Skeptical Sunday: Take a Number
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Pick a number, any number. Got it? Good. Is it a lucky or unlucky? Is it a code that gives you a clue to the future? A lot of people assign all sorts of magical significance to numbers. From Friday the 13th to lucky number 7 – we’ll find out whether the idea of digits of destiny adds up. Plus, 666 and 616: find out what famous figures these figures code for.
Learn the numbers that do have significance in math and nature: how a honey bee’s lineage is an example of the Fibonacci series.
Meanwhile, Brains on Vacation quashes satellite fireball rumors, and our Hollywood skeptic gives a “how to” for faking UFO photos.
It’s Skeptical Sunday.. but don’t take our word for it!
Guests:
- Phil Plait – Keeper of the skeptical website badastronomy.com and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
- Richard Wiseman – Psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire in England
- David Parker – Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham in England
- Pat McKeague – Teacher in San Luis Obispo in California
- Jim Underdown – Executive Director, Center for Inquiry in Los Angeles
This episode was tagged with: numbers numerology Phil Plait Richard Wiseman David Parker Pat McKeague Jim Underdown Friday the 13th 666 616 Nero Caligula Fibonacci series superstition James Underdown
