Episode #1038
News Items
- Infrared Contact Lenses
- Trees Respond to Solar Eclipse
- Affective Polarization
- The Brain’s Motor Switchboard
- New Dwarf Planet Candidate
Quickie with Steve
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01709-0
Discussion Topic
How has science fiction affected our expectations of technology and the future?
Questions and Emails
Hi all! There’s so much stupid (or malevolence?) going on right now, it’s hard to keep up. Here’s the latest stupid: https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/28/health/hhs-moderna-bird-flu-vaccine Joshua Banta Tyler, TX
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
Solitonic superfluorescence – localized self-sustaining waves in nonlinear systems allowing for high temperature coherent bursts of light from excited molecules. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09030-x
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Item #2
Science
Pseudorevertant hyphal morphogenesis – the ability of fungal strains to undergo branching growth due to a novel mutation that replicates the wild-type behavior. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5323341/
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Item #3
Fiction
Indurated leucocratic amphibolite – a class of hydrated calcific minerals formed mainly from underwater volcanic eruptions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibole
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
‘The people who are constantly striving to apply skepticism to everything in their lives, the ones who actually care enough about truth and avoid being wrong, and biased, and prejudiced, and clueless; those are the people we need, and need to be.’ Matt Dillahunty