SGU Episode 867

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SGU Episode 867
February 19th 2022
(brief caption for the episode icon)
SGU 866                      SGU 868
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
Quote of the Week
Quote
Author
Links
Download Podcast
Show Notes
Forum Discussion

Introduction, Bread-making, Wordle

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

Special Segment: Today Jay Learned (7:29)

• The first scientist

News Items

S: All right. We're going to start off the News segment with a pair of astronomy news items.

B:

C:

J:

E:

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

Psyche May Not Be the Iron Giant (14:25)

• Psyche, the iron giant of asteroids, may be less iron than researchers thought

S: Bob, you're going to start us off by talking about Psyche, which is an asteroid, and what's it made of?

Possible Planet Around White Dwarf (26:20)

• Possible Planet Around White Dwarf

Falling Birds (43:04)

• Did a Flock of Birds Crash into the Ground in Mexico?

HIV Cure (55:07)

• A Woman Is Cured of H.I.V. Using a Novel Treatment

Who's That Noisy? (1:04:35)

Answer to previous Noisy:

Tiger "talking"

New Noisy (1:09:58)

[Male tenor voice reading an old or fictional language in an oratory style]

... what are we hearing right there?

Name That Logical Fallacy (1:12:42)

• Discussing formal vs. informal logical fallacies, Unstated Major Premise

_consider_using_block_quotes_for_emails_read_aloud_in_this_segment_ with_reduced_spacing_for_long_chunks –

Science or Fiction (1:29:18)

Item #1: Surgeons successfully implanted the first wireless electrodes that bypass the retina and optic nerve and directly stimulate the visual cortex with information received from an external camera. Item #2: Scientist have used data from radio telescopes to finally shed light on an enduring mystery – what initiates a lightning strike – supporting the theory that it begins with propagating streamers of cold plasma. Item #3: Scientists have observed untrained orangutans in captivity that, when provided with a hammer and rock core, spontaneously used the hammer to create sharp rocks that they then used as a cutting tool.

Answer	Item
Fiction	Untrained orangutans
Science	First wireless electrodes
Science	What initiates lightning

Host	Result
Steve

Rogue	Guess
Evan	Untrained orangutans
Bob	Untrained orangutans
Jay

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

Skeptical Quote of the Week ()

TEXT
– AUTHOR (YYYY-YYYY), _short_description_

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