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Big Picture Science

Skeptic Check: Dubiology

Big Picture Science

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.51K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2011

⏱️ 53 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There’s no harm talking to your houseplant, but will your chatter really help it grow? We look at various biological claims, from whether plants feel pain to the ability of cats to predict earthquakes. Feline forecasters, anyone? Also, when does understanding biology have important implications for health and policy? The arguments for and against genetically modified foods, and the danger of “pox parties” as a replacement for childhood vaccination. Plus, the history and current state of scientific literacy in the United States. When did we stop trusting science? Guests: Andy Michael - Seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California Ron Lindsay - President of the Center for Inquiry, headquartered in Amherst, NY Steven Novella - Clinical neurologist and Director of General Neurology at Yale University School of Medicine; host of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast Shawn Lawrence Otto - Author of Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America Chelsea Specht - Professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast.

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Until 18th of June 2024, 18 plus, T's and C's apply, exchange fees and fair usage limits supply.

0:35.0

The world is filled with many questions such as did giants exist.

0:39.0

What is junk DNA?

0:40.0

Does it mean that you're trash?

0:42.0

Do you ever wonder if aliens have underwater bases in our oceans and that's why there are so many

0:46.9

UFO sightings off the coast of islands all over the world?

0:50.8

How serious even is climate change and when should we start building our rafts?

0:55.0

Hello everyone you may recognize me as Gabby from the History of Everything podcast and my name is

1:00.3

Brenna and you don't recognize me from anything yet.

1:04.0

Together we're two scientists who explore the answers to these questions and many, many more in

1:08.0

our new podcast, Mystery of Everything, available everywhere you get your

1:12.2

podcasts. Living in the Sam. Everything available everywhere you get your podcast.

1:13.0

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, we often brag about our beautiful, usually sunny skies,

1:20.0

but on the other hand we're wary of the ground beneath our feet.

1:23.0

Weaving like a baseball stitch through the rolling San Francisco hills, the vineyards, and the

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