Office for Science and Society - Separating Sense from Nonsense

COP30: Reclaiming the Truth

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

On January 7th, 2026, Donald Trump explicitly withdrew the United States from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), along with 65 other organizations. His reasoning was that these organizations and treaties “no longer serve American interests.” This action is one of Trump’s many attacks on the integrity of climate change.

There are Lots of Longevity Regimens. One Stands out for Me

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 02:50:22 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

Can you Live Longer by Eating a “Healthy” Diet?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:35:13 +0000

“Eat your vegetables!” is a command that just about every child has heard. “They’ll make you stronger” is a common follow up. The “stronger” connection is often traced back to Popeye the Sailorman’s guzzling spinach for its vitamin A content. Yes, vitamin A not iron! Contrary to the myth, Popeye never talked about iron in spinach making him stronger. In a 1932 comic strip, Popeye explicitly states, "Spinach is full of vitamin A, an' tha's what makes hoomans strong an' helty".

Your Poop Is Not Reliable, At Least for Now

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:02:55 +0000

Let’s say you mail your poop to two different companies—not an illegal act, by the way, provided it doesn’t smell or soil anything, and that it’s

How Dreams and Frog Hearts Led to the Discovery of Neurotransmitters

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 23:44:10 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

The banging on the door at 3 in the morning of March 12, 1938, by Gestapo agents was fierce. They were rousing Otto Loewi out of bed to drag him off to jail. His crime? Loewi was Jewish. It didn’t matter that two years earlier he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for a landmark experiment that was destined to change the course of medicine.

Man Flu and Other Near-Death Experiences

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 23:22:43 +0000

A few months ago, an orthopedic surgery resident told me a story I still think about. The worst patients to reset fractures on, she said, were men in their thirties. They scream, beg for anesthetic, and prolong the process as much as humanly possible. The best patients? Women in their sixties, who will sit unflinchingly still and remark in surprise when the process is “over already”.

Everyone Else Is Wrong: The Dr. Amen Story

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 21:18:07 +0000

When a psychiatrist diagnoses you with anxiety, depression, an eating disorder or a learning disability—or even a serious pathology like schizophrenia—they don’t typically look at your brain. Dr. Daniel Amen thinks they should.

Paying Attention to My Own Lectures

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 20:00:01 +0000

“It builds muscle!” That’s the usual answer I get when I ask in class about the importance of protein in the diet. Sort of correct since muscles are indeed composed mostly of protein, but the protein we eat does not directly build muscles. It is broken down during digestion into its constituent amino acids that are then pieced together by enzymes (also proteins) to become the proteins that make up muscle tissue.

Granitoids, Pebbled Ice and Crescent Chips: Curling Chemistry

Ada McVean M.Sc. — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:48:37 +0000

As you can imagine, there's a lot of physics involved in curling. Rotation speeds, angles, momentum transfer, friction analysis, ecetera. But would you also believe there's a bunch of chemistry at play here, too?

Rare Blood Clots After Certain COVID Vaccines, Explained

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 14:12:37 +0000

The light at the end of the pandemic tunnel was marred by a worrying shadow. As the COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out, headlines fuelled anxiety: some people were developing life-threatening blood clots after receiving either the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (made by one of its subsidiaries, Janssen Vaccines) or the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot.