SGU Episode 871

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SGU Episode 871
March 19th 2022
(brief caption for the episode icon)
SGU 870                      SGU 872
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
C: Cara Santa Maria
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Guest
MCL: Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, Executive Director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education
Quote of the Week
But my experience has taught me two lessons: first, that things are seen plainer after the events have occurred; second, that the most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter criticized.
Ulysses S. Grant, 18th U.S. president
Links
Download Podcast
Show Notes
Forum Discussion

Introduction, Ides, Smells, Caffeine OD

Voice-over: You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.

S: Hello and welcome to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe. (applause) Today is Tuesday, March 15^th, 2022, and this is your host, Steven Novella. Joining me this week are Bob Novella...

B: Hey, everybody!

S: Cara Santa Maria...

C: Howdy.

S: Jay Novella...

J: Hey guys.

S: ...and Evan Bernstein.

E: Is today the Ides of march is that what?

J: Yes it sure is.

S: We are recording on the Ides of March.

E: So what does that mean like something bad is going to happen?

S: No, it means no absolutely nothing.

J: It does sound a little foreboding though doesn't it Evan?

C: It's the day after pie day, that's a thing.

S: It's a good time to remember that every breath you take has molecules from Caesar's last fart as well.

E: Is that what I'm tasting?

B: I love that could.

J: Could you imagine if your sense of smell was so good that you could detect everything.

S: It would just be overwhelming because you're breathing.

C: Mine's pretty good and my life kind of sucks because of it. I don't wanna say my life sucks, my life's awesome.

E: Nose of a dog, you know nose dog.

S: You can smell a lot of stuff.

C: I smell a lot of stuff and I'm constantly like "oh, what is that?" and people are like "really Cara?".

E: Are you a super-smeller?

C: It's horrible, I can't even, I don't like the way people's refrigerators smelled, it freaks me out. Opening refrigerator doors.

S: Refrigerators, they can smell a little rank.

E: Oh yeah absolutely, you have to clean them.

C: They can, and I like, I notice the first little change. I'm always like oh what is that, what is that.

S: Yeah, I'm fairly sensitive as well. Usually like I will detect rancidity in food way before my wife does. Like no, no, I don't think so. She's like, that's fine.

E: All right, question for you guys does this tie into your super taster sensations?

C: Probably separate but I'm sure they play off of each other.

S: It's distinct. My "supertasting" it's not so super by the way, it sucks, but I just basically taste bitter a lot of stuff. That's it. I just taste a lot more things are bitter to me than people who don't have those.

C: Yeah.

B: That's the lamest superpower.

S: It is.

C: It's horrible. It just makes food not as good.

J: But it means you're less likely to get poisoned that's good.

E: Maybe.

C: Maybe in the past probably.

B: It's a huge concern these days.

C: If we were hunter gatherers maybe.

E: Or more false positives, right? Like mm-hmm poison, no not poison.

S: In modern society it's basically all false positives. Like a lot of things taste like poison to me that are perfectly fine.

C: Kale!

B: I like my superpowers so much better. I could drink a pot of coffee at midnight and go right to bed.

C: Bob! Did you see, did you see the guy OD'd on caffeine and died?

B: What!?

C: Yeah that that news article has been been cycling around─

B: No way.

C: I don't think, I think it was like caffeine tablets or something.

B: Yeah oh yeah man yeah then like two cups of, two cups of caffeine you know per pill. I remember from the old days when I actually thought they helped me. But yeah if you pop like 30 of those, that'll mess you up if you're not a superhuman like me.

C: He drank, actually, so it was drinks. It was a caffeine powder. And he drank the equivalent of 200 cups of coffee.

B: Oh!

S: 200. That will do it.

B: 200!

C: He miscalculated the dosage.

S: Like two orders of magnitude?

C: So sad.

J: That is, what did that person think, like what what was going through their mind. Like I'm drinking 200 cups of coffee.

C: No no no, he didn't realize that, I think he was trying to drink 20 cups. But even that seems a bit intense.

E: But how did you not know upon the first taste that was wrong?

S: See, math illiteracy will kill you.

C: It's sad.

B: There you go.

S: Math will save your life.

J: So Cara, did he have a heart attack?

S: That'd be my guess.

C: I would assume so. I know he had to be, they attempted resuscitation but couldn't.

S: You can get a heart attack due to spasm of the muscle.

C: That's probably what happens.

S: Spasm of the artery, you get like arterial vasospasm in the heart. I had a patient that that happened to them because they were taking a supplement that they weren't aware had a caffeine analog in it. And they took a massive dose of this stimulant. And they had a heart attack you know. They went to the emergency room and they were fine and everything, but it was again, they have no atherosclerosis, it wasn't a pardoning of the artery or a clot. It was just the vessel went into vasospasm.

C: Yeah, that's what it sounds like. He, his chest, he had really immediate chest pain and tachycardia. And then it says he sadly started foaming at the mouth. She called the ambulance. But get this, the coroner found that his, the caffeine level in his blood was 392 mg/L. And the typical level after a cup of coffee is 2-4 mg/L.

