Skeptics Guide #1004

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The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1004 October 1st 2024 Segment #1. Quickie with Bob Lunar Mantle Partially Molten https://phys.org/news/2024-09-lunar-gravity-hint-partially-molten.html Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Heart Function in Space https://www.space.com/heart-cells-iss-space-medicine News Item #2 – Schizophrenia Drug https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/26/health/fda-schizophrenia-drug.html News Item #3 – Wood Vaulting https://theness.com/neurologicablog/wood-vaulting-for-carbon-sequestration/ News Item #4 – AI Finds Nazca Lines https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/knife-wielding-orca-and-alien-looking-figures-among-300-nazca-lines-discovered-in-groundbreaking-ai-study News Item #5 – LISA Gravitational Telescope https://gizmodo.com/lisa-gravitational-wave-observatory-how-it-works-2000499746 Segment #3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. Your Questions and E-mails Question #1: Religious Skepticism Message: Dear SGU, Theo-bros came to my attention as JD Vance adjacent/aligned phenomen. I then found christian's on Reddit arguing against this highly conservative, anti-women, homophobic branch of theology. My question is where might/does/could critical thinking sit in helping religious people push back against extremist religious ideology (but without making an atheist argument). Is this something humanists should be encouraging non-extreme religious people to do. Campbell 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: In a recent survey, 86% of climate experts expressed belief that we will experience >2.0 C of warming by 2100, with a median estimate of 2.7 C, a level projected to have catastrophic consequences. Item 2: A CRISPR-like gene editing system, once thought exclusive to prokaryotes, was recently identified in eukaryotic cells. Item 3: A recent AI-powered simulation based upon current exoplanet data finds that F-type stars, which are slightly more massive than our sun, are likely to host the greatest number of Earth-like planets in our galaxy. Segment #6. Skeptical Quote of the Week “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance”. - George Bernard Shaw