-medicine-controversy-pt-1

More Creationism in Texas

 * http://ncse.com/news/2011/04/creationist-materials-submitted-texas-006645

Higgs Rumor

 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13198701

Who's That Noisy

 * Answer to last week: Firesign Theater

Interview with Seth Shostak

 * Seth work with the SETI Institute - the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and comes on to discuss their recent funding problems.

Science or Fiction
Item #1: New research finds that people who take vitamin supplements are less healthy because they make other unhealthy choices. Item #2: Psychologists have identified a reliable method for selectively reducing traumatic memories in human subjects. Item #3: Researchers find that sleep deprivation causes parts of the brain to go to sleep, even in fully awake individuals.

Skeptical Quote of the Week
"'Thinking is skilled work. It is not true that we are naturally endowed with the ability to think clearly and logically—without learning how, or without practicing… People with untrained minds should no more expect to think clearly and logically than people who have never learned and never practiced can expect to find themselves good carpenters, golfers, bridge-players, or pianists.' Alfred Mander, psychologist (1947)"