/oss/taxonomy/term/4424/all en /oss/article/medical-history/nothing-memorable-about-memory-supplements <hr /> <p>This article was first published in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-nothing-memorable-about-memory-supplements">Montreal Gazette.</a></p> Fri, 16 Feb 2024 19:27:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9835 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/world-health-organization-has-pseudoscience-problem <p>The World Health Organization has a definition of the soul.</p> <p>It is not technically theirs, but it appears in the glossary of one of their many official documents. The soul, according to the WHO, is derived from the astral organization, which is another term they have had to define. The astral organization, you see, is distinct from the etheric organization. That same document, coming out of the world’s foremost authority on global health, mentions such esoteric concepts as rhythmical embrocation, a type of energy healing that involves rhythmic strokes on the body.</p> Fri, 28 Apr 2023 14:00:51 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9496 at /oss /oss/article/pseudoscience/pseudosciences-constant-appeal-shadow-beautiful-science <p>Fifty years ago, polymath Jacob Bronowski, creator of the TV series <i>The Ascent of Man</i>, and author of the book by the same title wrote:</p> Fri, 10 Mar 2023 20:35:30 +0000 Enrico Uva B.Sc. Dip. Ed. 9431 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/umpteenth-resurrection-loch-ness-monster <p>The Loch Ness monster will simply not die, nor will its legend.</p> Fri, 19 Aug 2022 10:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9204 at /oss /oss/article/general-science/tips-better-thinking-it-doesnt-always-get-published <p>Thinking clearly is not just about recognizing the ways in which our brain misbehaves. Sometimes, it’s about realizing that the information we find in the world is incomplete. We all know that political information can be cherry-picked in the service of ideology, but science unfortunately does not escape from this phenomenon.</p> Wed, 21 Oct 2020 10:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8455 at /oss /oss/article/general-science/science-changes-accumulation-evidence <p>I remember once giving a talk on vitamins and having someone come up to me after with a comment along the lines of “I was in your class years ago and you were talking about the benefits of vitamin E for the heart and now you are saying it is pretty well useless. How can we trust science when one day you say this the next day that?”</p> <p>Understandable comment. But we need to point out that science is an ongoing quest for knowledge and is based on coming to conclusions based on observations. As more and more observations accumulate, conclusions may change.</p> Wed, 01 Apr 2020 21:46:02 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8204 at /oss /oss/article/health/quercetin-take-or-not-take <p>The quercetin compound occurs widely in nature, found in berries, fruits, grains, and vegetables. Onions and kale are particularly rich. Quercetin is a “polyphenol” and belongs to the “flavonoid” family of compounds. “Polyphenol” is a description of molecular structure and refers to the multiplicity OH groups around the periphery of the molecule. It is these “functional groups” that allow polyphenols to neutralize potentially damaging free radicals through the donation of a hydrogen atom.</p> Wed, 25 Mar 2020 12:47:04 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8193 at /oss