Skeptic Check: Superstition

Published: Dec. 26, 2011, 8 a.m.

b'Wait! Before you step outside... is it Friday the 13th? Any black cats prowling around? Broken a mirror lately? Homo sapiens are a superstitious lot. Find out why our brains are wired for irrational belief. Plus, from the 2012-end-of-the-world prophesy to colliding planets - why some people believe the universe is out to get \\u2018em.\\nAlso, Brains on Vacation takes on a challenge to relativity and our Hollywood skeptic has doubts about exorcism. It\\u2019s enough to make your head spin on Skeptic Check\\u2026 but don\\u2019t take our word for it!\\nGuests:\\n\\n\\nBruce Hood - Cognitive scientist at the University of Bristol in the U.K. and author of The Science of Superstition: How the Developing Brain Creates Supernatural Beliefs\\n\\n\\n\\nDavid Morrison - Director of the Carl Sagan Center for The Study of Life in The Universe at the SETI Institute and keeper of the NASA website Ask an Astrobiologist\\n\\n\\n\\nMartin Snow - Research Scientist, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder\\n\\n\\nJim Underdown - Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, West - Los Angeles\\n\\n\\nPhil Plait - Astronomer, keeper of badastronomy.com, and author of Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .\\n\\n\\nDescripci\\xf3n en espa\\xf1ol\\nFirst aired August 16, 2010\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'