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Anthony Randazzo Discusses Loch Ness, Unibrows, and Facebook on Alyona's Happy Hour

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Foundation Director of Economic Research Anthony Randazzo appeared on The Alyona Show to discuss schools teachers disproving evolution with the Loch Ness monster, basketball player Anthony Davis trademarking his unibrow, and Facebook introducing new @facebook email address for its users. Air Date: June 27, 2012.

Approximately 11.09 minutes.

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What is an Astronaut's Life Worth?: An Interview with Robert Zubrin

Fri, 18 May 2012 11:30:00 EDT

"You're saying that you're going to give up four billion dollars to avoid a one in seven chance of killing an astronaut, you're basically saying an astronaut's life is worth twenty-eight billion dollars," says astronautical engineer and author Dr. Robert Zubrin.

Zubrin, the author of a popular and controversial article in Reason's space-centric February 2012 Special Issue, argues that the risk of losing one of the seven astronauts who repaired and rescued the Hubble Space Telescope was well worth it. "If you put this extreme value on the life of an astronaut...then you never fly, and you get a space agency which costs seventeen billion dollars a year and accomplishes nothing."

NASA's role, according to Zubrin, should be in the pursuit of ambitious missions such as "opening Mars to humanity," rather than a bloated, safety-obsessed bureaucracy. "The mission has to come first."

Runs about 3.50 minutes.

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher. Camera by Meredith Bragg and Josh Swain.

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The Vampire Economist and the Moral Molecule

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:00:00 EDT

In his new book, The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity, neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak discusses his research on oxytocin, aka the "moral molecule." For the past 10 years, Zak has been conducting the same kind of trust games that are common in experimental economics, but with a twist. Before and after the trust games, Zak has been taking blood samples with the goal of gaining a better understanding of how and why people trust others.

Zak's work on oxytocin, which Genome author Matt Ridley calls "one of the most revealing experiments in the history of economics," helps economists understand why people are often generous to complete strangers and why those complete strangers so often reciprocate. The key, Zak explains, is oxytocin. Our brains release oxytocin when we hug others, when we receive gifts and when we are trusted. Because elevated oxytocin levels in the blood make us more likely to trust others, oxytocin plays an essential role in all human interactions, including the process of wealth creation. As Zak puts it, "You can't induce your brain to release oxytocin, you can only give it to somebody else. If you give this gift, our biology has set us up so that people will return it to us."

Approximately 5.5 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine & Alex Manning.

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Author David Brin on Dogmatic Libertarians, Transparency, and Uplifting Dolphins

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

"The issue should not be government. It should not be unlimited and unalloyed idolatry of personal property, which is the path that the libertarian movement has gone down," says David Brin, a science fiction writer and self-identified "heretical libertarian."

Brin sat down with Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh to discuss his recent critiques of the libertarian movement, which he believes is being pushed in the wrong direction by dogmatic followers of Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard.

"Libertarians need to be reminded that, across 6,000 years, the greatest enemy of free enterprise, of market enterprise, innovation, creative competition... have always been oligarch," says Brin.

Brin also discussed the themes of his prescient book, The Transparent Society, which, among other things, predicted a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center before it happened. The interview wraps up with a discussion of the ethics of Brin's Uplift series, which imagines a future in which humans have enhanced the minds and bodies of dolphins and made them equal citizens of society.

About 10 minutes. Interview by Tim Cavanaugh. Shot by Zach Weissmueller, Paul Detrick, and Sharif Matar. Edited by Weissmueller.

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Matt Ridley on Ideas having Sex, Free Trade, & Apocalyptic Science w/ Reason's Kennedy

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 EDT

“[Some people] simply don’t believe that when two people trade one is not ripping the other off,” exclaims Matt Ridley, zoologist and author of The Rational Optimist. "A big problem with the world is that human beings find positive sum games difficult to understand."

Ridley sat down with Reason's Kennedy to discuss his thoughts on free trade, ideas having sex and the irrationality of apocalyptic science.

About 7 minutes.

Filmed by Anthony Fisher and Jim Epstein. Edited by Joshua Swain.

For more Ridley and Reason.tv click here and here.

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"Ideas Having Sex" A Conversation with John Tierney and Matt Ridley

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EDT

"Where ideas have sex, is in technologies," says author and biologist Matt Ridley, "we give far too much credit to individuals for innovation...all of them are standing on the shoulders of lots of other people."

