A Fantasia-inspired flirt with the dark arts strips Chris of his humanity. Does hypnotherapy work for smoking cessation, getting over phobias, weight loss and pain control? And is it any better than visualization, relaxation, or straight-up counselling? And will we ever find out what Tanya loves to do (no, no we won't). Also: valid (and less valid) criticism of a retracted Canadian paper linking aluminum to autism, and how universities keep falling for pseudoscience…

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The yearly physical has been ingrained in our minds and yet the evidence behind it is quite shaky. In fact, what you see your doctor for changes as you get older. So here's a guide of what you should be checking whether your 35 or 75. http://www.cbc.ca/life/wellness/a-guide-to-more-efficient-medical-screenings-whether-you-re-35-or-75-1.4389140 ************************************************************************ In 1976, the government formed the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Examination. The task force was given a daunting task: come up with a comprehensive plan…

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  After countless hours of idea generating, explorations, and post-production work, here is the new iteration of the biweekly show I do for the McGill Office for Science and Society: Cracked Science. In the vein of Last Week Tonight, the show tackles important topics (mine having to do with science and pseudoscience) with humour. This episode explores what the average person gets from buying a kit from 23andMe or from a similar, direct-to-consumer genetic testing…

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A special message from the hosts of this award-winning podcast (we can say it now! it's true!)

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  Chris' addiction almost leads to a car crash, so Jonathan decides to stage an intervention. Is sugar addictive? What even is an addiction? Could it be that the popular definition has little to do with the medical one? Talks of cocaine (or Michael Caine), binge-eating disorder, and How I Met Your Mother follow. Also: did somebody take antiviral Tamiflu's medal away? And why were parents sending their child's snot to researchers? What kind of…

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  Between fat and sugar, which is the devil and which is the angel(food)? Chris' latest in the Gazette: http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-low-carb-diets-versus-low-fat...   Transcript:   Many people, especially TV celebrities with diet books to sell, will tell you that sugar is bad for you and the reason why so many people are overweight. They will then go on to tell you that you can lose weight by switching sugar for fat. The promise is that you can lose…

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  Refuting the same arguments over and over again can lead people like me to sound aggressive or dismissive sometimes. And that's when the tone police comes out to hand out tickets. What are the implications?   Transcript below: Hey, this is Jonathan from The Body of Evidence. Do you sometimes wish science communicators who tackle controversial topics would just stick to the facts and stop being so judgmental? If you do, you're not alone.…

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  Before Chris' vacation, he filed the following piece for the CBC Wellness blog. It's about dairy's place in Canada's Food Guide and the evidence behind the health claims made for dairy (a topic we've covered in an early episode about milk and a more recent one about vitamin D). You can access the piece here: http://www.cbc.ca/life/wellness/if-dairy-gets-demoted-in-the-new-food-guide-does-that-mean-it-s-bad-for-you-1.4232462   Transcript follows: Canada's Food Guide is currently undergoing a major overhaul. While the final version won't be ready for…

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  Dr. Steven Novella wrote a very important piece on his blog Neurologica about food bogeymen. If you don't know who he is, Dr. Novella is a practicing neurologist at Yale School of Medicine; he is the host of one of the most popular skeptical podcasts out there, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe; he writes for and edits the amazingly thorough Science-Based Medicine blog, which he founded; and he blogs about neurology, critical thinking, and other…

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Jonathan talks to a Reiki Grand Master about therapeutic touch, the clinical trials that allegedly show that it works, the concept of "energy", and her nutritional advice.  

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