Episode #853
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: Lemurs
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
MIT scientists find that human neurons differ from all other mammalian neurons tested, having a significantly lower density of ion channels. https://news.mit.edu/2021/neurons-humans-mammals-1110
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Item #2
Science
A new analysis suggests that as many as 35% of sun-like stars may engulf and consume their planetary system. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01451-8
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Item #3
Fiction
A new study finds that eyewitness identification can have greater accuracy with multiple testing to demonstrate consistency. https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/default+domain/10.1177%2F15291006211026259-FREE/full
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
“ When people see a story as an external object, then someone challenging the story is just making an intellectual argument. But when believers identify with a story, someone challenging the story is a personal threat. And since our brains are notoriously bad at distinguishing between our psychological identity and our physical body, the personal threat doesn’t feel like an insult—it feels like danger.” - Tim Urban