Ridley discussed his views on trade, invention and creativity with the New York Times' John Tierney at a Reason Foundation event at the Museum of Sex in New York City on March 8, 2012.

The author of "The Rational Optimist," tells Tierney that "Every technology we possess has ideas that occurred to different people in different times and different places...most innovation happens by perspiration not inspiration, it's tinkering...rather than geniuses in ivory towers."

Tierney and Ridley also discuss how traders and businessmen, much maligned throughout history as exploiters and "social parasites," have actually contributed enormously to the spread of ideas and new technological breakthroughs. Ridley describes how Fibonacci, the son of an Italian trader who lived in North Africa, brought the Indian numeral system (the numbers we all know and love today) to Europe as one of the greatest tangible benefits of trade facilitating the exchange of ideas. Ridley implores the public to "Just stop knocking traders, they're great people, they do wonderful things."

Runs about 20.26 minutes.

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher, shot by Jim Epstein and Fisher.

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Why The Future Is Better Than You Think

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:00 EDT

Can a Masai Warrior in Africa today communicate better than Ronald Reagan could? If he's on a cell phone, Peter Diamandis says he can.

Peter Diamandis is the founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation, which offers big cash prizes "to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity." Reason's Tim Cavanaugh sat down to talk with Peter about his new book Abundance and why he think we live in an "incredible time", but no one realizes it. Peter thinks that there are some powerful human forces combined with technological advancements that are transforming the world for the better.

"The challenge is that the rate of innovation is so fast..." Peter says, "the government can't keep up with it." If the government tries to play "catch up" with regulations and policy, the technology with just go overseas. Certain inovations in "food, water, housing, health, education is getting better and better." Peter "hopes we are not going to be in a situation where, entrenched interests are preventing the consumer from having better health care."

Filmed by Sharif Matar and Tracy Oppenheimer. Edited by Sharif Matar

About 15 minutes

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Mike Riggs on Alyona's Happy Hour Discusses a Controversial Gun Ad, Anti-Semitism, and a Twin-Earth

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 EST

Reason Associate Editor Mike Riggs appeared on the Alyona Show's Happy Hour to discuss a gun ad that compares Obama to Hitler and Stalin, whether a US Ambassador's comments on Isreali foreign policy is anti-Semitic, and a recently discovered exo-planet that resembles Earth. Airdate: December 5, 2011.

7 minutes.

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Evolutionary Psychologist Gad Saad on Consumerism, Sex, Advertising, and Human Nature

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:30:00 EST

"The Ferrari is exactly the same in the human context," says evolutionary psychologist Gad Saad, "as the peacock's tail is on the peacock."

Saad is an evolutionary behavioral scientist at Concordia University and author of the book The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal about Human Nature, in which he argues that most consumer behavior can be explained by evolutionary psychology.

Reason.tv's Zach Weissmueller sat down with Saad to discuss why most Ferrari owners are men, whether or not advertising executives manipulate our minds, the strong political opposition to the evolutionary sciences from across the spectrum, and the evolutionary significance of Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby Got Back."

About 10 minutes. Interview by Zach Weissmueller. Shot by Sharif Matar; edited by Weissmueller.

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ManBearPig, Climategate and Watermelons: A conversation with author James Delingpole

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 EDT

James Delingpole is a bestselling British author and blogger who helped expose the Climategate scandal back in 2009. Reason.tv caught up with Delingpole in Los Angeles recently to learn more about his entertaining and provocative new book Watermelons: The Green Movement's True Colors. At its very roots, argues Delingpole, climate change is an ideological battle, not a scientific one. In other words, it's green on the outside and red on the inside. At the end of the day, according to Delingpole, the "watermelons" of the modern environmental movement do not want to save the world. They want to rule it.

Approximately 10 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

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Matt Welch Talks Public Research Funding on Freedom Watch

Wed, 18 May 2011 06:00:00 EDT

Reason Magazine Editor in Chief Matt Welch appeared on Freedom Watch With Judge Napolitano to talk about public research funding.

Air Date: May 17, 2011.

