Skeptics Guide #1107

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1107 September 24th 2026 Segment #1. What’s the Word Application Segment #2. Whatever Happened To Lab Grown Meat Segment #3. News Items News Item #1 – The Brain is a Composite Organ https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-brain-is-a-composite-organ/ News Item #2 – The Independence of Science Grants https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/us/politics/trump-nih-science-grants.html News Item #4 – NYT Shills for Fake Psychics https://theness.com/neurologicablog/nyt-dont-shill-for-fake-psychics/ Segment 4. Who’s That Noisy Segment #5. Name That Logical Fallacy Motte and Bailey Fallacy Thanks for the great show. I've been a listener for a number of years, and love the time-to-time segment where logical fallacies are broken down. I was watching this video describing when Jordan Peterson appeared on Jubilee's Surrounded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrdOamPIRGY And at the 1:50 mark he describes the Motte & Bailey fallacy, which I've never heard of before, but as soon as he described it, I realized it's been hiding in plain sight this whole time. Where a person makes a controversial claim, then retreats to a more defendable position. Though it might be a good one to discuss on the show. Segment #6. Interview with Adam Kall and Troy Morris Kall Morris Inc Segment #7. 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: Pharmaceutical companies are now using agentic AI to fully automate drug development, orchestrating multistep workflow from beginning to end. Item 2: Scientists have developed a contact lens that can monitor biomarkers like serotonin continuously and in real time for over 28 days at a time. Item 3: Researchers find that blacktip sharks are able to detect and respond to low frequency sounds up to 620 meters away. Segment #8. Skeptical Quote of the Week “I would like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do, and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals.” - Sally Ride


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Where is the cure?

🪐 SUBSCRIBE / 🚀 LIKE / 👽 COMMENT The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe Website & Podcast: https://www.theskepticsguide.org/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SkepticsGuide Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theskepticsguide Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theskepticsguide/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkepticsGuide TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skepticsguide ✉️ Send your questions to: info@theskepticsguide.org Check out Our Books: 📘 The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake 📙 The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future: What Yesterday’s Science and Science Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow https://www.theskepticsguide.org/our-book #SGU #SkepticsGuide #Science


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My Brain Hurts...

My Brain Hurts...


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Skeptics Guide #1106

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1106 September 17th 2026 With guest rogue Jesse Boulard Segment #1. News Items News Item #1 – How Dangerous is AI https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqgk5e2j0gg8o News Item #2 – Memories of 9-11 https://theconversation.com/your-memories-of-how-you-heard-about-9-11-may-well-be-wrong-weve-been-asking-the-same-people-what-they-remember-for-25-years-291820 News Item #3 – Solar is Booming https://theness.com/neurologicablog/solar-is-booming/ News Item #4 – GPT-6-Astra https://openai.com/index/gpt-6-astra/ News Item #5 – Frisson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisson Segment 2. Who’s That Noisy Segment #3. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: Educating Children My best friend, Bonbon, and I have been long time listeners of your show. It is truly a highly of our week. We are so grateful for the time and energy that you all devote into improving skeptical literacy for all. We were both very impressed (and not surprised) with how intelligent your daughter is (I understand there are many kinds of intelligence). I am a new mother and thinking about how to educate my daughter is a top concern of mine. (Of course, I plan to raise her as a skeptic.) I was wondering what your thoughts are regarding public school vs private school and if you feel there is a difference in education/long term "success"? I imagine if you are a motivated parent at home, you can certainly overcome some of the deficiencies, but I'm curious if you have come across any data regarding this and if you are comfortable sharing, what was your approach when making these decisions for your own children. Thank you again for all that you do! Cheers, Yasmina 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. Item 1: A new study concludes that Venus likely had a large moon early in its life, which was likely destroyed by a later collision. Item 2: Researchers are now in the home testing phase of a robotic arm, fused to the bone with muscle and nerve integration allowing for natural control and sensory feedback – a truly bionic limb. Item 3: A new analysis of human ancestor fossils finds that Australopithecus species remained significantly arboreal in their locomotion, while Homo species were fully terrestrial. Segment #5. Skeptical Quote of the Week “Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.” ― Richard P. Feynman


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If I can influence RNG with my mind why are my Fortnite drops so garbage?

🪐 SUBSCRIBE / 🚀 LIKE / 👽 COMMENT The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe Website & Podcast: https://www.theskepticsguide.org/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SkepticsGuide Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theskepticsguide Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theskepticsguide/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkepticsGuide TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skepticsguide ✉️ Send your questions to: info@theskepticsguide.org Check out Our Books: 📘 The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake 📙 The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future: What Yesterday’s Science and Science Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow https://www.theskepticsguide.org/our-book #SGU #SkepticsGuide #Science


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AI is gonna get you!

AI is gonna get you!


