Skeptics Guide #923

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #923 March 16th 2023 Segment #1. Update https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-cochrane-mask-fiasco-how-the-evidence-based-medicine-paradigm-can-produce-misleading-results/ Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – New Lunar Space Suits https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/moon-spacesuit-prototype-unveiled/ News Item #2 – End of Life Care https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/health/end-of-life-care-hospice.html News Item #3 – GPT-4 Is Here https://openai.com/research/gpt-4 News Item #4 – Terminator Zones https://news.uci.edu/2023/03/16/terminator-zones-on-distant-planets-could-harbor-life-uc-irvine-astronomers-say/ News Item #5 – Ohio Chemical Spill https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/06/east-palestine-residents-health-norfolk-southern-train-derailment/11415726002/ Segment #3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Interview with Veritasium – Derek Muller https://www.veritasium.com/ Segment #5. 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: Technology Advances #1) Engineers have developed concrete made from lunar regolith and ordinary potato starch and requiring only low temperature heating that is almost three times as strong as regular concrete. #2) Aerospace engineers have made an airplane propeller blade design that significantly reduces noise while increasing thrust and efficiency by 20% over a traditional design. #3) Scientists report a new process for electrosynthesis of multicarbon products from CO2 that is twice as efficient as existing methods. Segment #6. Skeptical Quote of the Week "The Scientific Revolution has not been a revolution of knowledge. It has been above all a revolution of ignorance. The great discovery that launched the Scientific Revolution was the discovery that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions." "Sapiens: a brief history of humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari.


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