The Skeptics Guide #1090 - May 30 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 Monday, May 25th, 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.
Happy Monday.
Yeah, rare Monday recording for us.
What the hell? Monday? What are we doing here on Monday?
Well, we're going to Wisconsin this weekend. This is the only night we can record early enough to get the show done before the weekend. Correct. Wisconsin. Here we are.
Oh, we're actually here already, if you're listening. If you're listening to it, yeah.
Time travel. Yeah, so have any of you guys been, specifically, been to Wisconsin before? Nobody's had their cheese. I don't think so.
I've been only when it was winter, so it was cold.
Oh gosh, that had to be freezing.
I've never seen summer in Wisconsin. You know how I remember sometimes where I've been? Is I go to my photo app in my phone and I search for the place. And I see how many pictures I took there. Yep, there's some.
Yeah, I've been to Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis. I've been to Madison. Well, I'm just saying. The region, yeah. In the Midwest. But I've never been on any of the lakes.
I've never been on them. I've only flown over them. Yeah, I haven't either. I don't even remember flying over any.
When would you go over one of the lakes?
What are the implications of Wisconsin's geography?
Who travels the lakes?
You mean by boat? Yeah, by the boat. Why? Commerce, man. Commerce. We've got to go all the way around Lake Michigan and just cut right across it.
Oh, that's true.
Yeah, but if you're sending anything over there, you might as well be a lot cheaper, just pure expense of just shipping instead of trucking it all around.
Yeah, but aren't there, Bob, I'm looking at the map too, aren't there just like bridges? I don't know. It's pretty far, isn't it?
Over some very narrow points. No, it's too big for bridges, man. These lakes are enormous.
Really?
It's too big for bridges? The main girth, the main width, sure. But I'm sure there's smaller areas with plenty of bridges.
The I-10 looks like it goes straight across Lake Michigan. I don't know if it goes over or under.
Do you guys know why there are lakes and not seas? Because they're freshwater. That's one. Because they're inland? Because they're surrounded by land. Well, so can a sea. They're freshwater. They have a natural outflow to the ocean. And one that's not really intuitive. They sit significantly above sea level.
Oh, okay. Significantly.
Interesting. I thought it was all about size. I guess it isn't. It's not just about size. Jay, it's never just about size.
So Michigan is kind of like a little, well, it's not really an island. It's like a peninsula.
Is it not an isthmus?
It looks like a hand. You ever met somebody from Michigan and they go, where are you from? And they point to their hand. Right. That's like how they know.
There's an island in Lake Michigan and it's called Beaver Island. It's pretty big. A lot of seals live there. I wonder if people live there.
Probably, because that looks huge. Well, gosh, beavers were one of the main reasons why people settled the area initially, for the beaver trade. For the fur trade. It's a huge beaver trade, yeah. It was enormous. There had to be billions of beavers.
There's an airport on Beaver Island. What? Yeah.
Beaver International Airport.
And I'm like literally zooming in and I'm like, okay, there's like houses that go, you know, along the coast, but it doesn't seem to be like, it just doesn't seem to be like a lot of people here.
Wait, is Beaver Island part of Michigan or is it part of Wisconsin?
Oh, interesting. Probably Michigan. I don't know.
It's like right in between them.
I need to zoom in on this map.
I think the state line goes down the middle of Lake Michigan. Yep, it's not.
They're not a part of it. Yeah, that's what those lines are. It does? Interesting.
So Beaver Island is Michigan. Yeah, I see that. Maps. We're not going to Michigan. We're going to Wisconsin.
That's right.
Yes, but Wisconsin is surrounded by the Great Lakes.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is discussed at the start of this section?
0:01–1:29
2
What are the implications of Wisconsin's geography?
1:29–4:26
3
How do the Great Lakes influence local ecosystems?
4:26–10:33
4
What are the dangers associated with Lake Superior?
10:33–57:17
5
What are the benefits of regular exercise?
57:17–57:39
6
How can we define moderate activity?
57:39–58:05
7
What are the implications of the latest Ebola outbreak?
58:05–58:24
8
How do societal factors impact public health responses?
58:24–1:47:37