Science for the People

We talk to Jennifer Ouellette, author of The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse. We’ll find out how much advanced math figures into our daily lives, and how even the mathematically challenged can learn to love the language of numbers. And hip-hop science advocate Baba Brinkman returns to discuss his new project, The Rap Guide to Human Nature. Find out more about Baba's crowdfunding drive for the Rap Guide to Evolution DVD!

We look at scientific consensus through the eyes of non-scientists. Skeptic North bloggers Erik Davis and Steve Thoms explain how non-professional researchers can understand the state of modern science on questions from climate change to the effects of electromagnetic fields. Skeptic Bros Tom and Nick Croucher talk about the Placebo Band, a project targeting the claims of applied kinesiology.

The Power Balance bracelet decision we mentioned on-air is posted at Vic Skeptics.

We set the table for Jeff Potter, author of Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks and Good Food. From overclocking your kitchen appliances to recipes right out of a chemistry lab manual, we’ll explore how delicious cooking can be when you add a dash of nerd. Immunologist Dr. Gary Stadtmauer joins us to explain the science behind food allergies. Dr. Stadmauer mentioned two allergy resources on this episode: www.foodallergy.org and the Food Allergy Initiative. Desiree mentioned a news story she had read about poppy seeds causing a false positive on a drug test, leading to a newborn being removed...

In honour of CJSR's FunDrive, we took a look back at some of our favourite moments from the show, and offered our (insightful and witty) commentary. Please note: Although FunDrive is over, it's never too late to donate. If you do decide to contribute online, please email us and let us know, so we can make sure you receive a tasteful and iconic Skeptically Speaking button! If you have already donated, we think you're great. The clips that we played on this show came from these past episodes: Astronomy Science Fiction and Skepticism Ask a Pharmacist How Many Licks Great...

The first show of our host station’s CJSR’s annual FunDrive campaign features a look at the science of race, with Guy P. Harrison, author of Race and Reality: What Everyone Should Know about Our Biological Diversity. Is there any real biological basis to race? And how does it compare with our cultural understanding? We talk to Noah Nez, author of Diary of a Native Skeptic, a blog that looks at critical thinking from a Native American perspective.

We talk to Dr. David Gorski, surgical oncologist and Managing Editor of Science-Based Medicine, about the science and the suspicion of vaccinations. How do vaccines actually work? Why do so many parents fear them? And how has vaccine anxiety contributed to the resurgence of childhood diseases? Leart Shaka talks about The Vaccine Times, his project targeting pediatrician’s waiting rooms in the fight against vaccine misinformation.

We speak with academic psychologist Dr. Cordelia Fine. Her new book, Delusions Of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference, challenges the assumption that gender roles are wired into our brains, and shows us how ubiquitous cultural stereotypes are mistaken for actual fact. On Everything You Know is Sort Of Wrong, Greg Laden asks if modern hobbies are an evolutionary consequence of prehistoric gender roles.

You can find more information about the Waterloo, Ontario Drinking Skeptically on Meetup and Facebook.

We’ll speak to Bora Zivkovic, Blog and Community Editor at Scientific American and one of the ScienceOnline organizers, about how online science reporting and the explosion of science blogging are affecting the way science news is brought to the public. And science journalist Stephen Strauss will tell us how the decline of the newspaper industry has affected his profession.

Looking for the Science Blog Aggregator mentioned on the show? Click here.

We’re joined by neuroscientist and musician Daniel Levitin, to discuss his book This Is Your Brain on Music. We’ll look at the neuroscience of music appreciation, and explore the fascinating ways that listening to music affects our brains. And on Speaking Up, Raven Hanna and Logan Daniel share a look at the Science Tarot, a project that uses eye-catching art and the mythical structure of the tarot to illuminate scientific concepts, and Richard Murray on the inaugural Toronto Skepticamp.

We look at the stranger side of science with Marc Abrahams, the editor of Annals of Improbable Research and creator of the the Ig Nobel Prize. Is science that makes us laugh better at making us think? And neurobiologist Dr. Richard Wassersug explains his research into the relative tastiness of Costa Rican tadpoles.