SGU Episode 391: Difference between revisions
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| SGU Episode 391 |
|---|
| 12th Jan 2013 |
 |
| (brief caption for the episode icon) |
| 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.' |
| Links |
| Download Podcast |
| SGU Podcast archive |
| Forum Discussion |
Introduction
You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.
S: Hello and welcome to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe. Today is Tuesday, January 8th 2013 and this is your Host, Steven Novella. Joining me this week are Bob Novella,
B: Hey everybody!
S: Rebecca Watson
R: Hello everyone!
S: Jay Novella,
J: Hey guys.
S: and Evan Bernstein.
E: Hi, hi, hi everyone!
B: Hello!
S: Well, hello Mr Deltoid. What's up?
(laughter)
E: That was on this weekand and for the first time in about --oh, I don't know-- probably fifteen years I sat down and watched it beginning to end...
All: The Clockwork Orange
E: The Clockwork Orange, and wow, it's just... it's a tour de force, really.
S: ???0:0:50???, little brother.
E: (laughter)) little bit of the ultra-violence.
B: That movie, you'd think that it wouldn't age well. Because of just how weird and it seems like it was very much shot in the 70s. It has a very intense 70s feel to it...
S: Weird does age well, cause it isn't really anchored in any particular time...
R: Hey Jay! Happy bedford Day!
J: Awesome! Thank you for reminding me!
E: What's a Bedford?
R: A bedford is a cryonically preserved man. On January 12th, 1967, Dr James Bedford became the first person to be cryonically suspended, following his death from cancer at the age of 73. The Life Extension Society offered anybody the chance to be the first person to be frozen, and they said, "free of charge". So it was quite the deal, Bedford was accepted, and it's nice to think of this as, like, a happy Futurama-esque type of thing, where he died and he was carefully packed up and placed in a container where he remains to this day. Unfortunately the job was pretty well botched, apparently. Robert Nelson of the Cryonic Society of California took the lead on it, but he was missing for an hour after Bedford died. He eventually came around, and he and his cohorts injected Bedford with all the necessary chemicals, laid dry ice on him and packed him up and shoveled him from place to place as hijinx ensued, apparantly, like a Weekend at Bernies sequel set in the Arctic. Within a week Bedford's family could apparently tell how inept Nelson was, and they took control of the body, which was smart because in the following decade Nelson would be sued for allowing nine bodies to thaw without telling anybody...
B: Oops...
R: The family ended up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars just to maintain Bedford's body while fighting with various Cryonics organizations, before at last Alcors Life Extension Program stepped in and offered to take him in. Remarkably, throughout all of that Bedfords body did appear to have been frozen through all of this wacky adventures. However, the chemicals he was injected with probably did not prevent ice crystals from forming or in any way protect his brain. So at this point he's probably just a well-preserved frozen meat potato. But he is a well-preserved frozen meat potato of historical import. Happy Bedford Day!
B: There had to be a first, right?
S: And he's still at Alcor?
R: Yes.
E: Well, contracts are contracts. They have to live up to their obligation.
B: I wouldn't just say that. I mean, the people at Alcor absolutely have a commitment to preserving life and they knew that this person wanted to be frozen...
R: But the real heroes of the story are Bedford's family, I think. Because his family apparently didn't even... I think it was mostly his son, his daughter-in-law and his wife, and apparently they didn't even really believe that his was going to work, but they were really committed to honoring his final wishes, so --you know, that's a crazy thing: can you imagine all of that money on chemicals and upkeep just to keep the body of your loved one frozen, when you don't even think that's actually going to do anything? Just because that's what he wanted before he died? It's kind of amazing.
S: Bob, speaking of frozen temperatures:
(laughter)
S: I've read on the internet, that scientists have produced a temperature lower than absolute zero, and I know that science reporting on the internet can be misleading. So it's pretty exciting...?
J: Shut up!
(laughter)
B: So frustrating. Ah, you know --like Steve was saying-- if you believe in a lot of these news stories, scientists are saying that they have, they've gone faster than the speed of light! -- No, wait, that's not it... They've actually created temperatures colder than absolute zero. There's lots of parellels with the "breaking of the speed of light"... Y'know, so many people are reporting it, it's gotte be true, right? Ah, let me just give you some examples: device.com, a site that I like a lot, wrote in a post: "Scientists have created a gas colder than absolute zero", and Geekosystem said that: "Take that, Lord Kelvin! Researchers create gas particles colder than absolute zero" and it just wrankles me, every time I read that over and over and over. Now, here's some good titles... here are some of the good titles that I came across -- Newscientists had one: "Cloud of atoms goes beyond absolute zero". Now beyond is much better, it's not perfect but it's much better than going below zero, cause beyond has lots of other implications with it. And my favorite was from Ars Technica. Their title was: "Entropy drop -- Scientists create negative temperature system" and that's really the crux right there...
S: That's the only accurate description of all of the things you have said...
B: Yeah, absolutely. Beyond I could deal with because in a sense you can think of it of going beyond, but below is kind of p*ssing me of...
E: Did you guys find this to be subtle differences or extreme sort of differences and descriptions of what was going on, cause I had a hard time ??? it, too
This Day in Skepticism (1:04)
- January 12, 1967: Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.
News Items
Below Absolute Zero (4:15)
Burzynski Challenge (14:50)
Genome Editing (22:24)
Celebrity Pseudoscience (32:59)
Celebrity Experts (43:20)
Who's That Noisy? (49:13)
- 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 (52:47)
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.[1]
Science or Fiction (1:02:02)
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 (1:16:06)
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
Announcements
NECSS (1:16:52)
NECSS - Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism
References
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