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Skeptics Guide #1105

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1105 September 5th 2026 With Special Guest Christian Hubicki Segment #1. Updating the Matrix If you could change the laws of physics to make one sci-fi technology possible and feasible, what would it be? (With special appearance by Julia Novella) Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 - Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope https://theness.com/neurologicablog/nasas-new-roman-telescope-launches/ News Item #2 - Training Robot Babies https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.aed4106 News Item #3 - Testing Gravity In Space https://www.sciencenews.org/article/atoms-gravity-space-galileo-einstein Segment #3 - Science or Fiction Item 1) In an 1865 novel an it’s sequel, Jules Verne described launching a manned capsule from Florida, which flew around the moon, altered its course with retro rockets, splashed down in the Pacific, and was recovered by the US Navy. Item 2) Mark Twain anticipated the internet in 1898, imagining the “telelectroscope”- a global network of telephone lines people could use to access news in real time and chat with others from their own home. Item 3) In his 1888 utopian novel, Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy predicted the “credit card”, a small card that would electronically track transactions for a rolling line of credit. Segment #4 - Skeptical Quote of the Week “AI doesn’t have to become conscious to change civilization. It only has to become competent.” “OpenAI ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Sol, generated September 5, 2026.”


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Let's talk

Let's talk


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Skeptics Guide #1104

Live from LA with guests Andrea Jones Rooy and Brian Wecht; Living in LA; What Ever Happened To: Breakthrough Starshot, Fen-phen, The Coming Hydrogen Economy, String Theory, The Segway, Going to Mars; Science or Fiction


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Skeptics Guide #1103

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1103 August 27th 2026 Segment #1. What’s the Word Encephalopathy Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – AI-Assisted Research Training https://theness.com/neurologicablog/ai-assisted-research-training/ News Item #2 – Robot Outruns Humans https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/robots-can-outrun-humans-can-they-plug-cable-2026-08-23/ News Item #3 – Latest CTE Study https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/us/nfl-cte-brain-disease.html News Item #4 – Bacteria Share Survival Genes https://phys.org/news/2026-08-antarctic-bacteria-lifesupport-genes-survive.html Segment 3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: Peptides and Proteins Question #2: Stellarator I saw this and found it compelling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPUAKW1Dyek Science communicator 1/2 hour about Max Planck institute working decades on stellerator fusion design, and 2023 spinning off company to try to make viable reactor. Gaut Norway 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. Item 1: Researchers have developed an AI model that can diagnose hypertension with more than 90% accuracy and diabetes with more than 80% accuracy from a 5-second facial video. Item 2: Material scientists have demonstrated a living textile – a fungus-based fabric that can be used to make clothing. Item 3: New research shows how simply leaving reviews at common sites like Yelp can lead directly to identity theft. Segment #7. Skeptical Quote of the Week REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT Obama “Lincoln refused to accept that our nation's sole purpose was mere survival. He created this academy, founded the land grant colleges, and began the work of the transcontinental railroad, believing that we must add -- and I quote -- ‘the fuel of interest to the fire of genius in the discovery... of new and useful things.’ At such a difficult moment, there are those who say we cannot afford to invest in science, that support for research is somehow a luxury at moments defined by necessities. I fundamentally disagree. Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment, and our quality of life than it has ever been before.” Barak Obama At the National Academy of Sciences annual meeting 2009


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Why doesn't my textbook auto update?!

🪐 SUBSCRIBE / 🚀 LIKE / 👽 COMMENT The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe Website & Podcast: https://www.theskepticsguide.org/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SkepticsGuide Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theskepticsguide Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theskepticsguide/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkepticsGuide TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skepticsguide ✉️ Send your questions to: info@theskepticsguide.org Check out Our Books: 📘 The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake 📙 The Skeptics’ Guide to the Future: What Yesterday’s Science and Science Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow https://www.theskepticsguide.org/our-book #SGU #SkepticsGuide #Science


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Goodbye Dolly!

Goodbye Dolly!


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Skeptics Guide #11

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Back from the UPSIDE DOWN!

Back from the UPSIDE DOWN!


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Skeptics Guide #1101

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1101 August 13th 2026 Segment #1. News Items News Item #1 – Trump Order on Vaccines https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/trumps-frontal-assault-on-vaccines/ News Item #2 – Spying with WiFi https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811052857.htm News Item #3 – Diminishing Vegetables https://www.sciencealert.com/the-worlds-vegetables-are-vanishing-and-its-quietly-wrecking-our-diets News Item #4 – Two Origins of Life https://www.sciencealert.com/radical-study-suggests-life-on-earth-arose-from-non-living-matter-twice News Item #5 – More Pentagon UFOs https://theness.com/neurologicablog/another-pentagon-uap-release-more-dots/ Segment 2. Who’s That Noisy Segment #3. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: Thousand Year Old Remedy Is this real? https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8ntJFSo/ Please explain if it is. Love you guys, been listening for years and saw you in Seattle last time you were here. William Woessner Seattle 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. Item 1: A recent study finds that increased screen time in childhood is associated with improved cognitive processing in adolescence. Item 2: Astronomers have discovered a new type of stellar object, a black hole star, which is a bright red object as large as our solar system and with a million solar masses. Item 3: A new study finds that adding iron to certain ocean ecosystems could increase phytoplankton and permanently sequester as much as 10% of the world’s annual CO2 emissions. Segment #5. Skeptical Quote of the Week “Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.” ― George Carlin


