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The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe - Podcast 250 - 4/28/2010
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The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, LLC - dedicated to promoting critical thinking, reason, and the public understanding of science through online and other media. The first episode of the SGU podcast went online on May 4th, 2005. It soon became a popular science/skeptical podcast, and remains one of the most popular science podcasts on iTunes.
SGU Podcasting Awards: SGU on XM: You can listen to the SGU on America's Talk XM 166 every Saturday night from 8-9pm Eastern.
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Podcast
250
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April 28, 2010
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Interview with Dr. Dean Edell
News Items: 20 Years of Hubble, Nanodots, Boobquake, Stephen Hawking on Aliens, Noah's Ark
Who's That Noisy
Your Questions and E-mails: Intelligence and Science
Science or Fiction
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Segment: News Items
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Segment: Who's That Noisy
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Who's That Noisy
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Answer to last week: solar wind
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Segment: Your Questions and E-mails
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Question #1 - Intelligence and Science
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My name is Anton Lantz, i'm 22 years old and hard at work on my mastersdegree in Media Technology here in Sweden. I've been a skeptic before I was even aware of the term.
I have a measured IQ of ~140, and have a question regarding intelligence later in the post.
I've been listening through the archives in the last few days while studying, and during a similar question posed to Bob, I started thinking about the speed of light and the smashing of particles/objects close to the speed of light.
The theory of general relativity states that the closer to the speed of light an object accelerates (ofcourse relative to an observer) the particle/object itself does not actually reach any of those speeds, what happends instead is that time itself slowes down to "compensate" for the increase in distance/second that the particle/object speeds by.
What don't really add up in my head is what really happens to momentum and the conservation of energy when particles/objects near the speed of light smash into one another. Does the particles act as if it had the momentum relative to the speed it "had" (even though the speed, relative to the particle/object itself, isn't really travelling at that speed), or is there something with the deacceleration of that particle/object that makes up for (relative to an observer) what would certainly have been a loss of energy from that collision. Since the paticle/objects did not actually travel at the speeds seen and measured by the observer.
Hope that makes any sort of sense :).
My second question relates to intelligens and the "scientific method". What I really want your opinion on is the apparent lack of understanding for and no actual comprehension of the importance of the scientific method. How does proponents of the "un-scientific method" expect society to look like when logical thinking and good science takes a backseat to flimflam and guess-science? And do you think that logical thinking, or lack there of, is solely a question of upbringing and teachings at a young age? Has intelligance anything to do with it at all?
Keep doing what you do so that people like me can stay sane and have a positive outlook on life.
Best Regards /
Anton Lantz
Sweden
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Segment: Interview
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Segment: Science or Fiction [ Click Here to Show the Answers ]
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Segment: Quote of the Week
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Quote of the Week
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You don't use science to show you're right, you use science to become right."
- Randall Monroe (Author XKCD)
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