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| Rational Alchemy 05/02/2009 |
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| Podcasts - Rational Alchemy Podcasts | |||
| Written by Brian Walsh | |||
| Monday, 04 May 2009 18:59 | |||
Download file:Information Filename: ra05022009.mp3 Filesize: 35171604 Kb
This week Rational Alchemy discusses Swine Flu. To quote Wash from Serenity, "Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die." Well, probably not. Rather than speculate on what's going to happen we decided to advise restraint and report on what we actually know. (Which isn't much.) News items include glow in the dark dogs, a genetic link to Autism, Gamma Ray Bursts, and Peter Popoff. We also tried to refresh ourselves and our listeners by reading from the excellent "The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science" by Bob Park. A link to the original appears below. We also want to remind everyone that Skepticamp it this Saturday, May 9th at the Tivoli Student Center in Denver. We expect everyone listening to attend. Special thanks to Randy and Torga of Excursions on KRFC for sticking around while I waited for a rather long freight train to pass and allow Jamie into the studio.
Important links from this show: www.skepticamp.org http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i21/21b02001.htm (The Bob Park Article) http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/ (The Bob Park Mailing List)
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No Libel Laws in Science

The use of the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence discourages debate, denies the public access to the full picture and encourages use of the courts to silence critics. The British Chiropractic Association has sued Simon Singh for libel. The scientific community would have preferred that it had defended its position about chiropractic through an open discussion in the medical literature or mainstream media.



