The Body of Evidence

Prostate cancer: how common, how to detect it, how to treat it (should we?) // Artificial lights and sleep with Morgan Sweeney // Should we really be eating more meat now?   * Vox pop by David Lonstein * Jingle by Joseph Hackl of Voodoo Jazz * Additional music by Seth Donnelly and Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com (including "House of Leaves" ). * Theme music: "Troll of the Mountain Swing" by the U...

Chris and Jonathan speak to Anne Borden, Amanda Seigler, and Melissa Eaton who are campaigning against phony autism cures.   0:55 Alternative treatments for autism and why they exist 3:28 Going undercover on Facebook 5:00 MMS or the bleach cure 11:00 The pushback against activism 12:31 How social media companies have responded 14:10 Chelation therapy 23:45 Pro-science celebrities 26:00 Special die...

Breast cancer screening: self-exams, mammograms, ductal carcinoma in situ, Angelina Jolie // The book “Bottle of Lies” and the safety of generic drugs // When cancer research misses its target   * Vox pop by Morgan Sweeney * Jingle by Joseph Hackl of Voodoo Jazz * Additional music by Seth Donnelly and Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com. * Theme music: "Troll of the Mountain Swing" by the Underscore...

A questionable plate of spaghetti produces something unexpected: Chris' teddy bear can now speak! Once the acid trip wears off, Jonathan and Chris discuss study aid drugs or "nootropics", like Ritalin being used by 12-year-olds to get better grades. Do these stimulants work and are there side effects? They also discuss Adderall, racetams, omega-3s, ginseng, gingko biloba, and the cocaine of Silico...

Chris and Jonathan discuss “the” healthcare system and how medicine is being practiced, with all its flaws and needs for improvement. Chris quickly starts going into too many details, but fear not: Jonathan pulls him back. This conversation will be of particular interest to Canadians, but we welcome anyone with open hearts (especially if you bring food).   01:29   There is no Canadian healthcare s...

Chris tries to shave Jonathan’s head as a poorly thought-out prophylactic measure against baldness. Meanwhile, comedian Jacob Meza interviews the cast of his comedy show: do baseball caps cause baldness… or treat it? Back in the studio, the boys talk about the many reasons why people lose their hair; Rogaine and Propecia; whether or not women can go bald; and the fact that it’s not technically tes...

Jonathan and Chris interview Ryan Armstrong, the executive director of Bad Science Watch, a consumer protection watchdog and science advocacy organization. They discuss what Bad Science Watch does; the lobbying forces surrounding Health Canada; homeopathy; the antagonist in Braveheart; the Stop Nosodes campaign; vaccine misinformation on social media; chiropractic complaints not taken seriously; i...

A discussion around ice cream reveals that Jonathan may have fallen into the Twilight Zone. Comedian Jacob Meza goes to ComicCon to talk diet pills and accidentally meets “a good swallower” he knows. Back in the studio, the boys discuss the green coffee bean marketing apocalypse; how to spot fake diet pills; and genuine pharmaceuticals that may kill you, give you hallucinations, or make you leak....

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the McGill Office for Science and Society, a university-backed office dedicated to separating sense from nonsense, Jonathan moderated a panel discussion entitled “Talking Science in the Age of Fake News”. The panelists were Prof. Joe Schwarcz, the director of the Office; Timothy Caulfield, host of a User’s Guide to Cheating Death on Netflix; Carly Weeks, health...

An unexplained bout of amnesia leads Jonathan to completely change his mind about Chris’ interior decoration choices. For the 50th episode of their podcast, the boys have friends over who will help them explain what’s been in the news lately. A dentist and a paediatrician talk about human touch; a chemistry and gender studies double major comments on the line between male and female in competitive...

Chris and Jonathan interview Timothy Caulfield, former guest of the show, health policy expert, and one of the major pro-science voices quoted in the Canadian media. They discuss solutions to vaccine hesitancy; “dancing” on Twitter; the rise of “bro science”; what recently made Tim very happy (hint: it involves the government); and Tim’s new TV show.   Timothy Caulfield on Twitter: https://twitter...

The boys travel back to 1998 to change history (and inadvertently alter the course of cutlery). Ada speaks to autistic artists to know what the media gets wrong in its portrayal of autism. Back in the studio, Jonathan and Chris discuss why it looks like rates of autism are increasing, the likely cause of autism spectrum disorder, interventions real and imaginary, and how long you have to wait to g...