Approximately 8:30 minutes

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Jacob Sullum Discusses Drug Policy on Russia Today

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Senior Editor Jacob Sullum appeared on Russia Today's The Alyona Show to discuss a new British report that shows alcohol is more harmful than cocaine and heroin, and why governments often base drug classifications on cultural norms rather than science. Air date: November 1, 2010.

Approximately 7.07 minutes.

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Michael Moynihan Joins Stossel to Discuss the Media's Favorite Scare Stories

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Reason Senior Editor Michael Moynihan appeared on Stossel to discuss how the media uses exaggerated claims and scare tactics as a way to drive up ratings. Airdate: October 29, 2010.

Approximately 11.23.

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Three Ingredients for Murder: Neuroscientist James Fallon on why psychopaths kill and libertarians don't

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:00:00 EDT

UC Irvine neuroscientist James Fallon had already been studying the brains of psychopathic killers for years when his mother told him that he comes from a long line of murderers (including his infamous cousin, Lizzie Borden). After studying himself, Fallon discovered that he has two of the three ingredients for psychopathology.

Fallon sat down with Reason.tv to explain why he's not a murderer, why others are, and what it is about libertarians that—just might—keep them peaceful.

Approximately 8.50 minutes.

Interview by Paul Detrick; shot by Zach Weissmueller; edited by Detrick.

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Stone Age Minds: A conversation with evolutionary psychologists Leda Cosmides and John Tooby (extended version)

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EDT

Based at the Center for Evolutionary Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Leda Cosmides and John Tooby are two pioneers and leading lights in the field of evolutionary psychology. This multidisciplinary approach seeks to develop a better understanding of human nature by taking seriously the idea that our brains evolved to solve a variety of adaptive problems routinely faced by our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

While our "stone age minds" have programs that are very good at things like detecting lies, attracting mates and avoiding predators, they are in many ways ill equipped for the kind of complex market-based society that we live in today. The lens of evolutionary psychology, for example, provides insights into why so many people in industrialized nations are overweight and sympathetic to socialist ideas.

Reason.tv's Paul Feine sat down with Cosmides and Tooby to learn more about evolutionary psychology, the history of the field, and the implications for our society.

Approximately 25 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine; shot by Alex Manning and Hawk Jensen; edited by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

For a 10 minute version of this interview, go here .

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Stone Age Minds: A conversation with evolutionary psychologists Leda Cosmides and John Tooby

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:00:00 EDT

While our "stone age minds" have programs that are very good at things like detecting lies, attracting mates and avoiding predators, they are in many ways ill equipped for the kind of complex market-based society that we live in today. The lens of evolutionary psychology, for example, provides insights into why so many people in industrialized countries are overweight and sympathetic to socialist ideas.

Reason.tv's Paul Feine sat down with Cosmides and Tooby to learn more about evolutionary psychology, the history of the field, and the implications for our society.

Approximately 10 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine; shot by Alex Manning and Hawk Jensen; edited by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

For an extended version of this interview, go here .

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From Priest to Scientist: An Interview with Dr. Francisco J. Ayala

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EDT

“Science and religion are not in contradiction, they don’t need to be,” says Dr. Francisco J. Ayala. “They are like two windows through which we look at the world.”

Dr. Ayala is the recipient of the 2010 Templeton Prize; given to a person who has made an exceptional contribution to the study of spiritual realities. He donated the $1.5 million monetary portion of the prize to the University of California, Irvine, to create a scholarship fund.

Ayala has the unique experience of studying both science at Columbia University and theology at a seminary in Spain. Since leaving his graduate studies, he has become a leader in the world of genetics and evolution. He now teaches and conducts research in evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine.

Topics include keeping science and religion separate in schools, the morality in human cloning and whether humans have free will. Approximately 9 minutes.

Interviewed by Ted Balaker. Shot by Hawk Jensen and Zach Weissmuller. Edited by Paul Detrick.

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"You Are Your Brain": David Eagleman on Transforming The Criminal Justice System

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:00:00 EDT

"You are your brain," insists Baylor University neuroscientist and best-selling writer David Eagleman.

It's an insight that he argues should radically transform all aspects of our criminal justice system, from how laws are written to how punishments are levied to how juries are selected.

Reporting back from the bleeding edge of brain research, Eagleman takes viewers on a tour of the latest technological insights into how humans make decisions and whether free will exists anywhere but the pages of philosophy books.

