SGU Episode 951

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SGU Episode 951
September 30th 2023
The sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert. Credit: Keegan Barber/NASA
SGU 950                      SGU 952
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
C: Cara Santa Maria
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Quote of the Week
I honestly believe it is better to know nothing than to know what ain't so.
Josh Billings, American humorist
Links
Download Podcast
Show Notes
Forum Discussion

Introduction, Bob gets Covid

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

News Items

S:

B:

C:

J:

E:

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

Zoom Backgrounds (17:12)

• Your Zoom background might influence the first impression you make 

Manifesting Fails (24:38)

• Manifesting More Money Is Linked to Worse Financial Outcomes 

...the Mirror in Harry Potter

Tong Test for AI (37:51)

• The Tong test: A new approach to evaluating artificial general intelligence 

Looking for Service Worlds (54:42)

• Forget Alien Megastructures. New Study Says We Need to Look For 'Service Worlds'. 

NASA Recovers Asteroid Sample (1:09:47)

• NASA asteroid sample lands safely in Utah before being whisked away by helicopter 

...when we last reported on it^{[link needed]}

Who's That Noisy? (1:17:16)

Answer to previous Noisy:

two glass marbles being knocked together

New Noisy (1:20:55)

[evangelist's screaming speech]

... who this week's Noisy is

Questions/Emails/Corrections/Follow-ups (1:25:14)

Email #1: Natural Gas vs. Coal

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Science or Fiction (1:35:38)

Item #1: A series of cognitive studies finds that people tend to make worse decisions when given more information. Item #2: In the first study of its kind, researchers find that antihydrogen atoms respond the same to gravity as normal matter, ruling out the existence of repulsive antigravity. Item #3: Engineers have published a method for making thin crystalline silicone solar cells that are one eighth the thickness of existing commercial solar cells with record-breaking efficiencies of 29%.

Answer	Item
Fiction	Thin crystalline solar cells
Science	Worse decision w/ more info
Science	Antihydrogen atoms & gravity

Host	Result
Steve	clever

Rogue	Guess
Cara	Antihydrogen atoms & gravity
Jay	Worse decision w/ more info
Bob	Worse decision w/ more info
Evan	Thin crystalline solar cells

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

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:50:30)

I honestly believe it is better to know nothing than to know what ain't so.  – Josh Billings (1818-1885), pen name of Henry Wheeler Shaw, American humorist

Signoff

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