Skeptics Guide #992

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #992 July 10th 2024 Segment #1. Dumbest Thing of the Week Robot Suicide https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/robot-commits-suicide-south-korea Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Mars Simulation https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/nasa-completes-first-mission-simulating-astronaut-life-mars-rcna160987 News Item #2 – HIV Prevention https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/science-vs-hiv/ News Item #3 – COVID Protection Gene https://www.sciencenews.org/article/never-gotten-covid-19-obscure-gene News Item #4 – Nuclear Pasta https://phys.org/news/2024-07-phase-neutron-stars-favors-nuclear.html News Item #5 – Eyeball Planet https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-alien-ocean-lhs-1140b Segment #3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: Hydrogen Water G’day Team, firstly thank you for providing us all with this show. I stumbled across it a few months ago and have been an avid listener ever since. My question relates to the latest fad of hydrogenated water. It seems that a couple adults have turned a high school science experiment into a con. There’s a lot of studies that hydrogen is good for the body, but hydrogenated water? Smells scammy Bain, Newcastle, Australia Segment #6. 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: Evolution Item 1: Evolutionary ideas go back to ancient Greek philosophy, going back to Anaximander who postulated survival of the fittest and that humans evolved from fish. Item 2: The North American pronghorn antelope is actually most closely related to African Giraffes. Item 3: Although not confirmed until recently, in retrospect the oldest pterodactyl specimen was discovered in Germany in the 14th century. Segment #7. Skeptical Quote of the Week “Our illogical deference to Earth’s bounty has become so widespread that researchers had to give it a name: the “appeal to nature fallacy,” which occurs when we automatically assume something is better just because it’s natural, and likewise, worse if it’s not.” ― Rina Raphael, The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care


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