/oss/taxonomy/term/4901/all en /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/shamwow-fallacy-or-how-placebos-were-redefined <p>If I told you that an all-natural remedy performed just as well as a placebo in a clinical trial, how would you interpret that?</p> <p>Proponents of so-called complementary and alternative medicine often clamour for large clinical trials to be done of their interventions like homeopathy and acupuncture and criticize the lack of money to conduct these studies. Very often, however, these studies have been conducted, but because the results were disappointing, they are easily swept under the carpet and wiped from their memory.</p> Fri, 27 Dec 2024 18:22:56 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10214 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/why-its-been-so-difficult-address-inflammations-role-heart-disease <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/article618459.html">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 20 Dec 2024 18:45:57 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 10208 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-reviews/christmas-desserts-will-make-you-live-longer-says-satirical-study <p>Here is your permission to indulge in delicious Christmas treats this holiday season: a study shows—nay, <i>proves!</i>—that yuletide desserts often use ingredients that have been scientifically demonstrated to lower your risk of disease and death. You will still die, as we all do eventually, but not quite as early if you devour a Christmas log.</p> <p>Before you start baking, though, I need to point out that this study should be taken with a grain of salt, as it was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek.</p> Fri, 20 Dec 2024 18:21:18 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10207 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-environment-did-you-know/good-old-dihydrogen-monoxide <p>You have probably heard about people who have actually signed a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide. The petition states that this chemical is found in cancerous tissue, accelerates corrosion, can cause suffocation, can result in blistering burns in its gaseous form, contributes to global warming, and for those who have developed a dependency on it, complete withdrawal means almost certain death. Usually, the aim of circulating this petition is to demonstrate scientific illiteracy by drawing attention to people not recognizing that dihydrogen monoxide is just the chemical term for water.</p> Wed, 18 Dec 2024 17:50:36 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10205 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/telepathy-tapes-prove-we-all-want-believe <p><i>The Telepathy Tapes </i>is <a href="https://thetelepathytapes.com/">a seven-hour podcast series</a> that takes listeners on an incredible journey. Here is a summary of the show. A journalist taps into a community of parents of nonverbal autistic children and discovers that we all live in a simulation and the real world is Heaven, and these neurodivergent kids are actually gifted and they can visit Heaven at night, download infinite knowledge, and use telepathy to communicate.</p> Fri, 13 Dec 2024 15:56:21 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10197 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/are-black-plastic-spatulas-and-serving-spoons-safe-use <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-are-black-plastic-spatulas-and-serving-spoons-safe-to-use">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>There is probably no quote more often cited in discussions of toxicity than that of 16th-century Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus, namely that “only the dose makes the poison.”</p> Fri, 06 Dec 2024 18:28:36 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10192 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-technology/dental-x-rays-may-be-overused-they-are-safe <p>X-rays of our teeth are routinely prescribed by dentists, but you know what else follows a certain periodicity? Media coverage of the alleged danger and overuse of these dental radiographs.</p> Fri, 06 Dec 2024 18:22:15 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10191 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/reincarnation-dr-oz-show-and-other-miracles <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-the-reincarnation-of-the-dr-oz-show-and-other-miracles">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>“Eat broccoli and exercise.”</p> <p>Those were the words that first acquainted me with Dr. Mehmet Oz sometime in 2004 when I caught a segment of the Oprah Winfrey Show.</p> Fri, 29 Nov 2024 22:27:28 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10184 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-pseudoscience/bhattacharya-decide-fate-medical-research <p>An economist turned pandemic celebrity, who loudly and repeatedly advocated for mass infections with the coronavirus, has been nominated by Donald Trump as the new director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).</p> Fri, 29 Nov 2024 15:49:51 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10183 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-history/fluoride-controversy <p>The nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services is a travesty. His ideas about vaccination, raw milk, hyperbaric oxygen, HIV, Wi-Fi and COVID fly in the face of evidence-based science. But once in a while, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn, so not all of Kennedy’s ideas are outrageous. The American diet with its plethora of highly processed foods needs change, the pricing of drugs and some of the advertising antics of pharmaceutical companies need to be addressed.</p> Wed, 27 Nov 2024 19:31:34 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10180 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/kennedys-coalition-quacks-wants-feed-america-diet-lies <p>When America sneezes, the world catches a cold. Donald Trump’s renewed tenancy in the White House, with anti-vaxxer-in-chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr whispering in his ear, promises more than just sneezes. It heralds the return of vaccine-preventable illnesses, which do not stop at the border.</p> Fri, 15 Nov 2024 06:40:39 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10162 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/ballistic-bomb-fizzes-out <p>The advertising is pretty bold. “Feel Good in the Southern Hemisphere! Try a Ballistic Bomb.” They’re not talking about hitching a ride aboard a missile to Australia. They’re talking about the Southern Hemisphere of the body. The part that is immersed in the water in a bath. The Ballistic Bomb is a hardened cake of chemicals that is designed to be dropped into the bath water. It produces vigorous fizzing, supposedly the cause of pleasure in the “Southern Hemisphere,” while releasing a plethora of scents which claim to relax the bather and put a smile on his or her face. </p> Wed, 13 Nov 2024 14:47:11 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10160 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/linoleic-acid-neither-villain-nor-superhero <p>Are you familiar with linoleic acid? If you’ve heard about it from Dr.</p> Fri, 08 Nov 2024 16:23:16 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10153 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-history/what-if-dr-kellogg-had-watched-seinfeld <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-what-if-dr-kellogg-had-watched-seinfeld">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Dr. John Harvey Kellogg would have enjoyed The Contest and The Abstinence, two classic Seinfeld episodes.</p> <p>In The Contest, Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine wager on who can remain master of their domain for the longest time. In The Abstinence, George and Elaine experience the consequences of temporary celibacy.</p> Fri, 01 Nov 2024 21:51:44 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10139 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/are-fums-essential-oils-safe-inhale <p>“It’s like some… like a wooden cigarette that gives you flavours, but it’s not even a cigarette, you don’t even light it.”</p> Fri, 01 Nov 2024 06:09:08 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10138 at /oss