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Science Criticism

Read: Does Being Short Mean a Higher Risk for Bad Heart Juju?

Short people are at a higher risk for adverse cardiac events. Tall people are at a higher risk for heart attacks. Short people live longer. Tall people live longer. Which is it? A new study came out (in the much revered New England Journal of Medicine) apparently showing that short people are at an increased risk … Continue reading

Pseudoscience / Science Education

Read: Dr. Labos on Natural Health Products (in the National Post)

If the first episode of Dr. Labos’ and my new podcast, The Body of Evidence (also available on iTunes) failed to quench your thirst for knowledge on natural health products, I can now direct you to an article five months in the making that Dr. Labos finally managed to publish in The National Post: “The response in … Continue reading

Science Criticism

Read: Do We Have Too Many Postdocs in the Biomedical Sciences?

My answer: yes. Nature published a very lengthy and well-written piece by Kendall Powell on the postdoctoral fellowship. If you don’t know, the next step for many Ph.D. graduates is not a tenure-track position in a university but a sort of poorly paid specialization called the postdoctoral fellowship, whose funding is often uncertain and whose length … Continue reading

Food and Health Through the Lens of Entertainment: Funny You Should Think That!
Pseudoscience / Science Education

Food and Health Through the Lens of Entertainment: Funny You Should Think That!

A little plug for the show I’m hosting in a week. It’s all about science… and entertainment! A show of comedy, reason, and alcohol. FUNNY YOU SHOULD THINK THAT! is a monthly event (intelligently) designed to make you laugh and think. Moutons No More takes to the stage with amazing guests to talk pseudoscience, lambast … Continue reading

Pseudoscience / Science Education

Read: Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science?

This is required reading, folks. “The ‘science communication problem,’ as it’s blandly called by the scientists who study it, has yielded abundant new research into how people decide what to believe—and why they so often don’t accept the scientific consensus. It’s not that they can’t grasp it, according to Dan Kahan of Yale University. In … Continue reading

Book Review: Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? by Timothy Caulfield
Pseudoscience / Science Criticism / Science Education

Book Review: Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? by Timothy Caulfield

“Evidence-based entertainment” is the motto and mandate of the production team under whose banner this blog exists. It expresses a desire for subversive education in light of growing apathy, for using the tools of entertainment to foster skepticism. The pill is always easier to swallow in a scoop of ice cream. I love stumbling upon … Continue reading

Pseudoscience

“A little research” doesn’t cut it: Quack medicine speaks in Northwest Territories

After being accused by a magazine of promoting “disproven and discredited therapy systems” at their conference, the organizers of the Northwest Territories Wellness Conference (taking place this weekend) used the old “complementary” trope to excuse their choices. Indeed, a cursory look at their schedule reveals workshops with the following descriptive phrases: “how to use local plants … Continue reading