Episode #958

Episode #958

News Items

• Whole Eye Transplant
• Hottest Year on Record
• Neutron Thickness
• Hydrogen Deposit in France
• Trust In Science Declining

Who's That Noisy

• Answer to last week: Overtone singing

Science or Fiction [ Show Answers ]

• Item #1 Science

  Researchers have discovered the first “vampire” virus, a parasitic virus that attaches to the “neck” of another virus in order to enter a host cell and take over the reproductive machinery. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vampire-viruses-prey-on-other-viruses-to-replicate-themselves-and-may-hold-the-key-to-new-antiviral-therapies/

• Item #2 Science

  A new study finds that Google DeepMind’s machine learning weather prediction model can outperform existing models for 10 day weather prediction, 90% of the time in under one minute. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi2336

• Item #3 Fiction

  Scientists present a new fossil of a flying feathered dinosaur, avioptera, which dates to 185 million years ago, 20 million years older than the group (paraves) which is believed to have given rise to modern birds. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215009458

Skeptical Quote of the Week.

True science teaches, above all, to doubt and to be ignorant.’ Miguel de Unamuno (loosely translated to english)