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
B: Bob Novella
C: Cara Santa Maria
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
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	win

Rogue	Guess
Evan	Untrained orangutans
Bob	Untrained orangutans
Jay	First wireless electrodes
Cara	Untrained orangutans

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

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:49:25)

TEXT
– AUTHOR (YYYY-YYYY), _short_description_

Signoff (1:51:56)

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