The Skeptics Guide #1061 - Nov 8 2025
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
Dr. Steven Novella MD
4.7 • 7.4K Ratings
🗓️ 8 November 2025
⏱️ 107 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe. |
| 0:06.3 | Your escape to reality. |
| 0:09.6 | Hello and welcome to the skeptic guide to the universe. |
| 0:12.5 | Today is Thursday, November 6, 2025, and this is your host, Stephen Novella. |
| 0:17.3 | Joining me this week are Bob Novella. |
| 0:19.1 | Hey, everybody. |
| 0:19.8 | Kara Santa Maria. |
| 0:39.4 | Howdy? Jay Novella. Hey, guys. And Evan Bernstein. Good afternoon, folks. So, Kara, guess what? I had my own cardiac calcium scan earlier this week. Can I ask how it went? Yeah. My score was zero. Zero. That's the only good score. That's the best score. |
| 0:46.8 | I mean, one to a hundred is very mild risk. But it's still a risk. Yeah, but zero is the best. |
| 0:52.7 | Yeah, I was very happy about that. So I did a deep dive on it just to see, like, how good is this? |
| 1:11.6 | It's actually pretty good. Yeah, everything I've read says it should be standard practice and it's pretty bananas that insurance companies are not paying for it for the most part. I don't know what it is. Can you explain what it? Yeah, so basically, and Kerr, when do you think the calcium scan for cardiac risk factors was first introduced? |
| 1:14.4 | Probably like way longer ago than we would think. |
| 1:15.6 | Yeah, 1990. |
| 1:16.9 | Yeah. |
| 1:18.5 | 35 years ago. |
| 1:19.2 | Wow. |
| 1:21.2 | Before the Internet. Yeah, but medical researchers didn't just adopt it. |
| 1:24.6 | Even though it, because even though it sounds good, they researched it in every |
| 1:28.9 | way you could possibly imagine. |
| 1:30.5 | So basically, Evan, this is a way of looking to see if there's calcium in the arteries |
| 1:35.1 | in your heart, which calcium forms inside the plaques. |
| 1:39.0 | And that is a better predictor of whether or not you're going to have a heart attack |
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