Skeptics Guide #886

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #885 June 29th 2022 Segment #1. Quickie with Bob https://phys.org/news/2022-06-falling-stardust-jets-gamma-ray.html Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Mining the Sea https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/mining-the-sea/ News Item #2 – Science of Pregnancy and Abortion https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01775-z News Item #3 – More Galaxies https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/galaxies-in-universe/ Segment #3. Your Questions and E-mails Question #3: Clever Hans Effect Before I started listening to the show I heard about this woman who has taught her dog to speak in sentences. https://www.upworthy.com/speech-pathologist-teaches-her-dog-to-use-a-speech-pad-and-now-it-communicates-in-sentences It played into my environmentalist and vegetarian biases, and I was totally taken in. Reviewing it again though, I think it is possible that this is a combination of facilitated communication (she takes big liberties in her interpretation of the sentences), the clever Hans effect, and cherry picking (she probably only shares the really compelling examples, when there may be many more failures). Would love it if you could comment on the current status of communication with animals, and weather you think the clever Hans effect is at play here. Thanks for all you do, and this is just one example of how my thinking has started to improve thanks to your work. Sincerely, Bart T Cubrich Segment #4. Science or Fiction Each week our host will come up with three science news items or facts, two genuine, one fictitious. He will challenge our panel of skeptics to sniff out the fake – and you can play along. Theme: Snakes #1) Brazil has the most number of identified snake species of any nation, currently totaling 412. #2) There were an estimated 1.2 million snake bite deaths in India between 2000 and 2020. #3) Cobras have extreme accuracy when spitting venom, able to hit there targets consistently at up to 30 feet. Segment #5. Skeptical Quote of the Week “Healthy scepticism is the basis of all accurate observation.” -- Arthur Conan Doyle


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