Skeptics Guide #1114

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1114 November 12th 2026 Segment #1. News Items News Item #1 – NASA’s New Moon Plans https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/11/261108233054.htm News Item #2 – Australia Social Media Ban https://undark.org/2026/11/09/australia-social-media-ban/ News Item #3 – Where To Blast An Asteroid https://phys.org/news/2026-11-asteroid-nuclear-blast-aimed-deflect.html Segment 2. Special Report The Definition of Biological Sex https://theness.com/neurologicablog/the-definition-of-biological-sex-a-lesson-for-skeptics/ Segment 3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: AI Consciousness Follow up on AI discussion 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. Item 1: A study of customer preferences found that people were significantly more willing to purchase small plates in restaurants priced at $7.99 vs $8.00. Item 2: A new report finds a surge in published scientific studies resulting from the use of AI tools that allow for automated manuscripts produced in under 2 hours. Item 3: A newly reported LHC experiment of meson particle decay finds CP asymmetry (matter – antimatter asymmetry) beyond the predictions of the standard model. Segment #6. Skeptical Quote of the Week “There are two theories of light, the wave theory and the corpuscle theory. We believe the wave theory because all those who believed the corpuscle theory have died.” --James Clerk Maxwell


View on YouTube.