SGU Episode 391

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SGU Episode 391
12th Jan 2013
(brief caption for the episode icon)
SGU 390                      SGU 392
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
R: Rebecca Watson
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Quote of the Week
Captain, the most elementary and valuable statement in science, the beginning of wisdom, is 'I do not know.'
Lt. Commander Data
Links
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Forum Discussion

Introduction

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

This Day in Skepticism ()

• January 12, 1967: Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.

News Items

Below Absolute Zero ()

• http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23042-cloud-of-atoms-goes-beyond-absolute-zero.html

Burzynski Challenge ()

• http://thehoustoncancerquack.com/

Genome Editing ()

• http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/editing-the-genome-with-high-precision-0103.html

Celebrity Pseudoscience ()

• http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/28/16213010-wacky-celebrity-fads-of-2012-dried-placenta-pills-oxygen-shots?lite

Celebrity Experts ()

• http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/01/can_you_trust_dr_oz_his_medical_advice_often_conflicts_with_the_best_science.single.html

Who's That Noisy? ()

• Last week's puzzle: A jeweler has 9 pearls, which all look and feel exactly alike. However, he knows that one of them weighs more than the other 8. He has access to a classic scale (the ones with two arms, often seen in Lady Justice's hand). What is the minimum number of measurements required to know, with absolute certainty, which pearl is the one that weights more? Answer: 2

Name That Logical Fallacy ()

• http://www.debate.org/debates/The-fundamentalist-doctrine-of-Young-Earth-Creationism-is-incompatible-with-cosmic-realities./1/comments/2/

It’s really not that hard to answer those questions no matter what understanding you come from. God of course created them full grown to start with. Adam did not have to wait for the trees to grow old enough to bear fruit from a seedling start. God did not create trees as seeds in the ground, and God according to Genesis did not create an egg for the first chicken to hatch from. The Starting place of growth of all creation is clearly full grown adulthood. The light-year travel time is clearly by the same extension created already reaching the earth. Basically at the same extension that God created all the matter and energy and photons in the star light-years away, he also simultaneously created every photon from its rays traveling to earth.

Science or Fiction ()

Item number one. A new study finds that the international prototype kilogram (IPK) has put on about 100 micrograms during its lifetime. Item number two. China is confirmed to have "cyber assassin" agents who specialize in killing targets by hacking medical or other technology. And item number three. Scientists discover that the Penicillium mold is able to reproduce sexually.

Skeptical Quote of the Week ()

Captain, the most elementary and valuable statement in science, the beginning of wisdom, is 'I do not know.'

Lt. Commander Data played by Brent Spiner

References