Lysenkoism

This week we first chat about some of the great current skeptical online events, like NECSS and Skeptics in the Pub. We also enjoy the good news that the worlds largest fusion reactor is now being assembled in the South of France.

In this week in history we learn about “Lysenkoism” which Stalin decided should replace all other science. In current affairs Pope Francis has issues with Chinese infiltrators and French women who demands to be bishops.

In this week’s news:
– What’s the truth about face masks and covid-19?
– What lies behind conspiracy theories
– Misleading claims on pre-existing conditions and Covid-19 deaths go viral
– Hungarian company selling bogus ‘pro-insulin c-peptide’ product banned from advertising
– COVID conspiracy theories skyrocket in Romania and number of cases increase
– Use of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) by French cancer patients
– Update – Retraction Watch gets a response from editor-in-chief of journal that published worst paper of 2020
– Chronic back pain and spinal manipulation – is it a good treatment?
– Stonehenge’s long-lived mystery solved
The prize for being Really Wrong goes to all the German demonstrators that marched in Berlin last weekend, spreading crazy ideas and endangering the public and themselves.

Enjoy!

Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week; Pontus Pokes the Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-takes

Events Calendar: https://theesp.eu/events_in_europe

0:00:27 INTRO

0:00:54 GREETINGS

• Mentioned in the greetings:
  • GWUP: https://blog.gwup.net/2020/08/02/web-talk-medizin-zwischen-fakt-und-fake-mit-norbert-aust/
  • GWUP: https://blog.gwup.net/2020/08/01/84410/
  • GWUP: https://blog.gwup.net/2020/07/30/neu-im-nachgefragt-podcast-klimawandel-und-klimamodelle/
  • NECSS 2020: https://necss.org/
  • Science Alert: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-start-assembling-the-world-s-largest-nuclear-fusion-experiment

0:09:46 THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Lysenkoism. On 7 August 1948, Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences announced that from that point on Lysenkoism would be taught as “the only correct theory”.

• • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism

0:13:19 PONTUS POKES THE POPE
Two scary adversaries for Frankie: Chinese government and women asking for influence

• • Reuters UK: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-vatican-cyber/u-s-cybersecurity-firm-says-beijing-linked-hackers-target-vatican-ahead-of-talks-idUKKCN24U0PT
  • Crux: https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2020/08/papal-envoy-to-meet-women-who-applied-to-be-priests-bishops/

0:22:08 NEWS

• INTERNATIONAL: COVID-19 update – OK, what’s the deal with face masks?
  • the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53635692
  • Reuters UK: https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-disorders/some-covid-19-survivors-suffer-psychiatric-disorders-italian-study-says-idUKKCN24Z21O
  • Science Alert: https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-test-which-face-mask-works-better-by-filming-coughs-and-sneezes
  • Science Alert: https://www.sciencealert.com/this-home-experiment-shows-why-even-homemade-masks-can-help-stop-covid-19-spread
  • the Conversation: https://theconversation.com/face-mask-rules-do-they-really-violate-personal-liberty-143634
• GERMANY: Take conspiracy ideas seriously and what follows
  • GWUP: https://blog.gwup.net/2020/08/02/verschwoerungsglaeubige-die-grundmotive-ernst-nehmen-aber-was-folgt-daraus/
• UK: Misleasding claims on pre-existing conditions and Covid-19 deaths go viral
  • Fall Fact: https://fullfact.org/online/pre-existing-conditions-covid/
• HUNGARY: Company selling bogus ‘pro-insulin c-peptide’ product banned from advertising
  • GVH: https://gvh.hu/en/press_room/press_releases/press-releases-2020/the-hungarian-competition-authority-has-banned-the-advertising-of-c-peptide-products
• ROMANIA: COVID conspiracy theories skyrocket
  • Politico EU: https://www.politico.eu/article/as-infections-grow-in-romania-so-does-corona-scepticism/
• FRANCE: Use of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) by French cancer patients
  • Edzard Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2020/07/use-of-so-called-alternative-medicine-scam-by-french-cancer-patients-its-all-about-money/
• ITALY: Update – Retraction Watch gets a response from editor-in-chief of journal that published worst paper of 2020
  • Retraction Watch: https://retractionwatch.com/2020/07/28/some-papers-can-slip-through-the-net-says-journal-that-published-5g-covid-19-paper/
  • Retraction Watch: https://retractionwatch.com/2020/08/03/retraction-watch-turns-10-a-look-back-and-a-look-forward/
  • Retraction Watch: https://retractionwatch.com/2020/08/03/ten-takeaways-from-ten-years-at-retraction-watch/
  • Support Retraction Watch: https://retractionwatch.com/support-retraction-watch/
• SPAIN/UK: Chronic back pain and spinal manipulation – is it a good treatment?
  • Edzard Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2020/08/spinal-manipulation-is-not-the-best-therapy-for-non-specific-chronic-neck-pain-a-randomized-controlled-trial/
• UKRAINE: Ukrainian Facebook fact checking partner accused of being far right
  • NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/world/europe/ukraine-facebook-fake-news.html
• UK: Stonehenge’s long-lived mystery solved
  • the Conversation: https://theconversation.com/stonehenge-how-we-revealed-the-original-source-of-the-biggest-stones-143564
  • Oxbow Books: https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/blog/2018/10/25/mystery-stonehenge-aliens-giants-music/

1:10:28 REALLY WRONG
Anti-covid demonstrators in Berlin

• • Frankfurter Allgemeine: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/so-verlief-die-anti-corona-demonstration-in-berlin-16886349.html
  • T Online: https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/deutschland/id_88327614/anti-corona-massnahmen-demo-in-berlin-wer-sind-die-protestierenden-menschen-.html
  • EuroNews: https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/01/protest-in-berlin-against-coronavirus-measures-as-cases-rise
  • Volksverpetzer: https://www.volksverpetzer.de/corona-faktencheck/teilnehmerzahlen-nur-17-000/

1:16:34 QUOTE AND FAREWELL
“Humans can be literally poisoned by false ideas and false teachings. Many people have a just horror at the thought of putting poison into tea or coffee, but seem unable to realize that, when they teach false ideas and false doctrines, they are poisoning the time-binding capacity of their fellow men and women.”
/ Alfred Korzybski, July 3, 1879 – March 1, 1950 was a Polish engineer, mathematician, and philosopher, most famous for creating the theory of General Semantics /

1:18:04 OUTRO

1:19:19 OUT-TAKES