The Reality Check

The year 2020 was a dumpster fire, right?  Darren gives us another instalment of his good news stories from the year, this time discussing global health. Adam does a deep dive into viral videos claiming to show dogs communicating using soundboards.

Darren kicks off the show with an important segment that examines the benefit of getting the COVID vaccine versus any potential risks, using critical thinking. Cristina takes a ride down the MLM highway and explores Truth In Advertising’s recent scrutiny of Mary Kay’s deceptive pinky promises. Finally, Adam really does a deep dive to find out, what does the fox say?

This week we bring you a fascinating interview with Dr. Kim Hellemans about the neuroscience of addiction which originally aired in 2019. Kim is an award-winning neuroscientist and the chair of the department of neuroscience at Carleton University. She is also a co-host of Minding The Brain podcast. Enjoy!

Cristina kicks off the show by diving hip deep into the conspiracy theories swirling around why the massive container ship Ever Given is blocking the Suez Canal. Adam ponders whether maps are racist after seeing an angry online commenter suggest as much when replying to a post featuring a world map. Darren really did read or listen to more than 100 books last year and he’s here to tell you which titles he thinks are worth your while.

After seeing a viral video featuring Stephen Fry, Cristina examines the practice of turning on same-language subtitling and its surprising effect on reading skills, particularly in children. Adam looks at examples of recent cases where Google and Twitter algorithms are being accused of bias.

Darren looks into whether COVID-19 kills more men than women after a friend shares an article suggesting women are more adversely affected by the pandemic. When toy maker Hasbro announced they are rebranding Mr. Potato Head with a gender-neutral name, Adam ponders, how do potatoes actually reproduce?

The mantra when Pat was learning to drive was ‘hands at 10 and 2 o’clock’ when gripping the steering wheel. Turns out, all of us Gen X’ers may need a driver refresher course. Adam does a deep dive into recent headlines citing a huge increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in North America. Our favourite planetary scientist, Dr. Stuart Robbins, tells us about the fascinating rules around naming stuff in space.

Cristina’s back this week asking the important questions...are McDonald’s eggs frozen? If you’re still reeling from the gut punch that was 2020, Darren brings us a delightful segment on “Good News in 2020’ you probably missed, Conservation edition. Our pal, planetary scientist Dr. Stu, fills us in on the work he is doing related to doublet craters formed by binary asteroids and why it’s important.

Adam and Darren are reunited and happily hijack this week’s show. Darren breaks down the post hoc fallacy, aka ‘after this, therefore because of this’, and examines it in the context of COVID vaccines. Adam goes deep on the mysterious so-called monoliths making headlines over the last year, giving new meaning to the saying, ‘What’s up, Cuboids?’

In what has become a yearly ritual to highlight the futility of ‘predictions’, Adam, Producer Pat, and Cristina guess at what might happen in 2021 and revisit the panel’s 2020 predictions to see how we did. Spoiler: no one had ‘pandemic’ on their list.