Episode #60: West African Witchery, New Monkeys and Warp Speed

Consilience: An African Science Podcast

Sad monkey is possibly delicious.

The 60th episode of Consilience is out! You can download the mp3 here (27mb) and the file’s page on Archive.org is here.

Starring

• Owen Swart
• Michael Meadon
• Angela Meadon

Teaching Angela to Appreciate History

1. 1961: First contact with an alien race.
   
   • Betty and Barney Hill, an American couple, claimed that they were abducted by aliens and experimented upon. Over the years, the Hills’ own stories have grown increasingly fabulous, as well as inspiring a cultural revolution in reports of alien abductions and similar encounters.
   • None of their claims have ever been substantiated, and sceptics, including Brian Dunning of the Skeptioid podcast, have managed to poke so many holes in the story there isn’t even anything left to hold the holes together.

News

1. Ghanaian witches are exiled to concentration camps.
2. Nigerian man used witchcraft to recruit children for his sex slavery trade.
3. New African monkey.
4. NASA Building Real-life Warp Drive.
   1. Vulcan Suurok Class Cruiser.
5. Jesus was married.

Sci-fi/Fantasy Quote

“The only moral way to change someone’s mind – make them see the truth, as you put it – is to present evidence.” – Unnamed Alteran Dude, Stargate: The Ark of Truth

Announcements

1. Durban
   1. Sceptics in the Pub: Thursday, 20th September, 18:00. Pizetta
2. Pretoria
   1. Sceptics in the Pub: Saturday 22nd September, 12:30. Venue TBA
3. Cape Town
   1. Sceptics in the Pub: Friday 28th September, 19:00. Beleza
4. Johannesburg
   1. Sceptics in the Pub: Wednesday, 3 October, 19:00. Grandslam, Edenvale

Link of the Week

Michael – Josef Schmid, Flight Surgeon

Angela – Geological Time Scale for Creationists

Owen – How to Avoid the Natural Reactions that Prevent Good Decision Making

http://archive.org/details/Consilience60

http://archive.org/download/Consilience60/Consilience60.mp3