Episode #961
News Items
- Quantum Gravity
- X-Prize for Health Span
- ECT Heals the Brain
- Building New Materials with AI and Robots
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: Bittern
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
A new study finds that the average volume of speech, called “sonority” is highest in the tropics and lowest in the northwest coast of North America.https://www.research-in-germany.org/idw-news/en_US/2023/12/2023-12-05_Languages_are_louder_in_the_tropics.html
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Item #2
Fiction
A new comparative study finds that human newborn brain size is relatively smaller at birth than our primate relatives, representing a relatively shorter gestation and delay in brain development. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02253-z
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Item #3
Science
Researchers find that the electric organ discharge of an electric eel is capable of transferring DNA into zebrafish larvae.https://peerj.com/articles/16596/
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
“People can be extremely intelligent, have taken a critical thinking course, and know logic inside and out. Yet they may just become clever debaters, not critical thinkers, because they are unwilling to look at their own biases.” - Carol Wade, cognitive psychologist