Podcasts about New Scientist

What happens when the subject of your creative practice scares you? Not only that, but what if you're scared, too, of what might happen when you put your work into the world? We speak with physicist and author Adam Becker about his new book, More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity, in which he writes about the terrible plans tech billionaires have for the future and why they won't work. Our conversation includes why doubt is a strength, being a planner vs. a pantser, why bringing your body into your practice is important, and why Adam spends time with trees.Adam Becker is a science journalist with a PhD in physics. He is the author, most recently, of More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity. In addition to his books, he has written for the New York Times, the BBC, NPR, Scientific American, New Scientist, Quanta, and many other publications. He lives in California.Adam's first book, What Is Real? Find Adam on Bluesky This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

We're joined by Josh Mendoza to discuss switching between screenwriting and novels, $1,000 lego sets, and finding light in the darkness. We also get a sneak peak of his book Shadow of the Eternal Watcher, the fun parts of editing, and creepy Twilight Zone episodes. Josh Mendoza is a screenwriter, director, producer and author.  Mendoza is the founder of Strike the Sun Entertainment, and his movie work has been recognized by film festivals and competitions alike. Mendoza's debut novel, Shadow of the Eternal Watcher, was released in January 2025. The novel is a noir detective mystery that spirals into a science fiction adventure. The novel has already received positive reviews from Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. It was recently featured as one of the best upcoming sci-fi books for 2025 in New Scientist. Prior to his writing career, Mendoza received a BA in English and Creative Writing from Stanford University and an MFA in Film and Television Production from USC's School of Cinematic Arts. He was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and lived for over 15 years in Los Angeles, California.  He splits his time between the deserts of Arizona and the city of angels with his wife and two children.Mendoza is currently developing multiple feature-length scripts and writing his next novel.Dark Waters vol. 1 & 2 are available to order! To get a copy, head over to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linktree⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Want to submit your writing? Email darkwaterspodcast@gmail.comIntro/Outro music: www.bensound.comDisclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

Josh Mendoza is a screenwriter, director, producer, and author.  Mendoza is the founder of Strike the Sun Entertainment, and his movie work has been recognized by film festivals and competitions alike. He is best known for his feature film, WHAT STILL REMAINS, which he wrote, directed, and produced. Decider called the movie a “great follow-up to Bird Box” and described it as a “hidden gem” on Netflix. The Los Angeles Times said, “Writer-director Josh Mendoza finds a fresh angle on the post-apocalyptic thriller,” creating a “fascinating ‘what-if' imagining society's possible future.”Mendoza's debut novel, SHADOW OF THE ETERNAL WATCHER, released on January 28, 2025. The novel is a noir detective mystery that spirals into a science fiction adventure. The novel has already received positive reviews from Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. It was recently featured as one of the best upcoming sci-fi books for 2025 in New Scientist.Make sure to check out this author on his website—https://www.joshmendoza.com/You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, or visit my website www.drkatherinehayes.com

  Today Razib talks to Laura Spinney, Paris-based British author of the forthcoming Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global. A science journalist, translator and author of both fiction and non-fiction, she has written for Nature, National Geographic, The Economist, New Scientist, and The Guardian. Spinney is the author of two novels, Doctor and The Quick, and a collection of oral history in French from Lausanne entitled Rue Centrale. In 2017, she published Pale Rider, an account of the 1918 flu pandemic. She also translated Swiss writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz's novel Derborence into English. Spinney graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Sciences from Durham University and did a journalism residency at Berlin's Planck Institute. First, Razib asks Spinney how difficult it was to integrate archaeology, linguistics and paleogenetics into her narrative in Proto, which traces the rise and proliferation of Indo-European languages from its ancestral proto-Indo-European. She talks about why this was the time to write a book like this for a general audience, as paleogenetics has revolutionized our understanding of recent prehistory, and in particular the questions around the origin of the Indo-Europeans. Razib and Spinney talk about various scenarios that have been bandied about for decades, for example, the arguments between linguistics and archaeologists whether proto-Indo-European was from the steppe or had an Anatolian homeland, and the exact relationship of the Hittites and their language to other Indo-European branches. They also delve into how genetics has helped shed light on deeper connections between some branches, like Balto-Slavic and Indo-Iranian, or Greek and Armenian. Spinney also addresses how writing a book like Proto involves placing fields like historical linguistics and archaeology with charged political associations in their proper historical context

We've thrown open the airwaves to you. Marnie Chesterton puts your science questions to Penny Sarchet, Managing editor of New Scientist, Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science at University College London and Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh. So, if you've ever wondered why planets are round… or what geese are saying to each other as they fly in groups through the sky, listen in for the latest science and some educated hypothesising. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Dan Welsh & Debbie Kilbride Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

In this podcast, our guest is Peter Byrne, a national and international award-winning investigative reporter and science writer.  His works have been published in Scientific American, Wired, Mother Jones, and New Scientist. In partnership with Project Censored, Byrne has launched Military AI Watch, a groundbreaking ten-part series that will run monthly on the Project Censored website. This exposé reveals the manifold dangers of developing AI applications for military purposes and how the public has been kept in the dark about these efforts, which present potentially disastrous consequences for the world, while promising a financial bonanza to wealthy investors. Byrne has spent the last two years conducting in-depth research for this series and is at work on a database of selected AI weapons companies and their investors. This collaboration between Project Censored and Peter Byrne provides much-needed attention to an issue that has a profound public impact and has been under-reported for too long. Follow Military AI Watch on Project Censored: https://www.projectcensored.org/military-ai-watch/ Peter Byrnes Website: https://www.peterbyrne.info/ Greg's Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/  Pat's Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/about   Peter Byrnes#Military AI Watch#Project Censored#Andy Lee Roth#Mickey Huff#One Ring to Rule Them All#Stargate Fiasco#Data Centers#Gold Award#ChatGPT#CoPilot#DeepSeek#Wheres Daddy#Lavender#Artificial Intelligence#Predictive Policing#Military Industrial Complex#Peter Andreas#Peter Thiel#Palantir#Boeing#Lockhead Martin#Rathion#Northrop Grumman#Artificial Intelligence#SandboxAQ#Elon Musk#SpaceX#JADC2#OpenAI#Anduril#Iran Dress Codes#Pat Cummings#Greg Godels#ZZ Blog#Podcast#Coming FromLeftField#Coming From Left Field#zzblog#mltoday

Proposed budget cuts for NASA would jeopardize space research. And an executive order could change the political tides for deep sea mining.On May 2, the Trump Administration proposed a 24% budget cut for NASA. It would slash funding for science while setting billions aside for initiatives to send humans to the moon and Mars. New Scientist editor Sophie Bushwick joins us to talk about this, as well as other news in science, like how many U.S. cities are sinking, the search for geologic hydrogen within mountains, the first photos of free-floating atoms, Chinese poetry about porpoises, and cicadas turned into speakers.And, President Trump recently issued an executive order that would fast-track access for deep sea mining. Soon after, a Canadian company called The Metals Company submitted the first application for NOAA to review. This has raised environmental and climate concerns, as well as geopolitical tensions. Ocean geologist Sandor Mulsow breaks down what's at stake for the ocean.Guests:Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist in NYCDr. Sandor Mulsow, marine geologist at the Austral University of ChileTranscript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.  Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Measles is spreading in the U.S., with hundreds of cases across more than 20 states. And tons of people online are arguing over how we should feel about it. Some say this is bad because measles is SO contagious — and not enough people get the vaccine. But others say that measles isn't such a big deal, so why are we freaking out?? Didn't basically everyone get this virus back in the day and live to tell the tale? So we'll find out — what is measles doing to our body (and our brain)? And how can we stop this outbreak ... and possibly rid the world of measles. We hear from New Scientist reporter Grace Wade, Prof. Peter Kasson, Dr. Meru Sheel and Dr. Katherine Gibney. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsMeasles In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Measles cases are popping off in the U.S. (04:04) How measles messes with our immune system (10:13) How measles can kill (14:54) How contagious is measles - really? (18:46) How good is the measles vaccine? (25:11) What are the risks of the measles vaccine? (28:34) What it will take to stop this measles outbreak This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, with help from Michelle Dang, Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler, and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. We're edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Eva Dasher. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Emma Munger, So Wiley, Peter Leonard, Bumi Hidaka and Bobby Lord. A special thanks to the researchers we reached out to including Professor Rik de Swart, and a big thanks to Joseph Lavelle Wilson and the Zukerman family.  Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the last week or so, the world of physics has had just one conversation.Have we found a new way of understanding the universe? And if so, what does this mean for our understanding of how we all came to exist – and even our fate? These big questions were prompted by new data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument team at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. To explain what was found, whether it's right and just how excited we should be, we're joined by astrophysics professor Catherine Heymans and cosmologist Andrew Pontzen. Also this week, what became of the Winchcombe meteorite? We attempt to explain some seriously advanced maths in less than two minutes, and Penny Sarchet from the New Scientist brings us her picks of the week's science news. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Gerry Holt, Ella Hubber & Sophie Ormiston Reporter: Gareth Mitchell Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Adam Becker's new critique of Silicon Valley More Everything Forever should probably be entitled Less Nothing Never. The science journalist accuses Silicon Valley overlords like Elon Musk and Sam Altman of promoting exaggerated dangers and promises about AI. Becker argues that these apocalyptic fears of superintelligent AI are science fictional fantasies rather than scientifically reasoned arguments. Becker acknowledges large language models have some value but believes their capabilities are overhyped. He criticizes tech billionaires for pursuing AI dominance rather than addressing real problems like climate change, and believes they are also peddling deeply troubling ideologies like eugenics. Silicon Valley is promising us more of everything forever, Becker warns, but the end result will actually be more human misery and degradation. 5 Key Takeaways* Becker believes claims about existential risks from superintelligent AI are unfounded and based on flawed arguments, including misconceptions about intelligence as a monolithic, measurable trait.* He identifies concerning connections between Silicon Valley AI rhetoric and eugenicist ideas, particularly in discussions about intelligence and population concerns from figures like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen.* While acknowledging current AI systems have some value, Becker argues they're "solutions in search of a problem" with an ecological footprint that may outweigh their benefits.* Becker criticizes tech leaders for pursuing AI dominance instead of directing their resources toward solving urgent problems like climate change.* Rather than worrying about future superintelligence, Becker suggests we focus on how existing AI systems are being used, their resource consumption, and their potential for misuse.Adam Becker is a science journalist with a PhD in astrophysics. He has written for the New York Times, the BBC, NPR, Scientific American, New Scientist, Quanta, and other publications. His first book, What Is Real?, was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and was long-listed for the PEN Literary Science Writing Award. He has been a science journalism fellow at the Santa Fe Institute and a science communicator in residence at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing. He lives in California.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity by Adam Becker Amazon.com This "wild and utterly engaging narrative" (Melanie Mitchell) shows why Silicon Valley's heartless, baseless, and foolish obsessions—with escaping death, building AI tyrants, and creating limitless growth—are about oligarchic power, not preparing for the future Tech billionaires have decided that they should determine our futures for us. According to Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, and more, the only good future for humanity is one powered by technology: trillions of humans living in space, functionally immortal, served by superintelligent AIs. In More Everything Forever, science journalist Adam Becker investigates these wildly implausible and often profoundly immoral visions of tomorrow—and shows why, in reality, there is no good evidence that they will, or should, come to pass. Nevertheless, these obsessions fuel fears that overwhelm reason—for example, that a rogue AI will exterminate humanity—at the expense of essential work on solving crucial problems like climate change. What's more, these futuristic visions cloak a hunger for power under dreams of space colonies and digital immortality. The giants of Silicon Valley claim that their ideas are based on science, but the reality is darker: they come from a jumbled mix of shallow futurism and racist pseudoscience. More Everything Forever exposes the powerful and sinister ideas that dominate Silicon Valley, challenging us to see how foolish, and dangerous, these visions of the future are. About the author Adam Becker is a science writer with a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Michigan and a BA in philosophy and physics from Cornell. He has written for the New York Times, the BBC, NPR, Scientific American, New Scientist, Quanta, Undark, Aeon, and others. He has also recorded a video series with the BBC, and has appeared on numerous radio shows and podcasts, including Ologies, The Story Collider, and KQED Forum. He lives in California.