Jonathan and Chris interview Brian Nosek, a professor of psychology and the co-founder and director of the Center for Open Science. They discuss problems and solutions in modern scientific research, such as committing scientists… to stick to a protocol.     Table of contents. 2:00 The culture of science.   4:18 Publications as currency for career advancement.   7:53 What researchers tell each othe...

An ill-timed surprise spells heart trouble for our favourite cardiologist. But what exactly is a heart attack, and how does it relate to strokes and angina? Do you need a stress test? What are the warning signs of a heart attack? Is stress a trigger? And what do you do if your friend complains of chest pain, short of filming it for the ‘gram? Also: eggs are no longer sunny side up in the media, bu...

Jonathan and Chris interview Jonathan Howard, a neurologist in New York who wrote a book that will make you, the patient, understand a bit more how your doctor is thinking. Howard is interested in how the brain fires (and misfires), which led him to write this book about the biases in the thinking of doctors and patients that can lead to correct answers… but that sometimes result in errors.     Th...

Chris loses his mind when he misses his after-dinner cookie, which leads the boys to talk about fasting! Ada asks students about their thoughts on the issue, which range from mentioning Terry Crews to believing monks can survive for months without eating. Back in the studio, it’s time to catch up on the hundreds of definitions of fasting and to answer the questions: does fasting work? compared to...

Chris gets surprisingly aggressive (and hairy) during a football match, which leads the boys to discuss concussions. Jacob goes to a hockey game and finds a lot of people who are intimately familiar with mild traumatic brain injuries. How common are they, what’s the treatment for them, and should you let someone with a concussion fall asleep? Perhaps more importantly, would you let your kid play f...

Don’t mind Chris’ newfound psychic powers: do fitness trackers like Fitbits actually work? They monitor our heart beats, they count our steps and calories burnt, but do they do it accurately? And can they help us lose weight? Also: you’ll never believe what actually motivates people to exercise; early detection is not as easy as it sounds; does Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder cause cancer and shou...

Jonathan and Chris interview Pixie Turner, a London-based nutritionist who used to be, according to her, a “wellness wanker”. And then she publicly changed her mind about food.   They discuss her formerly obsessive relationship with nutrition; eating for Instagram; the turning point in her life; the vicious Instagram vegan posse; becoming an inadvertent Trojan horse on social media; why wellness m...

The boys end up in the jungle with varying degrees of immunological protection and Chris subdues a jungle cat. So what are the arguments against vaccination and are they warranted? They discuss arguments like better sanitation, Big Pharma conspiracies, aborted fetuses, autism, chemical preservatives and “too many, too soon”. In a surprising twist, the Catholic Church comes to their defence. Also:...

Jonathan and Chris interview Nick Saik from Know Ideas Media, a filmmaker who specializes in communicating about food and agriculture online.   They discuss trust in farmers; going to filmmaking school and ending up working on the set of Supernatural; GMOs; precision agriculture; antibiotics in meat; the A&W dilemma; the romantic ideation of food production; RoundUp; orthorexia; chemical-free food...

Jonathan and Chris interview Cameron M. Smith, professor in the department of anthropology at Portland State University. They discuss what is anthropology; what it’s like teaching evolution in the United States; what the theory of evolution is; what we’ve learned from the fossil record; whether or not humans are still evolving; what a hominin is; the revival of Lamarck’s theory; and Cameron’s real...

A risky session on Tinder brings up the topic of Chris’ cat allergy. Meanwhile, comedian Jacob Meza learns from college students that the rise in allergies might be due to chemicals, antibiotics, or GMOs. Back in the studio, the boys talk about just how common allergies are, problems with the hygiene hypothesis, and what treatments are available. Also: is there a link between organic food consumpt...

It’s Two Men and a Baby as Jonathan realizes that Chris takes odd bets and ends up with an infant to care for. Has childbirth been over- or under-medicalized? Ada talks to clueless university students about the miracle of life. Do epidurals make mothers too “chill”? The boys discuss maternal mortality rates, what can go wrong while giving birth, and water births (wait! how does the baby not drown?...

Lost on the highway, the boys look for a cell phone signal and wonder about the potential dangers of their lifeline. Comedian Jacob Meza explores the possibilities of groin cancer while learning that some people may be scared of cell phones but are unwilling to give them up. Back in the studio, Chris and Jonathan discuss fava beans; the Larry King Show and brain cancer; subgroup analyses (which li...