/oss/taxonomy/term/3161/all en /oss/article/medical-general-science/why-do-kids-get-cancer <p>I attended a seminar many years ago given by a Ph.D. student who had spent years working on a particular type of childhood cancer. During the question-and-answer period, I raised my hand. I wanted to know why it was that children even got cancer when most cancers require decades of mutation accumulation.</p> <p>The student didn’t seem to understand my question, which I reformulated a couple of times before one of the professors in the audience turned to me and said, “It’s stochastic,” meaning it’s random, it can’t be predicted, and it’s just bad luck.</p> Fri, 26 Apr 2024 16:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9928 at /oss /oss/article/pseudoscience-general-science/direct-consumer-2-epigenetic-boogaloo <p>Cutting-edge science can be used to fashion mirages. We are led to believe there is value in the product, a drink to quench our thirst for knowledge. But when we have spent our money, we are stuck sifting sand through our fingers.</p> Thu, 13 Aug 2020 15:21:33 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8361 at /oss /oss/article/pseudoscience/thetahealingr-money-youll-spend-never-existed <p>It must have looked like they were testing for telepathy. One self-described healer and their patient, sitting face to face, were each wearing what I would describe as a rugby helmet covered in electrodes, the tangle of cables coming off of the skull cap looking like a cyberpunk ponytail.</p> <p>This strange experiment was published in 2016. The goal? To see if the central claim of a method called ThetaHealing® could be confirmed by looking at real-time brain activity.</p> Thu, 01 Aug 2019 16:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 7844 at /oss /oss/article/health-videos/new-world-epigenetics-cs24 <p><div class="media-youtube-video media-element file-default media-youtube-1"> <iframe class="media-youtube-player" id="media-youtube-owigdevz-t0" width="640" height="390" title="The New World of Epigenetics (CS24)" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/owIGDeVZ-T0?wmode=opaque&controls=&enablejsapi=1&modestbranding=1&playerapiid=media-youtube-owigdevz-t0&origin=https%3A//www.mcgill.ca&rel=0" name="The New World of Epigenetics (CS24)" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>Video of The New World of Epigenetics (CS24)</iframe> </div> </p> Fri, 18 Jan 2019 17:54:25 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 7544 at /oss /oss/article/health/cracked-science-14-top-5-myths-about-dna <p><div class="media-youtube-video media-element file-default media-youtube-2"> <iframe class="media-youtube-player" id="media-youtube-kfvxrcklrdc" width="640" height="390" title="Top 5 Myths About DNA (CS14)" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/kfVxrcKlRDc?wmode=opaque&controls=&enablejsapi=1&modestbranding=1&playerapiid=media-youtube-kfvxrcklrdc&origin=https%3A//www.mcgill.ca&rel=0" name="Top 5 Myths About DNA (CS14)" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>Video of Top 5 Myths About DNA (CS14)</iframe> </div> </p> Thu, 10 May 2018 18:23:25 +0000 Jonathan Jarry, MSc 7079 at /oss /oss/article/general-science-quackery/correactologyr-or-how-identify-pseudoscience <p><span>What makes something “pseudoscientific”? The answer to this question—of how to discriminate between genuine science and a wolf in science’s clothing—can be very complex, as it actually falls under the jurisdiction of philosophy. But even without wading into the waters of the philosophy of science, we can identify warning signs that one’s credulity might be taken for a ride.</span></p> <p><span>Let’s focus on an interesting example.</span></p> Thu, 10 May 2018 15:19:20 +0000 Jonathan Jarry, MSc 7065 at /oss