TheESP – Ep. #385 – It’s getting hot out there

…plus Nicola Throp tells all about QED!
This week we’re saved once again by Brian Eggo, as we suddenly find ourselves very short on staff. What a guy!

Some initial info is followed by an interview with Nicola Throp, one of the brilliant members of the QED organizing team. In TWISH we hear about Carl Vogt, the German scientist, philosopher and, not least, politician who was born this week in 1817. In Pontus absence, Brian Bashes the Bishop (luckily, not exactly what it sounds like), after which we turn to the news:

• SWITZERLAND: Alternative medicine on the decline?
• INTERNATIONAL / UK: June is hottest month on record, in the UK and globally
• INTERNATIONAL: Aspartame to be feared and avoided?

Yet another Heilpraktiker, this one known only as Torben K., receives a well deserved Really Wrong Award as well as penal consequences due to his penile and lethal mistreatment of a customer. We end by a quote by Jane Marcet, a feminist and a science advocate who were at least a century before her time.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; Interview; TWISH; Brian Bashes The Bishop; News; Really Wrong; Quote And Farewell; Outro; Out-Takes
 
0:00:27 INTRO

0:00:51 GREETINGS

• Call for skeptical meet-ups across the Baltic States at the beginning of August
• Brian’s recent article for the Skeptic about the Titan disaster
  • Skeptic UK: https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2023/06/the-oceangate-tragedy-brings-has-brought-some-of-societys-ghouls-to-the-surface/
• SkeptiCamp applications
  • Skeptics in the Pub Online: https://sitp.online/skepticamp/application/

0:07:19 INTERVIEW

• Nicola Throp: All about QED in Manchester in September!
  • QED: https://qedcon.org/

0:21:28 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 5 July 1817: Birth of Carl Vogt, German scientist, philosopher, popularizer of science, and politician.
  • Today in Science History: https://todayinsci.com/V/Vogt_Carl/VogtCarl-PopSci.htm

0:26:29 BRIAN BASHES THE BISHOP

• Irish bishop defends abortion law that requires waiting period
  • the Tablet: https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/17311/irish-bishop-defends-abortion-law-waiting-period
  • the Irish Mirror: https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/mandatory-three-day-wait-access-29757087

0:32:28 NEWS

• SWITZERLAND: Alternative medicine on the decline?
  • Tages Anzeiger: https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/zahl-der-homoeopathie-konsultationen-hat-sich-halbiert-368543784551
• INTERNATIONAL / UK: June is hottest month on record, in the UK and globally
  • BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66084543
  • BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66104822
• INTERNATIONAL: Aspartame to be feared and avoided?
  • the Conversation: https://theconversation.com/aspartame-popular-sweetener-could-be-classified-as-a-possible-carcinogen-by-who-but-theres-no-cause-for-panic-208895

0:50:58 REALLY WRONG

• Really Wrong: Heilpraktiker Torben K., for performing fatal intervention
  • Edzard Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2023/07/another-death-caused-by-a-heilpraktiker-non-medically-trained-alternative-practitioner/

0:55:19 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“I can assure you that the greatest pleasure I derive from success is the hope of doing good by the propagation of useful truths amongst a class of people, who, excepting in a popular familiar form, would never have become acquainted with them.”
/ Jane Marcet (1 January 1769 – 28 June 1858), innovative, successful writer of popular introductory science books. She also broke new ground with Conversations on Political Economy. In her prefaces, Marcet addressed whether such knowledge was suitable for women, arguing against objections and stating that public opinion supported her view. /

0:57:38 OUTRO

0:58:33 OUT-TAKES