The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe The Skeptics Guide #1078 - Mar 7 2026
Mar 7, 2026
A tour through face perception and the Thatcher illusion. Growing chickpeas in lunar regolith simulant and what it means for off‑Earth farming. New research suggesting sea level rise estimates may be underestimated in some regions. A skeptical critique of a Reiki clinical trial and neurons-on-a-chip playing Doom. A round of medieval science-or-fiction myths.
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Artemis 3 Reassigned To Orbital Test
- NASA reassigned Artemis 3 to a low-Earth-orbit systems test and renumbered the lunar landing to Artemis 4 in 2028.
- The change adds a dedicated docking/lander/spacesuit test mission so landing won’t use untested systems on the first crewed lunar landing attempt.
Why The Thatcher Effect Reveals Face Processing
- The Thatcher illusion shows face perception is holistic: inverted faces defeat the fusiform face area so local feature changes go unnoticed.
- Thatcherized eyes/lips look normal upside down but grotesque upright, evidencing configural processing in the FFA.
Chickpeas Can Grow In Mostly Lunar Regolith
- Researchers grew chickpeas in up to 75% lunar regolith simulant mixed with vermicompost and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and got viable seeds.
- Mycorrhizae colonized roots, improved survival, and microbes began binding regolith into soil-like aggregates over time.