Sumit Paul-Choudhury shares the science behind optimism and why it gives people an advantage in the long term. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) The case for optimism 2) How to train your brain to become an optimist 3) How to direct your optimism to where you need it most Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1051 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT SUMIT — Sumit Paul-Choudhury writes, thinks, and dreams about science, technology, and the future. A former Editor-in-Chief of New Scientist, he trained as an astrophysicist, has worked as a financial journalist, and, at the London Business School, received a Sloan Fellowship in strategy and leadership. Currently, he devotes most of his time to his creative studio Alternity, which puts the ideas in this book into scientific and artistic practice. He lives and works in London.• Book: The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One • LinkedIn: Sumit Paul-Choudhury • Website: Alternity.com — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • App: Roam Research• Book: Candide by Voltaire • Past episode: 992: How to Break Free from Cynicism and Reclaim Hope with Jamil Zaki See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Belief in a literal six-day creation, including a literal Adam and Eve, is more associated with evangelical Christianity than with Catholicism. Most Catholic schools teach evolutionary theory as the best and most reliable account of the origin of life and see no conflict between this and orthodox Catholic faith. At the same time, some Catholics still promote a creationist view on the origins of humanity. What does the Catholic Church have to say about this? Are Catholics obliged to believe that Adam and Eve were real people who talked to God, were tempted by a snake, and got cast out of a garden because they ate a forbidden fruit? If so, how does this fit with everything science has to tell us about evolution? And if the church accepts evolution, how does this affect other core Catholic teachings, especially on original sin?   On this episode of the podcast, science writer John Farrell talks about how the Catholic Church has grappled with the challenges posed by evolution over the years, as well as what science has to say on the question of whether Adam and Eve were real.  John Farrell is the author of The Day Without Yesterday: Lemaître, Einstein and the Birth of Modern Cosmology (Basic Books, 2005) and The Clock and the Camshaft: And Other Medieval Inventions We Still Can't Live Without (Prometheus Books, 2020). He has contributed to U.S Catholic and many other publications, including Commonweal, Cosmos Magazine, New Scientist, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, the Boston Globe, Salon, Forbes and the Tablet of London.  You can learn more about this topic, and read some of Farrell's writing, in these links.  “Do Catholics believe in evolution?” by John Switzer “What is original sin?” by Joel Schorn “Benedict's thinking on creation and evolution,” by John L. Allen Jr. “Middle ways on evolution,” by John Farrell “What would an updated natural law ethic look like?” by John Farrell  “The Bible is far more than history. It is legendary.” by Alice Camille “Evolution is our fundamental reality,” by Ilia Delio Original Sin: Origins, Developments, Contemporary Meanings, by Tatha Wiley Original Selfishness: Original Sin and Evil in the Light of Evolution by Daryl P. Domning and Monika K. Hellwig Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth, by Chris Stringer Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries.

Today we had the pleasure of hosting David Hambling for a sweeping discussion on drone technologies and their applications. David is a journalist, author, and defense technology expert with over 20 years of experience. He writes for Aviation Week, Forbes, The Economist, New Scientist, Popular Mechanics, WIRED, and more (for an archive of David's writings, click here). David is the author of “Swarm Troopers” and has researched the history of drones and in particular, has zeroed in on the potential impact of smaller drones in both military and consumer applications. We were thrilled to visit with David. In our conversation, David shares his background in military technology and how his previous book, “Weapons Grade,” led him to explore the rise of drones. We discuss how the military lost its tech lead due to rapid commercial innovations, particularly as mobile phone technologies enabled the development of small, cheap, and highly capable drones. David explains the evolution of drone use, from reconnaissance tools to precision combat systems, and how this transformation has played out dramatically in the Russia-Ukraine war, where nearly two-thirds of Russian fatalities on Ukrainian soil are reportedly caused by small drones. We explore the shift from human-operated drones to autonomous systems, the difficulty of defending against small, agile drones, and the growing threat that they pose to critical energy and transportation infrastructure. David shares background on the historical cultural bias within militaries that sidelined drones in favor of piloted aircraft, until the CIA's early adoption of drone strikes eventually forced the Air Force to adopt them, as well as the recent surprising Trump Administration decision to continue the Boeing F-47 contract. We cover the regulatory challenges facing drone adoption, particularly the limitations on beyond visual line of sight operations, public concerns around safety and privacy, and global developments including Dubai's plans to pilot flying taxi drones by 2027. David outlines China's dominance in the global drone market, applications of drones including infrastructure inspection, delivery services, reforestation, and the unique Ukrainian “Victory Drone” program that encourages civilians to help war efforts by building drones at home for frontline use. We also touch on China's demographic challenges and how its shrinking and aging population is fueling the nation's strategic investment in AI, robotics, and autonomy, the critical role of software in making humanoid robots useful, especially with using assistive tech for elderly care, and more. We end with David's thoughts on what the drone and robotics landscape might look like in ten years. It was a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion that raised both the opportunities and the ethical complexities involved. Mike Bradley kicked off the show by noting that from a broader equity market standpoint, “Trumpatility” remains alive. Despite S&P volatility being cut in half over the last five trading days, it's still higher than average and will likely stay elevated until we begin to see tariff deals signed. Equity markets feel much worse than reality, given that the S&P 500 is only down ~7% year to date. On the International equity front, Argentina received a $20 billion IMF package last Friday, which could be an extremely important development for the country's long-term growth. On Monday, Argentina allowed its currency to freely float (between 1,000-1,400 pesos per dollar) for the first time in a very long time. In response, Argentinian 10yr bond yields plunged this week by ~150 basis points, and the Argentina equity market (Merval) and major Argentinian Energy equities have both rallied on the IMF deal. From an oil market standpoint, WTI looks to have temporarily stabilized in the low-$60s per barrel range. This week, the IEA slashed both its 2025 &am

Have a question? Click here. Today we have a different style episode for you to enjoy and learn from.  There are three sections in this episode - a rant about misleading health headlines, a rave about taking a break from social media, and a review of an interesting article about understanding tiredness. This format is a departure from our usual in-depth topics on aging, nutrition, and interviews with experts but it's still very much worth a tune in!*** Remember, this insightful information comes from Caroline Williams's article "A fresh understanding of tiredness reveals how to get your energy back," published in New Scientist.Read the Article in Apple News+Join The Stronger Collective Nourished Notes Newsletter Core Essentials: Episode 1 2 3 430+ Non-Gym Ways to Improve Your Health (free download)Connect with Amy: GracedHealth.comJoin the Graced Health community on Facebook! Instagram: @GracedHealthYouTube: @AmyConnellLeave a one-time tip of $5

In this episode of The Crux, Kaycee McIntosh and Julie Henningsen, delve into the terrifying encounters between humans and polar bears. The episode recounts the harrowing survival stories of individuals like Matt Dyer and Elijah Carner, who faced life-threatening polar bear attacks in remote Arctic regions. The hosts discuss the increasing frequency of such encounters due to climate change, which causes bears to move closer to human territories. They also explore the biology of polar bears, the environments where attacks typically occur, and the essential survival tactics and safety measures required when traveling in polar bear regions. This episode emphasizes the importance of preparation, quick thinking, and the evolving strategies to ensure the safety of both humans and bears in an ever-changing Arctic landscape. 00:00 Introduction to the Podcast 00:35 Polar Bear Encounters: A Growing Concern 02:07 Understanding Polar Bears and Their Habitat 08:13 Matt Dyer's Harrowing Survival Story 25:05 Elijah Carner's Close Call 29:09 A Tragic Incident in Wales, Alaska 29:49 First Fatal Polar Bear Attack in 30 Years 31:08 Impact of Climate Change on Polar Bear Behavior 31:42 Recent Polar Bear Attacks and Their Implications 32:47 Survival Factors in Polar Bear Attacks 38:15 Psychological Impact of Surviving a Polar Bear Attack 41:49 Notable Polar Bear Incidents 45:44 Practical Advice for Polar Bear Encounters 53:18 Community Efforts to Reduce Polar Bear Conflicts 54:52 Conclusion and Final Thoughts   Email us! thecruxsurvival@gmail.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thecruxpodcast/ Get schooled by Julie in outdoor wilderness medicine! https://www.headwatersfieldmedicine.com/ References Arctic Today. (2021, August 18). Polar bear attack survivor played dead to save his life. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/polar-bear-attack-survivor-played-dead-to-save-his-life-1.1389918 BBC News. (2020, August 28). Dutch man killed by polar bear on Norway's Svalbard islands. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53945950 BBC News. (2023, January 20). Alaska polar bear attack: Mother and son killed while walking in Wales. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgq20qd59yyo Dyer, M. (2017, March 24). I survived a polar bear attack. Backpacker. https://www.backpacker.com/survival/surviving-animal-attacks/i-survived-a-polar-bear-attack/ Lester, K. (2014, July 28). A year after surviving polar bear attack, he is mellowed, undaunted, and ready to hike again. Portland Press Herald. https://www.pressherald.com/2014/07/28/a-year-after-surviving-polar-bear-attack-he-is-mellowed-undaunted-and-ready-to-hike-again/ Hopper, T. (2021, August 18). Nunavut man who survived polar bear attack recounts experience. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/polar-bear-attack-survivor-1.6142932 Hymas, D. (2015, January). The man who survived a polar bear attack. Sierra. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2015-1-january-february/feature/man-who-survived-polar-bear-attack Pappas, S. (2023, January 18). Polar bear attacks and kills woman and boy in remote Alaska village. Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/polar-bear-attack-alaska Polar Bears International. (n.d.). Polar bear attacks: Causes & prevention. https://polarbearsinternational.org/news-media/articles/polar-bear-attacks-causes-prevention Slisco, A. (2014, July 26). Maine man survives polar bear attack. WMTW. https://www.wmtw.com/article/maine-man-survives-polar-bear-attack/1996996 Welz, A. (2017, July 12). Polar bear attacks on people set to rise as climate changes. New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2140701-polar-bear-attacks-on-people-set-to-rise-as-climate-changes/ Wikipedia. (n.d.). Polar bear. Retrieved April 12, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

Listen in as Real Science Radio host Fred Williams and co-host Doug McBurney review and update some of Bob Enyart's legendary list of not so old things! From Darwin's Finches to opals forming in months to man's genetic diversity in 200 generations, to carbon 14 everywhere it's not supposed to be (including in diamonds and dinosaur bones!), scientific observations simply defy the claim that the earth is billions of years old. Real science demands the dismissal of the alleged million and billion year ages asserted by the ungodly and the foolish.     * Finches Adapt in 17 Years, Not 2.3 Million: Charles Darwin's finches are claimed to have taken 2,300,000 years to diversify from an initial species blown onto the Galapagos Islands. Yet individuals from a single finch species on a U.S. Bird Reservation in the Pacific were introduced to a group of small islands 300 miles away and in at most 17 years, like Darwin's finches, they had diversified their beaks, related muscles, and behavior to fill various ecological niches. Hear about this also at rsr.org/spetner.  * Finches Speciate in Two Generations vs Two Million Years for Darwin's Birds?  Darwin's finches on the Galapagos Islands are said to have diversified into 14 species over a period of two million years. But in 2017 the journal Science reported a newcomer to the Island which within two generations spawned a reproductively isolated new species. In another instance as documented by Lee Spetner, a hundred birds of the same finch species introduced to an island cluster a 1,000 kilometers from Galapagos diversified into species with the typical variations in beak sizes, etc. "If this diversification occurred in less than seventeen years," Dr. Spetner asks, "why did Darwin's Galapagos finches [as claimed by evolutionists] have to take two million years?" * Opals Can Form in "A Few Months" And Don't Need 100,000 Years: A leading authority on opals, Allan W. Eckert, observed that, "scientific papers and textbooks have told that the process of opal formation requires tens of thousands of years, perhaps hundreds of thousands... Not true." A 2011 peer-reviewed paper in a geology journal from Australia, where almost all the world's opal is found, reported on the: "new timetable for opal formation involving weeks to a few months and not the hundreds of thousands of years envisaged by the conventional weathering model." (And apparently, per a 2019 report from Entomology Today, opals can even form around insects!) More knowledgeable scientists resist the uncritical, group-think insistence on false super-slow formation rates (as also for manganese nodules, gold veins, stone, petroleum, canyons and gullies, and even guts, all below). Regarding opals, Darwinian bias led geologists to long ignore possible quick action, as from microbes, as a possible explanation for these mineraloids. For both in nature and in the lab, opals form rapidly, not even in 10,000 years, but in weeks. See this also from creationists by a geologist, a paleobiochemist, and a nuclear chemist. * Blue Eyes Originated Not So Long Ago: Not a million years ago, nor a hundred thousand years ago, but based on a peer-reviewed paper in Human Genetics, a press release at Science Daily reports that, "research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today." * Adding the Entire Universe to our List of Not So Old Things? Based on March 2019 findings from Hubble, Nobel laureate Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute and his co-authors in the Astrophysical Journal estimate that the universe is about a billion years younger than previously thought! Then in September 2019 in the journal Science, the age dropped precipitously to as low as 11.4 billion years! Of course, these measurements also further squeeze the canonical story of the big bang chronology with its many already existing problems including the insufficient time to "evolve" distant mature galaxies, galaxy clusters, superclusters, enormous black holes, filaments, bubbles, walls, and other superstructures. So, even though the latest estimates are still absurdly too old (Google: big bang predictions, and click on the #1 ranked article, or just go on over there to rsr.org/bb), regardless, we thought we'd plop the whole universe down on our List of Not So Old Things!   * After the Soft Tissue Discoveries, NOW Dino DNA: When a North Carolina State University paleontologist took the Tyrannosaurus Rex photos to the right of original biological material, that led to the 2016 discovery of dinosaur DNA, So far researchers have also recovered dinosaur blood vessels, collagen, osteocytes, hemoglobin, red blood cells, and various proteins. As of May 2018, twenty-six scientific journals, including Nature, Science, PNAS, PLoS One, Bone, and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, have confirmed the discovery of biomaterial fossils from many dinosaurs! Organisms including T. Rex, hadrosaur, titanosaur, triceratops, Lufengosaur, mosasaur, and Archaeopteryx, and many others dated, allegedly, even hundreds of millions of years old, have yielded their endogenous, still-soft biological material. See the web's most complete listing of 100+ journal papers (screenshot, left) announcing these discoveries at bflist.rsr.org and see it in layman's terms at rsr.org/soft. * Rapid Stalactites, Stalagmites, Etc.: A construction worker in 1954 left a lemonade bottle in one of Australia's famous Jenolan Caves. By 2011 it had been naturally transformed into a stalagmite (below, right). Increasing scientific knowledge is arguing for rapid cave formation (see below, Nat'l Park Service shrinks Carlsbad Caverns formation estimates from 260M years, to 10M, to 2M, to it "depends"). Likewise, examples are growing of rapid formations with typical chemical make-up (see bottle, left) of classic stalactites and stalagmites including: - in Nat'l Geo the Carlsbad Caverns stalagmite that rapidly covered a bat - the tunnel stalagmites at Tennessee's Raccoon Mountain - hundreds of stalactites beneath the Lincoln Memorial - those near Gladfelter Hall at Philadelphia's Temple University (send photos to Bob@rsr.org) - hundreds of stalactites at Australia's zinc mine at Mt. Isa.   - and those beneath Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance. * Most Human Mutations Arose in 200 Generations: From Adam until Real Science Radio, in only 200 generations! The journal Nature reports The Recent Origin of Most Human Protein-coding Variants. As summarized by geneticist co-author Joshua Akey, "Most of the mutations that we found arose in the last 200 generations or so" (the same number previously published by biblical creationists). Another 2012 paper, in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (Eugenie Scott's own field) on High mitochondrial mutation rates, shows that one mitochondrial DNA mutation occurs every other generation, which, as creationists point out, indicates that mtEve would have lived about 200 generations ago. That's not so old! * National Geographic's Not-So-Old Hard-Rock Canyon at Mount St. Helens: As our List of Not So Old Things (this web page) reveals, by a kneejerk reaction evolutionary scientists assign ages of tens or hundreds of thousands of years (or at least just long enough to contradict Moses' chronology in Genesis.) However, with closer study, routinely, more and more old ages get revised downward to fit the world's growing scientific knowledge. So the trend is not that more information lengthens ages, but rather, as data replaces guesswork, ages tend to shrink until they are consistent with the young-earth biblical timeframe. Consistent with this observation, the May 2000 issue of National Geographic quotes the U.S. Forest Service's scientist at Mount St. Helens, Peter Frenzen, describing the canyon on the north side of the volcano. "You'd expect a hard-rock canyon to be thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years old. But this was cut in less than a decade." And as for the volcano itself, while again, the kneejerk reaction of old-earthers would be to claim that most geologic features are hundreds of thousands or millions of years old, the atheistic National Geographic magazine acknowledges from the evidence that Mount St. Helens, the volcanic mount, is only about 4,000 years old! See below and more at rsr.org/mount-st-helens. * Mount St. Helens Dome Ten Years Old not 1.7 Million: Geochron Laboratories of Cambridge, Mass., using potassium-argon and other radiometric techniques claims the rock sample they dated, from the volcano's dome, solidified somewhere between 340,000 and 2.8 million years ago. However photographic evidence and historical reports document the dome's formation during the 1980s, just ten years prior to the samples being collected. With the age of this rock known, radiometric dating therefore gets the age 99.99999% wrong. * Devils Hole Pupfish Isolated Not for 13,000 Years But for 100: Secular scientists default to knee-jerk, older-than-Bible-age dates. However, a tiny Mojave desert fish is having none of it. Rather than having been genetically isolated from other fish for 13,000 years (which would make this small school of fish older than the Earth itself), according to a paper in the journal Nature, actual measurements of mutation rates indicate that the genetic diversity of these Pupfish could have been generated in about 100 years, give or take a few. * Polystrates like Spines and Rare Schools of Fossilized Jellyfish: Previously, seven sedimentary layers in Wisconsin had been described as taking a million years to form. And because jellyfish have no skeleton, as Charles Darwin pointed out, it is rare to find them among fossils. But now, reported in the journal Geology, a school of jellyfish fossils have been found throughout those same seven layers. So, polystrate fossils that condense the time of strata deposition from eons to hours or months, include: - Jellyfish in central Wisconsin were not deposited and fossilized over a million years but during a single event quick enough to trap a whole school. (This fossil school, therefore, taken as a unit forms a polystrate fossil.) Examples are everywhere that falsify the claims of strata deposition over millions of years. - Countless trilobites buried in astounding three dimensionality around the world are meticulously recovered from limestone, much of which is claimed to have been deposited very slowly. Contrariwise, because these specimens were buried rapidly in quickly laid down sediments, they show no evidence of greater erosion on their upper parts as compared to their lower parts. - The delicacy of radiating spine polystrates, like tadpole and jellyfish fossils, especially clearly demonstrate the rapidity of such strata deposition. - A second school of jellyfish, even though they rarely fossilized, exists in another locale with jellyfish fossils in multiple layers, in Australia's Brockman Iron Formation, constraining there too the rate of strata deposition. By the way, jellyfish are an example of evolution's big squeeze. Like galaxies evolving too quickly, 

