On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Gem subjects Ashlyn, Lauren, Laura, and Dave to a documentary of questionable quality.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.
Links: Sasquatch Unearthed: The Ridge – The Sinister Truth Revealed (YouTube)
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On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Gem, Ashlyn, Lauren, and Laura give a primer on some astronomical pseudosciences, including astrology, the expanding Earth theory, the hollow Earth hypothesis, and the effects of the full moon on human health.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.
Astrology: Is Astrology Real? Here’s What Science Says (Scientific American) | Astrology and Horoscopes Uncloaked (Relatively Interesting) | Astrology is bullsh*t. NASA’s scathing takedown perfectly explains why. (Mic) | Horoscope (Wikipedia) | List of astrological traditions, types, and systems (Wikipedia) | Astrology (Wikipedia) | Zodiac (Wikipedia) | Free Astrology Reports: Natal Chart, Compatibility, Future (Cafe Astrology) | Understanding the Free Natal Chart Report (Cafe Astrology)
Lunacy: Full Moon Effects: What Research Has Discovered (Healthline) | Lunacy and the Full Moon (Scientific American) | Lunar effect (Wikipedia)
Expanding Earth: Alfred Wegener’s Hypothesis on Continental Drift and Its Discussion in Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research) | Limits to the expansion of Earth, Moon, Mars and Mercury and to changes in the gravitational constant (Nature) | What’s Hitting Earth? (NASA Science Mission Directorate) | It’s a small world, after all: Earth is not expanding, NASA research confirms (ScienceDaily) | Debate with Hollow-Earth Proponent Neal Adams (NeuroLogica Blog) | Expanding Earth (Wikipedia) | Continental drift (Wikipedia) | Plate tectonics (Wikipedia) | J. Marvin Herndon (Wikipedia) | Neal Adams (Wikipedia) | Finally: The Utter Insanity of ‘Batman: Odyssey,’ Part 6 (Comics Alliance)
Hollow Earth: Hollow Earth (Wikipedia) | John Cleves Symmes Jr. (Wikipedia) | John Cleves Symmes: Believer in hollow Earth theory sent this open letter (Slate) | Our Rich History: The Earth’s not flat, it’s… hollow? (Northern Kentucky Tribune) | Canadian Geography (Statistics Canada)
Face Mite Update: Human Follicular Mites: Ectoparasites Becoming Symbionts (Molecular Biology and Evolution) | Face mites are losing genes (Popular Science)
Correction: Meteoroids are not “converted to energy” as they combust. Ram pressure results in atmospheric ablation, vaporizing some of the meteoroid material and reducing a good deal of it to meteoric dust. This dust can remain in the atmosphere for months, and some of this vaporized material may persist in the atmosphere indefinitely, but it does add mass to the Earth system—just not enough to cause any meaningful growth in the diameter of the Earth.
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On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Marissa McCool leads Lauren, Ashlyn, Laura, and Gem on an exploration of ideas as “icebergs”, with layers of hidden secrets just below the surface. Topics of discussion include US cities, the sinking of the Titanic, artificial sweeteners, and the curse of the pharaohs.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.
Correction: This year marks Queen Elizabeth II’s 70th year on the throne, not her 75th.
