Why do four out of five dentists recommend Colgate? How many Americans really approve of Trump? This special episode is a two-parter: First, we talk to Prof. Dan Levitin, author of ‘Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era’, about some recent news stories and how to be skeptical of the statistics you see. Then, we bring you a surprise you won’t want to miss. It’s about deception, murder, and of course, ~science~.

Credits:

• Ebay - Listen to Ebay’s podcast Open For Business on iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts
• Wordpress - go to wordpress.com/science to get 15% off a new website
• Hello Fresh - For $30 off your first week of meals go to hellofresh.com and enter the promo code SCIENCEVS30

Our Sponsors:

This episode has been produced by Austin Mitchell, Ben Kuebrich, Wendy Zukerman, Heather Rogers, and Shruti Ravindran. Our senior producer is Kaitlyn Sawrey. Our editor is Annie-Rose Strasser. Fact Checking by Ben Kuebrich. Sound engineering, music production and original scoring by Bobby Lord. The lemmings musical mega-mix was created by Austin Mitchell. Thanks to Dr. Malte Andersson, Dr. Anders Angerbjörn and Dr. Rolf Anker Ims. As well as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the use of Cruel Camera. 

Further Reading:

• Weaponized Lies by Prof. Dan Levitin
• A Theory on the Cause of Lemming Booms
• Linking Climate to Lemming Cycles