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Skeptics Guide #1100

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1100 August 1st 2026 Live from Christchurch, New Zealand Guests Andrea Jones Rooy, Brian Wecht and George Hrab Segment #1. Intro The SGU Down Under Segment #2. News Items News Item #1: Telescope Ranch https://starfront.space/ News Item #2: The Fate of Earth https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/earth-might-not-be-engulfed-by-the-sun-in-5-billion-years-after-all/ar-AA26q9TH News Item #3: The Science of Community News Item #4: Terraforming Mars https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/07/260714225535.htm News Item #5: Fauci Under Fire https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/us/politics/fauci-in-private-diary-reflected-on-covids-origins-and-his-own-fame.html?emc=edit_ufn_20260729&nl=from-the-times&segment_id=223861 News Item #6: AI Satellites https://theness.com/neurologicablog/proposed-satellites-would-ruin-astronomy/ News Item #7: AI Solves 90 Year Math Puzzle https://mathworld.wolfram.com/JacobianConjecture.html Segment #3. 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 - Science and Rock Item 1: Brian May, the guitarist of the rock band Queen, holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Physics and a PhD in Astrophysics, both from Imperial College London. His doctoral thesis, was titled "A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud.” Since earning his doctorate, he has remained highly active in the scientific community, working with NASA on missions like New Horizons and OSIRIS-REx Item 2: Jerry Speiser, original drummer from Men At Work was a physics major from La Trobe University. He is currenbtly the foremost Austrailian scholar on the works of American architect and systems theorist Buckminster Fuller, whose 'generalised principles' Speiser has used to coach the likes of pharma giant Bristol-Myers Squibb and Melbourne software group Zero Corporation. Item 3: Tom Scholz, founder of the band Boston, is an MIT-trained engineer who designed and built his own recording studio in an apartment basement in the early 1970s. Among his many, many studio inventions was an unreleased proprietary headphone design, that he eventually sold to Noel Lee from the company Monster Cable. Monster Cable then partnered with Dr.Dre’s company Beats Electronics which eventually went on to became the multi-billion dollar brand Beats by Dre. Segment #4. Skeptical Quote of the Week "It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you." Ernest Rutherford


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Skeptics Guide #1099

Live from CSIcon Buffalo; CSI 50th Anniversary; News Items: Artemis III Crew Announced, Sniffing Out the Spotted Lanternfly, Human Echolocation, Are Cold Stars Alien Megastructures, Ediacaran Sex; Interview with Michael Mann, Science or Fiction


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Skeptics Guide #1098

Live From Madison Wisconsin; Amending the Constitution; News Items: Believing in the Supernatural, Desalinating Water, Superheavy Cosmic Rays, AI Designed Bioweapons; Science or Fiction


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Skeptics Guide #1097

Live from Seattle; Theaters vs Home Streaming; News Items: The Enshittification of Academic Publishing, Ending Forever Plastic, Reanalysis of Type Ia Supernova, Manipulating Gravitational Waves; Science or Fiction


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Skeptics Guide #1096

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1096 July 9th 2026 Special Guest David Kyle Johnson Segment #1. Quickie with Bob Two States of Water https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-molecular-evidence-liquid.html Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Using AI To Detect AI Cheating https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01358-2 News Item #2 – Teens Using AI Chatbots https://neurosciencenews.com/ai-chatbots-teen-relational-displacement-30971/ News Item #3 – NYT Article on Rapid Prompting Method https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/nyt-article-on-rapid-prompting-method/ News Item #4 – SETI Partly Explains Fermi https://www.iflscience.com/seti-may-have-figured-out-why-we-havent-detected-any-alien-signals-yet-explaining-at-least-part-of-the-infamous-fermi-paradox-83897 Segment #3. Skeptical Philosophy What is “Falsifiability” Segment #4. Who’s That Noisy 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: An analysis of the scat of the California Gray Wolf finds a significant contribution of domesticated pets in their diet. Item 2: A recent study finds that individual human neurons have significantly more computational information than rat neurons, which is likely one mechanism for increased human intelligence. Item 3: A new analysis finds that a bilaterally symmetrical species from the Ediacaran fauna shows signs of “handedness”, or one-sided preference. Segment #6. Skeptical Quote of the Week “I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.” – Poul Anderson


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