Skeptics Guide #996

The Skeptics Guide To The Universe

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #996 August 7th 2024 Segment #1. Special Segment Mark Edward Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Moon As Deep Storage https://mashable.com/article/moon-lunar-repository-life-storage News Item #2 – Pursuit of Happiness https://neurosciencenews.com/happiness-psychology-satisfaction-27514/ News Item #3 – Measuring Blood Pressure https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/3/7/pgae252/7717708 News Item #4 – First complex Life on Earth https://news.sky.com/story/amp/complex-life-on-earth-began-around-1-5-billion-years-earlier-than-thought-study-claims-13186690 News Item #5 – Life on Venus https://thedebrief.org/life-on-venus-new-discovery-deepens-controversy-over-possible-signs-of-life-in-planets-atmosphere/ Segment #3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: AC vs DC Segment #5. Interview with Forrest Valkai https://www.valkailabs.com/ 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: The Future Item 1: A new study finds that if the world’s highways were covered with roofs of solar panels they could generate more than 60% of the world’s electricity and reduce traffic deaths by 10.8%. Item 2: Engineers have developed a method for heating the plasma inside a tokamak fusion reactor for about one tenth the energy of current methods. Item 3: Scientists outline a new method for warming the surface of Mars that is 5,000 times more efficient than existing proposals. Segment #7. Skeptical Quote of the Week "We must remember psychics and mediums have been plying their trade since the beginning of time, so if anything were to change, it may take generations of rational and critical work to settle the dark waters that are continually being swirled and muddied." Mark Edward