/oss/taxonomy/term/2402/all en /oss/article/environment/heat-may-do-more-make-us-feel-miserable <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-its-too-darned-hot">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 05 Jul 2024 15:41:21 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9996 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking/you-wont-die-touching-fentanyl <p>On the fictional cop show <i>Blue Bloods, </i>in the appropriately titled episode “Pain Killers,” detective Maria Baez picks up a tray containing drug paraphernalia and a white powder and is soon <a href="https://youtu.be/RMpCGD7b_H4?si=fEWBmiHBd8s7nC8w&t=374">seen on a gurney</a>, fighting for her life, as a healthcare worker proclaims, “Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine.</p> Fri, 13 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9694 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/caller-killer-911-call-analysis-cant-give-you-right-answer <p>“Police thought they could read her mind just by listening.” It’s a chilling statement in <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/911-call-analysis-jessica-logan-evidence">reporter Brett Murphy’s <i>ProPublica </i>coverage</a> and it sums up the pseudoscience of 911 call analysis. One of the founders of this technique, deputy police chief Tracy Harpster from Moraine, Ohio, is said to have plainly stated that he knows <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/911-call-analysis-fbi-police-courts">“what a guilty father, mother or boyfriend sounds like.”</a> How?</p> Fri, 24 Mar 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9449 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-history/polygraph <p>John Augustus Larson was the inventor of the modern polygraph. Although, some list the polygraph as one of the greatest inventions, many scientists consider it to be pseudoscience.  Yet, many countries continue to use the polygraph test as an interrogation test on suspects and for screening new employees. However, many people can beat the old-fashioned polygraph test. For example, when the interrogation commences, the subject can artificially increase their heart rate during the control questions.</p> Mon, 22 May 2017 15:42:18 +0000 OSS 2469 at /oss /oss/article/drugs-news/crooked-chemist <p>34-year-old Annie Dookhan was labeled the “most productive” chemist in the Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Boston which tests drugs seized in police raids. According to numerous reports she tested far more samples than any other chemist. Eventually her coworkers began to question and scrutinize her work.</p> Wed, 21 Nov 2012 03:35:23 +0000 Alexandra Pires-Ménard, OSS Intern 1828 at /oss