This Week on The Virtual Skeptics:
- Bob is the quizmaster;
- Eve’s hanging out with Yeti Bear and Boo Boo;
- And Tim has misplaced some of his tools…
The panel this week was (left to right) Brian Gregory, Tim Farley, Robert Blaskiewicz and Eve Siebert.
Brian’s segment (at 5:51)
How to kill a walking robot … with dodgeballs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYvrTc3-uVU
http://mime.oregonstate.edu/research/drl/atrias/
DRC Update – June 5-6, 2015 at Fairplex in Pomona, California http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/darpa-robotics-challenge-finals-will-have-25-teams
http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/
Wondering why Tim mentioned Angela Merkel? Here’s why: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/why-is-angela-merkel-always-palling-around-with-robots-1691672950
Tim’s segment (at 17:15)
Blog about what to avoid or compensate when tools disappear: https://skeptools.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/online-tools-disappear-friendfeed-unsourced-oss/
Bob’s segment (at 34:13)
All the sad news today: http://DoubtfulNews.com
North Korea slogans: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-31446387
Things that L. Ron Hubbard said: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/L._Ron_Hubbard
Eve’s segment (at 46:54)
Doubtful News, “New paper taking another look at “Yeti” data finds no evidence of new bear in the Himalayas” http://doubtfulnews.com/2015/03/new-paper-taking-another-look-at-yeti-data-finds-no-evidence-of-new-bear-in-the-himalayas/#comments
Blake Smith, “Newly Released Challenge to Sykes’ Yeti DNA Findings” http://www.skeptic.com/insight/newly-released-challenge-to-sykes-yeti-dna-findings/
Bryan C. Sykes , Rhettman A. Mullis , Christophe Hagenmuller , Terry W. Melton , Michel Sartori. (2014). Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot, and other anomalous primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 281 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0161 http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/281/1789/20140161
C. J. Edwards and R. Barnett. (2014). “Himalayan ‘yeti’ DNA: polar bear or DNA degradation? A comment on “Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti” by Sykes et al. (2014).” Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.1712 http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1800/20141712
Terry W. Melton, Michael Sartori, Bryan C. Sykes. (2014). “Response to Edward [sic] and Barnett.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2434 http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1800/20142434
Eliécer Gutiérrez and Ronald H. Pine. (2015). “No need to replace ‘anomalous’ primate (Primates) with an ‘anomalous” bear (Carnivora, Ursidae).” ZooKeys 487: 141-154. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.487.9176 http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=4885&display_type=element&element_type=7&element_id=0&element_name=Primates
NBC, “Himalayan Yeti ‘Mystery’ Looks Even Less Mysterious, Scientists Argue” http://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/yeti-mystery-even-less-mysterious-scientists-say-n324091
Announcements (at 1:06:27)
Eve will be speaking at Chicago Skeptics in the Pub this weekend on Saturday, March 21: http://www.meetup.com/Chicago-Skeptics/events/220697119/
The Virtual Skeptics is an independent production of Whats the Harm?, Skeptical Humanities, Brian Gregory, ICBS Everywhere, and Doubtful News. Our logo was designed by Sara Mayhew. Our theme music is by Musicant and is used with permission.
