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In 2001 Cambridge University Press published Bjrn Lomborg’s book The Skeptical Environmentalist, which I thought was a perfect debate topic for the Skeptics Society public lecture series at the California Institute of Technology. The problem was that all the top environmental organizations refused to participate. “There is no debate,” one spokesperson told me. “We don’t want to dignify that book,” another said. One leading environmentalist warned me that my reputation would be irreparably harmed if I went through with it....

Like a summer blockbuster, this episode is full of thrills–magnets that turn off a reporter’s ability to speak; indestructible unmanned aerial vehicles; and more… Background on this week’s stories: #1. TMS: The brain’s mute button The Michael Bay Verizon FiOS Commercial we’re parodying is all over YouTube. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) isn’t only used to turn off the speech center of the brain, as depicted in the video accompanying the Daily Telegraph article that John highlights in this episode—it’s also useful in therapeutic contexts....

Update: Originally, the storms were reported to have killed five people. On Monday morning, Rob Marciano at CNN tweeted that a sixth victim from Woodward, Ok. died from injuries. Tornadic thunderstorms ravaged parts of the Plains Saturday and Saturday night, killing six people and leaving behind incredible destruction. According to the Storm Prediction Center, over 100 tornadoes were reported from Oklahoma through Kansas, Nebraska and southern Iowa on Saturday. The deadliest of the tornadoes ravaged the town of Woodward, Oklahoma, where six people were killed and 30 injured....

By Alla KatsnelsonA computer model proposes a solution to a long-standing mystery in HIV research – why a small percentage of people infected with the virus never develop full-blown AIDS. The answer lies in how the immune cells that recognize invaders are educated, and suggests new strategies for designing an HIV vaccine.The human immune system detects foreign cells with the help of cell-surface proteins called human leukocyte antigens (HLAs). Each person’s cells carry a particular set of HLA molecules – the person’s HLA type – which bind fragments of virus or bacterial protein and ‘present’ them to T cells, the immune cells that recognize and attack infected cells....

Bad language could be good for you, a new study shows. For the first time, psychologists have found that swearing may serve an important function in relieving pain. The study, published today in the journal NeuroReport, measured how long college students could keep their hands immersed in cold water. During the chilly exercise, they could repeat an expletive of their choice or chant a neutral word. When swearing, the 67 student volunteers reported less pain and on average endured about 40 seconds longer....

LE BOURGET, FRANCE—A historic, global agreement to combat climate change has been adopted here outside Paris. Aided by the submission of 186 national plans to cut greenhouse gas pollution, negotiators from 196 countries large and small, rich and poor united to deliver a new climate deal that may change the world or, in the words of the agreement’s preamble “Mother Earth” (also known as land, seas, skies and life on this planet....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Dragoons were hybrid cavalry-infantry troops during the English Civil Wars (1642-1651). They usually dismounted before fighting and were used primarily as support troops. Dragoons were frequently tasked with capturing and holding strategically valuable areas of a battlefield such as bridges and passes that facilitated infantry movements, natural rises for artillery batteries, and cover such as buildings, trees, and hedges for musketeers....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The English mariner, privateer, and explorer Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596 CE) made his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580 CE. Only the second man to achieve this feat after the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521 CE) did so in 1522 CE, Drake did not attempt any speed record and spent months along certain coastlines prowling for opportunities to add to the ever-growing hoard of loot down in the hold of his ship the Golden Hind....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. II:38. The males of the ox kind they consider to belong to Epaphos, and on account of him they test them in the following manner: If the priest sees one single black hair upon the beast he counts it not clean for sacrifice; and one of the priests who is appointed for the purpose makes investigation of these matters, both when the beast is standing upright and when it is lying on its back, drawing out its tongue moreover, to see if it is clean in respect of the appointed signs, which I shall tell of in another part of the history: he looks also at the hairs of the tail to see if it has them growing in the natural manner: and if it be clean in respect of all these things, he marks it with a piece of papyrus, rolling this round the horns, and then when he has plastered sealing-earth over it he sets upon it the seal of his signet-ring, and after that they take the animal away....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Ancient Persian culture contributed many of the aspects of the modern world which people take for granted as having always existed. The designation “Persia” comes from the Greeks – primarily from the historian Herodotus – but the people of Persis (Pars, modern-day Fars) referred to themselves as Iranians, from Aryan, meaning “noble” or “free” and having nothing to do with race....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Loch Ness is one of the most beautiful lakes in Scotland and no one needs the attraction of the mythical monster to enjoy a visit. The majestic ruins of Urquhart Castle and scenic landscape should be enough of a draw – but there is also the tale of the hero Andrew de Moray to be considered....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The stories that make up what is known today as Norse mythology once informed the religious beliefs of the people of regions including Scandinavia and Iceland. To the Norse, the world was an enchanted place of gods, spirits, and other entities that needed to be honored to maintain personal and communal balance....

