TheESP – Ep. #439 – ‘Leakey’ Science

We start out with the sad news that Mark Edward has passed away. Mark was a mentalist, an author, and an active skeptic. Mark, sometimes with with his partner (and good friend of the show) Susan Gerbic, investigated many paranormal claims and exposed psychic frauds. He will be long remembered and missed by the skeptics movement.

After some listener feedback and catching up, we go to TWISH, where we hear about Louis Leakey and his important, but often controversial, contributions to our understanding of ancient hominids. Then we turn to the news:

• GERMANY: New book about long COVID and ME/CFS by Dr. Natalie Grams
• SWEDEN: More fertility nonsense
• UK: The role of misinformation in the riots following the Southport stabbings
• UK: Practitioner of ‘slapping therapy’ guilty of manslaughter
• INTERNATIONAL: Reducing the number of AI ‘hallucinations’

The Baden-Württemberg Medical Association in Germany has taken the long-overdue, but very welcome decision to exclude homeopathy from any medical training going forward, and for that they receive this weeks award for being Really Right.

Enjoy!

Segments: Intro; Greetings; TWISH; News; Really Right; Quote; Outro; Outtakes
 
0:00:26 INTRO

0:00:51 GREETINGS

• RIP: Long live Mark Edward!
  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Edward
• Listener feedback about supplements

0:09:41 TWISH – THIS WEEK IN SKEPTICAL HISTORY

• 7 August 1903: Birthday of a controversial figure of science – Louis Leakey
  • Smithsonian: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-old-man-of-olduvai-gorge-69246530/
  • ARJ: https://answersresearchjournal.org/fraud-and-forgery-in-paleoanthropology/

0:19:37 NEWS

• GERMANY: New book about long COVID and ME/CFS by Dr. Natalie Grams
  • BoD Buchshop: https://buchshop.bod.de/entschuldigen-sie-bitte-dass-ich-stoere-aber-wir-muessen-ueber-long-covid-und-mecfs-reden-natalie-grams-9783759761194
• SWEDEN: More fertility nonsense
  • DN: https://www.dn.se/sverige/produkter-for-fertilitet-sagas-apoteket-garanterar-kvalitet/
• UK: The role of misinformation in the riots following the Southport stabbings
  • Full Fact: https://fullfact.org/news/misinformation-southport-stabbings/
• UK: Practitioner of ‘slapping therapy’ guilty of manslaughter
  • the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/jul/26/hongchi-xiao-slapping-therapy-paida-lajin
• INTERNATIONAL: Reducing the number of AI ‘hallucinations’
  • Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/07/240731141038.htm

0:45:29 REALLY RIGHT

• Really Right: The Baden-Württemberg Medical Association in Germany says goodbye to homeopathy
  • Edzard Ernst: https://edzardernst.com/2024/07/news-from-germany-the-place-for-homeopathy-is-in-the-medical-history-books/

0:51:32 QUOTE AND FAREWELL

“It was a great achievement of the early chemists — with the crude experimental techniques available also with the ever-astonishing power of human reason (as potent then as now) — to discover this reduction of the world to its components, the chemical elements. Such reduction does not destroy its charm but adds understanding to sensation, and this understanding only deepens our delight.”
/ Peter Atkins (10 August 1940 – ), English chemist and a Fellow of Lincoln College at the University of Oxford. Quote from his book ‘The Periodic Kingdom’ (1995) /

0:52:46 OUTRO

0:54:01 OUT-TAKES