Office for Science and Society - Separating Sense from Nonsense

Supermodel Heidi Klum Floats In Air and Blows Hot Air

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 23:19:00 +0000

Let’s start with the floating illusion. I would hope that if anyone sees a person suspended in mid-air, they realize that the law of gravitation has not been suspended and that some mechanism hidden from the audience is at work. The history of this illusion traces back to early 19th century India, but it was French magician Robert-Houdin who popularized it by adding a clever twist. Ether had just been introduced as an anesthetic in 1846 and Robert-Houdin cleverly wove the discovery into his act.

This French Physician’s Career Could Be Defined by the Word ‘Ectoplasm’

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 16:05:06 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

Don’t Play Yo-Yo with Your Weight: The ‘Post-Ozempic’ Rebound

Patricia Brubaker, Ph.D., F.R.S.C. — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Body weight is determined by a complex regulatory system that is necessary to ensure survival of the species – too little food reduces body weight but, extreme caloric restriction also decreases fertility and, ultimately, can result in death. Preservation of body weight is, therefore, an imperative of species survival. However, excess body weight contributes to chronic diseases, such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes, as well as fatty liver and cardiovascular diseases.

Liquid Nitrogen Tattoos

Angelina Lapalme — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 18:18:29 +0000

Body modifications have been around for a very long time. Tattoos and piercings were found on a frozen mummy dating back to 3000 B.C.E. In many countries, these modifications have cultural significance, yet they have also been introduced in western culture as a form of self-expression. But sometimes, we can get carried away.

Meet the New Rogan. Same as the Old Rogan.

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It looks as if masculinity itself has exploded into the room.

Betel Nuts

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The first time I heard of betel nuts was in 1991 at a performance of Miss Saigon at the Broadway Theatre in New York. This was Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil’s second hit musical after 1985’s phenomenally successful Les Misérables. It is a loose adaptation of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly, but instead of being set in Japan, the story unwinds in Saigon during the Viet Nam War. In the second act, a sleazy night-club hustler known as the “engineer” belts out “My American Dream,” a song with the following lyrics:

A Peashooter Will Not Bring Down a Charging Rhino

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 17:01:49 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

“A gesture as effective as sending out a boy with a peashooter to bring down a rhinoceros.”

Ultrasound During Pregnancy: Sound Advice or Sound the Alarm?

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Let’s be honest—pregnancy is basically a nine-month exercise in overthinking. Is that sushi safe? Should I be sleeping on my left side? And what, exactly, is in prenatal vitamins anyway? Somewhere on that ever-expanding list sits the ultrasound: a routine, widely used tool that some corners of the internet have started side-eyeing with suspicion.

Shedding a light on shedding: The Science of Telogen Effluvium

Ana Sophia Rashid-Cocker BSc — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It started with a few extra hairs: in my brush, on my bathroom floor, strewn across my pillow. Odd, but nothing too alarming, women shed hair all the time. But then there were more. They were dispersed across my computer at work and would fall into my hands at the slightest tug. I began to spiral: could others see them too? I swore I could feel each strand of hair popping off my scalp and drifting down my back.

Ozempic-Induced Blindness? A Measured Response

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In certain corners of the Internet, the discourse over Ozempic is terrifying. “But the FDA says that [sic] inject Gila Monster venom weekly into yourself is healthy,” one commentator sarcastically declares. “Are they lying?”