502 Conversations - Science, Skepticism, Pseudoscience, Philosophy, and more.

Cholesterol denialism Dr. Christopher Labos is a cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology. He spends most of his time doing things for which he does not get paid, like research, teaching, podcasting, and speaking with me. He writes for the Montreal Gazette, makes regular appearances on CBC radio and TV, and is co-host of The Body of Evidence podcast, where he and Jonathan Jarry take a skeptical eye at health claims and look at the body of evidence on a variety of health topics. He is also the author of the book: Does Coffee Cause Cancer and Eight More Myths About the Food We Eat. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Video version available at https://youtu.be/JUJKfcEWiqY Links to topics/papers mentioned in the show: Cholesterol denialism https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/cholesterol-denialism-pseudoscience-2024a100083z Endurance exercise https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/too-much-good-thing-can-endurance-exercise-be-harmful-2024a1000fhx and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0870255124000799?via%3Dihub Multivitamins, cocoa extract and dementia https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/996926 and https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/981780 https://www.mdedge.com/cardiology/article/270665/arrhythmias-ep/skip-potassium-after-cardiac-surgery Intermittent fasting https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/1000544 Sodium vs. potassium for BP https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/999805 Internal mammary ligation for angina RCT https://www.nejm.org/doi/abs/10.1056/NEJM195905282602204 Chelation therapy https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/medical/study-gets-heart-controversial-chelation-therapy

Adrienne is a skeptical activist, and serves as a board member for the nonprofit organization About Time. Additionally, she holds positions as a board member, presenter, and educational consultant for the Tourette OCD Alberta Network. Adrienne actively contributes as an editor for Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia; reports for The Skeptic Zone podcast; writes for Skeptical Inquirer magazine in the US and Australia’s The Skeptic Magazine; and co-chairs the Western Canadian Reason Conference (WeCanReason), which is held annually each May in Calgary, Canada. Her website is zonegiggler.ca Video version available at https://youtu.be/GLmyzbIbe0M © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Thumbnail credit: Skeptical Inquirer

This episode may be viewed as a video here: https://youtu.be/9t_wwXRo4j0 Welcome! As I mentioned in the 502 Conversations Brain Training episode with Dr. Indre Viskontas, I did a prior show on brain supplements. The show is The Dr. Dennis Show, which I co-host. I thought it might be a good idea to excerpt the brain supplement segment and make it available on 502 Conversations. Enjoy! © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited. Links to reports mentioned in this show: MEMORY SUPPLEMENTS Clarifying FDA and FTC Roles Could Strengthen Oversight and Enhance Consumer Awareness https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-17-416.pdf The Real Deal on Brain Health Supplements: GCBH Recommendations on Vitamins, Minerals, and Other Dietary Supplements https://tinyurl.com/m5cru57j New Report Pans Supplements for Brain Health: AARP collaborative council finds little value — but lots of expense — in would-be memory boosters https://tinyurl.com/y4btb3w6 Summer 2021 update to AARP’s Supplement survey:https://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/global-council-on-brain-health/supplements/

This episode may be viewed as a video here https://youtu.be/7FuWSjf2YEQ Dr. Joe Schwarcz is Director of the McGill Office for Science and Society. He is well known for his informative and entertaining public lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to the science of aging and is fondly referred to as Dr. Joe. He hosts "The Dr. Joe Show" on Montreal's CJAD radio; writes the newspaper column The Right Chemistry for the Montreal Gazette; and has authored the best-selling books such as Radar, Hula Hoops and Playful Pigs; An Apple a Day; and Monkeys, Myths, and Molecules. His newest is book, Superfoods, Silkworms, and Spandex: Science and Pseudoscience in Everyday Life. Dr. Joe is also an amateur magician and often spices up his presentations with a little magic, and like most magicians he has a pronounced disdain for pseudoscience and charlatans, from psychics to so called alternative health practitioners. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited.

A video version is available at https://youtu.be/_VdNPIoajSc David Samson, PhD., is an Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Toronto, and Director of the Sleep and Human Evolution Lab. He is the author of “Our Tribal Future: How to channel our foundational human instincts into a force for good”. His research directly addresses the central anthropological question of human uniqueness. In other words, the question he asks is what is it about our species that has made us the most successful animal on the planet? He’s comparatively worked with human and non-human primates around the globe to better understand the behavioral, physiological, and cognitive suite of traits that likely played a crucial role in our advance. © 2024 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission, is prohibited.

This episode may also be viewed here. Remember when we were young and chocolate was good for us? And red wine too, the more the better? Dr. Christopher Labos is here once again to set the record straight. He talks more about his book - plot and character development; the French Paradox; Mendelian randomization; this year in Cardiology, and more! A cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology, he spends most of his time doing things for which he does not get paid, like research, teaching, and podcasting. Occasionally, he finds time to practice as a cardiologist so he can pay his rent. He realizes that half of his research findings will be disproved in five years: he just doesn't know which half. He writes for the Montreal Gazette, and makes regular appearances on CBC radio and TV. © 2023 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission is prohibited.

This episode may be seen as a video here https://youtu.be/NK6QxIdhueQ Dr. Young is a Professor of Communication and Political Science at the University of Delaware where she studies the content, audience, and effects of nontraditional political information. She has published over sixty academic articles and book chapters on the content, psychology, and effects of political information, satire, and misinformation. She is a Research Fellow with the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication and is a recipient of the University’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Young's 2020 TED Talk explaining how our psychology shapes our politics, and how media exploit these relationships, has been viewed almost two million times. She publishes extensively in the popular press with essays and Op-eds in outlets including Vox.com, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She has appeared on CNN, PBS Newshour, ABC News, NPR, and various national and international podcasts. Her popular University of Delaware course "Propaganda and Persuasion" was released by Wondrium’s The Great Courses in 2023. Her book Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Rage, Fear, and Laughter in the U.S. examines satire and outrage as the logical extensions of the respective psychological profiles of liberals and conservatives, and her new book is Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive our Appetite for Misinformation. Dr. Young is also an improvisational comedian, performing regularly with the improv comedy troupe, ComedySportz Philadelphia, and she has worked with Flackcheck.org to debunk inaccurate political claims through satire and parody. She grew up in New Hampshire and graduated from the University of New Hampshirebefore moving to Philadelphia to pursue her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. She has been a professor at the University of Delaware since 2006. © 2023 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission is prohibited.

This episode may also be viewed as a video here https://youtu.be/A564BmrXTAo Andy Norman has a PhD in Philosophy from Northwestern University and is the award-winning author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think. andynorman.org His research illuminates the evolutionary origins of human reasoning, the norms that make dialogue fruitful, and the workings of the mind’s immune system. He champions the emerging science of mental immunity as the antidote to disinformation, propaganda, hate, and division. His work has appeared in Scientific American, Psychology Today, Skeptic, Free Inquiry, and The Humanist and he directs the Humanism Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the founder of CIRCE, the Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative. © 2023 Dedham TV. Unauthorized duplication, for any reason, without permission is prohibited.