SGU Episode 971

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SGU Episode 971
February 17th 2024
"The Future Circular Collider (FCC) study has looked into various collider designs, envisaging a research infrastructure housed within a 100km underground tunnel. This ambitious project is promising a physics program that will take high energy research into the next century."
SGU 970                      SGU 972
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
G: George Hrab
Quote of the Week
Starving brains can hallucinate, but even well-fed minds can convince themselves they feel something that simply isn't there.
Jonathan Jarry, Canadian science communicator
Links
Download Podcast
Show Notes
Forum Discussion

Introduction, Pennsylvania and Lent

Voice-over: You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.

Quickie with Bob: Metalenses (10:05)

• Engineers make the largest metalens ever
   (Note: this article is not from the SGU show notes page)

News Items

S:

B:

C:

J:

E:

(laughs) (laughter) (applause) [inaudible]

Flow Batteries (12:17)

• Flow Batteries – Now With Nanofluids

Green Roofs (31:48)

• Modeling shows green roofs can cool cities and save energy

• Green roofs save energy in cities and fight regional climate change
   (Note: this article is not from the SGU show notes page)

LEGO MRI Scanner (42:16)

• LEGO MRI Scanner Sets Are Donated to Hospitals To Help Children Cope With These Procedures

• The LEGO Foundation to donate LEGO® MRI Scanners to hospitals globally 
   (Note: this article is not from the SGU show notes page)

• LEGO adds minifigure with a hearing aid

The LEGO Foundation has announced it will donate 600 LEGO® MRI Scanners to hospitals worldwide to help children cope with the uncertainty of having a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan. (Click/tap image for article.) 

Video: We're bringing play to hospitals with LEGO® MRI scanners

Mayo Clinic and Reiki (49:25)

• Mayo Clinic Promotes Reiki
   (Note: Mayo Clinic Press quickly took down the article "My journey from energy work skeptic to Reiki practitioner", even before it could be archived online)

The Circular Collider (1:03:44)

• CERN Wants to Build an Enormous New Atom Smasher: the Future Circular Collider 

B:...as in meatballs...

Who's That Noisy? (1:18:34)

Answer to previous Noisy:

Adobe Podcast AI Speech Enhancer's attempt to make speech from intro to 1928 recording of Stack O' Lee Blues by Mississippi John Hurt

New Noisy (1:26:13)

[whopping, laser-like shots/wobbling sounds]

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

Announcements (1:26:54)

...thousandth episode

Name That Logical Fallacy (1:30:24)

• Gambler's Fallacy & Regression to the Mean

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Science or Fiction (1:36:55)

Item #1: A recent study shows that older adults are more vulnerable to first impressions of trustworthiness even in the face of contradictory evidence. Item #2: A machine learning analysis correlating road features with accident frequency finds that the most predictive variable for high crash risk is the presence of distracting billboards and other advertisements. Item #3: Researchers find that short and simple corrective statements on social media help readers identify false information.

Answer	Item
Fiction	Billboards = highest crash risk
Science	Elderly more vulnerable
Science	Corrective statements

Host	Result
Steve	clever

Rogue	Guess
Evan	Corrective statements
Bob	Billboards = highest crash risk
Jay	Elderly more vulnerable
George	Billboards = highest crash risk

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

Evan's Response

Bob's Response

Jay's Response

George's Response

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:59:06)

Starving brains can hallucinate, but even well-fed minds can convince themselves they can feel something which simply isn't there.  – Jonathan Jarry, Canadian science communicator, McGill University Office for Science and Society

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