Key Takeaways

• Websites can track user activity through methods like browser fingerprinting and linking accounts to browsing history, but secretly activating microphones without permission is illegal.
• The Scopes Trial, 100 years ago, highlighted the ongoing struggle between teaching evolution and religious fundamentalism in education, a battle that continues today.
• New research suggests that a specific brain circuit activated by smell can suppress appetite, and this system may be impaired in individuals with obesity, potentially offering new avenues for treatment.
• The study of black holes as ‘super colliders’ could provide insights into particle physics at extreme energy levels, potentially guiding future expensive terrestrial collider experiments.
• The ‘illusion of thinking’ in advanced AI models suggests that their reasoning capabilities might be exaggerated, particularly in complex logical puzzles, and that their performance can be brittle.

Segments

TikTok Moon Conspiracy (~00:10:00)

• Key Takeaway: A TikTok video promoting a ‘hollow moon’ conspiracy theory relies on misleading statistics and misinterpretations of scientific facts, such as the moon’s density and apparent size relative to the sun.
• Summary: The hosts debunk a TikTok video that claims the moon is hollow and an alien artifact. They address the video’s claims about the moon’s size and mass, explaining that the apparent discrepancy is due to density differences and gravity, not hollowness. They also discuss the coincidental alignment of the moon and sun’s apparent sizes and the moon’s gradual recession from Earth due to tidal acceleration.

The Scopes Trial Centennial (~00:22:00)

• Key Takeaway: The Scopes Trial, 100 years ago, was a pivotal moment in the public debate over teaching evolution in schools, and despite its initial legal outcome, it significantly influenced the long-term legal and cultural landscape of science education in the US.
• Summary: The discussion shifts to the 100th anniversary of the Scopes Trial, also known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. The hosts recount the trial’s context in Dayton, Tennessee, the involvement of prominent lawyers like William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, and its deliberate orchestration to challenge the Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution. They note that while Scopes was found guilty and fined, the conviction was overturned on a technicality, and the legal battle for the constitutionality of anti-evolution laws continued for decades, eventually being settled by the Supreme Court in 1968.

Smells and Hunger (~00:45:00)

• Key Takeaway: New research from Germany suggests that a specific brain circuit, activated by the smell of food, can suppress appetite within seconds, and this mechanism appears to be impaired in obese mice, potentially contributing to overeating.
• Summary: Jay Novella presents research on how smells affect hunger. The study, conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, identified a brain circuit that suppresses appetite upon smelling food. This circuit, involving satiety neurons in the medial septum, works rapidly in lean mice but is inactive in obese mice, suggesting a potential link between olfactory pathways and obesity. The hosts discuss the implications for understanding and treating obesity, noting that humans share similar brain structures.

Black Holes as Super Colliders (~01:05:00)

• Key Takeaway: A new study proposes using the extreme conditions around spinning black holes as natural ‘super colliders’ to achieve collision energies far exceeding terrestrial accelerators, potentially offering cost-effective insights into fundamental physics.
• Summary: Bob Novella discusses a study suggesting black holes could function as natural super colliders. He contrasts this with the proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC) at CERN, highlighting the immense cost and the diminishing returns from current particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The black hole concept involves particles in retrograde orbits colliding at extremely high energies, potentially providing data comparable to or exceeding future terrestrial colliders, thus guiding theoretical development and offering insights into new physics.

Mysterious Antarctic Radio Pulses (~01:18:00)

• Key Takeaway: Anomalous radio pulses detected by the ANITA experiment in Antarctica, occurring at unusual angles and not correlating with neutrino events observed by other instruments, remain an unexplained mystery, potentially pointing to new physics.
• Summary: Evan Bernstein reports on the ongoing mystery surrounding radio pulses detected by the ANITA (Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna) project. These pulses, observed at steep angles from deep within the Antarctic ice, did not align with expected neutrino interactions detected by other observatories like IceCube. While initially thought to be from neutrinos, the lack of correlation has led scientists to conclude they are likely not neutrinos, leaving their origin as an unsolved puzzle that could hint at new physics.

Citrus Greening and GMO Oranges (~01:35:00)

• Key Takeaway: The Florida citrus industry has been devastated by citrus greening, but a genetically modified orange resistant to the disease, developed by the University of Florida, shows promise for commercial availability by 2027.
• Summary: Justin Dobb discusses the severe impact of citrus greening on Florida’s citrus industry, which has reduced production by 90%. He highlights the development of a genetically modified orange by the University of Florida that is resistant to the disease. This GMO orange, created using CRISPR technology to silence specific genes essential for the bacterium, is expected to be available commercially in 2027. The discussion also touches on the regulatory process for GMOs and the broader trend of GMOs saving agricultural industries.

Does AI Actually Think? (~01:50:00)

• Key Takeaway: A study titled ‘The Illusion of Thinking’ suggests that advanced AI models’ reasoning capabilities, particularly in complex logical puzzles, might be exaggerated or ‘brittle,’ potentially stemming from data contamination or inherent limitations.
• Summary: Justin Dobb leads a discussion on whether AI truly thinks, referencing a paper titled ‘The Illusion of Thinking.’ The study tested large language models on logic puzzles of varying complexity, finding that while ‘reasoning’ models performed better on medium-complexity tasks, they struggled with high-complexity ones and sometimes even failed when provided with explicit algorithms. The hosts and guest debate whether this indicates an ‘illusion’ of thinking or a ‘fragile’ capability, and discuss how AI’s ‘reasoning’ might be more akin to complex pattern matching than genuine cognition, drawing parallels to human subconscious processes.

This Week’s Noisy (~02:25:00)

• Key Takeaway: The sound of the week was identified as common eiders, a type of large sea duck found in northern regions, whose vocalizations were described as sounding like ‘a bunch of English women wooing over something.’
• Summary: Jay Novella presents ‘This Week’s Noisy,’ challenging the panel to identify a sound. After several incorrect guesses, including lemurs and a ball winding down a spiral, the sound is revealed to be common eiders, also known as St. Cuthbert’s duck. The hosts discuss the bird’s characteristics and distribution, with Steve Novella noting the accuracy of the Merlin bird identification app.

Science or Fiction: Online Privacy (~02:35:00)

• Key Takeaway: Websites can track users through browser fingerprinting and by linking accounts to browsing activity on other sites, but secretly activating microphones without permission is illegal, making it the fictional claim.
• Summary: Steve Novella presents three scenarios related to online privacy: secretly activating microphones to track keystrokes, linking logged-in accounts to browsing activity on other websites, and browser fingerprinting using computer features. The panel correctly identifies that secretly activating microphones without permission is illegal and thus fictional, while browser fingerprinting and linking accounts to browsing activity are real methods used by websites to track users.

Closing Remarks and Announcements (~02:55:00)

• Key Takeaway: The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe is planning live shows in Kansas and considering a Nauticon conference in Australia, with listener input being sought via surveys.
• Summary: The hosts wrap up the show with announcements, including upcoming live shows in Kansas and a potential Nauticon conference in Australia, for which they are seeking listener feedback through a survey. They also remind listeners about their mailing list and Patreon support.