Skeptic: Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
-
Skepticality
-
browse past episodes
-
MonsterTalk
-
browse past episodes
-
other skeptical podcasts
Episode Notes for
Bigfoot DNA
NYU Professor, Dr. Todd Disotell
Dr. Todd Disotell joined us for our first MonsterTalk episode to discuss his various appearances on cryptozoology television shows as the DNA expert. He holds a PhD from Harvard, and a BA from Cornell. Dr. Disotell is currently teaching at NYU and his expertise is in primate evolution. His full professional biographical information can be found on his NYU webpage.
Dr. Disotell’s background in primate studies made him a logical choice for cryptid-TV, though we noticed his screen time was usually short and all of his analysis thus far has turned up no evidence of an unknown ape.
His appearance on the television show Monster Quest was somewhat controversial among Bigfoot enthusiasts in that after his lab found no DNA, a second lab’s results were characterized by The History Channel as suggestive of “non human primate” DNA. (See clip below) In our interview with Dr. Disotell we discuss the Monster Quest claim and get his surprising take on the second lab’s findings.
Questions in this episode include:
- How did Todd get involved in cryptid DNA analysis?
- How does DNA get culled from contaminants?
- What have Todd’s findings been so far?
- What was his take on the DNA from the Monster Quest “Sasquatch Attack” episode?
- What would Bigfoot DNA actually look like?
- How big was Giganto and what does a primatologist think of the “Giganto Hypothesis” to explain Bigfoot?
- What does “unknown” mean in DNA analysis?
- What about grant money for Bigfoot research?
Episode Transcript
Read a complete transcript of this episode
The views expressed on this program are not necessarily the views of the Skeptics Society or Skeptic magazine.
search
Help the
Skeptics Society
at no cost to you!
Planning on shopping at Amazon.com? Start your shopping by clicking the button below, and the Skeptics Society will receive a commission. Your prices for all Amazon products will remain exactly the same, yet you’ll provide essential financial support for the work of the nonprofit Skeptics Society.
See our affiliate links page for Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and iTunes links.
get eSkeptic
our free newsletter
Free science articles delivered to your inbox once a week.
eSkeptic is our free email newsletter. Delivered once a week to your inbox, you will receive fascinating & provocative articles, event announcements, podcasts, book reviews, and timely updates from Skeptic.
FREE PDF Download
Top 10 Myths About Evolution (and how we know it really happened)
This concise pamphlet provides answers to common objections to evolution, such as: If humans came from apes, why aren’t apes evolving into humans?; Only an intelligent designer could have made something as complex as an eye; The second law of thermo-dynamics proves that evolution is impossible; Evolution can’t account for morality; and more…
FREE PDF Download
Top 10 Things You Should Know About Alternative Medicine
Harriet Hall, MD (aka the SkepDoc), shares her wit and wisdom about alternative medicine including: chiropractic, the placebo effect, homeopathy, acupuncture, and the questionable benefits of organic food, detoxification, and ‘natural’ remedies.
FREE PDF Download
Learn to be a Psychic in 10
Easy Lessons
Psychic readings and fortunetelling are an ancient art — a combination of acting and psychological manipulation. While some psychics are known to cheat and acquire information ahead of time, these ten tips focus on what is known as “cold reading” — reading someone “cold” without any prior knowledge about them.