The Skeptics Guide #1054 - Sep 20 2025

What's the Word: Peristalsis; News Items: Dimming the Sun, LLMs Will Lie to be Helpful, Should We Stop Quest for Superintelligence, CT Ghost; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: COVID Vaccines; Science or Fiction

News Items: Why People Believe Misinformation, Measles on the Rise, Is Therapy Speech, Solar Activity Increasing, Possible Wormhole; Who's That Noisy; Name That Logical Fallacy; From TikTok: Earth in a Vacuum; Science or Fiction

Interview with David Kyle Johnson; Quickie with Steve: Liver Xenograft; News Items: Nobel Prizes 2025 for Medicine, Physics and Chemistry, Long COVID Discovery; Who's That Noisy; Science or Fiction

Quickie with Bob: Galaxy Wave; News Items: Redrawing the Human Family Tree, Fig Wasps, ALS May Be Autoimmune, Complex Chemistry on Enceladus, Genius Act; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Kea Intelligence; Science or Fiction

What's the Word: Autism; News Items: New NASA Mission Control, Element l120, Scalable Quantum Computer, Using AI Increases Lying, Scams and Fraud; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Hydrogen as a Propellent; Name That Logical Fallacy; Science or Fiction

News Items: Conspiracy Physics, Cancer Misinformation, Improved Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, Oldest Mummies, Not The Screwworms; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Ethics in Research; Name That Logical Fallacy; Science or Fiction

Quickie with Evan: Earth's Quasi-Moon; News Items: Guiding Tiny Robots, Tylenol and Autism, Music Choices as we Age, Wearable for Subtle Communication, Decreasing Science Scores; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Gold Nanowire Gel Batteries, Otters; Science or Fiction

Quickie with Bob: Real Interstellar Technosignatures; News Items: Sexless Seeds, Spouses Share Psychiatric Disorders, CRISPR Improvement, Robotic Bee, Tin Man Syndrome Retraction, Super Wood; Who's That Noisy; Taxing Deductions; Science or Fiction

Why Didn't I Know This: First Portable Computer; News Items: Brightest Fast Radio Burst, Trash into Biochar, Declining Reading Rates, Most Americans Skeptical of Paranormal, Quantum Alternative to GPS; Who's That Noisy; From TikTok: Mammograms; Science or Fiction

Quickie with Steve: Using Fusion to Make Gold; News Items: Older Americans Using AI, Semi-Solid State EV, Ad Hominem Attacks Online, Non-Surgical LASIK, Now 3I-ATLAS is Glowing; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and Emails: Elemental Drugs; Science or Fiction