The Skeptics Guide #1089 - May 23 2026
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What is discussed at the start of this section?
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, May 21st, 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. Good afternoon.
Is everybody set to go to Australia and New Zealand? Got all your things that you need?
Well, I got reminders about the things I still need.
Right. How is it almost already June? Right.
And you know, it's after June.
July. And that's when we're going. Steve, you know, that's a loaded question for me because I have an incredible, you know, like my, I'm not just thinking like baggage and you know, what's my plane seat going to be like? I'm like, I'm, I had the whole thing on my head. So, But things are going good. I'm like in a mad swag ordering phase right now.
Mm-hmm.
Fine.
What preparations are needed for traveling to Australia and New Zealand?
But I also, you know, anytime we do any kind of trip, I verify everything. You know, meaning like I check that in our hotel rooms.
There's so many details.
Our hotel rooms, our cars, you know.
Hundreds of points to check. Hundreds. Yeah. Which is why we need the constant reminders that we get. Thank goodness. And you're very good about that. I appreciate it. And... Yeah, so apparently you need a passport to leave the country. Who knew? No, I'm kidding.
Not fair.
It's good.
And you need an entry visa to get into these other countries. Yep. But I don't have a visa credit card.
You need a visa credit card to shop at Costco.
It's weird. Should we say at this point, should we just like say we're Canadian or something?
Would that help?
I think they also need visas.
Maybe not actually.
Do you have a Canadian visa, Bob? No, but I just don't, you know.
No.
Then it's more trouble than it's worth, Bob. I'm Canadian. Hand them your American passport.
Bob, just when you show it to them, just put your thumb over the country. Hey, there it is. See? See, that's me. This is the number. I'm good.
But trust me, all this stuff that feels annoying now, which actually isn't annoying, it's like five minutes of work, makes it so that when you get to the country, you just walk right in.
Yeah.
You don't have to wait in those really long queues. And not even walk. You could potentially even just waltz. Or sashay.
I prefer to sashay.
Saunter.
I can't tell you how many times with all the years that we've traveled where we use the global entry and we get into like this really short line to get through customs and you look at the 3,000 people. Yeah. that are in that queue and it's such a, it's like, oh my God, like, thank God I don't have to do that. That's when you start high-fiving, yeah.
It's not even, and now it's like, it's not even a line at Global Entry. You don't even use the, remember you used to have to use the kiosks and scan your passport and they give you the ticket? Now you just look at the camera and then you just walk forward. Look at the camera. It's so fast. I love it.
All right, Jay, we're going to dive right in. Tell us about sleep and aging.
Yeah, so guys, do you have any idea on how many hours of sleep you need to feel fully rested?
Individually or in general for humans?
No, individually.
Oh, well. Yeah, you know. I think I function normally at a minimum of six hours.
Before I was diagnosed and medicated for idiopathic hypersomnia, I would say...
12 to 13 and i still didn't feel rested but now awful six to eight yeah like i'm in that sweet spot six to eight yeah for me i mean it's about eight hours do you ever get a good eight hours no no i don't i wake up in the middle of the night frequently or um or just straight up like you know i'll i'll go to sleep around 10 o'clock and um you know i'll just wake up at four in the morning and i'm so i should stop calling you at 3 30 yeah okay got it But these are good questions and good things for people to think about because sleep, of course, is incredibly important to our overall health. Your mental health is affected by your sleep as well for a lot of people.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is discussed at the start of this section?
0:01–1:00
2
What preparations are needed for traveling to Australia and New Zealand?
1:00–10:08
3
How does sleep impact our health and aging?
10:08–16:32
4
What are the findings from the recent sleep study?
16:32–1:00:36
5
Where did T. rex live on a modern map?
1:00:36–1:01:13
6
How fast could T. rex move?
1:01:13–1:01:46
7
What is the truth about T. rex leather?
1:01:46–1:03:58
8
How do scientists synthesize T. rex leather?
1:03:58–1:54:37