Episode #581
News Items
- Proxima Centauri Follow up
- Anthropocene
- World Wide Web Turns 25
- The Fight Against Pseudoscience
- Pew Belief Poll
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: Space X landing
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Fiction
A new study finds that rat whiskers contain chemical receptors that help them to smell. http://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/news/articles/2016/08/whiskers-help-animals-sense-winds-direction.html
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Item #2
Science
In a study researchers find that chimpanzees choose cooperation over competition at a rate of five to one. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160822155920.htm
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Item #3
Science
Scientists report a case of a patient who went from minimally conscious to fully conscious after stimulating his brain with low power ultrasound. http://observer.com/2016/08/scientists-discovered-how-to-jumpstart-the-brain-of-a-coma-patient/
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
‘Our place in the Galaxy nor our Galaxy itself is special. Darwin has further shown that humans are a natural product of evolution by means of natural selection. The discovery of extrasolar life will demonstrate that even that last claim to being special will have to be abandoned.’ - Mario Livio, astrophysiscist