045 – Fitness Trackers and Baby Powder

  Don't mind Chris' newfound psychic powers; do fitness trackers like Fitbits actually work? They monitor our heart beats, they count our steps and calories burnt, but do they do it accurately? And can they help us lose weight? Also: you'll never believe what actually motivates people to exercise; early detection is not as easy as it sounds; does Johnson & Johnson's baby powder cause cancer and should you even use baby powder in the…

Continue reading


There’s no single true path to weight loss

In what is going to be the first in a regularly appearing column in the Montreal Gazette, I tackle the issue of why no one diet works for everyone and why losing weight is so hard.  https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-theres-... ************************************************************************************************************************** I was once asked why I don't go out and write a diet book to make some easy money. It seems like it would be fairly simple. There are dozens of diet books out there, though many…

Continue reading


#507 Poaching, and We Don’t Mean Eggs

We all know poaching elephants for their ivory and pangolins for their scales is wrong, right? Then why do people keep doing it? We speak with Rachel Nuwer, author of the book "Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking", to find out, and figure out what can be done to stop it. And we'll talk with Vincent Nijman about why, when scientists find a new or rare species, they might want to keep that…

Continue reading