nonsense

Best of Times, Worst of Times

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 16:20:29 +0000

Most of us are living the good life. There is no doubt that we are living longer and in greater comfort than ever before, but at a price. We fly through the air with ease, but that air is becoming polluted. We have conveniently packaged consumer goods, but we are beginning to drown in garbage. Ample water runs out of our taps, but it is tainted with traces of perfluoroalkyl substances. We protect our food supply with pesticides, we devise new materials, we clothe ourselves in novel fibers, we synthesize new medications, but we generate toxic wastes in the process.

Is there any point in drinking oxygenated water?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 23:55:21 +0000

Oxygen is critical for life and that also makes is susceptible to chicanery. If oxygen is so essential that the brain is permanently injured after just four minutes of deprivation, then surely more must be better! That’s the argument used by sellers of “oxygenated water” who often target athletes with claims that their product can improve athletic performance. Well, all water is actually oxygenated water because oxygen from the air dissolves in water, although not to a great extent since its solubility is only about 25 mL per liter.

Cracked Science 05: Bad Arguments

Jonathan Jarry, MSc — Thu, 10 May 2018 18:00:56 +0000

Video of Bad Arguments (CS05)

Is That Plausible?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 17:10:02 +0000

The gold standard in science is the randomized, controlled, double-blind trial. If you want to know whether Garcinia cambogia causes weight loss, or whether glucosamine helps with arthritic pain, there is only one way to find out. You have an experimental group that is given the substance and a control group that is given a placebo, with every other variable being held constant. These are difficult, expensive studies to carry out because you need a large enough group of subjects for statistical weight, you have to ensure compliance and you have to monitor what is going on.