The Skeptics Guide #1008 - Nov 2 2024
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How did unexpected pumpkins and garden plants appear in Steve's yard?
You're listening to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.
Hello and welcome to The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. Today is Wednesday, September 4th, 2024, and this is your host, Stephen Novella. Joining me this week are Bob Novella, Cara Santamaria, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein.
Good evening, everyone.
Don't worry, this is the correct episode you're looking for. We're recording this on September 4th because we have to put an extra episode in the can, as we like to say, for when we are going to PsyCon at the end of October. So yes, this is the latest episode if you're downloading in October, even though we're recording it so much earlier. And we tried to make this episode a little bit evergreen, so it's not going to be all dated news items by the time it comes out.
That's the magic of podcasting. It involves some time travel.
A lot of time travel. So I was showing Jay this earlier today, but this is the first time this has happened in my yard. My wife and I noticed that there are these plants growing in our front yard, you know, by where we have like the shrubs, you know, by the porch in the front of the house. And they look like pumpkin plants, which you grow in our garden. So like, okay, I didn't plant anything there. I don't plant anything there every year. That's just where all the hedges and stuff are. So one of the plants has two pumpkins growing on it. So it's clearly a pumpkin plant. The other one, I didn't see anything growing on it. But now it has about six or seven of those gooseneck gourds. You ever see those long neck gourds?
Yeah, sure. Growing on it. You can't really tell from the plant itself because they all look pretty much the same, all the squashy plants. Yeah, so the question is how did they get there?
So do you grow both of those in your backyard?
No, only pumpkins. We do grow pumpkins in the backyard. We do not in the garden. I've never grown gourds in my garden. But we do buy them and have them over Halloween. We might have a couple of gourds somewhere.
All right, so if they were not deliberately planted, then what? The wind picked up the— Could they have been pooped out?
Yeah, that's what I was wondering. I think Bob's right.
Yeah, I was going to say, have animals been eating your pumpkins?
Well, I don't know. So they're out for Halloween and a little after, and then a few days after Halloween— Everything goes into the compost. So, yeah, what I figure is that some animals ate – were eating it in the compost and then they pooped it in my front yard for some reason. Or maybe that's just a place that doesn't get mowed. They probably would have been elsewhere, but that's like – Well, because there's no food otherwise there.
So the old saying is you don't go where you eat.
Yeah.
I'm just saying that maybe they might have been all over the place, but we mow everywhere else. So we would have cut down those plants as they were coming up. But here, we don't mow. Obviously, it's just mulched. So it's interesting. So I got some free pumpkins and gourds growing in my front yard. Has that ever happened to you where a plant like that just starts to grow? Never.
I mean, I think there's weed growing all over LA. For real? Yeah. It's always funny when you see a little bit growing because somebody tossed some weed. Yeah, yeah. It used to happen more. Now people, I think, mostly are smoking like these crazy hydroponic brands that don't even have seeds. But like, yeah, it definitely used to happen back in the day when people just like toss seeds and bags like on the side of the road.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah, plants grow, you know? Yeah. They do it.
They find a way.
Yeah, especially if it's a place that you like. You know, that's why it's good to plant native plants. Yes. Because they're just good at growing in your environment.
Oh, absolutely. And beware, invasive species can wreak havoc. What's that one in New York that they tell you you can't even brush up against? You can't even get a blade of this stuff on you. It'll destroy you. Hogsweed? Is that what it's called?
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
How did unexpected pumpkins and garden plants appear in Steve's yard?
0:00–27:38
2
Could machine learning give three‑month warnings for major earthquakes?
27:38–49:18
3
What does the new study claim about microplastics in human brains?
49:18–51:24
4
How do researchers explain microplastics crossing the blood‑brain barrier and what are the study's limits?
51:24–57:04
5
What is a quantum neural network and how did it mimic human perception of optical illusions?
57:04–1:07:32
6
Which animals use individual ‘names’ and what does that tell us about language evolution?
1:07:32–1:44:00