I d the future a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.

Hi there I'm Andrew McDermott, your host for today's episode. Thanks for

tuning in. Today I'm delighted to speak again with historian of science Michael Keys,

a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute and author of the book Unbelievable,

Seven myths about the history and future of science and religion.

Keys serves as lecturer in the history and philosophy of science at Biola University and on the board of directors of Racheal Christie, an alliance of apologetics clubs on college campuses.

Mike, welcome back to the show.

Thanks Andrew. We get to talk about my precious.

Yes, do you know Riddles?

So, I wanted to ask you your thoughts on this article I came across. It's called My Precious.

How Academia's Gollums guard their research fields from the British higher ed magazine Times Higher Education.

It details the findings of a pair of researchers writing in the journal Frontiers

and Ecology and Evolution, John Gould at the University of Newcastle and Jose Valdez at the German

Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research studied numerous examples of what they term

research opportunity guarding.

The lengths some academics will go to prevent others from encroaching on their areas of expertise.

The researchers liken the phenomenon to the maniacally possessive guardian of the ring of power from

J. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth Chronicles.

They say this kind of behavior is pervasive but rarely discussed and finally deserves to be in the open.

Well Mike what does the history of science tell us about the Gollum effect?

Is this a new phenomenon?

Oh no Andrew and in fact historians of science have been making this point of discussion for many years,

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