The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

The Skeptics Guide #991 - Jul 6 2024

July 6, 2024

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  • New simulations reveal that magnetic fields, not heat pressure, dominate black hole accretion disks, making them "fluffy like angel cake" rather than flat. 
  • DNA origami nanobots have been developed that can target cancer cells by changing shape in acidic tumor environments and triggering apoptosis, showing a 70% reduction in tumor growth in mouse models. 
  • A new bionic leg developed by MIT, combined with an agonist-antagonist myoneural interface (AMI) surgical technique, allows for natural walking speeds and gait patterns by preserving muscle and brain signaling, achieving 18% augmentation of natural proprioception. 
  • The Capulet 2024 music festival collapsed due to a lack of proper insurance, leading to a venue change and widespread artist cancellations just before the event, ultimately resulting in the Attorney General of Connecticut launching an investigation into potential fraud. 
  • A theoretical object called a Kugelblitz, a black hole formed from intense light rather than mass, has been shown by recent research to be impossible due to dissipative quantum effects like the Schwinger effect, which prevent sufficient energy buildup. 
  • The 'noisy' segment of the podcast featured listeners guessing the sound of a flat bicycle tire on asphalt, highlighting how context is crucial for identifying everyday sounds. 
  • Some exons function as "fold-ons," which are evolutionary modules that can be exchanged or moved around to create different protein structures. 
  • While introns are generally considered non-coding regions, they can influence gene expression and alternative splicing, though their direct role in protein folding is not supported by current research. 
  • The term "toxins" in pseudoscience is a nebulous, pseudoscientific term used to avoid specific, science-based analysis, akin to historical concepts like "evil spirits" or "miasma." 

Segments

Black Hole Accretion Disks
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(00:07:53)
  • Key Takeaway: New simulations reveal that magnetic fields, not heat pressure, dominate black hole accretion disks, making them “fluffy like angel cake” rather than flat.
  • Summary: Bob discusses new Caltech simulations that provide unprecedented resolution of galactic and stellar scales, revealing that magnetic fields are 10,000 times stronger than heat pressure in accretion disks, leading to a ‘fluffy’ appearance.
DNA Nanobots for Cancer
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(00:10:27)
  • Key Takeaway: DNA origami nanobots have been developed that can target cancer cells by changing shape in acidic tumor environments and triggering apoptosis, showing a 70% reduction in tumor growth in mouse models.
  • Summary: Kara explains the development of DNA origami nanobots that utilize the acidic environment of tumors to activate a ‘kill switch’ by clustering death receptors, leading to programmed cell death in cancer cells. Early mouse models show significant tumor reduction.
Advanced Bionic Leg
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(00:22:25)
  • Key Takeaway: A new bionic leg developed by MIT, combined with an agonist-antagonist myoneural interface (AMI) surgical technique, allows for natural walking speeds and gait patterns by preserving muscle and brain signaling, achieving 18% augmentation of natural proprioception.
  • Summary: Jay details a new neuroprosthetic leg developed at MIT that, when paired with the AMI surgical technique, allows amputees to control the limb with natural movement sensation and proprioception, leading to significantly improved walking speed and gait that matches non-amputees.
Neanderthal Altruism and Art
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(00:35:58)
  • Key Takeaway: The discovery of a Neanderthal child with Down syndrome who lived to age six suggests the first evidence of purely altruistic care within Neanderthal communities, and new dating of Indonesian cave art reveals the earliest known visual storytelling.
  • Summary: Kara discusses the discovery of a Neanderthal child’s remains showing pathology associated with Down syndrome, suggesting altruistic care due to the child’s survival to age six. She also covers new dating of Indonesian cave art, identifying the earliest known narrative composition with interacting human and animal figures.
Festival Collapse and Investigation
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(00:53:18)
  • Key Takeaway: The Capulet 2024 music festival’s abrupt collapse was due to a failure to secure proper insurance, leading to a venue change, artist cancellations, and ultimately an investigation by the Connecticut Attorney General into potential fraud and consumer complaints.
  • Summary: This segment details the chaotic unfolding of the Capulet festival, starting with rumors of cancellations and venue changes, the impact of social media, fan-driven information sharing, and the eventual shutdown due to the venue not being paid and lack of insurance, culminating in the Attorney General’s investigation.
Kugelblitz Impossibility
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(01:06:33)
  • Key Takeaway: Recent research, applying quantum mechanics to the theoretical Kugelblitz (a black hole formed from light), demonstrates its impossibility due to dissipative quantum effects like the Schwinger effect, which prevent sufficient energy concentration for an event horizon to form.
  • Summary: The discussion explains the concept of a Kugelblitz, originating from John Archibald Wheeler’s ‘geon’ and its relation to general relativity’s mass-energy equivalence, and then details how new research using quantum electrodynamics shows that particle-antiparticle pair creation dissipates energy, making Kugelblitz formation impossible in realistic scenarios, even with extreme laser intensities.
Noisy Guessing Game
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(01:14:30)
  • Key Takeaway: The ’noisy’ segment revealed the sound of a flat bicycle tire rolling over asphalt, emphasizing that everyday sounds have unique profiles and context is crucial for identification.
  • Summary: This segment covers the podcast’s recurring ’noisy’ segment where listeners guess the source of a sound, with various creative guesses for the week’s sound, ultimately revealing it to be a flat bicycle tire, and discussing the importance of context in sound recognition.
Science or Fiction
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(01:31:22)
  • Key Takeaway: The ‘Science or Fiction’ segment identified the claim that introns can affect protein folding independent of splicing as fiction, while confirming that smoking correlates with specific personality traits and pasteurization effectively eliminates H5N1 bird flu virus from milk.
  • Summary: The hosts and panelists engage in the ‘Science or Fiction’ game, evaluating three statements: smoking’s correlation with personality traits, pasteurization’s effectiveness against bird flu in milk, and introns’ effect on protein folding. They debate the plausibility of each, ultimately identifying the intron statement as the fictional one.
Exons as Functional Modules
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(01:45:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Exons can function as evolutionary “fold-ons,” which are discrete units of protein structure that can be combined to create diverse proteins.
  • Summary: This segment explores the hypothesis that exons are not just random segments but functional units of proteins, with some exons exhibiting specific folding properties that make them conserved and interchangeable modules in evolution.
Introns and Protein Folding
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(01:49:13)
  • Key Takeaway: There is no readily available scientific evidence to suggest that introns directly influence protein folding.
  • Summary: The discussion shifts to whether introns affect protein folding, with the speaker unable to find supporting studies and concluding that protein folding is primarily determined by the amino acid sequence itself.
Critique of Pseudoscience Terms
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(01:50:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Vague terms like ’toxins’ in pseudoscience lack scientific specificity and serve to obscure rather than explain.
  • Summary: A quote from Timothy Caulfield is presented, criticizing the use of nebulous terms like ’toxins’ in health and wellness claims, comparing them to historical concepts like ’evil spirits’ for their lack of scientific grounding.
Podcast Promotion and Call to Action
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(01:51:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Listeners are encouraged to attend SciCon 2024 and support the podcast through Patreon.
  • Summary: The hosts promote an upcoming event, SciCon 2024, featuring Timothy Caulfield, and encourage listeners to support the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe through donations on Patreon.