Skeptics Guide #903

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #903 October 27th 2022 Guest Rogue: Richard Saunders Segment #1. News Items News Item #1 – Trust in Scientists https://theconversation.com/most-americans-do-trust-scientists-and-science-based-policy-making-freaking-out-about-the-minority-who-dont-isnt-helpful-193085 News Item #2 – Reliability of World Energy https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/10/the-worlds-energy-situation-is-not-as-terrible-as-you-might-expect/ News Item #3 – Video Games and Cognition https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/video-games-may-improve-cognitive-function/ News Item #4 – New Aging Technique https://phys.org/news/2022-10-technique-age-era-planetary-science.html News Item #5 – NASA UAP Study https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-announces-unidentified-aerial-phenomena-study-team-members/ Segment #2. What’s the Word regression Segment #3. Who’s That Noisy 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. But this week - two are fake and only one is true. Theme: US-Australia #1) Australia and the USA have had a long and close relationship with economic and military ties. An attack on the USA is considered to be an attack on Australia and viscera. We have adopted many parts of American culture including over the last couple of decades a very American version of Halloween. With such a strong relationship going back to soon after the declaration of independence, it is interesting to note that the first time a sitting US President visited Australia wasn’t until 1948 when Harry S. Trueman visited the northern city of Brisbane and then the Capital Canberra to thank Australian troops for their service, support and comradeship with US servicemen in the Pacific theatre fighting the Japanese during WWII. #2) Although you can get just about any kind of food in Australia, especially in the major cities, we are also known for some more usual tastes. While many Autrailians love Vegemite on their toast or Musk Sticks as a candy, the one dish mentioned under “Traditional Cuisine” on the CIA World Factbook website’s page on Australia is… a Meat Pie — a fist-sized baked pie filled with ground meat, gravy, and cheese and topped with ketchup; the gravy often contains onions and/or mushrooms. #3) The Melbourne Dogs was the name given to a short lived gang of criminal immigrants from Australia in Los Angeles, during the mid-19th century. Originally part of the 1849 gold rush, they moved to LA after not striking it rich in the gold fields. Because many of these criminals came from the well-known British penal colonies in Australia, and were known to commit arson, they were blamed for an 1853 fire as well as the rampant crime in the city at the time. Segment #5. Skeptical Quote of the Week "Collectively we make this future that we surprise ourselves with." Adam Buxton


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