Episode #877

News Items

Who's That Noisy

  • Answer to last week: Jaguar call

Science or Fiction

  • Item #1 Fiction

    Using a quantum 2D material, scientists have produced the highest temperature ambient pressure superconductor, at 250 K (-23 degrees C). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04504-8

  • Item #2 Science

    NASA Scientists have developed a metal alloy that has twice the tensile strength, three times the ductility, and at least 1000 times the durability at high temperature and stress as existing superalloys.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TapNnQZ9Ek

  • Item #3 Science

    Using machine learning and genetic modification, scientists have created a bacteria-produced enzyme that can rapidly break down PET plastic (which makes up 12% of global solid waste) so that it can be reused, and is practical for industrial scale use. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04599-z

Skeptical Quote of the Week.

‘There is an urgent need today for the citizens of a democracy to think well. It is not enough to have freedom of the Press and parliamentary institutions. Our difficulties are due partly to our own stupidity, partly to the exploitation of that stupidity, and partly to our own prejudices and personal desires.’ ’Thinking to Some Purpose’ written by Lizzie Susan Stebbing in 1939