Office for Science and Society - Separating Sense from Nonsense

Cracking the Case on Seeds, Nuts, and Bowel Issues

Christopher Labos MD, MSc — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

If you have diverticulosis, you were probably told to avoid eating nuts and seeds. The worry was that tiny food particles could get stuck in the small cervices of the bowel wall and get infected. It was inherently logical and made a lot of sense to many physicians. But it may not be true.

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.

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?

Einstein’s Brain

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 17:46:23 +0000

Vladimir Lenin lies in a mausoleum in Red Square in Moscow in a preserved state. But he has no brain. That’s because the Soviet government had it removed after he died in 1924. They wanted to have the brain examined scientifically to see how it differed from that of mere mortals. After all, someone who thought up something as clever as communism must have had a very special brain! The item in question was sent to Oskar Vogt, a well-known German neuroscientist, who spent a couple of years studying it. His conclusion?

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 Invisible Houseguest: Should You Worry About Radon in Your Home?

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

There may be an uninvited guest in your home. It doesn’t eat your snacks, hog the remote, or leave the toilet seat up—but it might be slowly increasing your risk of lung cancer. Meet radon: a colourless, odourless, tasteless radioactive gas that may be living in your basement rent-free.

So… what exactly is it?

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.

When Tea Changes Hues Out of the Blue

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 17:57:08 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

So there I was, ready with a tea bag in one hand, a slice of lemon in the other and a couple of grandkids collared into being the audience. I said we were going to do a chemical experiment. They were not too excited. After all, they had seen tea being made before.

Lise Meitner: The Forgotten Mother of Nuclear Fission

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Science is the story of discoveries but sometimes credit isn’t given when it is due. How many women discoverers can you name? Discoveries such as DNA’s double helix structure and the greenhouse effect are tainted by their unjust past. Rosalind Franklin and Eunice Newton Foote, respectively, are two women whose work led to each of these discoveries, and both were snubbed by male researchers.