This week we celebrate the first picture of a black hole, Samuel Hahnemann’s birthday and the fact that we can poke two Popes in one week. HPV vaccination is shown to really work, a Spanish Bishop sells gay ‘cure’ courses, babies cannot live on sunshine and laughter and in Hungary you better follow the vaccination schedule for your child.
Also: Fines for Jehovah’s Witnesses, Edzard Ernst goes to a SCAM conference, Norwegian government anonymizes job applications and NHS in the UK takes further steps against homeopathy.
Finally, it turns out that Scotland has some strange rules that give the church a bypass on democracy.
Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Pontus Pokes the Pope(s); News; Really Wrong; ;Radio Spot; Quote; Outro; Out-takes
Events Calendar: https://theesp.eu/events_in_europe
00:00:27 Intro
00:00:51 Greetings
First picture of a black hole! Pontus argues with climate change deniers after a panel debate during the Science Festival in Gothenburg; The Uncertainty Handbook needs translators
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47891902
- https://eventhorizontelescope.org
- Pontus in panel debate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouDZ8-ZDA6U
- https://skepticalscience.com/The-Uncertainty-Handbook-Download-and-Translations.html
00:15:19 This Week in Skepticism
Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann (German: [ˈhaːnəman]; 10 April 1755 – 2 July 1843) was a German physician, best known for creating the pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine called homeopathy.
00:24:01 Pontus Pokes the Pope(s)
Double whammy! Pope Benedict comes back for a rematch as Francis tells a student not to ask so many dumb questions
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47898562
- https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-04/pope-francis-school-youth-teachers-parents.html
00:30:43 Skeptical News
SCOTLAND: HPV immunisation of 12 and 13-year-old girls has led to 89% decline in disease
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/04/cervical-cancer-rates-tumble-after-routine-hpv-vaccination
- http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/april/HPV.pdf
SPAIN: Bishop in ‘gay cure’ controversy defended by church
SWEDEN: Baby almost dies from a diet of vegan food and sunshine
HUNGARY: Hungarian couple’s appeal rejected at the Constitutional Court regarding their vaccine exemption
SWEDEN: Follow up from 2 weeks ago: Jehovah’s witness who showed homophobic films gets 4000 Euro fine
FRANCE: Edzard Ernst on SCAM practice in France
NORWAY: Government wants to anonymize job applications
UK: Homeopathy prescribing set to be blacklisted under NHS England plans
- http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/clinical/homeopathy-prescribing-set-to-be-blacklisted-under-nhs-england-plans/20038534.article
- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/05/nhs-still-spending-55000-year-homeopathy-despite-ban/
- https://goodthinkingsociety.org/projects/nhs-homeopathy-legal-challenge/nhs-homeopathy-spending/
00:57:19 Really Wrong
Unelected church representatives in local Scottish councils
01:03:19 Radio Spot
Laura Brennan, HPV vaccination champion
01:01:29 Quote and Goodbye
“To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.”
/Charles Darwin, 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882, English naturalist, geologist and biologist/
01:04:05 Outro
01:05:20 Out-takes