SGU Episode 744

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SGU Episode 744
October 12th 2019
(brief caption for the episode icon)
SGU 743                      SGU 745
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
C: Cara Santa Maria
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Quote of the Week
Science doesn't purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It's a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It's a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life. I should think people would want to know that what they know is truly what the universe is like, or at least as close as they can get to it.
Isaac Asimov, American writer
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Show Notes
Forum Discussion

Introduction

Voiceover: You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.

"5 to 10 Years" ()

• Fairy Circles - The mystery deepens

News Items

S:

B:

C:

J:

E:

(laughs) (laughter) (applause) [inaudible]

Nobel - Chemistry ()

• Nobel chemistry prize: Lithium-ion battery scientists honoured

Nobel - Physics ()

• Nobel physics prize: 'Ground-breaking' win for planets and Big Bang

Nobel - Medicine ()

• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019

Electric Jet Engines ()

• NASA is Working on Electric Airplanes

Who's That Noisy? ()

• Answer to last week’s Noisy: _brief_description_perhaps_with_link_

New Noisy ()

[_short_vague_description_of_Noisy]

Interview with Bruce Hood ()

• Possessed: Why We Want More Than We Need

Science or Fiction ()

Answer	Item
Fiction	HIV for sickle cell
Science	Cystic fibrosis with neb
Science	Polio for huntington's

Host	Result
Steve	clever

Rogue	Guess
Evan	HIV for sickle cell
Jay	HIV for sickle cell
Bob	Cystic fibrosis with neb
Cara	Polio for huntington's

Voiceover: It's time for Science or Fiction.

Theme: Gene Editing
Item #1: A patient was treated for Sickle Cell disease with HIV engineered to deliver a corrected copy of the hemoglobin gene to his blood stem cells.
Item #2: Researchers have used a bubble of fat to deliver gene therapy through a nebulizer to patients with cystic fibrosis, improving lung function.
Item #3: Polio virus was engineered to introduce a new mutation which counteracts the effects of Huntington's disease in one patient whose disease progress has slowed significantly.

Skeptical Quote of the Week ()

Science doesn't purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It's a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It's a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life. I should think people would want to know that what they know is truly what the universe is like, or at least as close as they can get to it.

– Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), American writer, from an interview on Bill Moyers' "World of Ideas", October 21, 1988

Signoff/Announcements ()

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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Today I Learned

• Fact/Description, possibly with an article reference
• Fact/Description
• Fact/Description

References

Vocabulary