Moron or Madman? Addenda

duped by Mendelist-Morganists

We thought our episode on Trofim Lysenko was too focused on the what and when rather than the how and why. This bonus episode should clear things up.

Categories: Bonus Episodes, History, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Least Popular, Science & Nature, Supplement, The Marvels of Science

Tags: agriculture biology genetics Joseph Vissanorovich Stalin Presented by #13 pseudo-science Russia Trofim Denisovich Lysenko Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Published: May 3, 2021

Moron or Madman?

in which science is subordinated to politics

Trofim D. Lysenko (1898-1976) set back the study of biology in the Soviet Union for two generations -- but the lessons you should learn from his story are not the one scientists and philosophers have pushed.

Categories: Biography, History, Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Science & Nature, Series 7, The Marvels of Science

Tags: agriculture biology communism genetics Joseph Vissanorovich Stalin politics Presented by #13 pseudo-science Russia Trofim Denisovich Lysenko Union of Soviet Socialist Republics World War II

Published: April 26, 2021

Normalating

let me tell you about the healing power of color

The idea that color has healing power is a relatively modern (and utterly fallacious) one. We discuss its development through the 19th and 20th centuries.

Categories: Hoaxes, Frauds & Forgeries, Science & Nature, Series 5

Tags: civil law crime Dr. Dinshah Pestanji Framji Ghadiali eclectic medicine Food and Drug Administration Presented by #13 pseudo-science quackery Theosophical Society Theosophy

Published: October 12, 2020

“I’m the Naughty Boy.”

you love science — but probably not nearly as much as Bayard Peakes did

On July 14, 1952 a mysterious man walked into the office of the American Physical Society and murdered secretary Eileen Fahey for no apparent reason.

Categories: Science & Nature, Series 5

Tags: Bayard Pfundtner Peakes crime New York, NY Presented by #13 pseudo-science The Constant World War II

Published: September 14, 2020

We Live Inside

greetings from the inside of the Hollow Earth

Dr. Cyrus Reed Teed may have been a madman, or the Messiah, but only he was bold enough to tell the truth: that we live on the inside of a hollow Earth.

Categories: Eccentrics & Prophecies, Most Popular, People & Places, Series 4

Tags: 1893 Chicago World's Fair and Columbian Exposition American Civil War Ann O'Delia Diss Debar Chicago, IL communism cult Dr. Cyrus Reed Teed "Koresh" eclectic medicine faith healing Florida Fort Myers, FL geodetics Harmony Society hollow Earth Koreshan Unity Messiah New York, NY Presented by #13 pseudo-science religion San Francisco, CA The Constant

Published: August 10, 2020