The Reality Check

With the term ‘gaslighting’ popping up everywhere (again), Adam looks into the origins of the term, what is and isn’t considered gaslighting, and whether the cries that Trump is ‘gaslighting America’ fit the context. Cristina brings some needed levity after discovering an AskReddit thread listing people’s most highly believable facts that turned out to be B.S. Finally, Darren explores how the idea of the Loch Ness Monster may have manifested in our collective consciousness.

Adam is off this week but ‘5th Beatle’ Dr. Stuart Robbins joins the rest of the crew LIVE at TRC studios! First, Pat looks into headlines that a video game called Assassin’s Creed Unity could be used to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral. Stuart schools us on a topic that has been consuming his life for the last 18 months: planetary cartography. Lastly, Darren discusses controversial scenes depicting animal suffering in the new nature documentary ‘Our Planet’.

Happy Pagan Spring Weekend! Darren kicks off the show by looking at recent media coverage around Dr. Katie Bouman and how she ‘accidentally’ became the face of the Black Hole project. Adam brings us another fur-midable look at cats and asks how many lives do cats really have? Finally, Cristina has to remind us why ‘measles parties’ are a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea.

My very excellent mother says it’s a new TRC! Cristina kicks off the show with a look at the dicey world of social influencers and sponsored medical content. Next, Darren tells us more about his trip to Egypt and considers how to use critical thinking when faced with the social pressure to buy things while travelling. Lastly, Adam gets all math-y on us when he asks: on average, what is the closest planet to Earth?  

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.