Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Plotting Along

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It's been ten years since the fall of the Twin Towers, but some still believe that the attack was an inside job. They’re not the only ones to buy into a conspiratorial view of world events. Others deny President Obama’s American birth… link autism with vaccines… and even claim that the fluoride in our drinking water is there to control our minds. Is it the truth – or the fringe groups – that are “out there?”

Find out why some tinfoil hat ideas never go away. Also, the roots of rational argument: did our brains evolve to seek the truth… or just win arguments?

It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!

Guests:

• Jonathan Kay – Managing editor of National Post in Canada and author of Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America’s Growing Conspiracist Underground
• Michael Shermer – Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine and author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies – How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them As Truths
• Phil Plait – Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog,
• Hugo Mercier – Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania
• Darcia Narvaez – Psychologist at the University of Notre Dame
• Ben Recht – Computer Scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of the paper “On the Effectiveness of Tinfoil Hats”