Listen in as Real Science Radio host Fred Williams and co-host Doug McBurney review and update some of Bob Enyart's legendary list of not so old things! From Darwin's Finches to opals forming in months to man's genetic diversity in 200 generations, to carbon 14 everywhere it's not supposed to be (including in diamonds and dinosaur bones!), scientific observations simply defy the claim that the earth is billions of years old. Real science demands the dismissal of the alleged million and billion year ages asserted by the ungodly and the foolish.   * Finches Adapt in 17 Years, Not 2.3 Million: Charles Darwin's finches are claimed to have taken 2,300,000 years to diversify from an initial species blown onto the Galapagos Islands. Yet individuals from a single finch species on a U.S. Bird Reservation in the Pacific were introduced to a group of small islands 300 miles away and in at most 17 years, like Darwin's finches, they had diversified their beaks, related muscles, and behavior to fill various ecological niches. Hear about this also at rsr.org/spetner.  * Finches Speciate in Two Generations vs Two Million Years for Darwin's Birds?  Darwin's finches on the Galapagos Islands are said to have diversified into 14 species over a period of two million years. But in 2017 the journal Science reported a newcomer to the Island which within two generations spawned a reproductively isolated new species. In another instance as documented by Lee Spetner, a hundred birds of the same finch species introduced to an island cluster a 1,000 kilometers from Galapagos diversified into species with the typical variations in beak sizes, etc. "If this diversification occurred in less than seventeen years," Dr. Spetner asks, "why did Darwin's Galapagos finches [as claimed by evolutionists] have to take two million years?" * Opals Can Form in "A Few Months" And Don't Need 100,000 Years: A leading authority on opals, Allan W. Eckert, observed that, "scientific papers and textbooks have told that the process of opal formation requires tens of thousands of years, perhaps hundreds of thousands... Not true." A 2011 peer-reviewed paper in a geology journal from Australia, where almost all the world's opal is found, reported on the: "new timetable for opal formation involving weeks to a few months and not the hundreds of thousands of years envisaged by the conventional weathering model." (And apparently, per a 2019 report from Entomology Today, opals can even form around insects!) More knowledgeable scientists resist the uncritical, group-think insistence on false super-slow formation rates (as also for manganese nodules, gold veins, stone, petroleum, canyons and gullies, and even guts, all below). Regarding opals, Darwinian bias led geologists to long ignore possible quick action, as from microbes, as a possible explanation for these mineraloids. For both in nature and in the lab, opals form rapidly, not even in 10,000 years, but in weeks. See this also from creationists by a geologist, a paleobiochemist, and a nuclear chemist. * Blue Eyes Originated Not So Long Ago: Not a million years ago, nor a hundred thousand years ago, but based on a peer-reviewed paper in Human Genetics, a press release at Science Daily reports that, "research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today." * Adding the Entire Universe to our List of Not So Old Things? Based on March 2019 findings from Hubble, Nobel laureate Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute and his co-authors in the Astrophysical Journal estimate that the universe is about a billion years younger than previously thought! Then in September 2019 in the journal Science, the age dropped precipitously to as low as 11.4 billion years! Of course, these measurements also further squeeze the canonical story of the big bang chronology with its many already existing problems including the insufficient time to "evolve" distant mature galaxies, galaxy clusters, superclusters, enormous black holes, filaments, bubbles, walls, and other superstructures. So, even though the latest estimates are still absurdly too old (Google: big bang predictions, and click on the #1 ranked article, or just go on over there to rsr.org/bb), regardless, we thought we'd plop the whole universe down on our List of Not So Old Things!   * After the Soft Tissue Discoveries, NOW Dino DNA: When a North Carolina State University paleontologist took the Tyrannosaurus Rex photos to the right of original biological material, that led to the 2016 discovery of dinosaur DNA, So far researchers have also recovered dinosaur blood vessels, collagen, osteocytes, hemoglobin, red blood cells, and various proteins. As of May 2018, twenty-six scientific journals, including Nature, Science, PNAS, PLoS One, Bone, and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, have confirmed the discovery of biomaterial fossils from many dinosaurs! Organisms including T. Rex, hadrosaur, titanosaur, triceratops, Lufengosaur, mosasaur, and Archaeopteryx, and many others dated, allegedly, even hundreds of millions of years old, have yielded their endogenous, still-soft biological material. See the web's most complete listing of 100+ journal papers (screenshot, left) announcing these discoveries at bflist.rsr.org and see it in layman's terms at rsr.org/soft. * Rapid Stalactites, Stalagmites, Etc.: A construction worker in 1954 left a lemonade bottle in one of Australia's famous Jenolan Caves. By 2011 it had been naturally transformed into a stalagmite (below, right). Increasing scientific knowledge is arguing for rapid cave formation (see below, Nat'l Park Service shrinks Carlsbad Caverns formation estimates from 260M years, to 10M, to 2M, to it "depends"). Likewise, examples are growing of rapid formations with typical chemical make-up (see bottle, left) of classic stalactites and stalagmites including: - in Nat'l Geo the Carlsbad Caverns stalagmite that rapidly covered a bat - the tunnel stalagmites at Tennessee's Raccoon Mountain - hundreds of stalactites beneath the Lincoln Memorial - those near Gladfelter Hall at Philadelphia's Temple University (send photos to Bob@rsr.org) - hundreds of stalactites at Australia's zinc mine at Mt. Isa.   - and those beneath Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance. * Most Human Mutations Arose in 200 Generations: From Adam until Real Science Radio, in only 200 generations! The journal Nature reports The Recent Origin of Most Human Protein-coding Variants. As summarized by geneticist co-author Joshua Akey, "Most of the mutations that we found arose in the last 200 generations or so" (the same number previously published by biblical creationists). Another 2012 paper, in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (Eugenie Scott's own field) on High mitochondrial mutation rates, shows that one mitochondrial DNA mutation occurs every other generation, which, as creationists point out, indicates that mtEve would have lived about 200 generations ago. That's not so old! * National Geographic's Not-So-Old Hard-Rock Canyon at Mount St. Helens: As our List of Not So Old Things (this web page) reveals, by a kneejerk reaction evolutionary scientists assign ages of tens or hundreds of thousands of years (or at least just long enough to contradict Moses' chronology in Genesis.) However, with closer study, routinely, more and more old ages get revised downward to fit the world's growing scientific knowledge. So the trend is not that more information lengthens ages, but rather, as data replaces guesswork, ages tend to shrink until they are consistent with the young-earth biblical timeframe. Consistent with this observation, the May 2000 issue of National Geographic quotes the U.S. Forest Service's scientist at Mount St. Helens, Peter Frenzen, describing the canyon on the north side of the volcano. "You'd expect a hard-rock canyon to be thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years old. But this was cut in less than a decade." And as for the volcano itself, while again, the kneejerk reaction of old-earthers would be to claim that most geologic features are hundreds of thousands or millions of years old, the atheistic National Geographic magazine acknowledges from the evidence that Mount St. Helens, the volcanic mount, is only about 4,000 years old! See below and more at rsr.org/mount-st-helens. * Mount St. Helens Dome Ten Years Old not 1.7 Million: Geochron Laboratories of Cambridge, Mass., using potassium-argon and other radiometric techniques claims the rock sample they dated, from the volcano's dome, solidified somewhere between 340,000 and 2.8 million years ago. However photographic evidence and historical reports document the dome's formation during the 1980s, just ten years prior to the samples being collected. With the age of this rock known, radiometric dating therefore gets the age 99.99999% wrong. * Devils Hole Pupfish Isolated Not for 13,000 Years But for 100: Secular scientists default to knee-jerk, older-than-Bible-age dates. However, a tiny Mojave desert fish is having none of it. Rather than having been genetically isolated from other fish for 13,000 years (which would make this small school of fish older than the Earth itself), according to a paper in the journal Nature, actual measurements of mutation rates indicate that the genetic diversity of these Pupfish could have been generated in about 100 years, give or take a few. * Polystrates like Spines and Rare Schools of Fossilized Jellyfish: Previously, seven sedimentary layers in Wisconsin had been described as taking a million years to form. And because jellyfish have no skeleton, as Charles Darwin pointed out, it is rare to find them among fossils. But now, reported in the journal Geology, a school of jellyfish fossils have been found throughout those same seven layers. So, polystrate fossils that condense the time of strata deposition from eons to hours or months, include: - Jellyfish in central Wisconsin were not deposited and fossilized over a million years but during a single event quick enough to trap a whole school. (This fossil school, therefore, taken as a unit forms a polystrate fossil.) Examples are everywhere that falsify the claims of strata deposition over millions of years. - Countless trilobites buried in astounding three dimensionality around the world are meticulously recovered from limestone, much of which is claimed to have been deposited very slowly. Contrariwise, because these specimens were buried rapidly in quickly laid down sediments, they show no evidence of greater erosion on their upper parts as compared to their lower parts. - The delicacy of radiating spine polystrates, like tadpole and jellyfish fossils, especially clearly demonstrate the rapidity of such strata deposition. - A second school of jellyfish, even though they rarely fossilized, exists in another locale with jellyfish fossils in multiple layers, in Australia's Brockman Iron Formation, constraining there too the rate of strata deposition. By the way, jellyfish are an example of evolution's big squeeze. Like galaxies e

