SGU Episode 418

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

This Day in Skepticism (1:56)

 * July 20th, 1976: Viking 1 lands on Mars

Special Report: Grand Canyon (3:50)

 * Evan and Steve share their recent visit to the grand canyon and some recent science.

End of Life on Earth (12:27)

 * http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/07/02/New-date-set-for-end-of-life-on-Earth-in-2-billion-years/UPI-79451372808237/

Sailing Stones of Death Valley (18:12)

 * http://www.livescience.com/37492-sailing-stones-death-valley-moving-rocks.html

Scrotal Evolution (24:04)

 * http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/07/are_testicles_external_for_cooling_galloping_display_or_something_else.html

Naming Pluto's Moons (33:00)

 * http://www.space.com/21814-pluto-moons-named-kerberos-styx.html

Interview with James Randi and Jamy Ian Swiss (35:46)

 * http://www.randi.org
 * http://honestliar.com/

Science or Fiction (55:48)
Item #1: Scientists have successfully transplanted insulin-producing islet cells from one species to another which survived without the use of immunosuppressive drugs. Item #2: For the first time astronomers have identified the color of an exoplanet - a blue world that may get its color from raining glass. Item #3: Researchers report they have successfully treated a genetic disorder in two patients by deliberately infecting them with HIV.

Question #1: Cynicism (1:10:38)

 * What is it that stops you from slipping into cynicism? How come you don't wake up every day and say, "Ah, screw it - let the gullible people fend for themselves and I'll be OK."

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:15:21)
"If you strip the horrors of history from history, the flip side of that is you strip the nobility of rising above such horrors." J: Perry DeAngelis!