Marissa’s Podcasts on Spreaker: Marissa McCool (Host/Producer)
The Sinking of the Titanic: Sinking of the Titanic (Wikipedia) | Titanic Coincidence? (Commonplace Fun Facts) | 5 Titanic Coincidences That Prove Reality is Stranger than Fiction (Travel Thru History) | Titanic Conspiracy Theories: When Did the Titanic Sink? (Popular Mechanics) | Fire and Ice: The Titanic’s Top 10 Weirdest Conspiracy Theories (Spyscape) | Titanic conspiracy theories (Wikipedia) | Fact Check-J.P. Morgan did not sink the Titanic to push forward plans for the U.S. Federal Reserve (Reuters) | Saved from the Titanic (Wikipedia) | Fact-checking QAnon conspiracy theories: Did J.P. Morgan sink the Titanic? (The Washington Post) | Haunted mirror ‘possessed by the ghost of the Titanic captain’ up for auction (Mirror Online)
Artificial Sweeteners: G.D. Searle, LLC (Wikipedia) | Aspartame (Wikipedia) | Artificial sweeteners get more than their fair share of grief (AGDAILY) | Is Aspartame Responsible for ‘An Epidemic of Multiple Sclerosis and Lupus’? (Snopes.com) | Hayes Planning To Resign as Head of FDA (The Washington Post) | Why Did the FDA Ever Approve Fake Sugar? (Vice) | Donald Rumsfeld and the Strange History of Aspartame (HuffPost) | ‘Aspartame Causes Cancer’ Was a Classic Internet Hoax (Smithsonian Magazine) | Aspartame controversy (Wikipedia)
The Pharaoh’s Curse: British Museum is world’s largest receiver of stolen goods, says QC (The Guardian) | Curse of the pharaohs (Wikipedia) | Discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (Wikipedia) | Did a Cursed Mummy Sink with the Titanic? (Snopes.com) | Did a mummy’s curse sink the Titanic? Probably not, but the Washington Post once suggested that it did. (Slate) | The most famous myths about the Titanic (SFGate) | Brendan Fraser got ‘fully choked-out’ shooting ‘The Mummy’ (EW.com) | Here’s How Brendan Fraser Almost Died on the Set of ‘The Mummy’ (TheThings)
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On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Lauren, Ashlyn, Laura, and Gem discuss medical scams, including Miracle Mineral Solution, urine therapy (i.e., drinking your own pee), Trina Health’s dubious treatment for diabetes, and Dr. Zamboni’s Liberation Therapy for multiple sclerosis.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.
Miracle Mineral Solution: Danger: Don’t Drink Miracle Mineral Solution or Similar Products (FDA) | Miracle Mineral Solution is a Nightmare (McGill University) | Health Canada reminds Canadians of dangers of Miracle Mineral Solution after investigation leads to guilty plea and two-year sentence (Canada.ca) | Miracle Mineral Solution: Do Not Drink This, FDA Warns (Forbes) | Sellers of Miracle Mineral Solution Criminally Charged with Making Coronavirus Claims (ConsumerLab.com)
Urine Therapy: Urine (Wikipedia) | ‘I Would Have to Be Restrained’: Internet Eviscerates Parent for Adding Urine to Popsicles (Newsweek) | What Are the Risks and Benefits of Drinking Urine? (Healthline)
Trina Health’s Diabetes Treatment: About the Trina Health investigation (inewsource) | San Diego woman says controversial diabetes treatment endangered her health (inewsource) | Montana couple sinks life savings into “miracle” diabetes treatment (inewsource) | Trina Health Frequently Asked Questions (Web Archive) | Hustling Hope: San Diego doctor runs controversial diabetes clinic (inewsource) | Effects of Pulsatile Intravenous Insulin Therapy on the Progression of Diabetic Nephropathy (Dailey et al.) | Doctors debunk diabetes treatment as fraud charges hit clinic executive (inewsource) | MAT® Treatment (Aoki Diabetes Research Institute) | Intermittent Intravenous Insulin Therapy (Aetna Clinical Policy Bulletins)
Liberation Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis: ‘Scientific quackery’: UBC study says it’s debunked controversial MS procedure (CBC News) | Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for treatment of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) in people with multiple sclerosis (Cochrane Library) | Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency in multiple sclerosis: the final curtain (The Lancet) | Prevalence of extracranial venous narrowing on catheter venography in people with multiple sclerosis, their siblings, and unrelated healthy controls: a blinded, case-control study (The Lancet) | About patients, “inventors”, journalists, scientists, IRBs (to say nothing of the institutions): CCSVI and MS (PubMed) | Multiple sclerosis (Wikipedia) | Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency controversy (Wikipedia) | Epstein-Barr virus leading cause multiple sclerosis (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)
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On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn introduces everyone to the most famous monster from West Virginia not named “Joe Manchin”, Lauren talks about colonialist brontosaurus-hunters, Gem reminds everyone of that time a used car salesman murdered Bigfoot, and Laura gives a low key defence of cryptozoology.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.
