A few months ago, a fellow skeptic told me he was considering personalized genetic testing and wondered what my opinion was on the service. The idea is that any consumer who desires can send a DNA sample to a company, like 23andMe, and get a report back on various genetic risk factors. Sounds like a … Continue reading
Tag Archives: science journalism
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
Read: What? WHAT? I’M DAMAGING MY WHAT?
My podcasting buddy and general thorn in my side, Dr. Christopher Labos, has published something for the CBC and we’re supposed to, I don’t know, stop everything we’re doing and read it because it’s so great. Here’s an excerpt: “He points out that most of us are slowly damaging our hearing without realizing it. “But the … Continue reading
Watch: Journalists Get Health Canada License Number for Fake Remedy
If you have ever bought a natural health product approved by Health Canada, you must watch this 22-minute episode of CBC’s Marketplace. Do you have any idea how easy it is to get approval from Health Canada to manufacture and sell a natural health product? You will hear from me on this topic in a couple … Continue reading
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
“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
Read: Why Fight a Losing Battle (Using a Faded Sweater Instead of a Cape and Cowl)
I have interviewed Dr. Christopher Labos on the topic of integrative medicine for my podcast, Within Reason. A cardiologist by training, he is studying to become a medical journalist. Like me, he has a passion for bringing scientific facts to the public in spite of the tidal wave of misinformation that washes us all up every … Continue reading
Listen / Watch: The Cost of Cancer Drugs
The only good drug is the one the patient can afford. WNYC radio show and podcast extraordinaire RadioLab most recently did an episode entitled “Worth” in which the show’s hosts and producer investigated the worth of an extra year of human life. They stumbled upon a very interesting story centred on the cost of cancer drugs in … Continue reading
Quebec Government… Changes Its Mind
The Minister who had originally proclaimed that funding for French-language science communication aimed at Quebec youth would be dramatically axed has now announced that the financing will, after all, be maintained. No reason given to the change of heart. http://www.fil-information.gouv.qc.ca/Pages/Article.aspx?aiguillage=ajd&type=1&idArticle=2212148282 (Link in French) Thanks to everyone who signed the petition and to all of you … Continue reading
Funding for French-Language Public Science Education in Québec Dramatically Axed: You Can Help (Maybe)
The scythe of our provincial government has struck again and, this time, the cut is almost perfectly clean. Readers from outside Quebec may not be aware that our provincial government has been issuing major cuts in the past few months. On April 23rd, 2014, Philippe Couillard, head of the Liberal Party, became Prime Minister of … Continue reading
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