As a Friday bonus Adrienne is sharing a recent episode from the Modern Wellness Podcast - remember to follow or subscribe if you haven't yet! Firstly there's a look at a recent New Scientist article all about tiredness, as according to a recent analysis of data from 32 countries, as many as 1 in 5 otherwise healthy adults complain of problematic levels of fatigue. "A fresh understanding of tiredness reveals how to get your energy back"There's a discussion about biophilic design after Fitt Insider's recent report Issue No. 327: Cooped UpAnd finally, Adrienne predicts a big rise in at-home saunas!Don't forget to rate/review and subscribe or follow!You can follow the show and send in your questions to @modernwellnesspodcast or email questions@modernwellnesspodcast.comAnd follow the hosts Adrienne @adrienne_ldn, Sammi @sammiadhami, and Oli @_olipatrick. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 524 - Josh Mendoza - Filmmaker, Storyteller and Author of Shadow of the Eternal WatcherJosh Mendoza is a screenwriter, director, producer and author. Mendoza is the founder of Strike the Sun Entertainment, and his movie work has been recognized by film festivals and competitions alike. He is best known for his feature film, WHAT STILL REMAINS, which he wrote, directed and produced. Decider called the movie a “great follow-up to Bird Box” and described it as a “hidden gem” on Netflix. The Los Angeles Times said, “Writer-director Josh Mendoza finds a fresh angle on the post-apocalyptic thriller” creating a “fascinating ‘what-if' imagining society's possible future.”Mendoza's debut novel, SHADOW OF THE ETERNAL WATCHER, will be released on January 28, 2025. The novel is a noir detective mystery that spirals into a science fiction adventure. The novel has already received positive reviews from Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. It was recently featured as one of the best upcoming sci-fi books for 2025 in New Scientist. Prior to his writing career, Mendoza received a BA in English and Creative Writing from Stanford University and an MFA in Film and Television Production from USC's School of Cinematic Arts. He was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and lived for over 15 years in Los Angeles, California.  He splits his time between the deserts of Arizona and the city of angels with his wife and two children.Mendoza is currently developing multiple feature-length scripts and writing his next novel. https://www.joshmendoza.com/Support the show___https://livingthenextchapter.com/podcast produced by: https://truemediasolutions.ca/Coffee Refills are always appreciated, refill Dave's cup here, and thanks!https://buymeacoffee.com/truemediaca

Sumit Paul-Choudhury shares that in his childhood he somewhat lost faith in mankind after starkly coming to the realization that not everyone is kind, good, and caring. Sumit went on to pursue science, technology, and the future. He became Editor-in-Chief of New Scientist, trained as an astrophysicist, and received a Sloan Fellowship in strategy and leadership from the London Business School. Then his wife died and on that day, he became an optimist. It was a life reset for him and optimism became his area of focus and research. Sumit has now written a book, The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One. I was raised in an optimistic home and while I side with optimism, I'm also sensitive to the concept of toxic positivity. So I sat down to hear Sumit's story and learn more about his research. He cites that in today's culture, it can feel "darkly glamorous to think it's the end of the world. There is kind of a seduction to it." And yet his research shows that optimism simply breeds more opportunity for us. So he's using his research to help us understand what healthy optimism is and how to harness it consciously and healthfully. Find Sumit's book, The Bright Side, anywhere, and connect with him at alternity.com Sign up for your $1/month trial period at shopify.com/kevin Go to shipstation.com and use code KEVIN to start your free trial. Use my promo code WHATDRIVESYOU for 10% off on any CleanMyMac's subscription plans Join millions of Americans reaching their financial goals—starting at just $3/month! Get $25 towards your first stock purchase at get.stash.com/DRIVE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Partner Louise Klamka and Special Counsel Rebecca Dollisson take us through the risks and rewards of business cooperation, from Virgin and Qatar to the Vanilla Ice Posse. When can you talk to your competitors, when should you talk to your lawyer, and when do you need the ACCC? Plus the roadmap to the new merger clearance framework, the new scam prevention framework and some questionable consumer law limericks, why is there only one Monopolies Commission, and what is the new National Competition Policy? All this and the price of eggs with co-hosts Moya Dodd and Matt Rubinstein. G+T on the transitional arrangements to the new merger control regime New Scientist's monopolies commission joke joke Sinead O'Connor's "No Need to Argue" and Phoebe Bridgers's "Fake Plastic Trees" on YouTube Meet the Gilbert + Tobin Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team Email us at edge@gtlaw.com.au Support the show: https://www.gtlaw.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Robson is a British award-winning science writer specialising in medicine, psychology, and neuroscience. David's work has appeared in the Guardian, the Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Atlantic. He's worked as a features editor at New Scientist and as a senior journalist at the BBC. He's written a number of books, including The Intelligence Trap, The Expectation Effect, which won the British Psychological Society Book Award and his latest release, The Laws of Connection. We discuss the profound impact our expectations can have on every area of our lives and how we often underappreciate the value of connection and the effect that can have on ourselves and others.   LINKS   David's website https://davidrobson.me    Books on Amazon The Laws of Connection: 13 Social Strategies That Will Transform Your Life The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life   The Mojo Sessions website www.themojosessions.com   The Mojo Sessions on Patreon www.patreon.com/TheMojoSessions Full transcripts of the show (plus time codes) are available on Patreon.   The Mojo Sessions on Facebook www.facebook.com/TheMojoSessions   Gary on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/gary-bertwistle   Gary on Twitter www.twitter.com/GaryBertwistle   The Mojo Sessions on Instagram www.instagram.com/themojosessions   If you like what you hear, we'd be grateful for a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Happy listening!   © 2025 Gary Bertwistle. All Rights Reserved.  

1.5C. It's THE number we talk about when we talk about climate change. But what does 1.5C actually mean now – and as the world saw record-breaking heat last year, does it even matter anymore? Climate scientist Mark Maslin and environmental psychologist Lorraine Whitmarsh discuss. Also this week, new clues about how life may have begun from a dusty space rock called Bennu, and New Scientist's Graham Lawton brings us the science of the week, including AI's ‘Sputnik moment', the mice born with two fathers, and how often do unexpected discoveries happen? Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Sophie Ormiston, Ella Hubber & Gerry Holt Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth  If you want to test your climate change knowledge, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University to take the quiz.

Most Powerful Neutrino Ever Is Detected In the MediterraneanNeutrinos are sometimes called “ghost particles,” because they are nearly weightless, rarely interact with any other matter, and have very little electric charge.Now, scientists have discovered a neutrino with a recording-breaking level of energy, which could bring us closer to understanding physics underpinning the creation of the universe.Host Ira Flatow is joined by Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, to talk more about the latest in neutrino research and other top science news of the week, including supersonic spaceflight without a sonic boom; an asteroid headed for Earth; and why loggerhead turtles are dancing.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

On episode 229, we welcome Steven Heine to discuss his research in existential psychology, humans as meaning-making creatures, existential crises as crises of meaning, the importance of story-telling in cultivating a deeper sense of purpose, cultural differences in meaning and our innate desire to contribute to our cultures, terror-management theory, Nietzsche's nobleman and action vs reaction, tribalism in meaning-making, the importance of gratitude, and healthy ways to cope with death anxiety. Steven J. Heine is distinguished university scholar and professor of social and cultural psychology at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Cultural Psychology, the top-selling textbook in the field, and his research has been covered in outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, Newsweek, and New Scientist.  His newest book, available now, is called Start Making Sense: How Existential Psychology Can Help Us Build Meaningful Lives in Absurd Times. | Steven J. Heine | ► Website | https://psych.ubc.ca/profile/steven-heine ► Psychology Today | https://bit.ly/3CLtuhA ► Start Making Sense Book | https://amzn.to/3ErQIKf Where you can find us: | Seize The Moment Podcast | ► Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/SeizeTheMoment ► Twitter | https://twitter.com/seize_podcast  ► Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/seizethemoment ► TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@seizethemomentpodcast    

Inventing the internet and pioneering satellite navigation, U.S. government agency DARPA has had an illustrious history since being founded by President Eisenhower (as the Advanced Research Projects Agency) on February 7th, 1958.  Created in response to the Soviets launching Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, its mission, which continues to this day, is ‘to prevent technological surprise.' In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly uncover how DARPA helped create the humble computer mouse; explain how former Nazi Wernher von Braun found his way to the head of this supposedly All-American organisation; and look forward to a world of self-sustaining surveillance robots eating us out of house and home… Further Reading: • ‘Fifty years of DARPA: A surprising history' (New Scientist, 2008): https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13908-fifty-years-of-darpa-a-surprising-history/ • ‘The Nazi Science That Fed the Apollo 11 Moon Landing' (Time, 2019): https://time.com/5627637/nasa-nazi-von-braun/ • ‘3 of the strangest projects DARPA has worked on' (Tech Insider, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hSs0S5FVx8 Love the show? Support us!  Join 

Farts are funny and sometimes smelly. But are they a legitimate topic of research? More than 40% of people worldwide are estimated to suffer from some kind of functional gut disorder — from acid reflux, heartburn, indigestion, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome to inflammatory bowel disease. So, yes, freelance science writer Claire Ainsworth thinks so. Claire speaks with Emily about two teams of scientists studying intestinal gases, who she profiled in a recent New Scientist article — and why understanding people's gut microbiome through a fart-shaped window may help treat these conditions at the source. Read more of Claire's reporting for New Scientist.Have another bodily function you want us to explore or just want to report to us about a funny time you passed gas? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Send us a textFrom Quantum Causal Models to Causal AI at SpotifyCiarán loved Lego.Fascinated by the endless possibilities offered by the blocks, he once asked his parents what he could do as an adult to keep building with them.The answer: engineering.As he delved deeper into engineering, Ciarán noticed that its rules relied on a deeper structure. This realization inspired him to pursue quantum physics, which eventually brought him face-to-face with fundamental questions about causality.Today, Ciarán blends his deep understanding of physics and quantum causal models with applied work at Spotify, solving complex problems in innovative ways.Recently, while collaborating with one of his students, he stumbled upon a new interesting question: could we learn something about the early history of the universe by applying causal inference methods in astrophysics?Could we? Hear it from Ciarán himself.Join us for this one-of-a-kind conversation!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Video version and episode links available on YouTubeRecorded on Nov 6, 2024 in Dublin, Ireland.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------About The GuestCiarán Gilligan-Lee is Head of the Causal Inference Research Lab at Spotify and Honorary Associate Professor at University College London. He got interested in causality during his studies in quantum physics. This interest led him to study quantum causal models. He published in Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Quantum Information, Physical Review Letters, New Journal of Physics and more. In his free time, he writes for New Scientist and helps his students apply causal methods in new fields (e.g., astrophysics).Connect with Ciarán:- Ciarán on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciaran-gilligan-lee/- Ciarán's web page: https://www.ciarangilliganlee.com/About The HostAleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entreSupport the showCausal Bandits PodcastCausal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & DiscoveryWeb: https://causalbanditspodcast.comConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4

Episode Summary:For ten years running, Dr. Rupert Sheldrake has been recognized as one of the “most spiritually influential living people in the world” by Watkins Mind Body Spirit magazine. His work has been featured in many magazines, newspapers and broadcast media, including New Scientist, The Guardian, Discover magazine, The Spectator, The Washington Post, Die Zeit, the Netflix original Cunk on Life, and on BBC Radio and television.Sheldrake, a Cambridge educated biologist and author, is best known for his controversial and pioneering work on the concept of morphic resonance, which suggests that there are inherent patterns of behavior in nature influenced by past occurrences of similar patterns, creating a kind of collective memory that transcends individual organisms and time. His ideas have sparked debate, especially within the scientific community, because they challenge the mechanistic worldview that traditional science holds. Labeled a heretic within the scientific community for his embrace of spirituality, Sheldrake's research opens up a fascinating dialogue between science and spirituality, suggesting these realms are not as separate as we've been told.Sheldrake argues that science and spirituality can complement each other, rather than be in opposition. He believes modern science has become too reductionist, focusing solely on material explanations and overlooking the potential for interconnectedness and universal consciousness. Spiritual practices like meditation, singing, and pilgrimage, which have long been seen as purely subjective experiences, have positive effects on the human experience that can be understood and measured through scientific research.While Sheldrake's work doesn't directly “prove” the spiritual benefits of practices like meditation, singing, and pilgrimage, he offers a perspective that allows for these practices to be understood scientifically. For instance, numerous studies have shown that meditation has tangible effects on the brain, such as enhancing neuroplasticity, reducing stress, and improving emotional regulation. Singing has been shown to have positive effects on mental health and can trigger the release of endorphins and oxytocin, promoting feelings of well-being and connection. Pilgrimages are associated with transformative spiritual experiences, and research on this topic shows that they often lead to positive shifts in mental health, increased sense of purpose, and connectedness with others. Sheldrake believes pilgrimages are sacred journeys that not only connect us to sacred sites, but more broadly, to the universal field of human connectivity across space and time.I sat down with Dr. Sheldrake from his home in London to discuss how his background as a world-renown scientist impacted his spiritual quest. We discussed his journey in and out of the Anglican tradition, morphic resonance, why he's been labeled a heretic in the scientific community, the transformational power of pilgrimage, why evolution and Christianity support one another, and other existential questions like, “What really is the meaning of life?”We've had some incredible guests on the show over the previous five years, but Sheldrake is by far the most prominent, globally recognized scholar we've been fortunate enough to know and engage. Pull up a chair, grab a pen and paper, and let this luminous conversation awaken you to the “more” that surrounds us on this living, beautiful planet. Please follow us on social media (use the buttons below) and help us get the word out! (Also, please don't hesitate to use any of these channels or email to contact us with any questions, concerns, or feedback.)If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review, or share on your socials