The findings don't exculpate individuals from responsiibility for their actions, the libertarian author of Sum: 40 Tales From The Afterlives says, but they certainly complicate things. And they help to explain why governments double or triple down on failed policies such as drug prohibition.

Approximately 10 minutes. Shot and edited by Alex Manning and Dan Hayes; edited by Hayes. Interview by Nick Gillespie

Scroll down for downloadable versions.

And go here for a 50-minute, multimedia presentation by Eagleman at Reason Weekend, an annual conference held by Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason.tv. This year's event took place in New Orleans from April 15-18 in New Orleans.

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Reason Weekend 2010: David Eagleman on How Neuroscience Will Transform Criminal Justice (Multimedia Presentation)

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:00:00 EDT

"You are your brain," insists Baylor University neuroscientist and best-selling writer David Eagleman.

It's an insight that he argues should radically transform all aspects of our criminal justice system, from how laws are written to how punishments are levied to how juries are selected.

Approximately 50 minutes. Scroll down for downloadable versions.

And go here for a 10-minute interview with Eagleman with Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie.

This discussion was part of Reason Weekend, an annual conference held by Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason.tv. This year's event took place in New Orleans from April 15-18 in New Orleans.

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Peter Diamandis on The X PRIZE and Private Space Flight

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:00:00 EDT

His Zero Gravity Corporation lets the public experience weightlessness during parabolic flight, and his company Space Adventures has taken four tourists to the International Space Station.

But space entrepreneur Peter Diamandis may be best known as the Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, which in 2004 awarded the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE to aviation icon Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne was the first private, manned spacecraft to reach suborbital space twice within two weeks.

Diamandis is on a mission to open space for all humanity, and he embraces the risk inherent to such an undertaking. "A true breakthrough requires tremendous levels of risk," says Diamandis. "It's really in the entrepreneurial sector that people are willing to risk their lives, risk their fortunes, their reputations, to do something they fundamentally believe they can do."

Diamandis is now developing X PRIZES in a variety of fields, including education and medicine.

Produced and interviewed by Ted Balaker; filmed by Hawk Jensen and Alex Manning; edited by Jensen and Paul Detrick.

Approximately 10 minutes long.

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Ron Bailey Discusses Behavioral Genetics on FORA.tv

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:00:00 EDT

On March 9 2010, Reason Science Correspondent Ron Bailey participated in "Hardwired for Life?," a panel discussion about behavioral genetics and biological determinism co-sponsored by The NY Salon and The Albert Ellis Institute. Also appearing were Stuart Derbyshire of the University of Birmingham (UK), David Shenk of The Atlantic, Kristene Doyle of The Albert Ellis Institute, and moderator Jean Smith of The NY Salon.

The panel was originally broadcast on FORA.tv. The full video is about 38 minutes long; Bailey appears at the 7.30 minute mark.

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Don't Break What's Working in Health Care

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST

When it comes to health insurance reform, California State University, Northridge economist Glen Whitman emphasizes, "We have to make sure we don't just fix the parts that are broken. We also have to make sure we don't actually break the parts that are working very well. And it turns out that one of the areas that America is really great at is innovation."

Reason.tv's Ted Balaker sat down with Whitman to discuss his new Cato Institute policy analysis, coauthored with Raymond Raad, "Bending the Productivity Curve: Why America Leads the World in Medical Innovation."

Whether it's Nobel laureates in medical fields or the most important recent medical innovations, Whitman and Raad find that the U.S. has contributed more than any other nation, and in some cases, more than all nations combined. Whitman cites some key factors that account for America's innovative ways, and warns that if America adopts a more centrally planned health system we may not only innovate less but we might not know what innovations we're missing.

Interview shot by Alex Manning and Hawk Jensen; it was edited by Manning. Approximately 10 minutes.

Subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel here.

Related video: "Would ObamaCare Kill Medical Innovation?"

Neuroeconomist Paul Zak on Markets and the "Molecule of Love"

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EDT

"Markets are pro-social. Markets are about serving the needs of another—that is innately virtuous," says Paul J. Zak, professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University.

Zak is the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont and is credited with the first published use of the term neuroeconomics, a new discipline that integrates neuroscience and economics. He describes neuroeconomics as the "brain basis for decision-making" or simply put, "It's really about why people make bad decisions regarding money."

