SGU Episode 533

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SGU Episode 533
September 26th 2015
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SGU 532                      SGU 534

Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella

B: Bob Novella

C: Cara Santa Maria

J: Jay Novella

E: Evan Bernstein

Quote of the Week

The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.

William Lawrence Bragg

Links
Download Podcast
Show Notes
Forum Discussion


Introduction

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

Forgotten Superheroes of Science ()

  • Ruth Rogan Benerito: Chemist who came up with the 'easy-care cotton' process which may have saved the cotton industry and resulted in the wrinkle-resistant, wash-and-wear clothing that we all enjoy today

News Items

Predatory Pharmaceuticals ()

Ocean Populations Declining ()

Election Graphology ()

Conspiracy Thinking ()

Who's That Noisy ()

  • Answer to last week: BSG

What's the Word ()

  • Efferent

Questions and Emails

Question #1: Proving God ()

You talked about the classic great question, 'What could change your mind.' about X and that we should always be open minded. Thing is there is one thing I don't think least from my perspective I could ever accept as possibly true, and thats god. It goes to the title, the problem of Q. Wich is a simular thing to the arthur C clarke quote, 'Any sufficently advanced technology would be indistinuishable from magick.' of course the reverse is true, magick would be indistinguishable from sufficiently advanced technology. What could a god do, that couldn't be either done by a being such as Q, or faked with high technology. The enterprise can either do most things a god could do, or fake with things like the holodeck and such. Even if everything in the bible was 100% true, how could we ever be sure it wasn't just some Q like being screwing with us? I'm curious you guy's thoughts on this is there something you can see that be hard or impossible to fake with technology? Only thing I can maybe think of, but even then could maybe be faked and thats grant knowledge of some kind that my human brain couldn't hold or such. but not sure. Wolfwing Canada

Science or Fiction ()

Item #1: Researchers have discovered a new layer of code within the DNA genetic code that determines the type of proteins that are made. Item #2: New fossil evidence shows that the first Australians lived along side and probably hunted giant predatory lizards the size of small elephants. Item #3: A major world-wide effort to replicate STAP - stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency, has completely failed, falsifying this simple method for creating pluripotent stem cells.

Skeptical Quote of the Week ()

"The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them." - William Lawrence Bragg

S: The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, dedicated to promoting science and critical thinking. For more information on this and other episodes, please visit our website at theskepticsguide.org, where you will find the show notes as well as links to our blogs, videos, online forum, and other content. You can send us feedback or questions to info@theskepticsguide.org. Also, please consider supporting the SGU by visiting the store page on our website, where you will find merchandise, premium content, and subscription information. Our listeners are what make SGU possible.


References


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