27 July 2020

Episode 158: Public Health History

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn, Gem, Laura, and Lauren discuss the history of several public health initiatives: handwashing, toothbrushing, and nutrient fortification of food.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.

Correction: Twice during his segment (at 08:20 and 08:50), Gem mistakenly said “postpartum examination” when he meant to say “postmortem examination”. Hopefully he said it quickly enough that no one noticed.

Handwashing: Hand washing (Wikipedia) | When and How to Wash Your Hands (CDC) | Ignaz Semmelweis (Wikipedia) | Daily Deaths, 2018 (Statistics Canada) | Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System (Maternal and Infant Health, CDC)

Oral Hygiene: Monkeys may have better dental hygiene than you (Science, AAAS) | Miswak (Wikipedia) | Efficiency of traditional chewing stick (miswak) as an oral hygiene aid among Muslim school children in Lucknow: A cross-sectional study (NIH) | The evolution of the toothbrush | Who invented the toothbrush? (HISTORY)

Nutrient Fortification: Overview of Food Fortification in the United States and Canada (NCBI Bookshelf) | A brief history of food fortification (Baking Business) | History of U.S. Iodine Fortification and Supplementation (NIH) | Iodine (Wikipedia) | Fortification and Health: Challenges and Opportunities (Advances in Nutrition, Oxford Academic) | Rationale and Plan for Vitamin D Food Fortification: A Review and Guidance Paper (NIH)

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Posted by on 27 July 2020 in History, Medicine, Science and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

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22 June 2020

Episode 157: UFPhonies

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Gem is joined by Ashlyn, Laura, Lauren, and special guest Ian James to discuss several famous UFO sightings that turned out (in large part) to be hoaxes.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.

Past UFO Episodes: Episode 112: Did Aliens Build the Pyramids? | Episode 122: UFOs

The Maury Island Incident: The Maury Island UFO Incident (HowStuffWorks) | Maury Island incident (Wikipedia) | Men in black (Wikipedia)

George Adamski and Orthon the Venusian: A Critical Appraisal of George Adamski: The Man Who Spoke to the Space Brothers (Marc Hallet) | George Adamski and the Space Brothers (HowStuffWorks) | George Adamski Got Famous Sharing His UFO Photos and Alien ‘Encounters’ (HISTORY) | George Adamski (Wikipedia)

Betty and Barney Hill: The Betty and Barney Hill Abduction (Gaia) | Barney and Betty Hill (Wikipedia) | How Betty and Barney Hill’s Alien Abduction Story Defined the Genre (HISTORY) | Betty and Barney Hill Papers, 1961-2006 (Library) | Once upon a time, Betty and Barney Hill told a story that was out of this world (Concord Monitor) | The Hill Abduction (HowStuffWorks) | The Zeta Reticuli (or Ridiculi) Incident (Astronomy Magazine) | The Truth about Betty Hill’s UFO Star Map (Astronotes) | The Debate Over Repressed and Recovered Memories (Verywell Mind) | Repressed Memories: 5 FAQs (HealthLine) | Amniocentesis Prior to 1980 (The Embryo Project Encyclopedia) | Boston Evening Traveller (Wikipedia) | John G. Fuller (Wikipedia) | Strange Arrivals Podcast

The Gulf Breeze Incident: Gulf Breeze, Florida UFO (HISTORY) | Gulf Breeze UFO incident (Wikipedia)

Alien Autopsy: Alien autopsy (Wikipedia)

US Department of Defense Videos: Pentagon’s release of UFO videos a big deal for believers in extraterrestrial life: former U.K. investigator (CBC Radio) | UFO caught on video? Skeptics weigh in on weird footage (CNET) | The Skeptic’s Guide to the Pentagon’s UFO Videos (VICE) | Statement by the Department of Defense on the Release of Historical Navy Videos (U.S. Department of Defense) | Navy admits UFO videos are real, but would like to stop using ‘UFO’ (The Washington Post) | NYT: GIMBAL Video of U.S. Navy Jet Encounter with Unknown Object (Metabunk) | Parallax (Wikipedia)

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Posted by on 22 June 2020 in Conspiracy, Geekery, History, Skepticism and tagged , , , , , , , , .

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25 May 2020

Episode 156: Wrath of the Quiz Show!

With their usual trivia night cancelled due to COVID quarantine, on this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else Gem, Laura, Ashlyn, and Lauren put together one of their own.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that explores the intersection of science and society.

Computers: B (programming language) (Wikipedia) | C (programming language) (Wikipedia) | Fax (Wikipedia) | Ada Lovelace (Wikipedia) | FLOW-MATIC (Wikipedia) | Tim Berners-Lee (Wikipedia) | Zero-based numbering (Wikipedia) | Boolean algebra (Wikipedia)

Canadian Roadside Attractions: Manitoba’s 9 wackiest roadside attractions (canada.com) | Meleb’s early buildings worth visiting for history buffs (Winnipeg Real Estate News) | Meleb Park Cumming Mushrooms (Interlake Tourism) | Red Paperclip Story (Town of Kipling) | 10 quirky Canadian places to visit for Canada’s 150th birthday (Globalnews.ca) | Sunny the Giant Banana Monument (Historic Sites of Manitoba) | The Vegreville Pysanka (Atlas Obscura) | Vegreville Pysanka (Town of Vegreville) | Canada’s 25 Biggest Attractions (Literally) (Reader’s Digest Canada) | The First Giant Squid (Archival Moments) | Sizable Squid in Glover’s Harbour (CBC Archives) | Ready and waiting: Alberta town built world’s first UFO landing pad 45 years ago (National Post) | The Sunless City (Wikipedia) | Homecoming History: Roots of a mining town (Flin Flon Reminder)

Animal Facts from the Cincinnati Zoo: Videos from the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (Facebook)

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Posted by on 25 May 2020 in Geekery, History, Science and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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20 April 2020

Episode 155: COVID Quacks

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn, Lauren, Gem, and Laura discuss the charlatans and snake oil salesmen trying to profit off of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.

