18 June 2018

Episode 133: Notorious Hucksters

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Lauren explores the great hucksters of history with Laura and Ashlyn—and Gem’s back!

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

Links: Radionics (Wikipedia) | Albert Abrams (Wikipedia) | The Untold Story of Napoleon Hill (Gizmodo) | Napoleon Hill (Wikipedia) | The Napoleon Hill Foundation | 17 Napoleon Hill Quotes on Becoming Crazy Rich | New Thought (Wikipedia) | Madame Rachel (Victorian History) | Victorian con artist Madame Rachel: Fortune from fake beauty products (Express) | Beautiful Forever: The Life of Madame Rachel (Scandalous Women) | The extraordinary life & trial of Madame Rachel (Archive.org) | Beauty and the whiter-than-white blackmail (Daily Mail Online) | The Great Victorian Beauty Con (Providentia) | P. T. Barnum (Wikipedia) | The Greatest Showman (Wikipedia)

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Posted by on 18 June 2018 in History, Medicine, Science, Skepticism and tagged , , , , .

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14 May 2018

Episode 132: Life Hacks

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn, Laura, and Lauren discuss and evaluate dubious “life hacks” they found online.

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

Links: 9 Crazy Body Hacks That Give You Superhuman Powers (Popular Science) | Jendrassik maneuver (Wikipedia) | A Solar Panel Implanted Inside Your Body? (WSJ) | Jendrassik maneuver (r/askscience) | 20 Awesome Life Hacks That Will Simplify Your Life (Bright Side) | 50 Life Hacks to Simplify your World (TwistedSifter) | 50 Incredibly Useful Life Hacks Updated for 2018 (CYA) | The 101 Best Genius Life Hacks That Make Life Easier (Medium)

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Posted by on 14 May 2018 in Geekery, Medicine, Science, Skepticism and tagged , .

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16 April 2018

Episode 131: “Mermaids: The Body Found”

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn subjects Lauren, Laura, and Dave to “Mermaids: The Body Found”, a fake documentary that aired on Animal Plant and Discovery Channel in 2012, which combines discredited pseudoscience with stuff that the producers just made up.

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

Links: Mermaids: The Body Found (Wikipedia) | Mermaids: The Body Found (Snopes) | Aquatic ape hypothesis (Wikipedia) | Bloop (Wikipedia) | Cave of Swimmers (Wikipedia)

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Posted by on 16 April 2018 in Conspiracy, History, Science, Skepticism and tagged , , .

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12 March 2018

Episode 130: Nutritional Devices

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Laura, Ashlyn, and Lauren discuss three unusual nutritional devices: the Nima gluten sensor, the Vitastiq electroacupuncture vitamin sensor, and the SCiO pocket molecular scanner.

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

Links: Gluten Levels in Food: The 20 ppm Debate (Nima) | One Decision: A Limit of Gluten Detection (Nima) | Detecting Gluten in Food: The differences between Lateral Flow and ELISA tests (Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom) | Nima Chemistry vs. R-Biopharm (Nima) | The Nima Sensor: A Portable Gluten Testing Device (BeyondCeliac.org) | SCiO Pocket Molecular Scanner (Amazon Customer Reviews) | SCiO (Facebook) | Consumer Physics, Maker of Controversial SCiO Food Sensor, Pursues A ‘SCiO-Inside’ Strategy (The Spoon) | SCiO (Consumer Physics) | SCiO Spectrometer Review (Google Scholar) | Electroacupuncture (Wikipedia) | Vitastiq (Your Daily Vitamin Tracker) | Vitastiq 2 (Indiegogo) | Electroacupuncture: The bait and switch of alternative medicine (Respectful Insolence) | Quantified Health: Can Vitastiq measure body vitamin levels using a skin sensor? | Vitamin & Mineral Status Device (Amazon Customer Reviews)

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Posted by on 12 March 2018 in Medicine, Science, Skepticism and tagged , , , , , , , , .

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12 February 2018

Episode 129: The Olympics

On this episode of Life, the Universe & Everything Else, Ashlyn, Lauren, and Laura discuss some of the myths and scandals surrounding the Olympic Games.

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

Links: North Korea at the Olympics (Wikipedia) | Olympics and their economic impact: Updated research roundup (Journalist's Resource) | Costs and benefits of hosting the Olympics (Economics Help) | The Economics of Hosting the Olympic Games (Council on Foreign Relations) | Cultural Impacts of Hosting the Olympics (Aperian Global) | List of bids for the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia) | The Life and Murder of Stella Walsh, Intersex Olympic Champion (Longreads.com) | A Brief History of Sexism in TV Coverage of the Olympics (The Atlantic) | Caster Semenya (Wikipedia) | Pierre de Coubertin (Wikipedia) | First modern Olympics is held – Apr 06, 1896 (HISTORY.com) | Larry Nassar sentenced to 175 years in prison (Daily Mail Online) | Former U.S. gymnastics doctor sentenced 40 to 175 years in sex assault case (CBC) | Russian Olympic official says doping whistleblower should be executed (The Guardian) | Russia Is Barred From Winter Olympics. Russia Is Sending 169 Athletes to Winter Olympics. (The New York Times) | Ross Rebagliati (Wikipedia) | List of stripped Olympic medals (Wikipedia) | Doping in Russia (Wikipedia) | Russia ban decision was ‘a balance,’ says IOC chief Bach (Reuters) | Russia banned from Winter Olympics over state-sponsored doping (The Guardian) | How Bryan Fogel Documented Russia’s Olympic Doping Scandal (Vulture) | Gymnastics scandal: 8 times Larry Nassar could have been stopped (NBC News) | What Is The 2016 Olympic Beach Volleyball Dress Code? Here’s How The Rules Have Changed (Bustle) | 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal (Wikipedia) | The day scandal sliced Olympic ice (TheSpec.com) | U.S. Figure Skating denies French report of collusion between U.S. and Russian judges (Yahoo!) | Figure Skating Dances Around Questionable Judging (The Washington Post) | Olympic Judging: Fair or Biased? (Minitab ) | How ski jumping gets Olympic judging right (The Washington Post) | Finding Flaws in Figure Skating (Seed Magazine) | Skating insiders question Sochi judging (USA Today) | Russian Charged with Olympic Figure Skating Fix (CBC) | Controversial decisions lead to suspension of boxing judges (LA Times) | Judging scandal still haunts Korean Yang (Reuters)

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Posted by on 12 February 2018 in Conspiracy, History, News, Politics and tagged , , , , , , .

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