SGU Episode 379

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SGU Episode 379
20th October 2012
(brief caption for the episode icon)
SGU 378                      SGU 380
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
R: Rebecca Watson
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Guest
JIS: Jamy Ian Swiss
Quote of the Week
You can do magic with science, but you can't do science with magic." -
Erica Dunning (Brian Dunning's daughter)
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 Monday, October 15th, 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: Oh, good evening, my friends. How are all of you?

J: Good, what's up?

R: Super!

S: Quite well.

This Day in Skepticism (0:31)

• October 20, 1970: Norman Borlaug wins Nobel Peace prize for Green Revolution

News Items

Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2:48)

• Nobel Prizes 2012

DNA Half Life (5:39)

• Dinos' DNA Demise: Genetic Material Has a 521-Year Half-Life

Simulated Universe (12:15)

• The Measurement That Would Reveal The Universe As A Computer Simulation

Supersonic Jump (27:41)

• Skydiver Felix Baumgartner breaks sound barrier

Russian Geoglyph (36:10)

• Mysterious elk-shaped structure discovered in Russia

Who's That Noisy? (41:38)

• Answer to last week: Hulda Clarke

Interview with Jamy Ian Swiss (44:37)

• Jamy Ian Swiss

Science or Fiction (1:02:15)

S: Item number one. The 1926 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Johannes Fibiger for his discovery of "a cure for cancer." Item number two. The New York Times announced that the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics was to be shared by Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison, but they never received the award, it is rumored because neither man would consent to share the award with the other. And item number three. The 1949 Nobel Prize in Medicine was shared by Antonio Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz for the development of the frontal lobotomy.

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:15:07)

You can do magic with science, but you can't do science with magic.

Erica Dunning (Brian Dunning's daughter)

References