Office for Science and Society - Separating Sense from Nonsense

I Would Have Loved to Be There (and Not Just for the Toilets)

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 20:25:59 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

The first sight visitors encountered at London’s Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in 1851 was a 27-foot glass fountain that continuously dispensed Schweppes naturally carbonated spring water sourced from the Malvern Hills in England.

Quackery in Quebec: The Trojan Horse Bill I Worry About

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:13:56 +0000

A new bill has been proposed at the National Assembly of Quebec, and while it may look like it will benefit our health, there is a lot going on under the surface. It is an excellent example of how the rebranding of pseudoscience gives it legitimacy, and this Trojan horse is now knocking on our legislative door.

An Ode to Cyanotype Printing

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000

I wouldn’t consider myself one to be too artistically inclined. I am unable to draw, I am not crafty, and I certainly cannot make music. It’s not that I don’t enjoy doing crafts; I do. I just was not blessed with this natural talent. That’s why, when I came across cyanotype, I was intrigued.

Should You Worry About a Carcinogen in Your Shampoo?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:54:58 +0000

Our story starts with “surfactants,” a term derived from “surface active agents.” These are molecules with one end being “hydrophilic”, meaning it is attracted to water, while the other “hydrophobic” end is attracted to oily substances or to air. If you like your shampoo to form a luxurious lather, disdain stains on your clothes and dishes and don’t want your face cream to separate into layers, then you want surfactants in your life. But surfactants aren’t grown in fields or harvested from trees, not directly anyway. They have to be chemically synthesized. And therein lies the problem.

Injections of ‘MOTS-c’ Can Make You Live Longer. If You Are a Mouse

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 03:24:15 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

Seeing Turmeric in a New Light

Angelina Lapalme — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 02:56:47 +0000

As you could probably tell by spending two minutes in my presence, I love chemistry. It’s part of who I am. To some people, that might get a little annoying, but I promise I know to tone down the chemistry nerdiness depending on my audience. While learning the technical information is great and all, what really excites me is seeing chemistry in action, especially when it catches me by surprise.

The Homicidal Triad Seen on Crime Dramas Is Wrong

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 18:34:00 +0000

If you have a child who still wets the bed after the age of 5, and if you are a fan of crime dramas, you may be asking yourself some seriously dark questions about your kid’s future.

Episodic television crime dramas love to serve up outdated, simplistic but sensationalistic models of human psychology. Criminals with weird manifestations of OCD get easily profiled by preternaturally competent, fast-talking, genius-IQ law enforcement officers, who bring the perp to justice in 42 minutes tops. Real life this is not.

Handling Receipts at the Supermarket

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 18:18:08 +0000

I was startled by the comment from the shopper just behind me at the checkout counter in the supermarket. “You really shouldn’t be doing that!” Noting the quizzical look on my face, a further clarification was obviously needed. “I mean you shouldn’t be handling the receipt,” she went on. Indeed, I had taken the thermal paper receipt from the cashier and without looking at it tossed it in with the groceries. I now understood my fellow shopper’s concern.

How PCOS Became PMOS

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000

When scientists discover they've been wrong about a disease, changing their minds is only half the battle. The other half is updating everything that came from that misunderstanding: the textbooks, the guidelines, the assumptions people carry around, and sometimes even the name of the disease itself.

That's exactly what's happening with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which has officially been renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS).

Blue Light Vs. Red Light

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 01:34:54 +0000

There is an epic fight unfolding between the light side and the dark side of, no, not the Force, but the light spectrum itself. You will have seen the countless gadgets claiming to heal you with red light—the creepy masks full of LEDs, the therapeutic light boxes, even the full-body infrared saunas. Red light, we are told, has health benefits.