#76: Too Dumb For Fiction (Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying DarkHorse Livestream)

 In this 76th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we discuss the state of the world through an evolutionary lens. In this episode, we discuss Portland going off the rails again. More riots and vandalism happened downtown, and we went to document some of it: the Apple store, the dumpster fires, the volunteers picking up trash, the companies proclaiming that we are “united by love” while (only) the white women in their displays are crossed out by activists. Meanwhile, the public schools debate changing names and mascots, and we are told that we need to register our cats. Then: a discussion of four numbers in the news this week. Three: shots now needed for the Pfizer vaccine. Ninety: the percentage of false positives from Covid tests in England. Thirteen: the proposed new number of Supreme Court Justices. 2.5 billion: the number of T. rexes who once roamed the Earth. Penultimately, we discuss lizards that aren’t lizards (but are in fact salamanders). And finally: footage from a coyote den that we (or rather, our dog) found near us, which had in it a mother and two kits. 

Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is now available for pre-sale at amazon. Publication date: 9-14-21: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593086880/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_5BDTABYFKRJKZBT5GSQA 

DarkHorse merchandise now available at: store.darkhorsepodcast.org Find more from us on Bret’s website (https://bretweinstein.net) or Heather’s website (http://heatherheying.com). 

Become a member of the DarkHorse LiveStreams, and get access to an additional Q&A; livestream every month. Join at Heather's Patreon. 

Like this content? Subscribe to the channel, like this video, follow us on twitter (@BretWeinstein, @HeatherEHeying), and consider helping us out by contributing to either of our Patreons or Bret’s Paypal. 

Looking for clips from #DarkHorseLivestreams? Here are some, updated frequently: @DarkHorse Podcast Clips 

Theme Music: Thank you to Martin Molin of Wintergatan for providing us the rights to use their excellent music. 

Q&A; Link: https://youtu.be/a7wWmzmBw6I 

Mentioned in this episode:

Rapid COVID testing in England returns positive results that are ~90% false:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/15/rapid-covid-testing-in-england-may-be-scaled-back-over-false-positives

CNN’s original headline: How many T. rex were there? Billions, it turns out

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/15/world/t-rex-billions-intl-scli-scn/index.html

Original research estimating how many T. rex there were: Marshall et al 2021. Absolute abundance and preservation rate of Tyrannosaurus rex. Science 372(6539): 284-287. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6539/284 Support the show