Principal Instigators

As we all know, space is the ideal place for computers. The cold vacuum of space insulates them, and there are plenty of muons to keep them company. Liv is predictably thrilled at this prospect, so much so that she coughs her way through explaining it to Sandra and Dan

On this very special (unlocked) episode, Sandra and Dan(i) shepherd Liv through the listener-created March Sadness™ bracket, and witness apotheosis

From 2021 to 2024, many Americans were worried that Trump would begin a second term as president in 2025, and slash federal funding for scientific research. But the leaders of the Democratic party rose to the top for a reason: namely, their clear-eyed insight into the best strategies for achieving their party's goals. On today's episode, Sandra, Liv, and Dan discuss how the Biden White House and Democrats in Congress worked together to (almost-but-not-quite) protect funding for American science (particularly the National Science Foundation), through One Weird Trick™, regardless of the outcome of the 2024 general election.

Sandra, Liv, and Dan are back to discuss the impacts of Trump and DOGE on science from destroying the scientific progress our society is based on to somehow making grad school even worse, including their most heinous crime: getting us to defend the status quo

What happens when you combine internet libertarians’ favorite woman, questionably-supported statistical analyses of human sexuality, and show tunes written by guys from a prediction market? On today’s episode, Liv shows Sandra and Dan why the answer is “psychic damage.”

Content warning: sex and sexual assault, transphobia

What happens when you combine internet libertarians’ favorite woman, questionably-supported statistical analyses of human sexuality, and show tunes written by guys from a prediction market? On today’s episode, Oliver shows Sandra and Dan why the answer is “psychic damage.”

Content warning: sex and sexual assault, transphobia

The past year and a half has been quite eventful for National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Lee Berger. He has made big claims about fire and burials and art. Far less attention has been paid to the pair of white men who are using paleoanthropology as an excuse to buy up land outside of Johannesburg, South Africa—and the fact that their wacky antics might have increased the value of that land, and any future fossils found there, had said antics not been met with such widespread condemnation from the scientific community. What if we can’t fully grasp the meaning of reprehensible publicity stunts unless we think about the economic incentives for landowners whose recent moves will grant them even greater control over future paleoanthropological discoveries?

The past year and a half has been quite eventful for National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Lee Berger. He has made big claims about fire and burials and art. Far less attention has been paid to the pair of white men who are using paleoanthropology as an excuse to buy up land outside of Johannesburg, South Africa—and the fact that their wacky antics might have increased the value of that land, and any future fossils found there, had said antics not been met with such widespread condemnation from the scientific community. What if we can’t fully grasp the meaning of reprehensible publicity stunts unless we think about the economic incentives for landowners whose recent moves will grant them even greater control over future paleoanthropological discoveries?

Sources

Flint Dibble’s original video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iN9t393QQI

Flint Dibble’s interview with Prof. Jamie Hodgkins, a reviewer from eLife https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWavjXAg5Tw

A gloriously comprehensive dive into the reviews from eLife https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGsDAtCOAFw

27.7% of manuscripts sent out for review under new eLife model https://elifesciences.org/inside-elife/66d43597/elife-s-new-model-one-year-on

Berger’s thoughts on preprints https://youtu.be/Z4WsgMUtJTU?si=IxLKbEOzf_fZ10ny&t=2790

Reviews for the burial paper https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/89106/reviews

Reviews for the rock engravings https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/89102/reviews

Reviews for the triumphant bonus paper https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/89125/reviews

Contradictory views from other South African paleoanthropologists https://sajs.co.za/article/view/17473

Criticism from the South African press https://www.citizen.co.za/news/opinion/professor-lee-berger-owes-sa-an-apology/

Peer-reviewed criticism of the preprints and the fire talk https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103464

Tim Nash’s father was an aviation executive named John Nash https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2021-12-09-the-billionaire-pioneering-sas-palaeotourism-industry/

A Johannesburg-area man named John Nash charged by a US Attorney for smuggling military hardware into South Africa during apartheid https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/29/us/5-are-indicted-in-smuggling-of-military-hardware-to-iran.html

Scientists are encouraged to share their findings with the general public; organizations that communicate scientific discoveries, such as National Geographic, are helping to build an informed and rational citizenry in a changing world full of misinformation. But what if the incentives of the magazine and TV businesses come into conflict with responsible scientific research and communication? On second thought, let’s not make a big deal out of this—it’s not like a beloved scientific organization would promote a narcissistic huckster who invented a geologic feature in the pursuit of publicity.

Scientists are encouraged to share their findings with the general public; organizations that communicate scientific discoveries, such as National Geographic, are helping to build an informed and rational citizenry in a changing world full of misinformation. But what if the incentives of the magazine and TV businesses come into conflict with responsible scientific research and communication? On second thought, let’s not make a big deal out of this—it’s not like a beloved scientific organization would promote a narcissistic huckster who invented a geologic feature in the pursuit of publicity.

Sources

Phillip Tobias https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2021.0041#d1e399 https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/17/world/pretoria-doctor-loses-his-license.html

Berger autobiography https://www.chronicle.com/article/new-book-creates-furor-among-paleoanthropologists-in-the-u-s-and-south-africa/?cid=gen_sign_in 

Field guide review https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/EJC97527

Berger kayaking tour https://www.nature.com/articles/452806a

Palau cannibalism https://youtu.be/Fh3yRhPG4b4?si=fKlp80ClMMEw2M6j&t=263

Sediba age https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1184950

2011 Science special issue https://www.science.org/toc/science/333/6048

2013 Science special issue https://www.science.org/toc/science/340/6129

2011 press coverage https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/110908-apes-humans-evolution-australopithecus-sediba-lee-berger-science

2013 press coverage SciAm https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/is-australopithecus-sediba-the-most-important-human-ancestor-discovery-ever/

Cradle of Humankind - landowner’s paradise https://www.news24.com/news24/cradle-of-conflict-a-landless-community-divided-in-a-landowners-paradise-20181116

Facebook ad https://youtu.be/1f7jm3T_hao?si=1xqZ-jNndSgUDV-X&t=2894

Disposal of the dead https://youtu.be/oxgnlSbYLSc?si=Zte8o4kJUQXkDe3f&t=145

Val rebuttal https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27039664/

Drains don’t exist https://youtu.be/xyhO5hcfRHY?si=bb0zFmOv4UirM28T&t=2619