We are very pleased to announce the premiere of The Randi Show, a biweekly video podcast featuring James Randi himself discussing news from the worlds of science, pseudoscience, and the paranormal and sharing a few personal stories from his amazing life along the way. In our first episode, Randi discusses a new development in cold fusion. Has someone finally invented a way to make it work?
Cold Fusion Redux written by JonK,
November 18, 2011
Though I remain skeptical of the claims made for this latest cold fusion device without seeing further evidence, the April, 2011 demonstration was indeed done in front of a group of scientists, notably a team of Swedish physicists led by Dr. Hanno Essen of Stockholm University. Dr. Essen is also chairman of the Swedish Skeptics, which is said to be modelled after the U.S. based Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. His report can be accessed at
This does not mean, however, that Dr. Essen may not have been misled. Indeed, the demonstration was designed by the inventors (Rossi, et al.), and the visiting scientists were not permitted to examine the internals of the device. Further, the "journal" in which the claims are presented (Journal of Nuclear Physics)is, despite its impressive sounding title, a blog, and the report was not particularly informative.
As usual, caveat emptor.
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Good idea! written by blueshift,
November 18, 2011
As always it is great to see you in action, sharing your anecdotes and observations. It never fails to get me into a good mood. I will be tuning in again for the next show for sure. I hope you will still find the time to finish you book though!
By the way, how did you obtain the Da Vinci poster from the Kunsthal exposition in Rotterdam? I am watching this in the Netherlands so it is a fun surprise to see it used as a backdrop.
Keep it up!
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some remarks written by asilenzi,
November 21, 2011
I would like to remark a couple of things that where not clear/correct in this video.
- Andrea Rossi is not a physicist but an engineer.
- The demonstration that took place in Bologna was not hosted by Bologna university. It is however true, that 3 phisicists from UNIBO were allowed to monitor the experiment. I write "monitor" instead of "run" on purpose. The reports they published online can be synthesized as "the gadget could work but we were not allowed to check if it is a scam".
- On the "Sagan" anecdote: no honest scientist at the discovery of a new phenomenon is able to answer all the question that are asked him. What he/she says is: "Guys, this is the best I could do: try it out and tell me where I'm wrong". What they say in the case of the E-CAT is:"Buy it, I'll tell you later." (If those thinking I do not like Prof. Sagan: I baked apple pie on Carl Sagan's birthday. Luckily I found the universe already made, it would have taken me 13 billion years!)
- University of Bologna is a real university, it is the first university founded in Europe (1088 AD), and it is nowaday a respected university in Italy and Europe. In the list of alumni figure 3 nobel prizes (Carducci, Golgi and Marconi). The physics department of UNIBO is involved, among a large spectrum of interests, in all four major experiments at the LHC in Geneva. The JREF goal of fostering science values cannot be achieved by mocking such an institute (I am a particle physicist and Bologna University is my Alma Mater, in case someone detected a hint of pride ).
Beside these remarks, I really appreciated the video. The JREF and James Randi have all my esteem, that's why I took time to write this.
Alessandro
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to echo asilenzi written by sibtrag,
November 21, 2011
Rather poor premiere, but I guess that means you have no where to go but up.
I think there is a good case to be made for being skeptical about the latest cold fusion claims, especially given the poor history of this "field" and the lack of a theoretical basis.
However, your case was marred by your juvenile discussion of the University of Bologna. Clearly neither of you had done even a cursory investigation, as my simple search showed that this is an ancient and respected institution. This video reflects poorly on JREF.
I would welcome the opportunity to hear Randi discuss current events in science and technology from a skeptical viewpoint. However, I would suggest that you delete this episode and start afresh.
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). 
http://www.nyteknik.se/incoming/article3144960.ece/BINARY/Download+the+report+by+Kullander+and+Ess.
This does not mean, however, that Dr. Essen may not have been misled. Indeed, the demonstration was designed by the inventors (Rossi, et al.), and the visiting scientists were not permitted to examine the internals of the device. Further, the "journal" in which the claims are presented (Journal of Nuclear Physics)is, despite its impressive sounding title, a blog, and the report was not particularly informative.
As usual, caveat emptor.