The Reality Check

It’s been a while since we had our favourite planetary scientist Astro Stu on the show! Stuart gives us a breakdown on the James Webb Space Telescope, what we’re seeing in released images, and what’s next for the mission. Adam rounds out the show with a look into the recent “massive” Rogers Communications outage that disrupted telecommunication services for over a quarter of Canada’s population.

Le Gang is back together at last! We kick off with an interesting discussion about a claim that the Google LaMDA Chatbot has become sentient. Adam investigates whether the smell most people associate with chlorine is due to its reaction with pee. Darren rounds out the show with a look at David Chalmers’ book ‘Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy’, an analysis of our technological future.  

In an effort to settle a hot household debate, Cristina looks into whether it’s more eco and pocket friendly to hand wash dishes versus using your dishwasher. Adam checks out a new study that suggests dog personalities have little to do with their breed. Lastly, Darren gives us an overview of the bestselling book, “The Road to Unfreedom” by Timothy Snyder, which chronicles the rise of authoritarianism.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and since that time have committed all manner of atrocities. But is it genocide?  Darren tackles this difficult topic.  Next, Adam looks into the idea that there are no ugly old buildings and survivorship bias.

As Will Smith’s slap during the Academy Awards trends online, a picture of the moment has gone viral suggesting Chris Rock wore a prosthetic cheek pad. Cristina digs into it. Next, Adam takes a look at the science, or more precisely lack thereof, in the latest sci-fi flick, “Moonfall”.  

On Tuesday, March 22, the Liberals and New Democratic Party announced a confidence and supply agreement to further each of their interests.  Darren takes a look at whether this is undemocratic, whether it is what Canadians voted for and if it’s a “backroom deal”.

Cristina looks at the dark side of charitable donation and shares valuable advice and insight from Humanitarian Logistics expert Dale Herzog. Adam dives into new research around domesticated silver foxes and revisits Animal Domestication Syndrome. Darren reviews Thomas Sowell’s ‘Intellectuals and Society’ - a discussion on the relevance of intellectuals - and he has some feelings about it.

Short show for you this week. The internet was recently abuzz about a cat named Mikael.  Supposedly, Ukrainian army cats were trained to spot and direct the location of Russian sniper lasers. The story discussed was of Mikael, "The Panther of Kharkiv", who followed laser spots to identify four snipers, leading to their deaths.  This is indeed Adam’s wheelhouse and he digs in to find the truth.

The trucks, the honking, the bouncy castles, the hot tubs. It’s all Darren today. As a resident in downtown Ottawa, he gives us his thoughts on the “freedom convoy” which has been occupying the city centre for over three weeks. Are the international stories correct? What do the protestors want, and have they really been peaceful?

Cristina looks into why thefts of catalytic converters in cars has soared lately. Adam takes a skeptical lens to recent headlines suggesting that wearing face masks make people seem more attractive. Finally, Darren brings us a fascinating exploration of New Year’s resolutions and considers why humans make them.