This week we travel back to dinosaur times with 65! Join us as we learn about all kinds of prehistoric weirdness, including pack-hunting dinosaurs, Spanish moss, swamp creatures, the big asteroid, and more! Sources: Emily Osterloff, "How an Asteroid Ended the Age of the Dinosaurs," Natural History Museum, available at https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-an-asteroid-caused-extinction-of-dinosaurs.html#:~:text=The%20impact%20site%2C%20known%20as,largest%20crater%20on%20the%20planet. Eric Hand, "Updated: Drilling of Dinosaur-killing Impact Crater Explains Buried Circular Hills," Science, available at https://www.science.org/content/article/updated-drilling-dinosaur-killing-impact-crater-explains-buried-circular-hills Image of continents 65 million years ago, available at https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/1044470/view/continents-65-million-years-ago-illustration Tyrannosauroid Fossil Localities Map, available at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tyrannosauroid_fossil_localities_map.png Natalie Johnson, "Jurassic Park Got It Wrong: UWO Research Indicates Raptors Don't Hunt in Packs," UWO Today, available at https://www.uwosh.edu/today/84696/jurassic-park-got-it-wrong-uwo-research-indicates-raptors-dont-hunt-in-packs/ Cameron Duke, "Tyrannosaurs May Have Hunted Together in Packs Like Wolves," New Scientist, available at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2275060-tyrannosaurs-may-have-hunted-together-in-packs-like-wolves/ Sean Mowbray, "Do We Know if Dinosaurs Were Smart Enough to Hunt in Packs?" Discover Magazine, available at https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/do-we-know-if-dinosaurs-were-smart-enough-to-hunt-in-packs Daniel Strain, "Paleontologists discover Colorado 'swamp dweller' that lived alongside dinosaurs," https://www.colorado.edu/today/2024/10/23/paleontologists-discover-colorado-swamp-dweller-lived-alongside-dinosaurs https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/heleocola-piceanus-colorado Stephen Greb, William A DiMichele, Robert Gastaldo, Cortland Eble, and Scott Wing, "Prehistoric Wetland," Elsevier (2022) https://web.colby.edu/ragastal/files/2022/08/2022_GrebEtAl_PrehistoricWetlands.pdf  Life on Our Planet, "In the Shadow of Giants" Netflix.  Missouri Botanical Garden, https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=f427  "10 Fascinating Facts About Spanish Moss," Mental Floss (2023), https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67807/10-things-you-should-know-about-spanish-moss  Chelsea Harvey, "The World's Oldest Moss Outlived the Dinosaurs, but It May Not Survive Climate Change," Scientific American (August 10, 2023). https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-worlds-oldest-moss-outlived-the-dinosaurs-but-it-may-not-survive-climate-change/  https://www.edenproject.com/learn/eden-at-home/a-guide-to-prehistoric-plants Josef Pšenička and Stanislav Opluštil, "The epiphytic plants in the fossil record and its example from in situ tuff from Pennylvanian of Radnice Basin (Czech Republic)," Bulletin of Geosciences 88, no.2 (2013): 401-16. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241660344_The_epiphytic_plants_in_the_fossil_record_and_its_example_from_in_situ_tuff_from_Pennsylvanian_of_Radnice_Basin_Czech_Republic  Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/65  Christy Lemire, "65" https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/65-movie-review-2023  Late Night with Seth Meyers https://youtu.be/tJfmy48AplM?si=kts3zwrzZJBalQji 

A patient's mindset not only influences their experience and satisfaction level, but research indicates it can also impact their physical, mental, and emotional health. So how can members of the healthcare team influence the patient's mindset in a meaningful way?    Mindset researcher Kari Leibowitz, PhD, has studied this topic extensively and is helping healthcare professionals embrace the healing potential of prescribing perspective. Dr. Leibowitz, a Stanford-trained PhD, was the lead author of a newly published paper on mindset training. She discusses that research, as well as practical ways healthcare professionals can prescribe mindset.   About the Expert Kari Leibowitz is a health psychologist with a PhD in psychology from Stanford University, where she conducted research at the Stanford Mind & Body Lab. She is a U.S.-Norway Fulbright Scholar and a frequently invited writer and speaker on the power of mindset. Leibowitz has written about "wintertime mindset" for The New York Times and The Washington Post, and her work has been covered by The Guardian, CNN, National Geographic, Forbes, The Telegraph, BBC, and New Scientist. Her first book, How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days, is available now. More information at karileibowitz.com.

Optimism is central to the human psyche: it seems to give us an advantage in both everyday life and in addressing great collective challenges.Sumit Paul-Choudhury, former editor-in-chief of New Scientist, visits the RSA to make a vital and transformative new argument: that optimism is not only the natural state of humanity, but an essential one.Sumit argues that without optimism we would never have survived the unpredictable - and often hostile - world we evolved into. Yet optimism is not just reserved for times of extremity. Its benefits manifest throughout our everyday lives: our relationships, careers, bodies, and minds. And it will play a critical role in overcoming the toughest challenges of the twenty-first century.Kick-start your New Year with a powerfully motivating manifesto for hope and a much-needed new perspective on our individual and societal prospects. By embracing action, imagination, and possibility, we can find a path to the bright side, even - perhaps especially - when the future seems dark.Speaker:Sumit Paul-Choudhury, writer on science, technology, and the future; author of The Bright Side (Canongate, 2025)Chair:Anna Markland, Head of Innovation & Change, RSA Become an RSA Events sponsor: https://utm.guru/ueemb Follow RSA Events on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thersaorg/ Follow the RSA on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theRSAorg Donate to the RSA: https://thersa.co/3XPiI1k Like RSA Events on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theRSAorg/ Listen to RSA Events podcasts: https://bit.ly/35EyQYU Join our Fellowship: https://www.thersa.org/fellowship/join

Coincidences may seem like random occurrences to many of us – but not to a mathematician. Sarah Hart is professor of geometry at Gresham College and professor emerita of mathematics at Birkbeck, University of London. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why we so often look for coincidences in our lives — and why that's a mathematically futile endeavor — why the blind luck behind lottery wins might not be so blind after all, and why revealing this magic with numbers makes the phenomenon all the more interesting. Her article, “The surprising maths that explains why coincidences are so common,” was published in New Scientist.

As wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles, some wealthy residents are shelling out thousands each day to hire private firefighters to protect their homes and businesses. But some argue that the market for these private crews diminishes public firefighting resources. We’ll get into it. And, renowned science fiction author Octavia Butler predicted many of our modern problems, including catastrophic wildfires. We’ll explain how looking to the past helped her write about the future. Plus, Kimberly gives us some advice for throwing better parties in 2025. Here’s everything we talked about today: “‘Will Pay Any Amount': Private Firefighters Are in Demand in L.A.” from The New York Times “I Will Pay Any Amount to Not Pay My Taxes” from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency “N.K. Jemisin on the prescience and brilliance of Parable of the Sower” from New Scientist “A Few Rules For Predicting The Future by Octavia E. Butler” from Common Good Collective “The LA Fires Aren’t a Surprise If You Study History and Climate Change. So Now What?” from Teen Vogue “Americans Need to Party More” from The Atlantic “Here’s how single women are successfully navigating an otherwise brutal market for first-time homebuyers” from Business Insider We love to hear from you. Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

As wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles, some wealthy residents are shelling out thousands each day to hire private firefighters to protect their homes and businesses. But some argue that the market for these private crews diminishes public firefighting resources. We’ll get into it. And, renowned science fiction author Octavia Butler predicted many of our modern problems, including catastrophic wildfires. We’ll explain how looking to the past helped her write about the future. Plus, Kimberly gives us some advice for throwing better parties in 2025. Here’s everything we talked about today: “‘Will Pay Any Amount': Private Firefighters Are in Demand in L.A.” from The New York Times “I Will Pay Any Amount to Not Pay My Taxes” from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency “N.K. Jemisin on the prescience and brilliance of Parable of the Sower” from New Scientist “A Few Rules For Predicting The Future by Octavia E. Butler” from Common Good Collective “The LA Fires Aren’t a Surprise If You Study History and Climate Change. So Now What?” from Teen Vogue “Americans Need to Party More” from The Atlantic “Here’s how single women are successfully navigating an otherwise brutal market for first-time homebuyers” from Business Insider We love to hear from you. Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

As wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles, some wealthy residents are shelling out thousands each day to hire private firefighters to protect their homes and businesses. But some argue that the market for these private crews diminishes public firefighting resources. We’ll get into it. And, renowned science fiction author Octavia Butler predicted many of our modern problems, including catastrophic wildfires. We’ll explain how looking to the past helped her write about the future. Plus, Kimberly gives us some advice for throwing better parties in 2025. Here’s everything we talked about today: “‘Will Pay Any Amount': Private Firefighters Are in Demand in L.A.” from The New York Times “I Will Pay Any Amount to Not Pay My Taxes” from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency “N.K. Jemisin on the prescience and brilliance of Parable of the Sower” from New Scientist “A Few Rules For Predicting The Future by Octavia E. Butler” from Common Good Collective “The LA Fires Aren’t a Surprise If You Study History and Climate Change. So Now What?” from Teen Vogue “Americans Need to Party More” from The Atlantic “Here’s how single women are successfully navigating an otherwise brutal market for first-time homebuyers” from Business Insider We love to hear from you. Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

As wildfires continue to burn in Los Angeles, some wealthy residents are shelling out thousands each day to hire private firefighters to protect their homes and businesses. But some argue that the market for these private crews diminishes public firefighting resources. We’ll get into it. And, renowned science fiction author Octavia Butler predicted many of our modern problems, including catastrophic wildfires. We’ll explain how looking to the past helped her write about the future. Plus, Kimberly gives us some advice for throwing better parties in 2025. Here’s everything we talked about today: “‘Will Pay Any Amount': Private Firefighters Are in Demand in L.A.” from The New York Times “I Will Pay Any Amount to Not Pay My Taxes” from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency “N.K. Jemisin on the prescience and brilliance of Parable of the Sower” from New Scientist “A Few Rules For Predicting The Future by Octavia E. Butler” from Common Good Collective “The LA Fires Aren’t a Surprise If You Study History and Climate Change. So Now What?” from Teen Vogue “Americans Need to Party More” from The Atlantic “Here’s how single women are successfully navigating an otherwise brutal market for first-time homebuyers” from Business Insider We love to hear from you. Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.

Sumit Paul-Choudhury is an astrophysicist-turned-journalist, former editor-in-chief of New Scientist magazine and has served as a judge for the Baillie Gifford Prize (then Samuel Johnson Prize), the Wellcome Prize and the Costa Book Awards. On this week's episode of Little Atoms he talks to Neil Denny about his new book The Bright Side: Why Optimists Have the Power to Change the World. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why are dalmatians often associated with firefighters and fire trucks? Is it just a mascot thing or is there more to the story? Of course, there is more to the story and this episode begins with a quick explanation. https://www.livescience.com/33293-dalmatians-official-firehouse-dogs.html The world is full of optimists and pessimists. Which is better? How do we come to be one or the other – are we born that way? What does it mean to be an optimist and are there benefits to it? These things I explore with my guest Sumit Paul-Choudhury. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of New Scientist; he trained as an astrophysicist and has worked as a financial journalist. He is also author of the book The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One (https://amzn.to/3W3Ndzl). Have you ever NOT spoken up at a meeting because it is just easier to go along with the crowd – even when you know you were right? It seems we have been taught that compliance and being a team player is best while defying the consensus is bad. Well maybe not. There is another way to look at this, which is why Dr. Sunita Shah is here. She believes saying no and defying conventional wisdom is often the right thing to do. And you can do it in a way that doesn't offend. Sunita is an award-winning professor at Cornell University and an expert in organizational psychology. She is author of the book Defy: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes (https://amzn.to/49Zecln)  Keeping warm in the winter cold can be tricky and expensive. Listen as I offer some easy and practical ideas that will help keep everyone in your home nice and warm without having to turn up the heat and run up the bill. https://www.thespruce.com/ways-to-keep-warm-without-turning-up-the-heat-1388206 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! SHOPIFY:  "Established in 2025". Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Sign up for a $1 per-month trial period at https://Shopify.com/sysk . Go to SHOPIFY.com/sysk to grow your business! HERS: Hers is changing women's healthcare by providing access to GLP-1 weekly injections with the same active ingredient as Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as oral medication kits. Start your free online visit today at https://forhers.com/sysk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers have projected that by the end of the century, days where snow covers the ground will virtually disappear in the United States, except for in very high mountains like the Rockies. This would affect entire ecosystems, disrupting animals and plants that live beneath the snow and increasing flooding and runoff.Ira talks with Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, about the latest snow projections and other top science news of the week, including the discovery of an ancient piece of clothing, how blinking can give you a “cognitive break,” and how dolphins could be using their teeth to improve hearing.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Episode 282 Looking back at some of the best stories New Scientist has published in 2024, this episode is a treasure trove of knowledge that will serve you well over the holiday season. Rowan Hooper hosts a panel of New Scientist journalists, as they take it in turn to highlight their favourite moments from the year. Head of features Josh Howgego kicks off by looking at the race to find an amazing and strange form of hydrogen, known as ‘gold hydrogen' - a game-changer for sustainability which may be more abundant than we first realised. He also discusses the mystery of kimberlites, supersonic volcanoes that spew diamonds which went extinct millions of years ago. Alison George takes on the story of Thorin the neanderthal, whose remains are shedding light on how the ancient species died out - and surprisingly, it may not have been our fault. She also explores the new science of tinnitus and how it might help us cure hearing loss one day. Thomas Lewton looks at some mad physics stories from the year, including an unnerving idea that a quantum fluctuation involving the Higgs boson could cause the universe to vanish at any moment. They also explore an old theory that quantum effects explain consciousness, which has been revived thanks to new research into anaesthetics and brain organoids. And Linda Rodriguez-McRobbie throws some nuance into the discussion about screen-time, something often blamed for the current youth mental health crisis - and why it might not be all bad. She also explains how researchers this year were able to reanimate a pig's brain, four hours after it was separated from its body, upending our concept of death. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Adrienne reflects on 6 years of the Power Hour, we are going to share some of our favourite episodes from the archives.Today we're sharing 2023's episode with the wonderful Thomas Curran.From the episode notes...Thomas Curran (@thom_curran) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics. He is a world leading expert on perfectionism. He has written for the Harvard Business Review, was featured in the New Scientist, and his work has been covered by publications including the Guardian, Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, and Ariana Huffington's 'Thrive Global' campaign. In 2018, he gave a TEDMED talk entitled 'Our Dangerous Obsession with Perfectionism is Getting Worse'. Thomas' book The Perfection Trap is out on June 1st and has been described as "a powerful, poignant book on the impossibly high expectations that stand in the way of happiness, health, and success". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guy P. Harrison is an acclaimed author of nine thought-provoking books that encourage curiosity and critical thinking. In this engaging episode, he and Michael Shermer discuss how science fiction inspires us to think beyond the ordinary and explore the vast possibilities of human progress. From his latest work to his passion for rational dialogue, Harrison's insights are both inspiring and accessible. Shermer and Harrison tackle a diverse range of topics, including the societal value of science fiction, the flawed debates about religion and evolution, and why humanity might ultimately prevail despite existential threats like AI. They examine UFOs and the Fermi Paradox, discuss redefining atheism, and share optimism about human progress. Harrison's engaging insights inspire curiosity and critical thinking throughout the episode. Guy Harrison is an award-winning writer and author of nine books, including Think: Why You Should Question Everything, At Least Know This, 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God, and Good Thinking. His work has been featured in Skeptic, Reader's Digest, The Institute of Arts and Ideas, Skeptical Inquirer, Free Inquiry, Big Think, and many other publications. Guy is a longtime essayist for Psychology Today and contributed a chapter about race and racism to The Cognitive Science of Beliefpublished by Cambridge University Press. Random House featured his book Think: Why You Should Question Everything as recommended reading for all first-year university students, and the San Diego Union-Tribunenamed At Least Know This a top-five summer read. His new book, Damn You, Entropy! 1,001 of the Greatest Science Fiction Quotes was a New Scientist magazine “Best Science Fiction Books of the Month” selection.

