Skeptics Guide #974

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #974 March 6th 2024 Segment #1. Quickie with Bob Finding new physics in debris from colliding neutron stars https://phys.org/news/2024-03-physics-debris-colliding-neutron-stars.html Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Sinking Cities https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/climate-change/32-us-cities-including-new-york-and-san-francisco-are-sinking-into-the-ocean-and-face-major-flood-risks-by-2050-new-study-reveals News Item #2 – Hypervaccination https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/hypervaccination/ News Item #3 – Conspiracy Theorists and Disease X https://www.sciencealert.com/conspiracy-theorists-are-profiting-off-a-disease-that-doesnt-exist-yet News Item #4 – Celebrities and Flat Earth https://fandomwire.com/a-planet-in-the-sky-gave-a-rats-a-about-anything-in-your-life-even-neil-degrasse-tyson-lost-it-after-amber-roses-dumb-pseudoscience-question/ and https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10111148-nfl-draft-prospect-tyler-owens-says-he-doesnt-believe-in-space-and-other-planets News Item #5 – Superconducting Magnets and Fusion https://news.mit.edu/2024/tests-show-high-temperature-superconducting-magnets-fusion-ready-0304 Segment #3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Your Questions and E-mail Question #1: Update on IVF Question #2: Moon and Sun I believe you said the moon's path some the sun is always concave. I think this implies a very particular condition - that the moon earth distance is approximately 1/13 the distance to the sun - which it clearly is not. The velocity of the moon in Earth's reference frame never comes close to velocity of the earth-moon system around the sun, so the path of the moon around the sun must be like a distorted sine wave - meaning there are concave and convex parts of the orbit with redirect to the sun. Maybe I misheard! But I'm busy and it's only in the middle of the night when I wake up that I remember these things from my commuting podcasts! Sincerely, Hugh Philipp 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: DST Item 1: A study of over 200 thousand malpractice claims finds that daylight saving time is associated with worse severity of incidents and higher average payments than standard time. Item 2: Credit for the first serious proposal of daylight saving time goes to entomologist, George Vernon Hudson, who presented the idea in 1895 because he wanted more time in the evening for bug collection. Item 3: Among its many detrimental effects, daylight saving time is associated with an increase in overall crime compared to standard time. Segment #6. Skeptical Quote of the Week "Most deadly errors arise from obsolete assumptions." Frank Herbert, From Children of Dune


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