Do cell phones cause brain cancer? Does the wearing of magnets improve circulation?
In an age of technological wonders, who can confidently distinguish amazing facts from folklore and fable? Fifty-year old women are having babies, sheep are being cloned, and water has been discovered on Mars. Last month physicists in Princeton used two lasers to exceed the speed of light….or perhaps not.
Is it any surprise that homeopathy, Cold Fusion, and touch therapy hold such sway over a credulous public? “Extraordinary claims,” said Carl Sagan, “are expected to be backed up by extraordinary evidence.” All too often the evidence is lacking, or buried by scheming entrepreneurs, and careless media and by scientists blinded by ambition.
Somewhere in the mix are true scientific advances and proven alternative medicine. The rest, says physicist Robert Park, is Voodoo science.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Robert L. Park, author of Voodoo Science.