In 2004, Zak's lab discovered that the chemnical oxytocin (best known for inducing labor in women and giving us that warm fuzzy feeling when we hug someone) allows us to determine whom to trust in situations that require exchange. That's the same trust that makes trade possible and underpins modern civilizations and economies.

Zak discusses his oxytocin argument, presented in Moral Markets: The Critical Role of Values in the Economy and why even the most untrustworthy among us leads to a healthy and moral marketplace.

Approximately 10 minutes long. Produced by Hawk Jensen with Alex Manning as director of photography.

Scroll down for embed code and downloadable versions. If you have trouble embedding, check out the version posted at Reason.tv's YouTube channel (subscribe today!).

Matt Ridley on Evolution, Economics, and "Ideas Having Sex"

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Matt Ridley, an Oxford-educated zoologist, turned to journalism in 1983 when he got a job as The Economist’s science reporter. He soon became the magazine’s Washington correspondent and eventually served as its American editor.

Ridley has written several acclaimed books that combine clear explanations of complex biology with discussions of the science’s implications for human society. In the reason.tv interview, Ridley discusses some of the themes in The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature; The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation; Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters; and Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, & What Makes Us Human; as well as his forthcoming book which seeks to understand how and why human progress happens.

Paul Feine and Alex Manning interviewed Ridley in the Milton and Rose Friedman Reading Room at Chapman University in Orange, California.

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MythBusting with Adam Savage!

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EDT

At the Las Vegas-based Amazing Meeting, Reason magazine's Matt Welch recently sat down with Adam Savage, co-host of the enormously popular and captivating Discovery Channel series MythBusters.

Each week, Savage and Jamie Hyneman, aided by a crew of demolition experts and special effects whizzes, delve into mysteries of the moment: Does anything that happen in a James Bond movie have a basis in reality?; was the moon landing faked?; is there such a thing as "beer goggles"?; and much, more more. As important, they explain the science behind many complicated phenomena and rarely miss an opportunity blow things up real good.

Savage talks about the genesis and success of the show, now in its eighth season, and discusses whether people are becoming more or less skeptical in an increasingly interconnected world. Does the faster flow of information mean the bad crowds out the good?

Approximately 8 minutes. Shot and edited by Dan Hayes.

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What are we doing here?

ted.balaker@reason.tv (Ted Balaker) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EDT

A while back I interviewed director Roger Nygard of Trekkies fame about a new project he was working on. Well, that new project is now a finished project.

Behold, the feature doc The Nature of Existence! OK, that's just the trailer. But you can check out the whole thing this Saturday at the Newport Beach Film Festival:

Why are we here, and what are we supposed to do about it? What started the Universe, and was it a mistake? Does God exist, and why does he seem so interested in our sex lives? After exploring the phenomenon of TREKKIES, filmmaker Roger Nygard takes on The Nature of Existence. As he roams the globe to the source of each of the world’s philosophies, religions, and belief systems, Nygard interviews spiritual leaders, scholars, scientists, artists, pizza chefs, and others who have influenced, inspired, or freaked out humanity.
His travels highlight the words of such luminary figures as Indian holy man Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (The Art of Living), evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Chinese Taoist Master Zhang Chengda, Stanford physicist Leonard Susskind (co-discoverer of string theory), wrestler Rob Adonis (founder of Ultimate Christian Wrestling), confrontational evangelist Brother Jed Smock, novelist Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), director Irvin Kershner (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back), the body of Pope John XXIII, and Stonehenge Druids Rollo Maughfling & King Arthur Pendragon and many more….
Combining an investigative approach with humor, Nygard offers a challenging, humorous, and enlightening view of humanity. The most important journey we take, may be the journey to find meaning in our own existence.
If you only see one movie this year with all the answers, see The Nature of Existence.

Raiding California

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:00:00 EDT

UPDATE: On August 5, 2008 Charlie Lynch was found guilty on all five counts. Sentencing is scheduled for June 11, 2009.

For reason.tv's coverage of the trial (including an on-camera interview with the jury foreperson), go here, here, and here.

For more information, visit Friends of Charles C. Lynch.

For information on how to contact your elected officials, please go here or here.

