#skeptoid

If you've spent any time on the internet, you've encountered the concept of the alpha male — the idea that in any social group, one dominant individual rises to the top through strength, aggression, and sheer force of will. It's the backbone of a massive online industry of self-help gurus and masculinity influencers. It shapes how millions of people train their dogs. And its believers will tell you it's rooted in science: the observed social hierarchy of wolf packs.

Today I have the great pleasure of presenting an episode on a topic that has fascinated me for almost my entire life, which is how the ancient Polynesians were able to navigate their way to islands that were either beyond the horizon, or that were completely unknown, as they were exploring where nobody had ever gone before. Somehow, they did it; and moreover, maintained routes between distant island groups for many centuries — all without any instruments at all. And suspiciously, there's always been a bit of a cloak of magic or a sixth sense over this subject. So today we're going to dive in — no pun intended — and separate the science from the sensationalism surrounding Polynesian navigation.

A thorough debunking of the myth that apes can learn language from Skeptoid podcast. Excerpt: 

In June of 2018, the famous gorilla Koko died of natural causes. Koko had become famous around the world for her incredible ability to speak in sign language. Koko wrote books. She raised kittens. Koko developed friendships with visiting celebrities. Koko would tell jokes and be silly. Koko would hear things on the news, feel sad, and express her sadness, all using sign language. But it turns out that the field of ape linguistics has virtually evaporated. What evidence there is that apes have been able to sign comes to us not from the academic literature, but only from the mass media — feel-good stories written for the people, apparently devoid of much scientific validity. Today we're going to point our skeptical eye at the field of apes who speak in sign language.

Here is the first thing that suggests not all is as it seems in the world of signing apes. If it works, and the ability to communicate with us can be instilled into apes, then why aren't there signing apes everywhere? Why don't we teach it to all of them — indeed, why don't ape parents teach it to their own young? If apes had any meaningful ability to communicate at even a rudimentary level using sign language, you'd think many of those who interact with humans would do so. They would tell their zookeepers what they want (probably to be set free). They would accompany primatologists on expeditions and translate between the scientists and the native apes. Every animal research institution would have signing apes, and everyone in the world with a degree in primatology would have experience communicating with them. After all these decades, we'd have a deep understanding of ape communication and their thought processes. Signing with apes would be commonplace and widespread.

But none of these things has happened. Not one of them. Not only did signing apes never become common, the number of research programs studying ape signing has gone from a few to even fewer. At its peak in the 1970s, the field of teaching apes to communicate with humans never had more active research programs than you could count on your fingers and toes; today, there is not even a single program anywhere in the world making publishable claims. Backwards is not where promising directions in research tend to go. In every field of science, when we see researchers abandoning projects, the reason nearly always tends to be that the project was a dead end.

One of the most vital, yet frequently overlooked, aspects of science education is how scientific knowledge builds. Imagine the cross-section of a tree: at the center are the findings that have been repeatedly confirmed and therefore are the least likely to be overturned. Around the outside are the frontier findings. While textbooks are full of the facts, theories, laws, and models at the center of the tree, the "news" often highlights what's new, exciting, and unexpected. This gives the impression that "scientists are always changing their minds" and therefore shouldn't be trusted, when in reality it's how the process works. (Also, why is changing your mind with evidence a bad thing?)

It seems incredible to still have to say it, but vaccines save lives. The data could not possibly be any more stark, but nevertheless, the US (and the rest of the world in general) is seeing an ever-increasing level of vaccine denial. Claims that vaccines cause more harm than good are shouted through megaphones. US states are enacting anti-vaccine legislation with reckless abandon. So today we're going to take a stroll through the garden of vaccine success stories, and try to counter all that disinformation with a gala of the very best things vaccines have done for us.

One hundred years ago, the Spiritualist movement was experiencing a revival; mediums and mystics claimed to summon the supernatural, weaving illusions that left many in awe — and often in debt. The name Rose Mackenberg, once drew fear into the hearts of charlatans. You may not have heard of her, but she was a woman who was ahead of her time. Dubbed a 'ghost buster' by the press in the 1950s, she was far more than a cynic of the psychic world. She was a bold trailblazer who challenged deception, exposing frauds with skill and tenacity. However, despite her remarkable legacy, she remains a hidden hero in history.