SGU Episode 341

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SGU Episode 341
28th Jan 2013
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SGU 340                      SGU 342
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
R: Rebecca Watson
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Guest
SC: Sean Carroll
Quote of the Week
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
[1]
Links
SGU Podcast archive
SGU Forum

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 Wednesday January 25th 2012 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: Bully. (editor - sp?)

S: How're you doing today Evan?

E: (laughs) I'm in a Winston Churchill kind of mood so I'm doing just fine.

S: (laughs)

R: Winston Churchill said olé?

B: No, he said bully. (editor - sp?)

R: Oh, bully. (editor - sp?)

E: (laughs)

J: You know when I'm looking for quotes, I find tonnes of Winston Churchill quotes...

E: Oh, forget about it.

J: ...Not completely skeptically related but the guy said so many cool things at such a time in history when people really needed to hear those cool things. He was epic man.

E: Without a doubt.

S: (laughs) Alright Rebecca.

E: (laughs)

R: Winston Churchill, cool dude.

J: (laughs)

E: Yeah.

This Day in Skepticism (1:00)

January 28th, 1887 In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.

R: Hey guess what today is! On January 28th 1887 according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world's largest snowflake fell during a snowstorm in Fort Keogh in Montanna.

E: Just how big was this snowflake?

R: It was so big...

S&E: (laugh)

E: How big was it?

R: ...so big it got into the Guinness Book of Records.

B: Shouldn't you say it was the world's biggest recorded snowflake?

R: Actually, it's not even really well recorded. Basically just some guy said that he saw it. So it was a rancher called Matt Coleman...

E: While chewing on peyote or something.

J: For some reason I just picture some guy like sitting at his window during a snowstorm and he's looking up and he sees this gigantic-ass snowflake and he's like "Hello..." (British accent)

R&E: (snicker)

J: "...hello big boy" (British accent) You know, and he runs out and catches it he and measures it, and of course he touches it by accident and he melts the freaking thing.

R: Mmm, mmm hmm.

E: That's a sordid story.

J: How can it not be that?

R: Well Matt Coleman said that he saw a snowflake that was fifteen inches wide...

E: Whaat?

R: ...and some places I saw reported fifteen inches wide and eight inches thick?

J: Rebecca, does the diameter matter with a snowflake?

E: It's like a football (laughs).

R: But anyway, massive, a massive snowflake.

B: God, that's huge.

R: But you know, we don't really know because the problem is that in 1887, cell phone cameras were few and far between, so we really only have his word. But I wanted to look into whether there or not are have been any confirmed reports of snowflakes that were anywhere near that size. Since then, it turns out there have been confirmed snowflakes s of up to four inches, which is nowhere near the same, but still pretty massive. Four inches in Berlin in 1915, and also up to three inches in Laramie, Wyoming in 1970. And in 1992, field researchers used laser probes to measure snowflakes that were up to two inches wide with snow crystals the size of a pea in Newfoundland. And to make things clear, when I say 'snow crystal', I'm talking about the usual six arm star image that we all know and love, and the word 'snowflake' usually refers to many of those crystals all clustered together in mid-aid. And thousands of those crystals can cluster together to make up one giant snowflake that could be several inches across. So thanks to more and more field researchers out there studying climate and other things, we figured out the chain of events that lead to giant snowflakes. It happens when the temperature is just above freezing, and winds are calm enough to not break up the flakes. Dendrites are the largest of the snow crystals. What happens is that they can form really high up, like three miles in the sky. So that gives them a lot of time to fall and bump into smaller crystals, and accumulate, or 'snowball' if you will, and eventually you end up with massive flakes. But so far, nobody has any convincing evidence that they will get to fifteen inches across. However there's nothing in the laws of physics that says that it can't happen, so keep your eyes peeled.

S: Mmm hmm. Yeah it's pretty thin evidence though. I mean two to three inches sounds more plausible.

R: Right.

E: Much.

B: I'm surprised Guinness even accepted it.

R: Yeah, 'cause you know they're that bastion of proof.

E: (laughs) Of science, yeah.

B: No, they're generally, I thought they're fairly, you know they're generally strict in documenting and making sure that it was actually done.

R: I think they were just trying to pad out their book.

S: (laughs)

News Items

Stem Cells for Blindness ()

[2]

Chiropractic Neurology ()

[3]

Psychogenic Illness ()

[4]

Questions and Emails ()

Question 1: Sounds in the Sky ()

Hello Skeptics guide, during my daily science news story search on the internet I came across a couple of stories about "strange apocalyptic sounds coming from the sky from canada to budapest..." Having some critical thinking I began to inspect the videos to try and discern what they were. After much failed research on more worthy sites I could not find a good answer. To me it sounds like it could be something simple like a plane flying overhead to something more atmospheric. But these are wild guesses. I thought you may want to look in to it so that you may have better luck than me finding out what it actually is. Here is the original link I came across that brought this to my knowledge http://io9.com/5876369/what-are-these-bizarre-sounds-coming-from-the-sky-in-countries-from-hungary-to-canada p.s. We all hope that it is as one commenter commented, the cthullu shai-hulud movie! Thanks for all your good work! Michael Ohio

Interview with Sean Carroll ()

http://preposterousuniverse.com/

Science or Fiction ()

S: Each week, I come up with three science news items or facts, two real and one fake. I challenge my panel of skeptics to tell me which one is the fake.

References