SGU Episode 877

This episode is in the middle of being transcribed by Hearmepurr (talk) as of 2022-07-15. To help avoid duplication, please do not transcribe this episode while this message is displayed.

Template:Editing required (w/links) You can use this outline to help structure the transcription. Click "Edit" above to begin.

SGU Episode 877
April 30th 2022
(brief caption for the episode icon)
SGU 876                      SGU 878
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
C: Cara Santa Maria
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Quote of the Week
There is an urgent need today for the citizens of a democracy to think well. It is not enough to have freedom of the Press and parliamentary institutions. Our difficulties are due partly to our own stupidity, partly to the exploitation of that stupidity, and partly to our own prejudices and personal desires.
Lizzie Susan Stebbing, British philosopher
Links
Download Podcast
Show Notes
Forum Discussion

Introduction, Surgery Recovery

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. Today is Wednesday, April 27^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: Good evening everyone!

S: How is everyone.

B: Good good good.

C: I am recovering.

S: Recovering from what?

C: From surgery.

B: Yeah, that's right.

C: I had surgery last Thursday and I'm feeling almost 100% now, I'm definitely have, my appetite is back, I had no appetite for two days, I was super queasy post anesthesia. I'm not quite as weak as I was. I was very weak the first few days, I was sleeping an awful lot. And my head felt really buzzy and just off man, anesthesia sticks with you for a while.

S: Oh yes.

J: That's no joke.

B: That's not normal though, you have, you're, I think it sounds like you have more of an extreme.

C: No, it's pretty normal for total anesthesia. I mean it's why they give you in your discharge instructions like don't operate, you cannot drive today, you shouldn't shower until tomorrow and even then you should take it easy. They say I couldn't lift anything more than five pounds. Ii definitely remember like two days after I got a new carpet cleaner and I got so excited and I cleaned some like spots that Killer had left on the carpet. And it exhausted me. I needed a nap after I cleaned the carpet.

S: Well you know what Bob, you know, part of the reason is so it definitely gets worse with age. And that's just you know the brain.

C: Oh yeah, if you, if the last time you went under you were young, you probably wouldn't.

S: But, there's some pharmacological reasons for that too, I don't know exactly what drugs they gave you or how much or whatever, but when you get, when you get a lot of drugs for that are sedating, because you had prolonged anesthesia or you've been in the hospital for a while getting those kinds of medications. Some of them are fat soluble so what happens is, they give you enough to have a clinical effect, so there's a certain amount in your blood, but in order to achieve that a lot of it gets distributed into your fat. And then over days and weeks that the medications come out of your fat back into your blood, so even though you're not taking the medications anymore it could take days and days for it to clear it out of your system.

C: Yeah some of some of my aftercare said two weeks to be careful about this kind of stuff. And granted for me it was about two-three days but I mean, I remember I couldn't really watch TV. Like, I was like, oh, I'm gonna have a couple days off, I'm just gonna lie about and watch TV and I was like, I can't focus, it's like eyes are crossing. But, but, to be fair I was only under for an hour and a half.

S: Yeah, that's not too much.

C: So I didn't have terrible anesthesia but I do think I was propofol and I had versed which, you know, was like anti-anxiety medication and a fair amount of like zofran and pepcid like things to keep me from barfing, thank goodness, because I didn't barf. But I do think that there are different anesthesia cocktails that, for different purposes, and so you know if people are remembering, oh when I had my colonoscopy it wasn't like that, I don't know if it's quite the same.

S: That's like conscious sedation.

C: Yeah, that's what I thought it's not like the the hardcore stuff. Like, I had a sore throat for two days.

S: They intubated you.

B: Yeah.

C: Yeah, well, luckily they didn't do full intubation, they did this secondary thing that just like it's supra-epiglottis instead of going through your epiglottis but it still carves up your throat. Yeah, I was like oh god. Yeah, so, fun times.

S: I'm glad you're doing well.

C: Thanks.

S: that it turned out alright.

E: You sound great.

News Items

S:

B:

C:

J:

E:

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

Redefining the Second (10:27)

• Get Ready For the New, Improved Second

NFT Medicine (24:24)

• Go read this report about the virtual doctors at an NFT clinic who can’t legally give medical advice

LHC Restart (42:29)

• Large Hadron Collider restarts to push physics to the edge

Energy Psychology (52:16)

• Emotional Freedom Technique – Acupuncture for the Mind

Researching the Paranormal (1:03:41)

• Anthropologist describes supernatural adventures

Who's That Noisy? (1:14:30)

Answer to previous Noisy:

old-fashioned jaguar call, made with large plastic tub and leather lace

New Noisy (1:20:39)

[bird-like siren sounds and whoops]

J: ... If you think you know what you heard this week or you heard something cool because you're a cool person and you're in cool places and you do cool things, send me a cool Noisy at wtn@theskepticsguide.org.

Questions/Emails/Corrections/Follow-ups (1:21:18)

_consider_using_block_quotes_for_emails_read_aloud_in_this_segment_
with_reduced_spacing_for_long_chunks –

Science or Fiction (1:28:43)

Theme: Future Technology Item #1: Using a quantum 2D material, scientists have produced the highest temperature ambient pressure superconductor, at 250 K (-23° C). Item #2: NASA Scientists have developed a metal alloy that has twice the tensile strength, three times the ductility, and at least 1000 times the durability at high temperature and stress as existing superalloys. Item #3: Using machine learning and genetic modification, scientists have created a bacteria-produced enzyme that can rapidly break down PET plastic (which makes up 12% of global solid waste) so that it can be reused, and is practical for industrial scale use.

Answer	Item
Fiction	Ambient pressure superconductor
Science	Scalable plastic-eating enzyme
Science	Nasa metal alloy

Host	Result
Steve	sweep

Rogue	Guess
Cara	Nasa metal alloy
Evan	Nasa metal alloy
Jay	Nasa metal alloy
Bob	Nasa metal alloy

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

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:55:15)

There is an urgent need today for the citizens of a democracy to think well. It is not enough to have freedom of the Press and parliamentary institutions. Our difficulties are due partly to our own stupidity, partly to the exploitation of that stupidity, and partly to our own prejudices and personal desires.
– Lizzie Susan Stebbing (1885-1943), British philosopher, from her 1939 book, Thinking to Some Purpose

Signoff/Announcements (1:58:53)

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.

[top]                        

Today I Learned

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

References

Vocabulary