Medical

Dr. John Mervin Nooth and His Scientific Connections to Quebec

Denis Robillard — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 18:00:00 +0000

John Mervin NOOTH (1737-1828) was an obscure British-born medical man and inventor with a Quebec connection. A distinguished physician, Nooth entered the Royal Society via Benjamin Franklin and anatomist William Hunter in 1774. He published a Royal Society paper on a method of carbonizing water. By 1775 this process revolutionized the preparation of soft drinks. His famous Nooth’s apparatus was used until the mid- 19th century, and by the mid 1840’s its inner workings of the device assisted ether and anesthetics. In addition, Dr.

Functional Medicine Is a Pipeline to Alt Med

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

A 56-year-old university professor with psoriatic arthritis goes to see a doctor because his condition is worsening. Psoriatic arthritis is a disease where your immune system rebels against you, creating patches of abnormal skin and aching joints. Does the man leave the doctor’s office with a prescription for a better medication than what he was on? No.

Misinformation Piggybacks on Joe Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 30 May 2025 16:59:22 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

“Just the facts, ma’am” is a catchphrase attributed to detective Joe Friday in the classic television police drama Dragnet. If all science communicators took that message to heart, we would not be exposed to the diarrhea of misinformation that plagues our lives today.

That, though, brings up the question of what is meant by “fact.”

The MAHA Report Is Mostly ‘Data Vibes’

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 30 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Who would be so callous as to not want our children to be healthy?

The Make America Healthy Again movement, now firmly ensconced in the White House under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, released a 73-page assessment last week called “The MAHA Report.” It’s meant to give a bird’s-eye view of the problem with American children’s health, paving the way for a multipronged strategy due next August.

There is Much Pep in Peptide Research

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 28 May 2025 20:47:04 +0000

Peptides are hot! Check the label of a skin care product and you are likely to come across a peptide. Read one of the numerous articles about Ozempic and you will discover that the active ingredient, semaglutide, is a peptide. Have a flagging libido? Kisspentin may be of help. It’s a peptide.

Your Blood Predicts Alzheimer’s Disease

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 23 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

My first laboratory job was right after earning my Master’s degree, and it was on a research project on Alzheimer’s disease. I had to test DNA samples from participants for a particular form of the gene APOE. We get one copy of the gene from our mother and another from our father, and this gene like all others comes in different flavours. People who had a very specific form of the APOE gene, I learned, were predisposed to Alzheimer’s disease.

The Ups and Downs of Choline Supplements

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Fri, 16 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The Buzz Around Choline

Do you want to optimize your liver function? Improve your memory? Give your metabolism a little pep talk? If you find yourself typing any of these questions into your search engine of choice, chances are you'll find no shortage of glowing endorsements for choline supplements. According to the internet, choline can boost brain power, prevent Alzheimer’s, detox your liver after a night out, and maybe even help you live forever. Or at least long enough to regret that tequila shot from last night.

Doctor Who Compared Pandemic Restrictions to Nazi Germany Gains Keys to the Vaccine Vault

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 16 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In the media’s rush to cover the nomination of Casey Means to the position of Surgeon General, one important name was neglected.

How an Unfortunate Florist Uncovered the Dangers of Nicotine Absorption

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 02 May 2025 18:01:55 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

The 33-year-old florist felt some wetness as he sat down in the chair. On standing up, he realized that he must have spilled some Nico-Fume Liquid, which he used to keep his flowers free of insects.

TikTok Is Crazy for Methylene Blue, but Not for the Right Reasons

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 16:45:51 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

A short video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. squirting a blue liquid into a glass of water would hardly have raised an eyebrow were he not the U.S. secretary of health and human services. But given that he now sits atop the U.S. health pyramid, as incredible as that is, his actions reap interest.

Inbreeding: Behind the Stigma

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 13:44:38 +0000

It just didn’t make sense.

I was working in a genetics laboratory, and we were trying to find the mutated gene that caused a particular disease that was common in a few families my supervisor had seen in the clinic. But in one family, it looked like the oldest child had an entire stretch of chromosome that neither the mother nor the father had. We were only looking at that stretch, but it was quite possible that half of that child’s genetic material came from someone who was not, on the paper I was looking at, their father or mother. I had found my first case of non-paternity.

You’ve Been Lied to About Rats and the Black Death

�ٲ��ʴǱ貹 — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 16:02:20 +0000

Rats have long been associated with and blamed for the spread of plague, a disease that has killed over 200 million people throughout the past two millennia. The Black Death, a bubonic plague pandemic, is estimated to have resulted in the death of nearly 50% of Europe’s 14th century population, making it one of the deadliest disease outbreaks in human history. However, emerging research suggests that rats may not have played a central role in the outbreak and transmission of plague.

Toxin on the Backs of Some Frogs Is Lethal to Humans

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 15:44:44 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

The blades descend as they have done many times before, threatening to impale the magician’s assistant lying inside the box. But this time the outcome is different. The illusion has been tampered with so that one of the blades does not retract fully as designed and slightly pierces her skin.

Measles, Vitamin A, and RFK Jr.’s About-Face

Christopher Labos MD, MSc — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 15:12:53 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

There is a measles outbreak in Texas. The response by the United States government was to send extra doses of vitamin A even though the Texas public health department didn’t want them. It wasn’t a benign public relations stunt. A small group of children is now in hospital being treated for vitamin A toxicity. The dangers of misrepresenting the science are not abstract. Real children are getting sick and dying.

The Unscientific Crusade Against Seed Oils

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 16:22:38 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) gang led by Robert Kennedy Jr. is not going to be happy with the results of a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That makes me happy even though I have some questions about the study.