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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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 Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:09 pm Post subject: Science or Fiction? |
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This is a game from the Skeptics' Guide to Universe podcast. Each week, host Seven Novella presents three news items, two of which are 'science' and one of which is fiction. You choose which is fiction.
Of course you can cheat, but that's no fun. Here's the most recent one.
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1. New evidence strongly suggests that birds did not evolve from theropod dinosaurs but rather from their close cousins the sauropods.
2. New research contradicts the long-held "island rule" that small mammals evolve to become larger and large mammals become dwarfs when isolated on islands.
3. A new study purports to use brain imaging to tell the difference between new memories and false memories.
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space for avoiding accidentally seeing others' answers
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Last edited by Qinella on Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:14 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:13 pm Post subject: |
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I don't know much about any of the topics, but I'm going to guess #1 is the fiction item because the premise #2 debunks seems right and with #3 I don't see how a machine could distinguish between new and false/old memories.
So, #1 = fiction for me. |
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JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Havn't listened for a while but I love that podcast..my laptop is playing up at the moment. Anyway I would say #3...I assume it means a diff part of the brain 'lights' up when you have a false memory, which the researchers have vetted to be false. Seems to close to the whole diff language centre thing when they are testing people who speak in tongues. Seems like a curve ball so I'll go with #3. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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| JMO wrote: |
| Havn't listened for a while but I love that podcast..my laptop is playing up at the moment. Anyway I would say #3...I assume it means a diff part of the brain 'lights' up when you have a false memory, which the researchers have vetted to be false. Seems to close to the whole diff language centre thing when they are testing people who speak in tongues. Seems like a curve ball so I'll go with #3. |
SH*T! You just made me realize my answer made no sense. I agree, #3 seems implausible. (still have not heard the official answer from the podcast) |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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1 is most obviously fiction. Remember sauropods are the big dinosaurs like brachiosaurus and diplodocus. It's not necessarily the size that makes it unlikely, but the skeletal structures themselves. Theropods were bird-shaped, and have a similar hipbone to modern birds. And how are the theropods and sauropods close cousins? That seems like a dead giveaway. They have as much in common as elephants and badgers.
And I'm pretty positive.
Last edited by RACETRAITOR on Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:06 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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| #3 seems pretty reasonable to me, although I don't understand the term "new memories." Obviously if you're recalling a real memory there will be electrical patterns in certain parts of your brain that probably wouldn't be firing if you're making stuff up or if you're experiencing false memory. |
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JustJohn
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Location: Your computer screen
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Well since no one's taken number 2, I'm guessing it. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
1 is most obviously fiction. Remember sauropods are the big dinosaurs like brachiosaurus and diplodocus. It's not necessarily the size that makes it unlikely, but the skeletal structures themselves. Theropods were bird-shaped, and have a similar hipbone to modern birds. And how are the theropods and sauropods close cousins? That seems like a dead giveaway. They have as much in common as elephants and badgers.
And I'm pretty positive. |
I'm pretty sure I read something about dinosaurs when I was young, but I sure didn't take away any lifelong knowledge like you did. It sounds like you might be right about this one.
Any other guesses before I find out the answer? |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
1 is most obviously fiction. Remember sauropods are the big dinosaurs like brachiosaurus and diplodocus. It's not necessarily the size that makes it unlikely, but the skeletal structures themselves. Theropods were bird-shaped, and have a similar hipbone to modern birds. And how are the theropods and sauropods close cousins? That seems like a dead giveaway. They have as much in common as elephants and badgers.
And I'm pretty positive. |
I'm pretty sure I read something about dinosaurs when I was young, but I sure didn't take away any lifelong knowledge like you did. It sounds like you might be right about this one.
Any other guesses before I find out the answer? |
I memorised all the dinosaur books in the school and public library at a young age. Unfortunately I'm not that up to date on discoveries since then, but I'm well aware of how scientists are changing how they think dinosaurs looked.
Here's a drawing of deinonychus, a theropod which is the big cousin of the velociraptor (and much closer to the velociraptors depicted in the Jurassic Park movies than the actual raptors).
And here's the alamosaur, one of the most last sauropod breeds, which made it all the way to the late Cretaceous era. If they did evolve into birds, they had a much longer way to go than the theropods, who were already standing on two legs, eating meat, and apparently coated in feathers.
By the way, this was a very interesting idea for a post. Does this podcast do it every week? |
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newton kabiddles
Joined: 31 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:20 pm Post subject: |
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Like Mike Walker's Gossip game..
#1 |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| By the way, this was a very interesting idea for a post. Does this podcast do it every week? |
Yep, it's a weekly game. I'm usually wrong in it. 
Okay, so here's the answer: #1 is fiction. Congratulations, Misters Traitor and Biddles.
He explains #3 by saying researchers used an MRI scan to look at which parts of the brain become active when subjects are recalling a true memory vs a false memory. So you have two parts of the brain which function to recall memories. The mesiotemporal lobe remembers details and the frontal-parietal network recalls the gist. When remembering a true memory, the mesiotemporal lobe lights up, whereas a false memory triggers the frontal-parietal network.
Very freaky and cool. Next question from a random episode soon. |
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Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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Science or Fiction (like Mike Walker's Gossip Game):
1. New study suggests that Homosapiens innovated male-female division of labor, and this gave them a critical advantage of Neanderthals.
2. A newly published study has linked frequent cell phone use to declining cognitive function, as measured by standard IQ.
3. New research shows that the effectiveness of advertising has nothing to do with the actual message they contain. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
Science or Fiction (like Mike Walker's Gossip Game):
1. New study suggests that Homosapiens innovated male-female division of labor, and this gave them a critical advantage of Neanderthals.
2. A newly published study has linked frequent cell phone use to declining cognitive function, as measured by standard IQ.
3. New research shows that the effectiveness of advertising has nothing to do with the actual message they contain. |
That's a tough one. What bothers me is how all these are "new" studies. We didn't know that homosapiens had a male/female division lf labour before, and that the message of advertising is unimportant? I'm also hesitant to pick 2 because with enough statistics you could prove pretty well anything. You could claim that waiting for the next season of Battlestar Galactica is correlated with declining cognitive function. Correlating cell use and dropping IQ sounds like it would be easy to do, although of course the argument wouldn't mean anything. Gonna have to think about it. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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Q, interesting way to fulfill Dr. N's desire for every listener to get a buddy to listen 
Did you give the url?
http://www.theskepticsguide.org
Also the SciAm podcast "Science Talk" has a game similar. Of course, Science or Fiction comes from Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. |
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JustJohn
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Location: Your computer screen
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| Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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Isn't #3 old news? 
Disclaimer: I'm not really anti-feminist, just anti-extremist.
Anway I'm going with #2 because I think it would be funny if #1 was true. All the feminists would be like "Let's get offended!" And then they'd realize they couldn't change history and be like "Oh, crap." |
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