The flooding event began on May 13 when an area of low pressure developed as warm, moist air from over the Mediterranean Sea clashed with colder air from the north. The low became cut-off from the jet stream, which would ordinarily usher the system across the region — instead, it remained parked over southeast Europe, dumping rain for several days. Authorities in Bosnia and Serbia reported that about 4 inches of rain fell on May 14 and 15, with larger downpours in some locations....

In a small basement in the Bronx, the pride of place does not go to a shelf occupied by blue models of deformed skulls. Instead, the focus of the Lehman College 3D Virtual and Solid Visualization Laboratory is a large gray printer. This is no dot-matrix monster. It’s a precision three-dimensional printer that lays down layers of liquid blue plastic to create 3-D models of “monkey” skulls (fossil primate skulls, actually)....

Thomas Jefferson, the third president and principal author of the Declaration of Independence, kept detailed accounts to track every penny he spent. Steve Jobs was famously fastidious about the cleanliness of his factories, flying into rages when he found too much dust. In a new book, America’s Obsessives, author Joshua Kendall argues that obsessive compulsive personality disorder has shaped many great figures who have in turn shaped our country. He answered questions from Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook....

By Zoë CorbynControversial researcher Peter Duesberg has been cleared of wrongdoing following formal complaints made after he and others published a paper arguing that there is “as yet no proof that HIV causes AIDS.“Duesberg, who is well known for denying the link between HIV and AIDS, escaped censure from the University of California, Berkeley, after an investigation upheld his academic freedom and found no clear evidence that he broke faculty rules in publishing the paper....

The announcement yesterday that China decreased its coal consumption for the second year in a row raises hope that the world’s largest carbon dioxide emitter might peak its emissions years earlier than it promised ahead of the Paris climate talks, experts said yesterday. Year-on-year decreases in consumption in 2014 and 2015 show China on a trajectory to meet its pledge to cap emissions by 2030—a promise that helped make a global climate deal possible in the French capital last year....

They called him Lionheart — a name that has become the epitome of courage in battle. More than eight centuries after the death of King Richard I of England, forensic scientists have now revealed the secrets of his most feted organ. Richard was a warrior king who fought against the Muslim sultan Saladin during the third Crusade in the twelfth century. But domestic difficulties were waiting when he returned to Europe, and he spent the last years of his life trying to suppress revolt in his French territories....

By Emma Farge FREETOWN (Reuters) - Health workers in Sierra Leone began combing the streets of the capital Freetown for Ebola patients on Wednesday, moving house-to-house as the government launched a major operation to contain infection in West Africa’s worst-hit country. President Ernest Bai Koroma said on national television that, as part of “Operation Western Area Surge”, travel between all parts of the country would be restricted and public gatherings would be restrained in the run-up to Christmas....

Four years ago, Jeanna Giese, now 19, became the first person to survive rabies without a preventive vaccine. Now, the medical procedure developed for treating Giese may have saved the lives of two children in South America. Last month, ScientificAmerican.com chronicled Giese’s remarkable recovery after she had been infected with the deadly virus. In the absence of the vaccine regime or rabies antibodies, the virus kills by interfering with the brain’s ability to regulate crucial body functions, including respiration and heart rate....