SGU Episode 941

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SGU Episode 941
July 22nd 2023
"A 300,000-year-old hunting weapon has shone a new light on early humans as woodworking masters."
SGU 940                      SGU 942
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
C: Cara Santa Maria
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Quote of the Week
Science is not about building a body of facts. It is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes them feel good.
Terry Pratchett, English humorist
Links
Download Podcast
Show Notes
Forum Discussion

Introduction, Cara's and Jay's trips

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]

Early Woodworking (15:31)

• Early humans were weapon woodwork experts, study finds 

Genetic Engineering to Fight Malaria (23:56)

• Using Genetic Engineering To Fight Malaria

How We Determine What's True (38:12)

• How We Determine What to Believe as True

Killing Bacteria (49:13)

• Dual wavelengths of light shown to be effective against antibiotic-resistant bacterium

Nanopatch Pseudoscience (58:32)

• Novak Djokovic’s Nano Patch: He Calls It His ‘Biggest Secret’—Some Experts Call It Bogus

[2020 covid news item about Djokovic]^{[link needed]}

Who's That Noisy? (1:17:39)

Answer to previous Noisy:

playground "pebble harp"
(and here's an older video of a bigger, exposed "pebble chime")

New Noisy (1:21:18)

[whirring in background, scratching sound fading in foreground]

J: ... what this week's Noisy was

Announcements (1:21:52)

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Science or Fiction (1:26:46)

Theme: Animal sound tropes Item #1: The famous sound made by Flipper the dolphin is actually a recording of a kookaburra bird sped up. Item #2: The only species of frog that makes the “ribbit” noise is the Pacific tree frog, which is native to Hollywood, CA. Item #3: Horses make a variety of sounds, but they don’t whinny like in the movies, which is a sound recorded from a donkey.

Answer	Item
Fiction	Horses don't whinny
Science	Dolphin = kookaburra
Science	Pacific tree frog's "ribbit"

Host	Result
Steve	win

Rogue	Guess
Jay	Horses don't whinny
Evan	Pacific tree frog's "ribbit"
Cara	Horses don't whinny
Bob	Horses don't whinny

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

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:40:35)

Science is not about building a body of facts. It is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes them feel good.  – Terry Pratchett (1948-2015), English humorist, from The Science of Discworld

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