science

Double, Double Toil and Trouble

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 12:53:37 +0000

Oh, human nature! When something goes wrong, we try to rationalize why the calamity has occurred. We try to find the cause of our illness or misfortune. Today, many people point accusing fingers at pesticides, vaccines, food additives or electromagnetic radiation as possible culprits that may undermine our health. In less sophisticated times, witchcraft was deemed to be responsible. Natural disasters and physical ailments were thought to be due to spells cast by those in league with the devil. Then, as now, people feared what they did not understand.

Remembering Joe Nickell, Skeptical Icon

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

I don’t hold onto business cards anymore. I’m rarely given business cards in the first place, these days. But I have a wooden nickel in my collection that I doubt I will ever carelessly throw out.

Roger Bacon, Gunpowder and Virgins

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 18:01:46 +0000

In the 1960's the Dupont Company adopted the slogan: "Better Living Through Chemistry." The catchy motto quickly caught on in an era when science reigned supreme. The space race had captured everyone's imagination and people reveled in the new plastics and fibers produced by a proud chemical industry. Environmental concerns were not yet on the agenda.

2024 Year in Review

Cat Wang, B.Sc. — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 14:25:44 +0000

January

Article - Macropanic over Nanoplastics [Joe]

February

Infatuated With Chemistry

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:45:45 +0000

The fact that virtually everything in our life, be it digesting our food, using medications to treat disease, producing the clothes we wear, and even the grinding of our mental gears can be described in terms of chemical reactions is fascinating enough. But what has probably enthralled me the most, is that all these chemical reactions that involve various molecules engaging with each other, can be explained and understood without anyone ever having seen a molecule!