* List of Discoveries Squeezing Evolution: Did you know that dinosaurs ate rice before rice evolved? That turtle shells existed forty million years before turtle shells began evolving? That insects evolved tongues for eating from flowers 70 million years before flowers evolved? And that birds appeared before birds evolved? The fossil record is a wonderful thing. And more recently, only a 40,000-year squeeze, Neanderthal had blood types A, B, and O, shocking evolutionists but expected to us here at Real Science Radio! Sit back and get ready to enjoy another instant classic, today's RSR "list show" on Evolution's Big Squeeze! Our other popular list shows include: - scientists doubting Darwin - evidence against whale evolution - problems with 'the river carved the canyon' - carbon 14 everywhere it shouldn't be - dinosaur still-soft biological tissue - solar system formation problems - evidence against the big bang - evidence for the global flood - genomes that just don't fit - and our list of not so old things! (See also rsr.org/sq2 and rsr.org/sq3!) * Evolution's Big Squeeze: Many discoveries squeeze the Darwinian theory's timeframe and of course without a workable timeframe there is no workable theory. Examples, with their alleged (and falsified) old-earth timeframes, include: - Complex skeletons existed 9 million years before they were thought to have evolved, before even the "Cambrian explosion".- Butterflies existed 10 million years before they were thought to have evolved. - Parrots existed "much earlier than had been thought", in fact, 25 million years before they were thought to have evolved. - Cephalopod fossils (squids, cuttlefish, etc.) appear 35 million years before they were able to propagate. - Turtle shells 40 million years before turtle shells began evolving - Trees began evolving 45 million years before they were thought to evolve - Spores appearing 50 million years before the plants that made them (not unlike footprints systematically appearing "millions of years before" the creatures that made them, as affirmed by Dr. Marcus Ross, associate professor of geology). - Sponges existed 60 million years before they were believed to have evolved. - Dinosaurs ate rice before it evolved Example - Insect proboscis (tongue) in moths and butterflies 70 million years before previously believed has them evolving before flowers. - Arthropod brains fully developed with central nervous system running to eyes and appendages just like modern arthropods 90 million years earlier than previously known (prior to 2021, now, allegedly 310mya) - 100 million years ago and already a bird - Fossil pollen pushes back plant evolution 100 million years. - Mammalian hair allegedly 100-million-years-old show that, "the morphology of hair cuticula may have remained unchanged throughout most of mammalian evolution", regarding the overlapping cells that lock the hair shaft into its follicle. - Piranha-like flesh-eating teeth (and bitten prey) found pushing back such fish 125 million years earlier than previously claimed   - Shocking organic molecules in "200 million-years-old leaves" from ginkgoes and conifers show unexpected stasis. - Plant genetic sophistication pushed back 200 million years. - Jellyfish fossils (Medusoid Problematica :) 200 million years earlier than expected; here from 500My ago. - Green seaweed 200 million years earlier than expected, pushed back now to a billion years ago!  - The acanthodii fish had color vision 300 million years ago, but then, and wait, Cheiracanthus fish allegedly 388 million years ago already had color vision. - Color vision (for which there is no Darwinian evolutionary small-step to be had, from monochromatic), existed "300 million years ago" in fish, and these allegedly "120-million-year-old" bird's rod and cone fossils stun researchers :) - 400-million-year-old Murrindalaspis placoderm fish "eye muscle attachment, the eyestalk attachment and openings for the optic nerve, and arteries and veins supplying the eyeball" The paper's author writes, "Of course, we would not expect the preservation of ancient structures made entirely of soft tissues (e.g. rods and cone cells in the retina...)." So, check this next item... :) - And... no vertebrates in the Cambrian? Well, from the journal Nature in 2014, a "Lower-Middle Cambrian... primitive fish displays unambiguous vertebrate features: a notochord, a pair of prominent camera-type eyes, paired nasal sacs, possible cranium and arcualia, W-shaped myomeres, and a post-anal tail" Primitive? - Fast-growing juvenile bone tissue, thought to appear in the Cretaceous, has been pushed back 100 million years: "This pushes the origin of fibrolamellar bone in Sauropterygia back from the Cretaceous to the early Middle Triassic..."- Trilobites "advanced" (not the predicted primitive) digestion "525 million" years ago - And there's this, a "530 million year old" fish, "50 million years before the current estimate of when fish evolved" - Mycobacterium tuberculosis 100,000 yr-old MRCA (most recent common ancestor) now 245 million- Fungus long claimed to originate 500M years ago, now found at allegedly 950 Mya (and still biological "the distant past... may have been much more 'modern' than we thought." :) - A rock contained pollen a billion years before plants evolved, according to a 2007 paper describing "remarkably preserved" fossil spores in the French Alps that had undergone high-grade metamorphism - 2.5 billion year old cyanobacteria fossils (made of organic material found in a stromatolite) appear about "200 million years before the [supposed] Great Oxidation Event". - 2.7 billion year old eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus) existed (allegedly) 1 billion years before expected - 3.5 billion year "cell division evidently identical to that of living filamentous prokaryotes." - And even older cyanobacteria! At 220 million years earlier than thought, per Nature's 3.7 billion year old dating of stromatolites! - The universe and life itself (in 2019 with the universe dated a billion, now, no, wait, two billion!, years younger than previously thought, that's not only squeezing biological but also astronomical evolution, with the overall story getting really tight) - Mantis shrimp, with its rudimentary color but advanced UV vision, is allegedly ancient. - Hadrosaur teeth, all 1400 of them, were "more complex than those of cows, horses, and other well-known modern grazers." Professor stunned by the find! (RSR predicts that, by 2030 just to put an end date on it, more fossils will be found from the geologic column that will be more "advanced" as compared to living organisms, just like this hadrosaur and like the allegedly 100M year old hagfish  fossil having more slime glands than living specimens.)  - Trace fossils "exquisitely preserved" of mobile organisms (motility) dated at 2.1 billion years ago, a full 1.5 billion earlier than previously believed - Various multicellular organisms allegedly 2.1 billion years old, show multicellularity 1.5 billion years sooner than long believed   - Pre-sauropod 26,000-pound dinosaur "shows us that even as far back as 200 million years ago, these animals had already become the largest vertebrates to ever walk the Earth." - The Evo-devo squeeze, i.e., evolutionary developmental biology, as with rsr.org/evo-devo-undermining-darwinism. - Extinct Siberian one-horned rhinos coexisted with mankind. - Whale "evolution" is being crushed in the industry-wide "big squeeze". First, geneticist claims whales evolved from hippos but paleontologists say hippos evolved tens of millions of years too late! And what's worse than that is that fossil finds continue to compress the time available for whale evolution. To not violate its own plot, the Darwinist story doesn't start animals evolving back into the sea until the cast includes land animals suitable to undertake the legendary journey. The recent excavation of whale fossils on an island of the Antarctic Peninsula further compresses the already absurdly fast 10 million years to allegedly evolve from the land back to the sea, down to as little as one million years. BioOne in 2016 reported a fossil that is "among the oldest occurrences of basilosaurids worldwide, indicating a rapid radiation and dispersal of this group since at least the early middle Eocene." By this assessment, various techniques produced various published dates. (See the evidence that falsifies the canonical whale evolution story at rsr.org/whales.) * Ancient Hierarchical Insect Society: "Thanks to some well-preserved remains, researchers now believe arthropod social structures have been around longer than anyone ever imagined. The encased specimens of ants and termites recently studied date back [allegedly] 100 million years." Also from the video about "the bubonic plague", the "disease is well known as a Middle Ages mass killer... Traces of very similar bacteria were found on [an allegedly] 20-million-year-old flea trapped in amber." And regarding "Caribbean lizards... Even though they are [allegedly] 20 million years old, the reptiles inside the golden stones were not found to differ from their contemporary counterparts in any significant way. Scientists attribute the rarity [Ha! A rarity or the rule? Check out rsr.org/stasis.] to stable ecological surroundings." * Squeezing and Rewriting Human History: Some squeezing simply makes aspects of the Darwinian story harder to maintain while other squeezing contradicts fundamental claims. So consider the following discoveries, most of which came from about a 12-month period beginning in 2017 which squeeze (and some even falsify) the Out-of-Africa model: - find two teeth and rewrite human history with allegedly 9.7 million-year-old teeth found in northern Europe (and they're like Lucy, but "three times older") - date blue eyes, when humans first sported them, to as recently as 6,000 years ago   - get mummy DNA and rewrite human history with a thousand years of ancient Egyptian mummy DNA contradicting Out-of-Africa and demonstrating Out-of-Babel - find a few footprints and rewrite human history with allegedly 5.7 million-year-old human footprints in Crete - re-date an old skull and rewrite human history with a very human skull dated at 325,000 years old and redated in the Journal of Physical Anthropology at about 260,000 years old and described in the UK's Independent, "A skull found in China [40 years ago] could re-write our entire understanding of human evolution." - date the oldest language in India, Dravidian, with 80 derivatives spoken by 214 million people, which appeared on the subcontinent only about 4,500 years ago, which means that there is no evidence for human language for nearly 99% of the time that humans were living in Asia. (Ha! See rsr.org/origin-of-language for the correct explanation.) - sequence a baby's genome and rewrite human history with a 6-week old girl buried in Alaska allegedly 11,500 years ago challenging the established history of the New World. (The family buried this baby girl just beneath their home like the practice in ancient Mesopotamia, the Hebrews who sojourned in Egypt, and in Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey, one of the world's most ancient settlements.) - or was that 130,000? years ago as the journal Nature rewrites human history with a wild date for New World site - and find a jawbone and rewrite human history with a modern looking yet allegedly 180,000-year-old jawbone from Israel which "may rewrite the early migration story of our species" by about 100,000 years, per the journal Science - re-date a primate and lose yet another "missing link" between "Lucy" and humans, as Homo naledi sheds a couple million years off its age and drops from supposedly two million years old to (still allegedly) about 250,000 years old, far too "young" to be the allegedly missing link - re-analysis of the "best candidate" for the most recent ancestor to human beings, Australopithecus sediba, turns out to be a juvenile Lucy-like ape, as Science magazine reports work presented at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists 2017 annual meeting - find skulls in Morocco and "rewrite human history" admits the journal Nature, falsifying also the "East Africa" part of the canonical story - and from the You Can't Make This Stuff Up file, NPR reports in April 2019, Ancient Bones And Teeth Found In A Philippine Cave May Rewrite Human History. :) - Meanwhile, whereas every new discovery requires the materialists to rewrite human history, no one has had to rewrite Genesis, not even once. Yet, "We're not claiming that the Bible is a science textbook. Not at all. For the textbooks have to be rewritten all the time!"  - And even this from Science: "humans mastered the art of training and controlling dogs thousands of years earlier than previously thought."- RSR's Enyart commented on the Smithsonian's 2019 article on ancient DNA possibly deconstructing old myths...  This Smithsonian article about an ancient DNA paper in Science Advances, or actually, about the misuse of such papers, was itself a misuse. The published research, Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines, confirmed Amos 9:7 by documenting the European origin of the biblical Philistines who came from the island of Caphtor/Crete. The mainstream media completely obscured this astounding aspect of the study but the Smithsonian actually stood the paper on its head. [See also rsr.org/archaeology.]* Also Squeezing Darwin's Theory: - Evolution happens so slowly that we can't see it, yet - it happens so fast that millions of mutations get fixed in a blink of geologic time AND: - Observing a million species annually should show us a million years of evolution, but it doesn't, yet - evolution happens so fast that the billions of "intermediary" fossils are missing AND: - Waiting for helpful random mutations to show up explains the slowness of evolution, yet - adaption to changing environments is often immediate, as with Darwin's finches Finches Adapt in 17 Years, Not 2.3 Million: Charles Darwin's finches are claimed to have taken 2,300,000 years to diversify from an initial species blown onto the Galapagos Islands. Yet individuals from a single finch species on a U.S. Bird Reservation in the Pacific were introduced to a group of small islands 300 miles away and in at most 17 years, like Darwin's finches, they had diversified their beaks, related muscles, and behavior to fill various ecological niches. So Darwin's finches could diversify in just 17 years, and after 2.3 million more years, what had they evolved into? Finches! Hear this also at rsr.org/lee-spetner and see Jean Lightner's review of the Grants' 40 Years. AND: - Fossils of modern organisms are found "earlier" and "earlier" in the geologic column, and - the "oldest" organisms are increasingly found to have anatomical, proteinaceous, prokaryotic, and eukaryotic sophistication and similarity to "modern" organisms AND: - Small populations are in danger of extinction (yet they're needed to fix mutations), whereas - large populations make it impossible for a mutation to become standard AND: - Mutations that express changes too late in an organism's development can't effect its fundamental body plan, and - mutations expressed too early in an organism's development are fatal (hence among the Enyart sayings, "Like evolving a vital organ, most major hurdles for evolutionary theory are extinction-level events.") AND: - To evolve flight, you'd get bad legs - long before you'd get good wings AND: - Most major evolutionary hurdles appear to be extinction-level events- yet somehow even *vital* organs evolve (for many species, that includes reproductive organs, skin, brain, heart, circulatory system, kidney, liver, pancreas, stomach, small intestines, large intestines, lungs -- which are only a part of the complex respiration system) AND: - Natural selection of randomly taller, swifter, etc., fish, mammals, etc. explains evolution yet - development of microscopic molecular machines, feedback mechanisms, etc., which power biology would be oblivous to what's happening in Darwin's macro environment of the entire organism AND: - Neo-Darwinism suggests genetic mutation as the engine of evolution yet - the there is not even a hypothesis for modifying the vast non-genetic information in every living cell including the sugar code, electrical code, the spatial (geometric) code, and the epigenetic code AND: - Constant appeals to "convergent" evolution (repeatedly arising vision, echolocation, warm-bloodedness, etc.) - undermine most Darwinian anatomical classification especially those based on trivialities like odd or even-toed ungulates, etc. AND: - Claims that given a single species arising by abiogenesis, then - Darwinism can explain the diversification of life, ignores the science of ecology and the (often redundant) biological services that species rely upon AND: - humans' vastly superior intelligence indicates, as bragged about for decades by Darwinists, that ape hominids should have the greatest animal intelligence, except that - many so-called "primitive" creatures and those far distant on Darwin's tee of life, exhibit extraordinary rsr.org/animal-intelligence even to processing stimuli that some groups of apes cannot AND: - Claims that the tree of life emerges from a single (or a few) common ancestors - conflict with the discoveries of multiple genetic codes and of thousands of orphan genes that have no similarity (homology) to any other known genes AND (as in the New Scientist cover story, "Darwin Was Wrong about the tree of life", etc.): - DNA sequences have contradicted anatomy-based ancestry claims - Fossil-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by RNA claims - DNA-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by anatomy claims - Protein-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by fossil claims. - And the reverse problem compared to a squeeze. Like finding the largest mall in America built to house just a kid's lemonade stand, see rsr.org/200 for the astounding lack of genetic diversity in humans, plants, and animals, so much so that it could all be accounted for in just about 200 generations! - The multiplied things that evolved multiple times - Etc. * List of Ways Darwinists Invent their Tree of Life, aka Pop Goes the Weasle – Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes: Evolutionists change their selection of what evidence they use to show 'lineage', from DNA to fossils to genes to body plans to teeth to many specific anatomical features to proteins to behavior to developmental similarities to habitat to RNA, etc. and to a combination of such. Darwinism is an entire endeavor based on selection bias, a kind of logical fallacy. By anti-science they arbitrarily select evidence that best matches whichever evolutionary story is currently preferred." -Bob E. The methodology used to create the family tree edifice to show evolutionary relationships classifies the descent of organisms based on such attributes as odd-toed and even-toed ungulates. Really? If something as wildly sophisticated as vision allegedly evolved multiple times (a dozen or more), then for cryin' out loud, why couldn't something as relatively simple as odd or even toes repeatedly evolve? How about dinosaur's evolving eggs with hard shells? Turns out that "hard-shelled eggs evolved at least three times independently in dinosaurs" (Nature, 2020). However, whether a genus has an odd or even number of toes, and similar distinctions, form the basis for the 150-year-old Darwinist methodology. Yet its leading proponents still haven't acknowledged that their tree building is arbitrary and invalid. Darwin's tree recently fell anyway, and regardless, it has been known to be even theoretically invalid all these many decades. Consider also bipedalism? In their false paradigm, couldn't that evolve twice? How about vertebrate and non-vertebrates, for that matter, evolving multiple times? Etc., etc., etc. Darwinists determine evolutionary family-tree taxonomic relationships based on numbers of toes, when desired, or on hips (distinguishing, for example, dinosaur orders, until they didn't) or limb bones, or feathers, or genes, or fossil sequence, or neck bone, or..., or..., or... Etc. So the platypus, for example, can be described as evolving from pretty much whatever story would be in vogue at the moment...   * "Ancient" Protein as Advanced as Modern Protein: A book review in the journal Science states, "the major conclusion is reached that 'analyses made of the oldest fossils thus far studied do not suggest that their [allegedly 145-million year-old] proteins were chemically any simpler than those now being produced.'" 1972, Biochemistry of Animal Fossils, p. 125 * "Ancient" Lampreys Just Modern Lampreys with Decomposed Brain and Mouth Parts: Ha! Researches spent half-a-year documenting how fish decay. RSR is so glad they did! One of the lessons learned? "[C]ertain parts of the brain and the mouth that distinguish the animals from earlier relatives begin a rapid decay within 24 hours..." :) * 140-million Year Old Spider Web: The BBC and National Geographic report on a 140-million year old spider web in amber which, as young-earth creationists expect, shows threads that resemble silk spun by modern spiders. Evolutionary scientists on the otherhand express surprise "that spider webs have stayed the same for 140 million years." And see the BBC. * Highly-Credentialed Though Non-Paleontologist on Flowers: Dr. Harry Levin who spent the last 15 years of a brilliant career researching paleontology presents much evidence that flowering plants had to originate not 150 million years ago but more than 300 million years ago. (To convert that to an actual historical timeframe, the evidence indicates flowers must have existed prior to the time that the strata, which is popularly dated to 300 mya, actually formed.) * Rampant Convergence: Ubiquitous appeals to "convergent" evolution (vision, echolocation, warm-bloodedness, icthyosaur/dolphin anatomy, etc.), all allegedly evolving multiple times, undermines anatomical classification based on trivialities like odd or even-toed ungulates, etc. * Astronomy's Big Evolution Squeeze: - Universe a billion, wait, two billion, years younger than thought   (so now it has to evolve even more impossibly rapidly) - Sun's evolution squeezes biological evolution - Galaxies evolving too quickly - Dust evolving too quickly - Black holes evolving too quickly - Clusters of galaxies evolving too quickly. * The Sun's Evolution Squeezes Life's Evolution: The earlier evolutionists claim that life began on Earth, the more trouble they have with astrophysicists. Why? They claim that a few billion years ago the Sun would have been far more unstable and cooler. The journal Nature reports that the Faint young Sun paradox remains for the "Sun was fainter when the Earth was young, but the climate was generally at least as warm as today". Further, our star would shoot out radioactive waves many of which being violent enough to blow out Earth's atmosphere into space, leaving Earth dead and dry like Mars without an atmosphere. And ignoring the fact that powerful computer simulators cannot validate the nebula theory of star formation, if the Sun had formed from a condensing gas cloud, a billion years later it still would have been emitting far less energy, even 30% less, than it does today. Forget about the claimed one-degree increase in the planet's temperature from man-made global warming, back when Darwinists imagine life arose, by this just-so story of life spontaneously generating in a warm pond somewhere (which itself is impossible), the Earth would have been an ice ball, with an average temperature of four degrees Fahrenheit below freezing! See also CMI's video download The Young Sun. * Zircons Freeze in Molten Eon Squeezing Earth's Evolution? Zircons "dated" 4 to 4.4 billion years old would have had to freeze (form) when the Earth allegedly was in its Hadean (Hades) Eon and still molten. Geophysicist Frank Stacey (Cambridge fellow, etc.) has suggested they may have formed above ocean trenches where it would be coolest. One problem is that even further squeezes the theory of plate tectonics requiring it to operate two billion years before otherwise claimed. A second problem (for these zircons and the plate tectonics theory itself) is that ancient trenches (now filled with sediments; others raised up above sea level; etc.) have never been found. A third problem is that these zircons contain low isotope ratios of carbon-13 to carbon-12 which evolutionists may try to explain as evidence for life existing even a half-billion years before they otherwise claim. For more about this (and to understand how these zircons actually did form) just click and then search (ctrl-f) for: zircon character. * Evolution Squeezes Life to Evolve with Super Radioactivity: Radioactivity today breaks chromosomes and produces neutral, harmful, and fatal birth defects. Dr. Walt Brown reports that, "A 160-pound person experiences 2,500 carbon-14 disintegrations each second", with about 10 disintergrations per second in our DNA. Worse for evolutionists is that, "Potassium-40 is the most abundant radioactive substance in... every living thing." Yet the percentage of Potassium that was radioactive in the past would have been far in excess of its percent today. (All this is somewhat akin to screws in complex machines changing into nails.) So life would have had to arise from inanimate matter (an impossibility of course) when it would have been far more radioactive than today. * Evolution of Uranium Squeezed by Contrasting Constraints: Uranium's two most abundant isotopes have a highly predictable ratio with 235U/238U equaling 0.007257 with a standard deviation of only 0.000017. Big bang advocates claim that these isotopes formed in distant stellar cataclysms. Yet that these isotopes somehow collected in innumerable small ore bodies in a fixed ratio is absurd. The impossibility of the "big bang" explanation of the uniformity of the uranium ratio (rsr.org/bb#ratio) simultaneously contrasts in the most shocking way with its opposite impossibility of the missing uniform distribution of radioactivity (see rsr.org/bb#distribution) with 90% of Earth's radioactivity in the Earth's crust, actually, the continental crust, and even at that, preferentially near granite! A stellar-cataclysmic explanation within the big bang paradigm for the origin of uranium is severely squeezed into being falsified by these contrasting constraints. * Remarkable Sponges? Yes, But For What Reason? Study co-author Dr. Kenneth S. Kosik, the Harriman Professor of Neuroscience at UC Santa Barbara said, "Remarkably, the sponge genome now reveals that, along the way toward the emergence of animals, genes for an entire network of many specialized cells evolved and laid the basis for the core gene logic of organisms that no longer functioned as single cells." And then there's this: these simplest of creatures have manufacturing capabilities that far exceed our own, as Degnan says, "Sponges produce an amazing array of chemicals of direct interest to the pharmaceutical industry. They also biofabricate silica fibers directly from seawater in an environmentally benign manner, which is of great interest in communications [i.e., fiber optics]. With the genome in hand, we can decipher the methods used by these simple animals to produce materials that far exceed our current engineering and chemistry capabilities." Kangaroo Flashback: From our RSR Darwin's Other Shoe program: The director of Australia's Kangaroo Genomics Centre, Jenny Graves, that "There [are] great chunks of the human genome… sitting right there in the kangaroo genome." And the 20,000 genes in the kangaroo (roughly the same number as in humans) are "largely the same" as in people, and Graves adds, "a lot of them are in the same order!" CMI's Creation editors add that "unlike chimps, kangaroos are not supposed to be our 'close relatives.'" And "Organisms as diverse as leeches and lawyers are 'built' using the same developmental genes." So Darwinists were wrong to use that kind of genetic similarity as evidence of a developmental pathway from apes to humans. Hibernating Turtles: Question to the evolutionist: What happened to the first turtles that fell asleep hibernating underwater? SHOW UPDATE Of Mice and Men: Whereas evolutionists used a very superficial claim of chimpanzee and human genetic similarity as evidence of a close relationship, mice and men are pretty close also. From the Human Genome Project, How closely related are mice and humans?, "Mice and humans (indeed, most or all mammals including dogs, cats, rabbits, monkeys, and apes) have roughly the same number of nucleotides in their genomes -- about 3 billion base pairs. This comparable DNA content implies that all mammals [RSR: like roundworms :)] contain more or less the same number of genes, and indeed our work and the work of many others have provided evidence to confirm that notion. I know of only a few cases in which no mouse counterpart can be found for a particular human gene, and for the most part we see essentially a one-to-one correspondence between genes in the two species." * Related RSR Reports: See our reports on the fascinating DNA sequencing results from roundworms and the chimpanzee's Y chromosome! * Genetic Bottleneck, etc: Here's an excerpt from rsr.org/why-was-canaan-cursed... A prediction about the worldwide distribution of human genetic sequencing (see below) is an outgrowth of the Bible study at that same link (aka rsr.org/canaan), in that scientists will discover a genetic pattern resulting from not three but four sons of Noah's wife. Relevant information comes also from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is not part of any of our 46 chromosomes but resides outside of the nucleus. Consider first some genetic information about Jews and Arabs, Jewish priests, Eve, and Noah. Jews and Arabs Biblical Ancestry: Dr. Jonathan Sarfati quotes the director of the Human Genetics Program at New York University School of Medicine, Dr. Harry Ostrer, who in 2000 said: Jews and Arabs are all really children of Abraham … And all have preserved their Middle Eastern genetic roots over 4,000 years. This familiar pattern, of the latest science corroborating biblical history, continues in Dr. Sarfati's article, Genesis correctly predicts Y-Chromosome pattern: Jews and Arabs shown to be descendants of one man. Jewish Priests Share Genetic Marker: The journal Nature in its scientific correspondence published, Y Chromosomes of Jewish Priests, by scie

