The Reality Check

A little extra content for all you checkers this week! Given the recent headlines about the first image of a black hole, Pat and Cristina give our favourite astronomer a call to help us understand what it means. Dr. Stuart Robbins is a research scientist in the field of planetary geophysics.

This week Adam looks at Shen Yun Performing Arts and investigates its ties to the Falon Gong, the Chinese Government, Communism and organ harvesting. Next, Cristina examines a longstanding notion that Walt Disney arranged to have his corpse frozen in a cryonic chamber to be revived at a later date. Lastly, Darren gives an overview of Phil Plait's book 'Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing Hoax'.

This week, Greg Brown and Mitch Moffit, the dynamic duo behind the hugely successful AsapSCIENCE YouTube channel and Sidenote podcast, grace TRC's studio for a fun and fact-filled show! Mitch kicks things off with their popular Sidenote segment, "What Did We Learn This Week", by examining the influence of trees on the urban heat island effect. Greg brings us a fascinating look at how farming culture influenced pronunciation. Finally, Producer Pat helms a hilarious round of 'Spot The Fake' featuring Greg, Mitch, Cristina, Darren and Adam.

Happy Spring, Checkers! Pat kicks off the show with one of his fun deep dives and looks into a suspicious online video of an amusement park ride that has gone viral to the tune of over 100 million views. Next up, Darren follows up on his segment from last week to answer 'why do so many Egyptian statues have broken noses?' Finally, Adam examines whether or not the police could track you down using a DNA database and ponders the implications.

The whole crew is back on the cast this week! Fresh from his trip to Egypt and Jordan, Darren digs into some fascinating ancient Egyptian myths. After seeing car commercials lauding J.D. Power & Associates awards for the umpteenth time, Cristina asks 'wtf are the J.D. Power Awards?' Finally, Adam tries to determine the true origin of the term "hocus pocus".

We are thrilled to have Dr David Stukus back on TRC! He tells us what the science has to say about introducing allergenic foods into an infant's diet plus he answers some checker's questions. Dave is a pediatric allergy and asthma specialist at Nationwide Children's hospital. He's the social media medical editor for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and a member of the Joint Task Force on Practice Parameters. He is an author, podcaster, and a strong advocate of science based-medicine on Twitter.

Dr. Stuart Farrimond is back and we are chuffed! Specializing in food science, Stuart is a former medical doctor turned science and medical writer, presenter, and educator who makes regular appearances on British TV, radio and international publications including the Independent, the Daily Mail, and New Scientist. Why do we toot when we eat magical fruit? Do we really need to store eggs in the fridge? Answers to these fun q's and more on this week's show.

With Darren and Adam away, Pat and Cristina have a chat with historian and author Joe Coohill. Better known as Professor Buzzkill from the podcast of the same name, Joe recently put out an interesting episode about border walls in history; why they were built and whether on not they worked. We then turn the show over to Joe for his episode on the topic.

Cristina brings the stats and facts behind recent measles outbreaks and highlights the importance of teaching young people how to think critically. Darren explores whether Canada's forests actually emit more carbon than they absorb. Lastly, Adam investigates whether comments about flat earth and 'Islamophobia' by a Quebec-based city councillor were taken out of context.

Pat exhausts several resources to help answer the burning question on our minds this Winter. Should you leave windshield wipers up, or down? Adam unpacks the 'Bell Let's Talk Day' campaign which takes a chain-letter approach to raise awareness around mental health. Lastly, Cristina dips into TRC's mailbag and takes on a listener's request to highlight astrophysicist Cecilia Payne.