Links: Researchers are tracking another pandemic, too—of coronavirus misinformation (Science, AAAS)

Alex Jones: Alex Jones: 5 most disturbing and ridiculous conspiracy theories (CNBC) | The Pandemic’s Shameless Profiteers (The New Republic) | Alex Jones’s Bogus Coronavirus Cures (The New Yorker) | Alex Jones ordered to stop selling fake coronavirus cures (Quartz) | “Aurum Potable”: the “Drinkable Gold of the Alchemists” (The BMJ) | Medical uses of silver (Wikipedia) | Argyria (Wikipedia)

Vitamin C and Garlic: In Vitro and In Vivo Immunomodulator Activities of Allium sativum L. (Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine) | Garlic: a review of potential therapeutic effects (Avicenna Journal of Phytomedicine) | Vitamin C and Immune Function (Nutrients) | Immunomodulation and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Garlic Compounds (Journal of Immunology Research) | Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold (Cochrane Library) | Garlic for the common cold (Cochrane) | Antimicrobial properties of hydrophobic compounds in garlic: Allicin, vinyldithiin, ajoene and diallyl polysulfides (Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine)

Herbal Cures: Medical experts warn against claims by Winnipeg acupuncturist advertising ‘coronavirus prevention tea’ (CBC News) | Coronavirus: Scams, hoaxes, fake sites, and myths (Radio Canada International) | Superfoods for COVID-19 Prevention (Cooking with Yoshiko) | Richmond Chinese medicine stores advertising ‘coronavirus prevention tea’ (Richmond News) | Misrepresenting traditional knowledge during COVID-19 is dangerous (High Country News) | COVID-19 Herbal Resource Hub (Red Moon Herbs) | Coronavirus: Herbal remedies in India and other claims fact-checked (BBC News) | Coronavirus ‘cures’ and prevention techniques are popping up all over the world. So we asked the experts what actually works (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Hydroxychloroquine: Some Patients Need the Drug That Trump Keeps Pushing (The Atlantic) | Doctors worry unproven Covid-19 drug will do more harm than good (STAT) | Hydroxychloroquine For COVID-19: Cure-All Or Flim-Flam? (Forbes) | FDA approves hydroxychloroquine new drug application to address COVID-19 related shortage (Healio Rheumatology) | Potential of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 causes fears of shortages among people with systemic lupus erythematosus (Nature Medicine) | Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine Can Have Serious Side Effects (National Capital Poison Center) | Trump’s support of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 could slow cure (USA Today) | Fearing coronavirus, Arizona man dies after taking a form of chloroquine used in aquariums (CNN) | Does Trump Benefit Financially by Promoting Hydroxychloroquine as COVID-19 Treatment? (Snopes)

Ashlyn’s Patreon: Noble & Whimsical is creating art from glass, vinyl and creativity (Patreon)

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Posted by on 20 April 2020 in Conspiracy, History, Law, Medicine, News, Politics, Science, Skepticism and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , .

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27 March 2020

Episode 154: New Religious Movements

Lauren hosts and Laura edits on this topsy-turvy episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else! The gang discusses New Religious Movements: Lauren relates their experience with Discordianism, Laura is over the moon for the Moonies, Gem expresses his disgust for the Internet’s own Cult of Kek, and Ashlyn provides a primer on Pastafarianism. Then the panelists end the show with some fun ways to pass the time under COVID-19 lockdown.

Life, the Universe & Everything Else is a podcast that delves into issues of science, critical thinking, and secular humanism.

New Religious Movements: New religious movement (Wikipedia) | Is Theosophy a Religion? (Wikipedia) | Academic study of new religious movements (Wikipedia) | Cult (Wikipedia) | Sociological classifications of religious movements (Wikipedia) | Theosophy and visual arts (Wikipedia) | List of new religious movements (Wikipedia) | Charismatic authority (Wikipedia) | Discordianism (Wikipedia) | Sect (Wikipedia) | Communitarianism (Wikipedia)

The Unification Church: Unification movement (Wikipedia) | Former member of the Unification Church describes life in a cult (Insider) | The Fall of the House of Moon (The New Republic) | The cultlike church behind a ceremony with AR-15s and bullet crowns, explained (Vox) | The Unification Church (ReligiousTolerance.org)

The Cult of Kek: Cult of Kek (Know Your Meme) | Savitri Devi: The strange story of how a Hindu Hitler worshipper became an alt-right icon (International Business Times) | Savitri Devi: The Woman Who Turned Nazism into a Religion: Part One, Part Two (Behind the Bastards) | Pepe the Frog (RationalWiki) | Pepe the Frog (Wikipedia) | Kek (mythology) (Wikipedia) | Western esotericism (Wikipedia) | Esoteric Nazism (Wikipedia) | Laughter Sounds in Korean (TalkToMeInKorean)

Pastafarianism: Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster | Pasta strainers and pirates: how the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was born (The Guardian) | Flying Spaghetti Monster Wiki | Flying Spaghetti Monster (Wikipedia)

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Posted by on 27 March 2020 in Atheism, Geekery, History, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Skepticism and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , .

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