Episode #901
News Items
- Neurons Play Pong
- Smelling in VR
- Technosignatures and Biosignatures
- TWA 800 Lawsuit
- DART Mission Success
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: Pangolin
Science or Fiction
-
Item #1
Fiction
A review of COVID-19 related preprints that were later published in peer-reviewed journals finds that 50% were substantially altered, including changes to effect sizes, the data used, and statistical significance. https://news.wisc.edu/most-preprint-studies-of-covid-19-hold-up-through-peer-review/
-
Item #2
Science
Scientists have developed a simple, rapid and effective method for making tissue optically transparent, including entire organs. https://www.bcm.edu/news/simple-rapid-and-robust-method-makes-mouse-whole-organs-transparent-for-imaging
-
Item #3
Science
In a comprehensive meta-analysis, researchers find that women have advantages over men in phonemic fluency, verbal memory, and verbal recognition, and that this advantage is stable over 50 years of research and over a participant’s lifetime. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17456916221082116
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
‘We have learned in recent years that the techniques of misinformation and misdirection have become so refined that, even in an open society, a cleverly directed flood of misinformation can overwhelm the truth, even though the truth is out there, uncensored, quietly available to anyone who can find it.’ Daniel Dennett