Crytpozoology on LUEE: Episode 108: Cryptozoology & Mythical Creatures (LUEE)
The Flatwoods Monster: In 1952, the Flatwoods Monster Terrified 6 Kids, a Mom, a Dog—and the Nation (History) | The Flatwoods Monster (Visit Braxton, WV) | The W.Va. Monster That Crept Into International Pop Culture (WVPB) | Flatwoods monster (Wikipedia)
Mokele-Mbembe: Hunting Dinosaurs in Central Africa (Contingent Magazine) | Congo Basin (Wikipedia) | Mokele-mbembe (Wikipedia) | Great Zimbabwe (Wikipedia) | Rhodesia (Wikipedia) | Lake Bangweulu (Wikipedia) | Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (Wikipedia) | Reptilian conspiracy theory (Wikipedia) | Willy Ley (Wikipedia) | Ishtar Gate (Wikipedia) | Brontosaurus (Wikipedia)
Rick Dyer, Big Foot Hunter: On Tour with Rick Dyer and his Bigfoot through Texas (Texas Monthly) | Bigfoot Claim Exposed As Hoax (CBS News) | Bigfoot Experts Skeptical of Body in Freezer (Fox News) | Las Vegas man claims he killed the first Bigfoot (WDAM7 News) | Bigfoot tracker admits body is a hoax (Houston Chronicle) | Why is the Latest Guy Who’s Pretending He Caught Bigfoot Cavalierly Giving Him Such a Tiny Penis? (Esquire) | Rick Dyer (Wikipedia)
A Defence of Cryptozoology: How the search for mythical monsters can help conservation in the real world (The Conversation) | The strange case of the spiral-horned ox (Nature) | Seven species that used to be cryptids (ScIU) | The platypus is so weird that scientists thought the first specimen was a hoax (The Washington Post) | Okapi (Wikipedia) | Okapi (Cryptid Wiki) | Bondegezou (Cryptid Wiki) | Platypus (Cryptid Wiki) | Dingiso (Wikipedia) | Dingiso Tree-kangaroo (PapuaWeb)
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On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Laura is joined by Gem, Ashlyn, and Lauren to discuss Morgellons syndrome, adrenal fatigue, Wilson’s temperature syndrome, and candida overgrowth, four medical diagnoses with dubious supporting evidence.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.
Morgellons Syndrome: Delusional infestation: Epidemiology, clinical presentation, assessment and diagnosis (UpToDate) | The Morgellons Mystery (Psychology Today) | Sir Thomas Browne’s A Letter to a Friend (University of Chigago) | Morgellons (Wikipedia) | Delusional parasitosis (Wikipedia)
Adrenal Fatigue: Treating the Symptoms that are believed to be Adrenal Fatigue (Endocrine Society) | Adrenal fatigue: What causes it? (Mayo Clinic) | Adrenal fatigue (Wikipedia)
Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome: Wilson’s temperature syndrome (Wikipedia) | Wilson’s Disease: Risk Factors, Causes, & Symptoms (Healthline)
Candida Overgrowth: The Candida Overgrowth Problem: Too Much Yeast? No, Too Little Science (SELF) | The Candida Diet: Separating Fact from Fiction (Nutrition Diva) | The Candida Diet: Separating Fact from Fiction (Scientific American) | Invasive Candidiasis (CDC) | Systemic candidiasis (NIH) | The Anti-Candida Diet: 11 Simple Rules to Follow (TheCandidaDiet.com)
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On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Gem, Ashlyn, and Lauren revisit Seaspiracy and discuss transnational organized crime in the international fisheries industry with returning guest Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff, Director of Research for Oceans Asia.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.
Links: Teale Phelps Bondaroff | Oceans Asia | LUEE Episode 168: “Seaspiracy”
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On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Gem presents Laura with a dozen or so of William Carpenter’s One Hundred Proofs That the Earth Is Not a Globe. She is… unconvinced.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.
