The Skeptics Guide #1036 - May 17 2025

What's the Word: Eco; News Items: Vaccinating the World, How Children vs AI Acquire Language, Vera Rubin Observatory, Visible Nova, Effects of Chat GPT on the Brain; Who's That Noisy; Name That Logical Fallacy; Science or Fiction

Dumbest Thing of the Week: Premium Water; News Items: NASA Budget, RFK Jr Sacks Vaccine Panel, Digital Life After Death, Light Out of Nothing, Possible New Treatment for HIV; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Replicating Eratosthenes; Science or Fiction

Quickie with Steve: Global Warming and Ocean Currents; News Items: Infrared Contact Lenses, Trees Respond to Solar Eclipse, Affective Polarization, The Brain's Motor Switchboard, New Dwarf Planet Candidate; Discussion: The Effect of Science Fiction; Your Questions and E-mails: HHS Cancels Vaccine Contract; Science or Fiction

Dumbest Word of the Week: Moxibustion; News Items: Cold Plunges, The End of Life, Floating Nuclear Power, Visualizing Special Relativity, Brainspotting Pseudoscience; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Ethics of Pig Hearts, Are Flat Earthers Real; Science or Fiction

Quickie with Bob: Fusion Rockets; News Items: Falling Space Debris, What Makes People Flourish, Pig Heart Xenografts, Chiropractic Stroke, Breathable Algae Drug Delivery; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Faster Than Light Expansion, Autism Self-Diagnosis; Science or Fiction

Interview with Melanie Trecek-King; News Items: Internet Fakes and Violence, Lab Grown Teeth, RFK On Autism, AI Designed Instruments; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Big Bang Miracle; Science or Fiction

Quickie with Steve: Game Transfer Phenomenon; Geoengineering, Biosignature Candidate, Skull Rock on Mars; Commercial Perovskite Solar Panels; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Another Unified Theory; Science or Fiction

Dumbest Thing of the Week: Turned to Stone; News Items: Where Did Earth's Water Come From, EPA Data on Emissions, Is Your Red My Red, Evolution of Complex Life, Crow Math Skills; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Separate the Art from the Artists, Does the Moon Rotate; Science or Fiction

TikTok Flat Earthers; News Items: De-extincting the Dire Wolf, What Experts Think About AI, Planned Obsolescence, VR Touch Sensory; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: SNPs vs Sequencing; Science or Fiction

What's the Word: enantiodromia; News Items: AI Protein Sequencing, Solving the Bat Cocktail Party Problem, The Extremely Large Telescope, CIA and the Ark of the Covenant, 23&Me Selling Personal Data; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: RFK Jr and Vaccines, Counterintuitive Math Problem; Science or Fiction