Episode #791

Episode #791

News Items

• Nuclear Diamond Batteries
• Instant COVID Testing
• Blanets
• Detecting Alien Biochemistry

Who's That Noisy

• Answer to last week: Nuclear reactor

Interview with Tim Dodd

• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6uKrU_WqJ1R2HMTY3LIx5Q

Science or Fiction [ Show Answers ]

• Item #1 Science

  An extensive study finds that political ads have an insignificant effect on voter choice, regardless of any variable considered, such as political affiliation, location, and positive vs negative ads. https://news.yale.edu/2020/09/02/political-ads-have-little-persuasive-power

• Item #2 Fiction

  A traffic simulation finds that small numbers of autonomous vehicles (<20%) could significantly slow overall traffic. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1751-8121/abb1e1

• Item #3 Science

  A new study suggests that oxygen from Earth has been reacting with iron on the surface of the Moon. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200902152152.htm

Skeptical Quote of the Week.

‘Certain people – men, of course – discouraged me, saying [science] was not a good career for women. That pushed me even more to persevere.’ - Francoise Barre, virologist who won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine