Skeptic Check: Science Blunders

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2013

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’ve all had an “oops” moment. Scientists are no exception. Sometimes science stumbles in the steady march of progress. Find out why cold fusion is a premier example why you shouldn’t hold a press conference before publishing your results. Also, how to separate fumbles from faux-science from fraud. Plus, why ignorance is what really drives the scientific method. And our Hollywood skeptic poses as a psychic for Dr. Phil, while our Dr. Phil (Plait) investigates the authenticity of a life-bearing meteorite. Guests: • Phil Plait – Skeptic and author of Slate Magazine’s blog Bad Astronomy • Michael Gordin – Historian of science at Princeton University, author of The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe • David Goodstein – Physicist, California Institute of Technology • Stuart Firestein – Neuroscientist, chair of the biology department, Columbia University, and author of Ignorance: How It Drives Science • Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, Los Angeles 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.
0:05.0	Tech moves fast.
0:08.0	So keep pace with the Daily Crunch Podcast from Tech Crunch.
0:12.0	With new episodes every day, this podcast Crunch new tech, regulations, and more.
0:23.0	Listen to Tech Crunch Daily Crunch now,
0:25.5	wherever you get your podcasts.
0:27.6	That's Tech Crunch Daily Crunch,
0:29.9	wherever you get your podcasts.
0:37.4	The world is filled with many questions, such as, did giants exist?
0:39.0	What is junk DNA?
0:40.4	Does it mean that you're trash?
0:41.9	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 podcast.
1:13.0	The scientific method has given us germ theory,
1:16.0	the understanding of the atom, a model for photosynthesis,
1:19.0	as well as unlocking the secrets of how stars work.
1:22.0	And without germ theory, we wouldn't be able to explain the origins
	...

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