B: Oh!

S: Hundred times.

E: So 100 times, 100x.

B: Killed by coffee man.

E: Death by coffee.

C: Careful with that dosage.

J: Bob, at least he died doing something that he loves, you know. (Bob laughs)

C: Is that how you want to go Bob?

S: Small comfort.

J: Death by coffee?

B: I want to go when I'm bored with life after many millennia. Then, then I'll just pilot a ship into the sun.

J: Bob doesn't want to die until he's universe-weary. (Cara laughs)

B: Yeah. But even better, even better. Try that, just fly at ultra relativistic speeds for so far and so long, that you basically see that the end of the universe in trillions of years.

E: Die of boredom?

B: I'm working on that, I'm working on that.

Announcements: Arizona Live Shows, other shows (5:42)

S: So guys, July 15^th and 16^th, July 15^th and 16^th of this year, 2022. The SGU is coming to Arizona.

E: We are going to raise Arizona.

S: Yep. We have booked two extravaganzas.

J: Phoenix and Tucson.

S: Phoenix and Tucson. And we'll be building that out with some private shows as well. So the details to follow. But that is confirmed, those dates are confirmed.

B: Wait a second, July 15^th and 16^th?

S: Yeah.

J: Yeah.

B: That's too close to my birthday, man. You know, I'm not going to be recovered from my birthday.

S: Yeah, you'll be fine.

E: We'll give you some coffee. (Cara laughs)

S: It's halfway between your birthday and my birthday Bob, so we're good. And, since we're talking about our extravaganzas. This is I think the last show to come out, for all night, yeah whatever, the next show will be coming out, yeah during, it'll be coming out on Saturday. This is the last show to come out prior to our next extravaganza weekend.

C: New York City!

S: New York City on March 26^th. Boston on March 27^th. For the extravaganzas. The private show, Friday March 25^th and, they're both on on Sunday.

C: Also yeah March 27^th.

S: And Sunday, March 27^th in Boston. So, still time to get tickets.

J: Steve, where can they go to get more information about these? These shows?

S: Now Jay, you're supposed to be with that information. (Cara laughs)

J: Oh that's right, I just asked myself. You can go to the skepticsguide.org/events. It has all the details.

C: That's convenient.

J: And we probably will not be doing New York or Boston at least, at the very least, two to three years before we'll be back. So this is your chance, if you live in those areas, please come see us.

E: We want to see you.

Daylight Savings Time to be permanent in the USA (7:22)

S: Did you guys hear, that the US senate passed a bill to make daylight savings time permanent?

C: Yes.

B: No way.

S: We actually did something that makes sense.

E: Wow.

C: Yeah we're not gonna spring forward again, I mean fall back. We're not going to fall back next time.

S: It has to pass the house. Now it's, now it's going to.

B: It'll never happen.

C: I don't know.

J: Steve, Steve, are they proposing that we go forward an hour every year? Is that what they're saying?

S: I mean yes, never have to change the the time again, which would be nice.

C: Yeah Jay, they're just gonna make it like the north pole. (laughter)

S: Where there's no time. Time is suspended.

E: Pole time.

C: Pole time. (laughs) Bob like I know that you're, you're skeptical. Which is fair.

B: No I'm not, oh wait, about what.

C: You know, that this will pass.

B: Yes, I am.

C: But the truth is, I think this is universally hated. I think this is a very non-partisan.

B: Al the more reason why they won't make it happen. (Cara laughs)

E: Wow.

S: I think now that it's gone this far, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't just pass.

J: I mean they've tried to pass it a couple of times.

B: It won't because it makes sense.

C: It won't because it makes sense? (laughter)

S: Bob the nihilist.

J: I mean think about how f'd up that is guys, think about it. Something like very reasonable has been submitted to the senate, for them to pass, you know. It's like, it's a no-brainer at this point, right? Most most logical people agree.

C: Yeah what's the argument against it?

J: But Cara we are sitting here legitimately not sure if it's going to pass. You know what I mean? That's how f'd up it is right now.

E: It's the lobby who make the dials on clocks you know, that turn. That's a very strong lobby in Washington. And they have an interest in this.

S: I know it's like we're so programmed not to think of something like just a good rational law passing congress. Like this, it's always got to be political or screwed up in some way. Or some really crazy trade-off.

B: Somebody's going to throw pork into this.

S: Yeah just a common sense thing, can we just make it permanent and get rid of the whole changing time thing?

C: Not without a without, a not about an infusion of cash. A defense contract here in my hometown.

E: Let's tack on a rider for 15 billion dollars for whatever.

S: Let's make digital clocks illegal. (laughter) Well that'll be nice. If that happens. Maybe that'll happen in time for our visit to Arizona.

C: Doesn't Arizona not do it?

E: But Arizona doesn't recognize it, yeah. Arizona leading the way.

