TheESP – Ep. #456 – Don’t Bend it like Beckham

After the usual pre-amble, we hear about the first prediction of a transit of Venus in TWISH. Calculated by Kepler himself, you can only go go “Yay, science!”, and salute the guy. Then we get to the news:

• INTERNATIONAL: Company linked to cloned journals of major publishers denies cloning journals of major publishers
• AUSTRIA: The Golden Board in front of the head goes to… Healy
• UK: The UK ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ – reasons for concern?
• INTERNATIONAL: 20th translation of the Debunking Handbook now out!
• INTERNATIONAL: ‘Grey content’: how mainstream journalism accidentally fueled covid vaccine hesitancy

Why is it that all celebrities go bonkers and want to sell nonsense products? We don’t know, but David Beckham is no exception and for that he is Really Wrong.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Wrong; Quote; Outro; Outtakes
 
0:00:27 INTRO

0:00:52 GREETINGS

0:08:08 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 7 December 1631: The transit of Venus (as predicted by Johannes Kepler)
  • Royal Astronomical Society: https://ras.ac.uk/education-and-careers/for-everyone/125

0:13:45 NEWS

• INTERNATIONAL: Company linked to cloned journals of major publishers denies cloning journals of major publishers
  • Retraction Watch: https://retractionwatch.com/2024/12/02/crossref-suspends-companys-membership-after-retraction-watch-report/
  • Retraction Watch: https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/26/company-linked-to-cloned-journals-of-major-publishers-denies-cloning-journals-of-major-publishers/
  • CrossRef: https://www.crossref.org/
• AUSTRIA: The Golden Board in front of the head goes to… Healy
  • ORF.at: https://wien.orf.at/stories/3283674/
• UK: The UK ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ – reasons for concern?
  • Edzard Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2024/11/the-uk-assisted-dying-bill-reasons-for-concern/
• INTERNATIONAL: 20th translation of the Debunking Handbook now out!
  • Climate Change Communication: https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/all/handbook/the-debunking-handbook-2020/
• INTERNATIONAL: ‘Grey content’: how mainstream journalism accidentally fueled covid vaccine hesitancy
  • Science Magazine: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk3451
  • Skeptic UK: https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2024/12/grey-content-how-mainstream-journalism-accidentally-fueled-covid-vaccine-hesitancy/

0:43:47 REALLY WRONG

• Really Wrong: David Beckham is selling snake oil labelled ‘driven by science’
  • Edzard Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2024/11/david-beckham-jumped-on-the-supplement-gravy-train-a-case-for-the-asa

0:49:08 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“Science is a great many things, and I have called them a great many names; but in the end they all return to this: science is the acceptance of what works and the rejection of what does not. That needs more courage than we might think.”
/ Jacob Bronowski (18 January 1908 – 22 August 1974), Polish-British mathematician and philosopher. /

0:50:14 OUTRO

0:51:29 OUT-TAKES