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