The Skeptics Guide #1093 - Jun 20 2026
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What is the purpose of The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe podcast?
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, June 17th, 2026, and this is your host, Stephen Novella. Joining me this week are Bob Novella. Hey, everybody. Jay Novella. Hey, guys. And we have two guests, George Robb. It's June, everybody. Hey. And Andrea Jones-Roy.
It's also June where I am.
No time travel here. Thank you guys for joining us. So Evan is off this week and Cara said that it was okay if I told everybody that she's getting a colonoscopy.
Good for her.
I think she's having a camera up her butt right as we speak.
Wow. And she didn't want to join and keep us posted on how it's going?
She's actually streaming.
She is streaming. From the colonoscopy? That's right.
Yeah. It's on YouTube. She specifically refused that option.
Wow. Surprisingly. Very selfish, I have to say. Just forego your conscious sedation so that you can live podcast from the colonoscopy.
Have you all done it? Boys, have you all done it? Yeah, I just had it six months ago or something. Okay.
What personal updates do the hosts share about their health?
Okay, me too.
I haven't. Am I the only one in the club? Oh, man. Or not in the club, as the case may be. I gotta go. I gotta make an appointment.
Yeah, I'm a little behind in my... I gotta make it happen soon.
I'm in arrears with my doctor.
Arrears. I love it. Oh, sweet. I'm thinking of doing it before the big trip, LA, Sydney, New Zealand.
Yeah, because you don't want to do it on the back end.
Very good.
Who's being cheeky now?
Come on. Overall, I have to say this is a great analysis.
I don't know. I think it's pretty shitty.
Well, I can't put my finger on it, but I think it's a good analysis.
Okay, good. My last one, I had a good prep and a clean colon so I can go 10 years for my next one. That's right.
Is the age... It's 45, right? Yeah, I think so.
How does the discussion shift towards colonoscopies?
Okay.
Unless you have family history.
Okay. Okay.
Or you have symptoms. Okay. All right. Or like blood coming out there.
All right. We'll do a quick exam and then we'll report back. Good. Yeah.
Yeah. All right. It's nothing. Now, the thing is, I've noticed, you know, over the last 30 years of my life, getting occasional procedures is they got the conscious sedation dialed in pretty well now. Even when I was talking to the doctor for my more recent colonoscopy, this is my second one, I said, for the first one, I actually woke up in the middle of my upper GI.
No way. Were you in horrible pain? What happened?
Well, you're just like, what am I choking on? You're like, you have no idea what's going on, right? You're just so stupid.
Are you intubated?
I don't know anything about that. You're really up there. No, no, it was the upper GI. So this is, I had both. I had a colonoscopy followed by an upper GI. So the camera was in my stomach at the time.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah, not pleasant.
Did they knock you back out or what?
Oh, yeah. They just knocked me back out. But this guy said, that won't happen. We have it so much more dialed in now than we did. Wow. And you remembered waking up, though.
Yeah.
I don't think you'd kind of forget that. No, I 100% remember it. I think that's part of what they do a lot better is they give you the memory juice so you don't remember anything. Yeah, yeah.
Well, my mother-in-law was put under for surgery last week, unrelated to her colon, and she's convinced she had a dream during it, which I didn't think was possible.
Yeah, it shouldn't be.
Yeah. All right. I'll tell her she's making things up.
But again, I don't know what exact cocktail they used or whatever.
I just remember when I was going out, just at the very edge of consciousness, I heard the doctor go, extraordinary.
That's a false memory, George.
Yeah, that's some kind of bias. I'm sure you guys have talked about this on the show, maybe at length, but the rising colon cancer among millennials, is that something you all have covered and I just need to catch up on my listening?
We haven't covered it. I've been sort of noticing that peripherally. I haven't done a deep dive yet.
Okay, all right.
Is it like lack of fiber in the diet or something?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the purpose of The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe podcast?
0:01–1:11
2
What personal updates do the hosts share about their health?
1:11–2:04
3
How does the discussion shift towards colonoscopies?
2:04–9:54
4
What insights are shared about colon cancer and its rising rates?
9:54–1:13:44
5
What are the claims about piano teaching methods and their effectiveness?
1:13:44–1:14:46
6
How do the piano teaching methods compare to traditional ones?
1:14:46–1:15:38
7
What are the implications of the claims made about piano student success rates?
1:15:38–1:16:28
8
What controversies arise from the discussion of the Payam Piano Method?
1:16:28–2:15:02