Skeptics Guide #983

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #983 May 8th 2024 Segment #1. News Items News Item #1 – Electric Propulsion https://scitechdaily.com/nasa-unveils-game-changing-electric-propulsion-technology-for-future-space-missions/ News Item #2 – Blowing Off Steam https://www-sciencedirect-com.fgul.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0272735824000357 News Item #3 – Washington Post and Past Lives https://theness.com/neurologicablog/washington-post-on-past-lives/ News Item #4 – Programmable Living Materials https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/05/240501125801.htm News Item #5 – Fighting Holocaust Denial https://stljewishlight.org/top-story/adl-teams-up-with-jewish-tiktok-stars-to-fight-holocaust-denial/ Segment #2. Who’s That Noisy Segment #3. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: Deep Fakes and Grief https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/05/07/1092116/deepfakes-dead-chinese-business-grief/ Segment #4. Interview with Robert Barholomew https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/robert-bartholomew-phd 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: Animal Eyes Item 1: The four-eyed fish has one pair of eyes for viewing above the water line and one pair for viewing below the water. Item 2: Reindeer are the only animals whose eyes change color seasonally, changing from a gold-turquoise in the summer to a deep blue in the winter. Item 3: Owls do not have eyeballs – their eyes are more mushroom or cylindrically shaped. Segment #6. Skeptical Quote of the Week "The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned, but it is still nonsense." Benjamin Franklin


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