______

June 10, 2008

Should medical marijuana be kept from minors at all costs? Why is it that pharmacists can dispense amphetamines without getting busted, but legal operators who dispense medical marijuana face prison time? Why do armed federal agents persist in raiding California?

With its sun, surf and small town atmosphere, California's San Luis Obispo County is a good place to grow up. Seventeen-year-old Owen Beck played football and soccer for a local high school, but one day his thoughts abruptly turned away from sports and school. Doctors told Owen he had bone cancer, and would have to begin chemotherapy right away.

The young athlete suffered another blow—doctors would have to amputate his leg to try to keep the cancer from spreading. Chemotherapy attacked Owen's cancer and his body, leaving him bald, gaunt, and vomiting the food he needed to recover. The amputation introduced Owen to a bizarre, new agony called phantom pain, and although doctors gave him powerful medication, nothing helped.

But might a new kind of pharmacy offer new hope? A medical marijuana dispensary had recently opened in the nearby city of Morro Bay. More than a decade earlier, California voters legalized medical marijuana and Morro Bay's mayor and Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the dispensary, and its owner Charlie Lynch.

Owen's parents knew the idea of giving medical marijuana to a 17-year-old strikes many people as scandalous. Local Sheriff Pat Hedges even asserts that allowing medical marijuana is "not in the best interest of a community that prides itself on providing a healthy, family environment."

But the Becks weren't concerned about what other people thought; they were focused on helping their son. So with a written doctor recommendation in hand, they purchased medical marijuana for their teenage son. The new medication eased Owen's pain and nausea like nothing else had, and the Becks grew fond of Charlie Lynch, who would sometimes refuse payment because, says Steve Beck, "He was just a compassionate kind of a guy."

But one day, Owen's life took another abrupt turn. Federal agents and local sheriff deputies raided Charlie Lynch's dispensary, and seized nearly everything inside, including Owen's medicine. "He had a prescription from a doctor at Stanford, and they took his stuff!" says Debbie Beck. Federal agents cuffed Lynch, and put him behind bars. Even though state and local laws allow for it, medical marijuana is still illegal under federal law. And because he had clients like Owen who were under age 21, Charlie Lynch faces heightened penalties. In California the average first-degree murder serves 20 years behind bars; Charlie Lynch could face a sentence as long as 100 years in prison.

The trial of Charlie Lynch begins this July.

RIP, Albert Hofmann

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Albert Hofmann--the Swiss scientist who synthesized LSD for the first time in 1938--died Tuesday. He was 102 years old.

Watching this little video makes the walls breathe just like LSD (but without the commitment).

EXPELLED

ted.balaker@reason.tv (Ted Balaker) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:04:00 EST

Ben Stein's entry into the world of feature-length documentaries:

Ben realizes that he has been “Expelled,” and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the “crime” of merely believing that there might be evidence of “design” in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance.

Go here for some trailers, and an O'Reilly Factor appearance by Stein, in which Bill declares that the "secular pinheads haven't figured it out."

RELATED: Reason.tv interviews Michael Shermer .

Michael Shermer: Evolutionary Economics and the Google Theory of Peace

dan.hayes@reason.org (Dan Hayes) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:45:00 EST

Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, a columnist for Scientific American, and most recently the author of The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans, and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics.

Shermer's new book--which The Washington Post says "has earned the right to our attention"--seeks to explain "how evolution shaped the modern economy and why people are so irrational about money."

Shermer, who lives and works in Southern California and is the author of previous books such as Why Darwin Matters and The Borderlands of Science, sat down with reason.tv to talk about the intersection between evolution and capitalism, trust in a globalized world, his "Google theory of peace," and his ideological journey toward libertarianism.

And why it's extremely tough to convince left-wingers who believe in evolution that capitalism is a good thing and conservatives who believe in free markets that evolution is real.

Discuss this story online at reason's Hit & Run blog.

There is nothing funny about Al Gore or global warming.

shikha.dalmia@reason.org (Shikha Dalmia) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:24:00 EST

You dont need to be a global warming denier to enjoy this smack-down of the scientific establishment by libertarian comic Tim Slagle. You just need to have a healthy anti-establishment streak. But that is something that the author of the mildly successful blog Respectful Insolence, who writes under the pseudonym of Orac, evidently lacks. He tries to take apart Slagles routine through some truly buzz-killing arguments here to which Slagle offers a non-buzz-killing response here.