Skeptics Guide #972

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #972 February 21st 2024 Segment #1. News Items News Item #1 – Pesticides in Oats https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/pesticide-in-oat-products-should-you-worry/ News Item #2 – AI Video https://openai.com/sora News Item #3 – University Rankings Flawed https://phys.org/news/2024-02-university-unscientific-bad-experts-flaws.html News Item #4 – Mewing and Looksmaxxing https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/15/from-bone-smashing-to-chin-extensions-how-looksmaxxing-is-reshaping-young-mens-faces News Item #5 – Titan Uninhabitable https://phys.org/news/2024-02-saturn-largest-moon-uninhabitable.amp Segment #2. Who’s That Noisy Segment #3. Interview with Chris Smith from The Naked Scientists https://www.thenakedscientists.com/meet-team 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: Eclipses Item 1: All four gas giants in our solar system experience total solar eclipses, from the perspective of their gassy surfaces. Item 2: On average, any spot on Earth will see a total solar eclipse every 375 years. Item 3: The first recorded accurate prediction of a solar eclipse was in 2300 BC, by Chinese astronomer, Li Shu, for Emporer Zhong Kang. Segment #5. Skeptical Quote of the Week "The spirit of Plato dies hard. We have been unable to escape the philosophical tradition that what we can see and measure in the real world is merely the superficial and imperfect representation of an underlying reality." (The Mismeasure of Man, p. 269)


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