Episode #1085

Episode #1085

News Items

• Belief in Unproven Health Claims
• Regenerating Limbs
• Suicide Hotline Seems to Work
• Why Is Rubber So Strong

What's the Word

Cryptomnesia

Questions and Emails

More info on the Mythos controversy, The very brief comment about not knowing there is a place in Mexico called Chihuahua (a city and a state that borders Texas. Famously Juarez is in that state) brought to my attention a subject that I find interesting and frustrating. Having lived in Mexico for most of my life, I noticed how American media (movies, shows, news) tend to completely ignore Mexico. It’s also very striking the level of ignorance in America regarding Mexico. Simple stuff, like the capital, population, size, political system, etc. Despite there being a very large Mexican population in the U.S. I don’t know if this is a subject for the SGU, but I feel like there is something there regarding education and how media affects a person’s worldview. Keep up the good work!

Science or Fiction [ Show Answers ]

• Item #1 Fiction

  Einstein predicted the existence of singularities (only later called black holes), but the first one was not identified until 1971, sixteen years after his death. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1968902

• Item #2 Science

  Astronomers estimate that there are about 100 million stellar mass black holes in the Milky Way galaxy, but only about 100 have been confirmed. https://www.stsci.edu/~marel/black_holes/encyc_mod3_q7.html

• Item #3 Fiction

  Only two black holes have ever been directly imaged: Sagittarius A* at the center of our own galaxy, and M87*, the largest known black hole at 6.5 billion solar masses. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=920934999878923

Skeptical Quote of the Week.

‘Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated minds-and fanatics. It is, for scientific folk, an unattainable ideal.’ - Cassius J. Keyser