Abortion was on the ballot in 10 states, and seven of them passed constitutional amendments defending abortion rights. Also, this ginormous number has a whopping 41,024,320 digits, which isn't very helpful for mathematicians but is certainly exciting for math nerds.Seven States Passed Ballot Measures To Protect Abortion RightsThis week, science was on the ballot in many states. Voters across the country weighed in on issues like drug legalization, money to fund climate programs, and, of course, abortion rights. Ten states voted on the issue, and in seven of them, voters chose to protect or expand abortion rights. Those states are Maryland, Montana, Nevada, New York, Colorado, Arizona, and Missouri. On the flip side, voters in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota rejected measures that would protect abortion rights.Ira Flatow talks with Tim Revell, executive editor at New Scientist, about the outcome of some sciencey ballot measures and what we can expect going into another Trump presidency. They also discuss the launch of the world's first wooden satellite, what scientists learned when they put vampire bats on a treadmill, and more.Math Enthusiast Finds The Largest Known Prime NumberLet's go back to grade school—do you remember learning about prime numbers? They're numbers that can only be divided by themselves and one.So 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and so on are prime numbers. The number 12, for example, wouldn't be prime because you can divide it by other numbers, like 2 and 3. And as you count up and up, prime numbers become more sparse.Math lovers are always competing to find the largest prime number, and just recently, an engineer discovered the largest one—so far. And you won't believe how ginormous it is: It has more than 41 million digits.Ira talks with Jack Murtagh, math writer and columnist for Scientific American, about why prime numbers are so cool, and the quest to find the largest one.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Two giant pandas on loan from China have arrived at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. Also, originally from Central Asia, Kernza doesn't need to be replanted every year, unlike crops such as corn and soybeans.Pandas Return To Washington, D.C., ZooOn Tuesday, two VIPs (Very Important Pandas) arrived at Washington's Dulles International Airport, en route to new quarters at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.The arrival marks a new chapter of “panda diplomacy,” which leverages the public's affection for the cute, charismatic animals to both strengthen US-China ties and fund conservation initiatives. Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, joins SciFri's John Dankosky to talk about the giant pandas' arrival and other stories from the week in science.Scientists Push For A Lesser-Known Grain Called KernzaOn a recent weekday afternoon, dozens of people filled the cozy taproom at Blue Jay Brewing Company. On tap that day was a fresh creation called New Roots. The American Lager was a hit, with many of the patrons going back to the bar for another glass.Blue Jay's owner and brewer, Jason Thompson, was also pleased with the result of this experimental beer, which he described as “earthy, almost nutty,” with a “lingering honey-like sweetness to it.” Those flavors came from his choice to use a novel grain called Kernza for 25% of the 600 pounds of grain needed for the whole brew, he said.Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Several states have reported cases of the rare but serious mosquito-borne illness eastern equine encephalitis. And, the new sci-fi movie "Slingshot," about an astronaut's mental breakdown, prompts questions about how to prepare humans for long-term space travel.Mosquito-Borne Diseases Are Spreading As Temperatures RiseThis week, a New Hampshire man died of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a rare but extremely serious disease caused by a mosquito-borne virus. Human cases of EEE have also been reported in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Vermont, causing some municipalities to step up mosquito control efforts or attempt to limit outdoor activities during peak mosquito times at dawn and dusk.Other mosquito-borne diseases are on the rise as well. Oropouche fever, a viral disease typically found in South America, has been spotted in the US—and in Brazil, health officials are reporting an 800% increase in the disease. Dengue fever, also spread by mosquitoes, has been increasing across Europe. Experts attribute all the surges to climate change, which has brought warmer, wetter weather that has allowed mosquito populations to thrive and expand their ranges.Sophie Bushwick of New Scientist joins guest host Rachel Feltman to talk about climate, mosquitoes, and disease, and how communities are trying to curb the spread. They also tackle other stories from the week in science, including a puzzling result in a dark matter search, how fruit flies change their threat perception during courtship, and investigations into how marmoset monkeys call each other by name.‘Slingshot' Imagines A Yearslong Space Mission Gone WrongThe new movie “Slingshot,” a sci-fi thriller about a yearslong mission to Saturn's moon Titan, is out in theaters today. It follows the crew members, played by Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, and Tomer Capone, as they start to unravel, highlighting how long, lonely missions can put astronauts' well-being in peril.While the movie is certainly a work of science fiction, it does remind us that a lot can go wrong in space, both physically and mentally. So as humans get closer to embarking on long missions to places like Mars and beyond, how are real space agencies thinking about keeping them happy and safe?Science Friday's digital producer of engagement Emma Gometz sat down with “Slingshot” director Mikael Håfström, and former NASA organizational psychologist Dr. Kelley Slack, to answer those questions and more.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.  Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found Click On Picture To See Larger Picture The climate scientist are confused, they do not understand why the planet is not heating up they way it's suppose to. Revisions and lying are now the new normal for the D's. The [CB] has now signaled that everything is about to change to support the D party. They will use the fake data to cut the rate in September. The [DS] is panicking, they got [KH] as the nominee but now their entire agenda is falling apart, they will need to make a change, if they keep her in they will lose all voters. The economic system is imploding, will we see a red October. RFK Jr endorses Trump and hopes he will be included in the administration to combat Big Pharma, and drain the swamp. Time to unite the country.   (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:13499335648425062,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7164-1323"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.customads.co/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); Economy The Atlantic Ocean is Cooling at Record Speed and Climate Hoaxers Are Absolutely Baffled! The Atlantic Ocean is now cooling at a record speed, leading climate alarmists absolutely baffled. While temperatures in the ocean were recently reaching record highs, that trend has gone into reverse over the past year, confusing scientists and those warning about an impending global catastrophe. The New Scientist explains: Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1826964738959376563 Harris radio silent on $5 trillion in tax hikes she reportedly backs  Vice President Kamala Harris has not spoken publicly about her reported embrace of President Joe Biden's $5 trillion tax plan, which includes the controversial measure of taxing the unrealized capital gains of the nation's wealthiest. With no fanfare or announcement, the Harris campaign signaled that she supports the proposed tax increases that were part of Biden's 2025 budget proposal this week. The ambitious tax increases, if passed, would mark a major change in U.S. tax policy, but Harris, whom Republicans have worked to tie to the more unpopular Biden, has not discussed the tax agenda. Source: washingtonexaminer.com Kamala Harris Goes Full Globalist at DNC, Attacks Trump's Populist Tariffs Vice President Kamala Harris attacked the idea of placing United States tariffs on foreign imports to favor domestic producers during her speech at the Democrat National Convention (DNC). “And all the while, he intends to enact what is in effect a national sales tax — call it a ‘Trump tax' — that would raise prices on middle class families by almost $4,000 a year,” Harris said. Harris's attacks on U.S. tariffs also come with a high risk as leading Democrats in Congress such as Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), as well as labor unions and many Democrat voters, support some of Trump's tariffs that have been left in place by President Joe Biden and want a future president to expand those tariffs.   The United Auto Workers (UAW), for instance, is hoping to get U.S. tariffs increased on foreign cars to protect American auto jobs and wages. A recent YouGov poll found that almost 6-in-10 Democrat voters want current U.S. tariffs kept in place or increased altogether. Source: breitbart.com Trump said he was going to use Tariffs to fund the government, Mckinley did it. Using tariffs we do not need the CB https://twitter.com/alx/status/1826467060815171660 So if everything that Trump did is so bad, tariffs, tax cuts, reworking the trade deals, reverse it all just like they did the border. The reason they cannot because everyone would notice, it would effect everyone immediately. 

