Science Faction

In this very special revival of Science Fighters, we talk about The Goliath of Paleoanthropology, Dr Tim White, and the new book Fossil Men.

 

The guys discuss a very interesting (and overlooked) new Lightning Tractor Beam, the most controversial published science article of the year, and the worst "Compliment Sandwich" you've ever heard.

In this week's Corona Update we look at the Covid mystery in Belgium, the newest vaccine, why Covid is going crazy in the US, and why you shouldn't listen to crackpot ideas, even if the person stating them is a physician. 

Since our weekly "I Call BS" is now available only through Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/ScienceFaction?fan_landing=true), we decided to revive "The Lightning Round" for some of our general listeners, so check out why we might end up getting more cases of the flu once Covid is over, how the Measles are making a comeback and why ecologists are excited about murdered beavers.

The guys discuss a very surprising story about the history and the future of leprosy, how to date a prehistoric Supernova using tree rings, and the worst Shel Silverstein book ever written. 

In this very special Corona Update, we dive into the brightest news of the pandemic: the recently released results of the Pfizer vaccine and the complicated science behind it, as well as the more outlandish results of the Russian "Sputnik V" vaccine, and how the virus's strength may become its downfall.

In this episode the guys discuss how to effectively inoculate your crazy uncle from political misinformation, a new study that hints at one simple thing pregnant women can do to increase their child's IQ, and we introduce a new robot friend with a very shady past.

The guys talk about how an amazing new discovery might help a quirk of Down's syndrome biology save thousands of elderly people's lives, how women hunters might have played a bigger role than previously thought in the prehistory of the Americas, and the mysterious origins of the Swayze Throat Rip.

This week's Corona Update looks at the effects of the election on America's continuing Covid problem, how a newly designed synthetic nanoparticle might make a vaccine that is 10 times more effective than current vaccine candidates, and why death rates are going down even as infection rates are skyrocketing. 

The guys discuss how to turn your brain into literal glass, the complicated genetic history of dogs, and how you can actually be allergic to cold temperatures.