Critical Thinking

Magic, Critical Thinking and UFOs

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 18:55:28 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

My interest in magic was sparked at an early age, and I spent many a Saturday afternoon either at Perfect Magic or Morrisey Magic, Montreal’s two great magic stores that alas are no more. You went there not only to purchase tricks but also to soak up the magical atmosphere.

Is 25 Really the Magic Number?

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 09:46:46 +0000

You’ve probably heard it before—maybe on TikTok, in a health class, or from your therapist: “The frontal lobe isn’t fully developed until 25.” It’s become a sort of modern mantra, used to explain bad decisions, ghosting exes, and why your 24-year-old roommate still can’t do his taxes. But here’s the twist: this so-called scientific truth? It’s more myth than fact.

Mosquito Patches: The Itch They Can’t Scratch

Angelina Lapalme — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

While camping this weekend, I got to mind a very cute 7-month-old baby. She was super social, giggly and sporting a patch that inspired this article. As she laid her head on my shoulder, I noticed a pink patch on the back of her shirt collar. I asked her grammie what it was, and she said that the baby’s mom makes her wear this “mosquito patch” to keep the bugs away. My immediate thought was, does it actually work?

Flowing Under the Radar: Why Period Products Deserve Better Oversight

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

If you’ve ever paused to consider the ingredients in your lunch but never questioned what chemicals lay in your menstrual products— congratulations, you’re not alone. But here’s the inconvenient truth: the humble tampon may be carrying more than just your monthly misery.

Can McDonald’s Cure Your Migraine? Debunking the Viral McMigraine Trend

Eva Kellner BASc and Hosna Akhgary — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

For those who consider themselves to be a part of the “Migraine girlies” community, you may be familiar with the recent McMigraine trend on TikTok’s #migraine page.

This wellness hack is one that promotes ordering McDonald’s fries and a Coke as a newfound, DIY migraine treatment. In fact, one user (whose TikTok bio says that she is a future heart surgery nurse) claims that this order is “literally the only thing that can fix a migraine.”

Let’s not jump the gun.

The ‘Reading Crisis’ in Perspective

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Everywhere I turn, I am told there is a reading crisis. Multiple YouTube videos and a never-ending series of articles in Vox and The Atlantic claim that people are reading fewer books than ever before—and this decline is said to be worrisome. I’ve even seen the argument that we might revert back to a society where knowledge is only spread verbally, making us all vulnerable to demagoguery and formulaic slogans.

The China Study

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 13:11:07 +0000

In 2005, Colin Campbell, now Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, authored “The China Study.” The book became a best seller with its claim that the road to good health meanders through fields of vegetables and fruits with no animal in sight. A vegan diet, he claimed, is the answer to beating the diseases of western civilization, namely heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Campbell’s opinion is forged by one of the most extensive epidemiological studies ever carried out, a collaborative effort between Cornell and Oxford Universities and the Chinese government back in the 1980s.

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.

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.

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?”

Science Shows Carnivore Diet Is Best Left to Lions

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 16:15:43 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

Jenny McCarthy, a former Playboy Playmate of the Year, is playing with science again. This time it is all about the “carnivore diet.”

Shedding Light on UV Blood Irradiation

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Would you allow someone to draw your blood out, expose it to ultraviolet light, and pump it back into your body, even if I told you it wouldn’t turn you into the Incredible Hulk?