C: So we will be less confused when we're in Arizona. (laughter)

E: Or more so.

J: I want to prepare you guys. I don't know if you guys have been to Arizona in the middle of the summer. But. Oh. My. God. You could you, could cook eggs on your dashboard. In your car.

C: I grew up in Texas Jay.

J: Yeah you know it.

C: I know what's up.

J: But it is fantastically hot in the summer there.

S: Yeah but they have air conditioning so.

C: But it's also kind of cold at night which is cool.

J: Yeah actually, let's go to the desert guys.

C: Yeah.

E: Oh we're gonna go to the desert.

C: It is kind of the desert. Oh, we should go to Lowell Observatory, oh we should go to Meteor Crater while we're there.

B: No way.

S: Definitely.

B: No way. How far away will it be?

S: Three hours. From Phoenix.

C: Three hours from Phoenix? Okay.

E: We can make. I think we can make that work.

C: Figure it out.

E: Maybe some listeners want to join us on a trip too.

C: Anybody got a helicopter?

E: With air conditioning.

B: That'd be so cool.

J: I mean honestly guys we wouldn't be able to do that. That's half a day.

C: Shhh, shhh. (laughter)

S: It's four hours and 36 minutes from Tucson. Phoenix is closer. Yeah three hours from Phoenix is as close as we're gonna get.

C: Is it halfway between Phoenix and Tucson?

S: No. How could it be? (Cara laughs) Tucson's farther away.

C: I don't know.

S: Tucson's farther south. You go north to phoenix and then further north to meteor crater.

C: It is beautiful though, I've done the a hike around the entire rim and it's really.

B: No way.

C: Yeah.

S: We got gotta, we gotta schedule it around a day trip to meteor creator. Why don't we do one of our live shows from meteor crater?

E: Absolutely.

B: Done.

J: So Steve you want me to book a show, where I have to get hundreds of chairs.

S: I want Cara to do it.

C: (laughs) We'll go into the meteor and we'll have really loud microphones and everybody can stand on the outside.

B: Oh man.

E: We'll just be on the shady side of it.

B: I want to do this, meee.

C: Meee. It is a cool hike for sure.

S: It's funny to be so close and yet so far. (Evan laughs)

C: I know.

S: Something that I've always wanted to see. I got to check that box, I want to see the media creator.

B: Let's just not sleep one night, we'll just not sleep.

S: We'll have to figure out how we're gonna make that happen.

C: Hear it's beautiful in the middle of the night. (laughter)

B: We could use our...

E: Just walk along, lalala-aaaaa. (Cara laughs)

S: All right let's move on to some news items.

News Items

Why Is Life Symmetrical (12:21)

• Why Is Life Symmetrical

Evolution of Language (29:45)

• Language was born in the hands

Moon Rocks (41:32)

• NASA Studies 50-Year-Old Lunar Sample to Prep for Return to Moon

Plasma Lens (51:43)

• Holographic plasma lenses for ultra-high-power lasers

International Paranormal Conference (1:02:37)

• Rice hosts conference on paranomal [sic] phenomena

Who's That Noisy? (1:08:45)

Answer to previous Noisy:

Pair of Tasmanian devils

New Noisy (1:13:41)

[building up and loud, echoey cracking and popping]

J:... If you have any ideas what that noise is, or if you heard something cool – it could have happened at home, at work, while you were shopping, I actually don't care – but if you heard something cool, you send it in, and I'll play it.

Interview with Michelle Ciulla Lipkin (1:14:40)

• Michelle Ciulla Lipkin is the Executive Director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)

Science or Fiction (1:38:14)

Item #1: Researchers identify two genes that allow people to have full sleep benefits from only 4-6 hours of sleep a night, and as a bonus, protect against the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease. Item #2: Scientists have developed a tiny EMP protection device that can shunt electricity at up to 6,400 volts in a few billionths of a second. Item #3: A reexamination of data demonstrates that as many as 20% of exoplanets previously validated through the transmit method are instead small stars.

Answer	Item
Fiction	20% of exoplanets are stars!
Science	Tiny E.M.P. protection device
Science	Genes for full sleep benefits

Host	Result
Steve	swept

Rogue	Guess
Bob	20% of exoplanets are stars!
Jay	20% of exoplanets are stars!
Cara	20% of exoplanets are stars!
Evan	20% of exoplanets are stars!

Voice-over: It's time for Science or Fiction.

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:50:27)

But my experience has taught me two lessons: first, that things are seen plainer after the events have occurred; second, that the most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter criticized.
– Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), 18th president of USA

Signoff (1:51:24)

S: —and until next week, this is your Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.

S: Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, dedicated to promoting science and critical thinking. For more information, visit us at theskepticsguide.org. Send your questions to info@theskepticsguide.org. And, if you would like to support the show and all the work that we do, go to patreon.com/SkepticsGuide and consider becoming a patron and becoming part of the SGU community. Our listeners and supporters are what make SGU possible.

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