Episode #1071

Episode #1071

News Items

• Donut Lab’s Solid State Battery
• Artemis Update
• EPA Change
• Life On Red Dwarf Planets
• Malaysia Air Search Resumes

Science or Fiction [ Show Answers ]

• Item #1 Science

  Scientists have discovered a “death ball” sponge (Chondrocladia sp nov) which, unlike most sponges which are filter feeders, is predatory, feeding mostly on small crustaceans. https://oceanographicmagazine.com/news/carnivorous-death-ball-sponge-among-new-deep-sea-species/

• Item #2 Science

  Scientists have discovered a new species of box jellyfish, Tripedalia maipoensis, with 24 eyes which are capable of forming low resolution 360 degree images. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a69656540/new-box-jellyfish/

• Item #3 Fiction

  Researchers discovered an entirely gynomorphic species of spider in Thailand, Damarchus inazuma, which is half orange (the female side) and half blue (the male side). https://nautil.us/half-male-half-female-spider-discovered-in-thailand-1242640/

Skeptical Quote of the Week.

“There is no such thing as a scientific truth believed by one person and disbelieved by the rest of the scientific community; an idea becomes a truth only when a vast majority of scientists accept it without question. That is, after all, what we mean by the expression ‘scientific contribution’: an offering that is accepted, however provisionally, into the common fund of knowledge.’ -Robert K. Merton