Episode #733

Episode #733

News Items

• Telescope Protests
• LightSail 2
• Free Speech vs Licensing Professionals
• Autism Genetic
• Bird Conspiracy

Who's That Noisy

• Answer to last week: Adding machine

Science or Fiction [ Show Answers ]

• Item #1 Fiction

  New research finds that artificial canned laughter decreased the degree to which subjects found comedy funny. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190722111910.htm

• Item #2 Science

  A new study finds that the working memory of chimpanzees is substantially similar to that of humans. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.0715

• Item #3 Science

  Researchers studying Asian elephants find that females living with sisters had significantly increased probability of annual reproduction. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2018.0067

Skeptical Quote of the Week.

‘Humans are pattern seekers. It’s how we’ve always made sense of the world: Our ancestors wouldn’t have survived if they hadn’t realized that plants tend to flourish after rainfall or that sabertooth tigers tended to eat them. But sometimes we’re just a little too good at finding meaning in the noise, occasionally unable to separate real patterns from those of our own imagining.’ Emma Grey Ellis – journalist, WIRED