The Skeptics Guide #1086 - May 2 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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 Thursday, April 30th, 2026, and this is your host, Stephen Novella. Joining me this week are Bob Novella. Hey, everybody. Cara Santamaria. Howdy. Jay Novella. Hey, guys. And Evan Bernstein.
Good afternoon, everyone. Bob, how was Bermuda? Bermuda was beautiful. I wish I got my time machine working because I'd go back one week when we're on our way right now, but... Oh, well, it was a lot of fun. Went to Bermuda for a couple of days. I enjoyed the cruise ship, the Independence of the Seas from the Royal Caribbean Line. It's like a skyscraper mall on the ocean. This thing was just so massive. It just blows your mind. And I looked at the evolution of this ship, and it's like the fourth biggest one that they have. Now I want to go... on one of the mega ones that are even bigger than this one. It's just, they're such an amazing thing. And you try to think of the logistics of like, yeah, how do we feed 4,000 people, you know, more than three times a day?
I wanted to get a tour of the kitchen. I never got one just to see how they handle that. It's called a galley. Oh my God. Yeah. Right. It's just, it was just an, just an amazing trip.
And how are the C's? Did they agree with you or did they send you, you know, heading for the railings?
No, I mean, yeah, there was, it's very weird to be all of a sudden like in, you know, you're in a huge structure. It seems like you're in a building or somewhere, right? And then all of a sudden the floor starts moving and it's just a bizarre feeling. But yeah, it was fine. I mean, I really don't get seasick. And there was one person, actually our neighbor, when we arrived to Bermuda, she was like, thank God we're here because I think she probably wasn't feeling very well the night before, but it was still very trivial. In terms of just the motion, the seas were – there was a lot of whitecaps. We saw some good-sized waves, probably 10 feet at least. But the ship is so big, it just goes right through them with very little movement.
But it's noticeable at times for sure.
Did you experience anything paranormal out on the water, including things like St. Elmo's fire or – I don't know.
rogue waves i don't know if those are considered legendary anymore anything odd happened no the i looked at a map the bermuda triangle apparently starts at the very southern tip of bermuda so the island itself is not within the bermuda triangle so we didn't see anything the name okay well that's why you didn't see it that's exactly why no whirlpools no kraken no nothing I love how all the roofs on Bermuda are designed to collect water. So everyone has access to a source of fresh water. They get sent down into the basement where they're filtered and cleansed, and they use it for a lot of their fresh water needs. And there's also other sources. Apparently, there's a... On a few parts of the island, there's a water table, which you can get water from there.
You could also just buy bottled water, or not bottled water, but if you're low on water, you can just buy 100-gallon tanks of fresh water that you can then just put into your basement. But otherwise, they're very needy in terms of getting imports, as you might imagine, as the island grew. They're not really selling their onions like they used to centuries ago. They need their imports. So, of course, it's one of the most expensive countries in the world. $15 for a loaf of bread. So, yeah, you need some money actually to live there, which must be rough for the people that aren't wealthy. But beautiful, beautiful place. Recommended.
Well, welcome back.
Thank you.
You came back a little bit of boat crud there.
Boat crud, yeah. Got just a bit of a cough. Fairly trivial, but not, you know, not ideal.
All right. Hopefully you're quarantined. And no. Right, Jay?
All the time. We're going to start this episode with another installment of Back to Basics. We're going to cover pareidolia and apophenia.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–13:39
2
What are pareidolia and apophenia and how do they shape pattern-seeking?
13:39–19:54
3
How do hyperactive pattern recognition and agency detection lead to conspiracy thinking?
19:54–55:49
4
How accurate are smartwatches for steps, sleep, heart rate and calories?
55:49–1:02:31
5
What evidence proves these are two merging quasars from 13 billion years ago?
1:02:31–1:05:45
6
How does the discovery of quasar pairs explain rapid early black hole growth and gravitational waves?
1:05:45–1:11:56
7
What is 'longevity escape velocity' and is Kurzweil's 2029 claim plausible?
1:11:56–1:20:32
8
How has stem cell hype evolved and what progress has actually been made in treatments?
1:20:32–2:03:01