/oss/taxonomy/term/250/all en /oss/article/history/history-clinical-trials <p>Today when a new medication is introduced, we expect it to be backed by evidence gleaned from proper research. Our gold standard is the randomized double-blind controlled trial, but surprisingly the first such trial dates back only to the 1940s. That is not to say that there were no trials before, but they certainly did not provide the kind of evidence that we now seek. In fact, the first semblance of a clinical trial takes us all the way back to the Book of Daniel in the Bible.</p> Fri, 15 Mar 2024 18:05:31 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9872 at /oss /oss/article/history-general-science/molecular-structure-dna-and-dream-staircase-wasnt <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-the-molecular-structure-of-dna-and-a-dream-staircase-that-wasnt">Montreal Gazette</a>.</em></p> Fri, 19 Jan 2024 21:19:06 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9811 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-medical-general-science/nobel-prize-committee-sends-message-messenger-rna-research-merits-sciences-highest-honour <p>The wall above that photocopier located at the University of Pennsylvania may eventually feature a plaque that reads something like “it was here that Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman met in 1998 and forged a partnership that would lead to millions of lives being saved by modified RNA Covid-19 vaccines and result in the duo being awarded that 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology.” </p> Wed, 04 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9671 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking/if-youre-getting-old-you-can-blame-klotho <p>There is no shortage of stories professing the existence of a Fountain of Youth somewhere in the world, always just out of reach. Bathing in its water was claimed to undo the damage of old age. Nowadays, if we are to listen to the hype emanating from the scientific literature, it seems the Fountain of Youth was inside of us all along.</p> Fri, 29 Sep 2023 13:58:22 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9668 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-history/would-you-punish-someone-electric-shocks-if-told-do-so <p>The banality of evil.</p> <p>They were just following orders.</p> <p>People absolve themselves of any responsibility when there is someone in charge.</p> <p>These ideas have permeated our thinking, in part because of the defense many Nazi officers gave during the Nuremberg trials, and in part because of Stanley Milgram’s infamous experiments into obedience to authority. Even when the victim begged from the other room not to be shocked, so many of Milgram’s subjects kept increasing the voltage all the way to the “severe shock” setting because a man in a lab coat told them it was OK.</p> Fri, 31 Mar 2023 15:45:11 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9459 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-medical-critical-thinking/evidence-shows-masks-work <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-the-evidence-shows-masks-work">Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>As we see cases of multiple respiratory viruses rising in Canada and around the world, we now have to deal with not just COVID-19, but also respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV) and influenza. As a result, overcrowded ERs are functioning so far beyond capacity it beggars belief and the health-care system is struggling to provide people with the optimal care they deserve.</p> Fri, 18 Nov 2022 11:00:00 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9298 at /oss /oss/article/medical-technology/mini-organs-being-grown-laboratories <p>Somewhere, in a laboratory, there is a mini-brain growing. In fact, mini-brains are growing in many laboratories all over the world. What do they dream of? Nothing at the moment, and nothing for the foreseeable future. They are only a few millimetres in size, comparable to a pencil’s eraser top. Consciousness still evades them.</p> <p>And it’s not just brains. Intestines, ovaries, kidneys, even taste buds, are growing in three dimensions in laboratories, though their scale pales in comparison to the real stuff, and to call them mini-organs is overly simplistic.</p> Fri, 21 Oct 2022 10:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9274 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/doing-your-own-research-little-bit-better <p>The COVID-19 pandemic helped popularize a hair-raising phrase: “do your own research.” Portrayed as a call for self-empowerment, it became the tell-tale sign of someone who didn’t trust public health authorities, an invitation to go digging for “alternative facts."</p> <p>But “doing your own research” doesn’t have to stink of conspiracy ideation: non-scientists have been throwing themselves into the scientific literature for a while, out of a need to understand a new diagnosis or out of sheer curiosity, and it is a process that has been greatly facilitated by the Internet.</p> Wed, 13 Apr 2022 14:22:41 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9082 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/puppies-can-help-explain-how-scientists-get-things-wrong <p>If you have an interest in scientific research, you may have heard a weird term that sounds traumatizing from a urological perspective: <em>p</em>-hacking. Apparently, you’ve read, some scientists use <em>p</em>-hacking to get the results they want. And this “hack,” this way of gaining unauthorized access to glory, revolves around a mysterious entity known as the <em>p</em>-value.</p> Thu, 31 Mar 2022 19:25:25 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9071 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/malaria-vaccines-success-story-hides-legitimate-concerns <p>It has been a good year for vaccines.</p> Sat, 16 Oct 2021 08:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8898 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-general-science/finding-paper-pubmed-does-not-mean-paper-any-good <p>As more and more people “do their own research,” some end up consulting a website called<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/"> </a><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/">PubMed</a>. An argument I have encountered is that if a scientific paper is listed on PubMed, it must mean this is an all-around good and trustworthy paper. Alas, if only it were so simple...</p> Thu, 10 Jun 2021 17:07:35 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8758 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-general-science/cherry-picking-era-covid-19 <p>President Trump recently claimed that the U.S. is doing very well in the battle against COVID-19 because the death rate from the disease is declining. This was said in support of his agenda of “opening up” the country, totally ignoring that new records are being set virtually every day for people testing positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. What we have here is a typical case of “cherry-picking” of data. It isn’t that Trump’s information is incorrect, it just doesn’t present a complete picture of the situation.</p> Wed, 08 Jul 2020 18:41:10 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8331 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/channels/event/science-and-skepticism-critiquing-bad-research-anti-science-era-285300 <p><strong>Speakers</strong></p> Thu, 22 Feb 2018 17:58:33 +0000 emily.shore@mcgill.ca 6930 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere/liberation-procedure <p>It’s a great name for a possible cure for multiple sclerosis: “The Liberation Procedure.” Indeed patients suffering from MS feel that their body is being held prisoner by some strange force. Their arms and legs can grow numb, they experience visual problems, they may get strange tingling sensations and they’re constantly fatigued. Eventually most lose the ability to control their movements. Who would not want to be liberated from such a terrible affliction?</p> Sat, 15 Oct 2011 15:14:24 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1623 at /oss