SGU Episode 440

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

This Day in Skepticism

 * Dec 21, 1872: The HMS Challenger leaves England on the first official organized scientific expedition on record, to study the sea floor.

Geysers on Europa

 * http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/12/12/europa_possible_geyser_observed_using_hubble.html

Regulation of Genetic Code

 * http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/12/12/scientists-discover-double-meaning-in-genetic-code/http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6164/1367.short

Jade Rabbit

 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25402455

Aspartame Safe

 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25323216

Cell Phones on Planes

 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25355399

Who's That Noisy

 * Answer to last week: PK Dick

Question #1: Reverse Speech
"I stumbled across this web site long ago. In a recent discussion over on Doubtful News I brought up this site as an excellent example of Audio Paradolia. Then I went back and took a closer look because the website appears to have changed significantly since I last looked. Now he is selling reverse speech as a service that has reportedly “Warned another CEO of a possible hacker or other criminal presence in a high level of his company… in the words of his own hidden voice channel, “an arch felon.”” This quote scared the crap out of me, as it implies someone may have lost their job due to paradolia. I feel sick reading this, thought you guys might like a look.http://reversespeech.com/http://reversespeech.com/applications/http://reversespeech.com/reversal-category/general-reversals/ThanksBrian Sheely"

Science or Fiction
Item #1: NEC Corporation announced it had achieved a wireless transmission record of 1.05 Petabits per second. Item #2: Astronomers announced early in 2013 that they discovered seven exocomets. Item #3: Japanese scientists created a transparent zebrafish whose brain glows when active, so you can see its thoughts.

Skeptical Quote of the Week
"”It`s hard to light a candle, easy to curse the dark instead”- A verse from the song Last Ride Of The Day by Nightwish, lyrics by Tuomas Holopainen. Inspired by a quote from Benjamin Franklin"