The Laki Fissure Eruption was a volcanic event in Iceland in 1783 lasted for months, leading to the deaths of thousands of people and affecting the climate in a lot of the world. Research: “Laki Fissure Eruption, 1783.” URI Graduate School of Oceanography. https://volcano.uri.edu/lava/LakiEruption/Lakierupt.html Barone, Jennifer. “World Versus the Volcano.” Discover. Mar 2007, Vol. 28 Issue 3, p20-20. Brahic, Catherine. “Giant eruptions in Iceland led to Nile famine.” New Scientist. 11/23/2006. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10649-giant-eruptions-in-iceland-led-to-nile-famine/ Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Laki". Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/place/Laki. Accessed 2 July 2024. Casey, Joan A. et al. “Sun smoke in Sweden: Perinatal implications of the Laki volcanic eruptions, 1783–1784.” Epidemiology. 2019 May ; 30(3): 330–333. doi:10.1097/EDE.0000000000000977. Grattan, John and Mark Brayshay. “An Amazing and Portentous Summer: Environmental and Social Responses in Britain to the 1783 Eruption of an Iceland Volcano.” The Geographical Journal , Jul., 1995, Vol. 161, No. 2 (Jul., 1995). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3059970 Grattan, John et al. “Modelling the distal impacts of past volcanic gas emissions. Evidence of Europe-wide environmental impacts from gases emitted during the eruption of Italian and Icelandic volcanoes in 1783.” Quaternaire Année 1998  9-1  25-35. https://www.persee.fr/doc/quate_1142-2904_1998_num_9_1_2103 Gunnarsdóttir, Margrét. “Facing natural extremes: The catastrophe of the Laki eruption in Iceland, 1783–84.” 1700-tal: Nordic Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 19 (2022). 72–93. https://doi.org/10.7557/4.6611 Harvard Map Collection. “Laki, 1783-1784.” A Exhibition in Pusey Library from 14 Dec 2016 to 19 April 2017. https://archive.blogs.harvard.edu/wheredisasterstrikes/volcano/laki-1783-1784/ Jackson, E.L. “The Laki Eruption of 1783: impacts on population and settlement in Iceland.” Geography , January 1982, Vol. 67, No. 1 (January 1982). https://www.jstor.org/stable/40570468 Karlsson, Gunnar; Kristinsson, Valdimar and Matthíasson, Björn. "Iceland". Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Jul. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Iceland. Accessed 3 July 2024. Kleeman, Katrin. “A Mist Connection: An Environmental History of the Laki Eruption of 1783 and Its Legacy.” Historical Catastrophe Studies. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. 2023. Kleemann, Katrin. “Telling Stories of a Changed Climate.” RCC Perspectives , No. 4, COMMUNICATING THE CLIMATE: From Knowing Change to Changing Knowledge (2019) Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26760163. Kleemann, Katrin. “The Laki Fissure eruption, 1783-1784.” Encyclopedia of the Environment. 1/14/2020. https://www.encyclopedie-environnement.org/en/society/laki-fissure-eruption-1783-1784/ Klemetti, Erik. “Local and Global Impacts of the 1783-84 Laki Eruption in Iceland.” Wired. 6/7/2013. https://www.wired.com/2013/06/local-and-global-impacts-1793-laki-eruption-iceland/ Najork, Daniel. “Jón versus the Volcano: Reading an Eighteenth-Century Icelandic Priest's Account of a Moment of Crisis in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Medievalist.com. https://www.medievalist.com/articles/strongjn-versus-the-volcano-an-eighteenth-century-icelandic-priests-account-of-a-moment-of-crisisstrong National Science Foundation. “Tree rings and Iceland's Laki volcano eruption: A closer look at climate.” 2/3/2021. https://new.nsf.gov/news/tree-rings-icelands-laki-volcano-eruption-closer Oman, Luke. “High-latitude eruptions cast shadow over the African monsoon and the flow of the Nile.” Geophysical Research Letters. 9/30/2006. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027665 Penn State. “Benjamin Franklin: Politician, Inventor, Climatologist.” https://www.e-education.psu.edu/rocco/node/1990 The Economist. “The summer of acid rain.” 12/19/2007. https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2007/12/19/the-summer-of-acid-rain White, Gilbert. “The Natural History of Selborne.” January 1st, 1788. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1408/pg1408-images.html Wieners, Claudia E. “Haze, Hunger, Hesitation: Disaster aid after the 1783 Laki eruption.” Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. Volume 406, 15 November 2020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0377027319305220 Witze, Alexandra. “Island on Fire: Societal Lessons From Iceland's Volcanoes.” Natural Hazards Observer Volume XL - Number 1 Island on Fire. 9/28/2015. https://hazards.colorado.edu/article/island-on-fire-societal-lessons-from-iceland-s-volcanoes See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.