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The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe - Podcast 385 - 12/1/2012
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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
385
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December 01, 2012
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Interview with Banachek
This Day in Skepticism: Taman Shud Mystery
News Items: Not-So-Terror Bird, Bloop Solved, Hijacking DNA, Bigfoot DNA, Makemake
Who's That Noisy
Your Questions and E-mails: Theory
Science or Fiction
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Segment: This Day in Skepticism
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December 1, 1948
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Taman Shud Case: The body of an unidentified man is found in Adelaide, Australia; involving an undetectable poison and a secret code in a very rare book, the case remains unsolved and is "one of Australia's most profound mysteries".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Shud_Case
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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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Last Week's Puzzle: Three people are interviewing for a job and are given a test. The first person to solve the test gets the job.
Each person is given a hat that is either black or red. They must put the hat on and cannot look at the hat or use any method to directly discover its color. The three applicants are then put in the same room, and each is further instructed to raise their hand if at least one of the other two applicants is wearing a black hat. The task is to figure out the color of the hat they are wearing.
One applicant sees that the other two applicants are wearing black hats and both have their arms raised. After a moment the applicant states that they have solved the puzzle and that they are wearing a black hat.
How did they solve the riddle?
Sent in by James Powell
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Segment: Questions and Emails
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Question #1: Theory
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I'm a chemistry and environmental science teacher, and I love (and occasionally use in class) your podcast.
Still, my pedantic nature cringes at the free use of the word "theory" on the podcast. The SGU frequently substitutes the word "theory" for more the appropriate terms "hypothesis", "conjecture", or "study". A good example of this was the recent news topic on the relationship between asteroid belts and extraterrestrial life. While an interesting study, it could, at most, be called a hypothesis, but it definitely doesn't have the experimental evidence or depth of explanation to be a theory.
Since the SGU sometimes criticizes others' misuse and misinterpretation of the word "theory", please be careful.
Very truly yours,
Jim White
Boston, MA
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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: Skeptical Quote of the Week
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Skeptical Quote of the Week
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“I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here. I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell.”
- Richard Feynman
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Segment: Announcements
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