We are bringing you a selection of topics this week, some Corona-related and some aren’t:
In the meantime, QED organisers ask you to hold your travel arrengements at this time…
The Vatican issues a decree that makes confessions obsolete, the Good Thinking Society convinces the PSA to impose strict conditions on the Society of Homeopaths, they also team up with Richard Wiseman to support magicians with the Good Magic Awards. A new project aiming at spreading the word of science in the Spanish speaking communities, how the global fight against disinformation is doing, Snopes and their need for help in keeping up their fact-checking work, a Hungarian foundation running an online course to teach children critical thinking skills in the times of COVID-19, GWUP pledging to stay on track with science in their reportings, quacks in the time of Corona, a possible connection between blood type and COVID-19 infections, and Spanish skeptics providing you with enough to read while you’re in quarantine.
The VtdK and the Royal Dutch Medical Association countering a bogus therapy.
Enjoy!
Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week in Skepticism; Pontus Pokes the Pope; News; Really Wrong / Really Right; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-takes
Events Calendar: https://theesp.eu/events_in_europe
0:00:27 INTRO
0:00:48 GREETINGS
QED organisers warn not to book your flights and accomodation just yet.
0:06:50 THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICISM
Prof. Richard Dawkins was born on 26th March 1941.
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- RDF website
- Dawkins’ Twitter account: @RichardDawkins
0:11:08 PONTUS POKES THE POPE
Don’t Worry. If you die from COVID19, you are forgiven…
0:18:05 NEWS
- INTERNATIONAL: COVID-19 update
- COVID-19 tracker: https://vac-lshtm.shinyapps.io/ncov_tracker/
- Wordometers COVID-19 page: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
- SBM explanation of news: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/more-covid-19-news/
- The Conversation UK on best measures: https://theconversation.com/stopping-coronavirus-what-does-the-evidence-say-are-the-best-measures-133825
- The EPHA’s take on risks: https://epha.org/coronavirus-threat-greater-for-polluted-cities/
- FactCheck on CR7 allegedly turning his hotels into hospitals: https://factcheck.afp.com/hoax-report-circulates-cristiano-ronaldo-will-convert-his-hotels-coronavirus-hospitals
- Snopes.com on COVID-19 and Nostradamus: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nostradamus-covid-19/
- Vaccine Impact (a popular site spreading antivax nonsense) on ozone-treatment: https://vaccineimpact.com/2020/ozone-treatment-a-real-remedy-for-the-coronavirus-panic/
- Snope.com on hot air vs SARS-Cov-2: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hair-dryer-coronavirus/
- UK: PSA imposes strict conditions on Society of Homeopaths after judicial review requested by the Good Thinking Society:
- INTERNATIONAL: Homeopathy for everyone – against COVID-19?
- UK: The Good Magic Awards
- UK/SPAIN: Science-me a story
- INTERNATIONAL: The global fight against disinformation
- INTERNATIONAL: Snopes and the need for fact-checking in the times of crisis
- HUNGARY: Online course for students aged 13-15 to learn how to be a critical news reader
- GERMANY: GWUP pledging to follow science regarding COVID-19 news reporting
- SWEDEN: Corona means big business for the quacks
- INTERNATIONAL: Connection between blood type and COVID-19?
- SPAIN: Reading for quarantine – Escepticos is the largest collection of skepticism-related material in Spanish
0:57:38 REALLY WRONG / REALLY RIGHT
After Action From VtdK, the Royal Dutch Medical Association Again(!) Stops Accreditation of BS Therapy “PRI”
1:02:20 QUOTE AND FAREWELL
“[Science] works! Planes fly. Cars drive. Computers compute. If you base medicine on science, you cure people. If you base the design of planes on science, they fly. If you base the design of rockets on science, they reach the moon. It works.”
/Prof. Richard Dawkins, British biologist, author/
1:04:51 OUTRO
1:06:06 OUT-TAKES