Skeptics Guide #898

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #898 September 20th 2022 with Guest Rogue: David Almeida Segment #1. News Items News Item #1 – 2022 Ig Nobels https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/maya-ritual-enemas-and-constipated-scorpions-the-2022-ig-nobel-prize-winners/ News Item #2 – It’s OK to Ask for Help https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/well/family/asking-for-help.html News Item #3 – Bitcoin and Fedimints https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/will-fedimints-bring-bitcoin-to-the-world News Item #4 – Multivitamins for Memory https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/alz.12767 News Item #5 – Refreezing the Poles https://phys.org/news/2022-09-refreezing-earth-poles-feasible-cheap.html News Item #6 – Neuro Emotional Technique https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/neuro-emotional-technique-bizarre-hybrid-chiropractic-acupuncture-and-applied-kinesiology Segment #2. Who’s That Noisy Segment #3. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: Chess Cheating Follow Up 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: Global Warming #1) A survey of 48 coastal cities finds that they are sinking at an average rate of 16.2 mm per year, with the fastest at 43 mm per year. (For reference, average global sea level rise is 3.7 mm per year.) #2) A recent study estimates the total social cost of releasing carbon into the atmosphere at $185 per tonne, which is triple the current US government estimate. (For reference, the world emits >34 billion tonnes of CO2 each year.) #3) The latest climate models indicate that even with rapid decarbonization it is too late to prevent eventual warming >1.5 C. Segment #5. Skeptical Quote of the Week "In the field of thinking, the whole history of science - from geocentrism to the Copernican revolution, from the false absolutes of Aristotle’s physics to the relativity of Galileo’s principle of inertia and to Einstein’s theory of relativity - shows that it has taken centuries to liberate us from the systematic errors, from the illusions caused by the immediate point of view as opposed to “decentered” systematic thinking." — Jean Piaget


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