Links: One Hundred Proofs That the Earth Is Not a Globe, by William Carpenter (Project Gutenberg) | William Carpenter (Wikipedia) | Samuel Rowbotham (Wikipedia) | Flat Earth OR Why Do People Reject Science? (Philosophy Tube) | Flat Earth: A Measured Response (Hbomberguy)
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On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Gem, Lauren, Laura, and Ashlyn dive into three unscientific practices: flower remedies, feng shui, and iridology.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.
Flower Remedies: The Original Bach Flower Remedies Information and Sale (Directly from Nature) | Rescue Remedy is an effective all-natural stress, anxiety reliever, study suggests (Medical News Today) | Bach flower remedies: a systematic review of randomised clinical trials (Swiss Medical Weekly) | Bach Flower Remedies (Science-Based Medicine)
Feng Shui: Types of Feng Shui (The Feng Shui Society) | Feng shui (RationalWiki) | Feng shui (Wikipedia) | Yin and yang (Wikipedia) | Qi (Wikipedia) | Bagua (Wikipedia) | Chi, or Universal Energy in Feng Shui (The Spruce) | Understanding the Feng Shui Bagua (The Spruce) | Open Up Blocking Walls with Feng Shui (The Spruce) | Episode 124: Ancient Discoveries (LUEE)
Iridology: Iridology (Wikipedia) | Iridology Not Useful and Potentially Harmful (JAMA Ophthalmology) | An Evaluation of Iridology (JAMA) | Looking for gall bladder disease in the patient’s iris (BMJ) | An investigation of the relationship between anatomical features in the iris and systemic disease, with reference to iridology (Complementary Therapies in Medicine) | Does Iris Change Over Time? (PLoS One)
Other Pseudosciences: Flat Earth: A Measured Response (Hbomberguy) | Episode 96: The Moon Landing Conspiracy (LUEE) | Episode 100: Silly Pseudoscience Special! (LUEE) | Episode 106: Parapsychology (LUEE) | Episode 108: Cryptozoology & Mythical Creatures (LUEE)
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On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn, Lauren, Laura, and Gem talk about several elements of the holiday consumer frenzy. Lauren tackles gift guides, Gem explains why corporations love gift cards, Ashlyn talks about holiday debt, and Laura ends the show with a discussion of some truly bizarre holiday products.
Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.
Gift Guides: Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop gift guide suggests you buy a whole village (Vox) | Gwyneth Paltrow’s 2018 Goop Gift Guide (Cosmopolitan) | Totally Random, Totally Useless Holiday Gift Guide (Chefdruck) | Holiday Gift Guide 2018 (Chatelaine) | Subchronic inhalation toxicity of gold nanoparticles (NCBI) | The Hater’s Guide (Deadspin) | The 2012 Hater’s Guide to the Williams Sonoma Catalog (Deadspin)
Gift Cards: Gift Card Warning: Check Retailer’s Health (NPR) | Gift Card Review: Public Consultation Paper & Survey (Government of Manitoba) | Prepaid Purchase Card Requirements (Manitoba Consumer Protection Office) | Scam alert: Be wary of gift cards sold on a retailer’s rack! (Consumer Affairs)
Charitable Giving: LUEE Episode 115: Holiday Charity Special
Holiday Debt: Debt Snowball Versus Debt Avalanche: What The Academic Research Shows (Forbes) | 5 ways to cure your Christmas debt hangover (MoneySense) | Holiday hangover: Americans racked up more than $1,000 each in holiday debt (CNBC) | Christmas on Credit: How to Avoid the Debt (My Money Coach) | Here’s how you can avoid piling on holiday debt (Global News) | Don’t Let the Ghost of Christmas Gifts Past Hurt Your Finances (Huffpost) | Why Don’t People Manage Debt Better? (Scientific American Blogs)
Strange Holiday Gifts: As Seen on TV Clever Cutter (Canadian Tire) | 5 Condom Variety Christmas Fun Pack (Amazon) | Christmas Tinner Is the Dinner in a Can You Never Knew You Needed (BestProducts.com) | Shoppers take to Twitter to mock stores’ Christmas bleaches (Daily Mail) | Inhealer Himalayan Salt Inhaler (Showcase)
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The Winnipeg Skeptics 