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From: Big Picture Science
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Material Whirl
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Skeptic Check: Energy Vortex
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The science behind “mysterious energy,” from magnetic poles to haunted houses, and just what the heck is an “energy vortex” anyway?
Wired for Thought
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Cosmos: It's Big, It's Weird
(00:54:00)
From: Big Picture Science
It’s all about you. And you, and you, and you and you … that is, if we live in parallel universes. Physicist Brian Greene’s case for multiverses.
Light, the Universe, and Everything
(00:54:03)
From: Big Picture Science
Universe, cosmology, technology, invention, Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy, time
Skeptic Check: Superstition
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From fears of Friday the 13th to shattered mirrors - find out why our brains are wired for supernatural belief.
Sensor Sensibility
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From: Big Picture Science
“Ubiquitous sensing” aims to blanket the world in tiny sensors, the out-of-this world detection system that discovered a possibly Earth-like planet, and the case for a ...
Going Viral
(00:54:01)
From: Big Picture Science
Discover how viruses go from birds to pigs to you, how fossil viruses got into your genome, whether E.T. might be a virus, and what it takes for ideas to “go viral.”
Science's Alliances
(00:54:00)
From: Big Picture Science
A particle physicist-turned-U.S. Congressman, Muppets teach toddlers engineering, and other unique science pairings.
Piece Description
A new herbal supplements is on the shelf, and it claims to improve memory. Should you take it? It’s not easy to sort through the firehose of health and nutrition advice that comes at us daily. Find out how to get healthy about health advice, plus hear the story of Bernarr Macfadden, the eccentric who kicked off America’s fitness craze; he believed that eating less was good for you, but he didn’t believe germ theory.
Plus, our Hollywood skeptic spills his guts and other entrails for a phony class for nurses and Phil Plait gives us the latest lapse in critically-thinking brains.
It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it.
Guests:
- Phil Plait – Author, badastronomy.com and Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
- Mark Adams – writer and editor, and author of Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet
- Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, West – Los Angeles
Steven Novella – Assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine
Broadcast History
first aired 5/25/09
Additional Credits
Seth Shostak - Host and Producer
Molly Bentley - CoHost and Executive Producer
Gary Niederhoff - Assistant Producer
Barbara Vance - Production Assistant




