Skeptics Guide #1093

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe Skepticast #1093 June 17th 2026 Segment #1. SGU Down Under https://www.theskepticsguide.org/events Segment #2. News Items News Item #1 – Donut Lab Battery Followup https://theness.com/neurologicablog/donut-lab-claims-looking-like-fraud/ News Item #2 – Fungal Superhighway https://data.lib.vt.edu/articles/dataset/Range_of_Detection/30984718 News Item #3 – Echochambers https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10584609.2026.2671765#abstract News Item #4 – Payam Method https://www.cbsnews.com/news/payam-method-piano-lessons-60-minutes/ News Item #5 – Strength Training and Longevity https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260611024609.htm Segment #3. Who’s That Noisy Segment #4. ADIct Agree-Disagree-It's complicated 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: Researchers have developed a synthetic fabric that is highly insulating in cold temperatures, but is heat releasing at room temperature or warmer. Item 2: A new study finds that female chickadees preferentially mate with more intelligent males. Item 3: Neuroscientists at the University of Michigan have demonstrated an implantable wireless brain-computer interface that allows subjects with aphasia due to damage to their speech areas regain functional speech. Segment #6. Skeptical Quote of the Week “Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?” - Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)