The Reality Check Episode 18

Prayer+Safety Laws+Coke Tabs

Part 1:

Does prayers work? How do we test it? There have been various studies about it of course, but no solid evidence if it works or not. 

One of the best studies today, done in Harvard, is called: The Study of Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: a multicenter randomized trail of uncertainty and and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer. They spent 2.4 million dollars over the course of 3 years. They got patients from 6 US hospitals who were randomly assigned to one of the three groups. One third of them received intercessory prayer after they have been informed that they may or may not receive it. Another third did not receive intercessory prayer also after they have been informed that they may or may not receive it. The last group received intercessory prayer after being informed that they would receive it. 

Of course they could have done a few more control groups like telling them they would receive it and not giving it, and some other groups similar to that. But, I guess it's already quite complicated with those three groups. Another thing is that if prayers do work, then say that one of the patient's family or friend prayed for them, then it would actually ruin the experiment. 

These patients are all in for a surgery. The intercessory prayers prayed for them to have a good surgery and a quick recovery. They prayed in English. 

The results are: In the two groups that were uncertain, complications occurred in 51 percent of the patients who did get the prayers weren't sure if they did or not, and 52 percent of the patients who didn't. The ones who did know that they got prayers and knew had a 59 percent of complications. 

There are many people who argued how there are many other causes that effected the outcome, so there it is, it's unfalsifiable, that's why it's not science. 

So in conclusion, there is currently no reliable evidence that indicates that intercessory prayer has a plausible effect of the physical well beings of those prayed for, it is possible that the benefits are for the ones praying. 

Part 2:

Does just not doing anything wrong keeps you safe? Or do we need the help of safety laws?

An example is bicycle helmets, the law Canada, if you are under 18, then you are required to wear a helmet. But if you are over 18, then you are given the freedom to decide whether to wear one or not. How much protection can a bike helmet it can give you? From the talk, the bike helmet actually doesn't really have much protection. Nowadays, it's just a foam material and a hard shell on the outside, our skull is actually more shock absorbant. We always thought when the helmet breaks when we have an accident, the helmet actually absorbed a lot of shock, that's why it broke. When they are testing the helmets, they designed it so they would need firmer and harder foam material in order to protect our heads, but in reality, it does not help us very much. 

The helmets do have some effects, for example it helps us against scraps. But, just against collision. 

Another safety rule is that make sure we all get vaccinated. If there is enough people who can get infected, then it's very dangerous for public health. But, if you do have enough people who cannot be infected, then it's basically for the health of the society, not just for you. 

Science Myth of the Week: Is it true that people collect bottle tabs and melt it down and make wheelchairs?

But it is not true, but people said that they traded in for money to buy a wheelchair. 

Another thing is said that the tabs are a special kind of aluminum, but that is also not true.

A million tabs is only worth about 300 dollars.