/oss/taxonomy/term/1060/all en /oss/article/history/history-clinical-trials <p>Today when a new medication is introduced, we expect it to be backed by evidence gleaned from proper research. Our gold standard is the randomized double-blind controlled trial, but surprisingly the first such trial dates back only to the 1940s. That is not to say that there were no trials before, but they certainly did not provide the kind of evidence that we now seek. In fact, the first semblance of a clinical trial takes us all the way back to the Book of Daniel in the Bible.</p> Fri, 15 Mar 2024 18:05:31 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9872 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-general-science/power-belief <p>Scientifically speaking, it’s not very pleasing.<br /> A jolly old man with reindeer flying high, criss-crossing the night sky?<br /> It makes for a charming story, but surely it must be phony!<br /> How can he be here and there, delighting children everywhere,<br /> Giving little girls splendid toys, even remembering naughty boys?<br /> Surely, the old gent must be a fake; who would do all this just for goodness sake?<br /> But stop! The children’s laughter and smiles are as real as can be,<br /> And consequently, so is he!<br /> From life’s little trials he spells relief,<br /></p> Wed, 20 Dec 2023 11:30:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9765 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-history/legend-wartime-placebo <p>Facts rarely get in the way of a good story. There is a foundational myth in placebo research that has been repeated over and over again, sometimes with inexplicable flourishes, often with the variations one expects from a telephone game. You have probably read it in a mainstream publication. It’s the story of a doctor, working in dark times, who cannot do his job properly and accidentally discovers the power of the placebo to relieve pain. It is such a good story.</p> <p>And it might not even be true.</p> Sat, 12 Feb 2022 03:06:02 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9023 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-health/cranberry-juice-utis <p>Despite the common belief that cranberry juice or pills can prevent, or even cure, a urinary tract infection, science has determined that it actually had no effect. Some people believe that cranberries can make the urine more acidic, killing the e. coli bacteria that cause UTI’s, and while cranberries do lower the urine’s pH, they don’t do so greatly enough, nor for long enough, for bacteria to die.</p> Tue, 23 May 2017 16:39:33 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 2475 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-health-quackery/new-use-soap <p>On my radio show today the story of putting a bar of soap under the sheet to cure leg cramps came up again. When science leaves a void, as it does with the treatment of leg cramps, unconventional therapies rush in to fill it. Just take a bar of soap, some say it has to be Ivory, place it on the mattress under the sheet and ...pleasant dreams! There are testimonials galore from people who say they thought it was a ridiculous notion, but they decided to try it anyway out of desperation, and it worked! Anecdotes are scientifically meaningless, and the plural of anecdote is not data.</p> Tue, 12 Aug 2014 00:08:29 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2179 at /oss