The Reality Check

On this week’s show, Adam gives us the rub on whether applied kinesiology is a legitimate practice. Cristina takes a closer look at a persistent myth that Japanese tourists flock to the Yukon to have sex under the Aurora Borealis. Finally, Darren examines various claims purporting the health benefits of coconut oil. This week’s show is brought to you by hellofresh. You can use the promo code ‘REALITY50’ to get 50% off your first order.

The Reality Check crew joins forces with Exposing PseudoAstronomy for a special crossover show this week! First up, Darren explores the notion that we may be living in a black hole. Pat breaks down the Drake Equation. Finally, Dr. Stuart Robbins explores whether a solar flare radiation burst really cracked the Earth’s magnetic field causing radio blackouts. This week’s show is brought to you by hellofresh. You can use the promo code ‘REALITY50’ to get 50% off your first order.

Cristina starts this week’s show off checking into the widely held belief that women who who live or work closely together have periods that start to sync up. Next, Pat brings us another edition of everyone’s favourite guessing game, ‘Name That,’ about the internet in 2016. Lastly, Adam looks into the phrase ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it too.’ This week’s show is brought to you by hellofresh. You can use the promo code ‘REALITY50’ to get 50% off your first order.

Pat kicks off this week’s show with a touchy news item making the rounds claiming hackers can steal our fingerprints from selfies. Darren digs into some new analyses on whether celebrity deaths were more rampant in 2016 after all. Finally, Adam explores the probability of two people in a room sharing the same birthday. This week’s show is brought to you by hellofresh. You can use the promo code ‘REALITY50’ to get 50% off your first order.

This week, Darren assures us that those tiny dark objects moving across the snow are not our imagination. A recent ad popping up on socials for “miracle cream” has Cristina asking if free skincare trials are really as advertised. Finally, Adam uses the force to see if inadequate women’s healthcare destroyed Star Wars’ Old Republic. This week’s show is brought to you by hellofresh. You can use the promo code ‘REALITY50’ to get 50% off your first order.

The TRC crew reunite to kick 2016 to the curb and usher in the New Year with a fun-filled show! Adam checks the panel’s “clairvoyance” score by revisiting last year’s “predictions”. The panel set aside logic yet again to make their predictions for 2017. Favourite and most surprising segments from 2016 are highlighted.  Finally, Darren rounds out the show by asking was 2016 really the worst year ever? This week’s show is brought to you by hellofresh. You can use the promo code ‘REALITY50’ to get 50% off your first order.

Pat and Cristina hijack the last show of the year and feature holiday-themed parodies from years past. The crew offers up their year-end lists highlighting the favourite things they’ve read, watched and listened to in 2016. Finally, we revisit some of listener and panel top voted parodies. This week’s show is brought to you by hellofresh. You can use the promo code ‘REALITY50’ to get 50% off your first order.

Some extra content this week for all you checkers! Darren and Adam have a discussion with friend of the show Jim Davies about programming good ethics into artificial intelligence. Jim is an associate professor in the Institute of Cognitive Science at Carleton University. 

Special guest, Lars, gets things started by examining whether barter is the origin of money. Next, Pat looks into whether there are more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way. Lastly, Darren gives us a primer on snowflakes.  This week’s show is brought to you by hellofresh. You can use the promo code ‘REALITY50’ to get 50% off your first order.

Pat starts things off by digging for the truth about truffle oil. Next, Adam looks into the science behind the movie ‘Idiocracy’ and asks: is natural selection making us dumb? Lastly, Cristina coughs up some facts around the real cost of not providing paid sick leave. This week’s show is brought to you by hellofresh. You can use the promo code ‘REALITY50’ to get 50% off your first order.