SGU Episode 945

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SGU Episode 945
August 19th 2023
One of the five large antennas, called Deep Space Stations (DSS), at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, part of the NASA Deep Space Network. The DSS-43 antenna is the only antenna on Earth that can send commands to Voyager 2.
SGU 944                      SGU 946
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
C: Cara Santa Maria
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Quote of the Week
The tantalizing discomfort of perplexity is what inspires otherwise ordinary men and women to extraordinary feats of ingenuity and creativity; nothing quite focuses the mind like dissonant details awaiting harmonious resolution.
Brian Greene, American theoretical physicist
Links
Download Podcast
Show Notes
Forum Discussion

Introduction, Cara's dissertation, Maui wildfires

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]

Deep Space Network (6:49)

• Talking with Webb using the Deep Space Network

Identifying Misinformation (19:00)

• Young People Tell Us They Need Help Identifying Misinformation

Regret and Gender Affirming Care (49:07)

• No regrets: Gender-affirming chest surgery in adults has long-term satisfaction

Localizing Hidden Consciousness (1:01:32)

• Injury patterns associated with cognitive motor dissociation

Ice Baths (1:18:37)

• What's the science behind the ice bath trend?

Who's That Noisy? (1:29:15)

Answer to previous Noisy:

Bread crackling out of the oven

New Noisy (1:36:23)

[_short_vague_description_of_Noisy]

what this week's Noisy is

Questions/Emails/Corrections/Follow-ups (1:39:58)

Email #1: Metazoans

I am a big fan of the SGU and pod! I noticed that on the Aug 12 science or fiction, the item about ctenophores was fiction as stated because it was missing a word. For the item to be science, it needed to be ‘ctenophores are the oldest extant *metazoan* branch of life’ , and by metazoan I basically mean multicellular animal. There are some much older extant branches of non-metazoan life. For example, cyanobacteria and archaea that form stromatolites have been around for a few billion years and can still be found alive in the Bahamas. The source of the ctenophore statement is a recent paper in the journal Nature (Schultz et al. 2023) showing evidence that ctenophores were the first animals, challenging a decades long consensus that sponges were the first animals. Thank you all for this great podcast, community, and outlet for my pedantry! I started listening years ago as a broke grad student, and just became a patron. Lastly, huge congrats to Dr. Santa Maria!

Cheers,

– Lauren

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Science or Fiction (1:41:23)

Theme: Medieval jesters Item #1: In medieval Europe women were forbidden from being jesters, as it was unacceptable for a woman to make fun of a man. Item #2: Jesters typically only worked part time as a jester, while most of the year they would engage in other mundane jobs around the castle. Item #3: So-called "jester's privilege" meant that jesters could mock or insult any noble, even the king or queen, without fear of punishment.

Answer	Item
Fiction	No women jesters
Science	Jesters worked part-time
Science	"Jester's Privilege"

Host	Result
Steve	clever

Rogue	Guess
Cara	No women jesters
Bob	"Jester's Privilege"
Jay	Jesters worked part-time
Evan	No women jesters

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

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:58:03)

The tantalizing discomfort of perplexity is what inspires otherwise ordinary men and women to extraordinary feats of ingenuity and creativity; nothing quite focuses the mind like dissonant details awaiting harmonious resolution.  – Brian Greene (1962-present), American theoretical physicist and mathematician

Signoff (2:02:24)

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