RFT Ep 255 – Dirty Dozen Edition

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The dirty dozen and misreporting toxic food

A loyal listener told me that they regretfully were switching to organic apples. “Why?” I asked. They said they read on the CBC website about the Dirty Dozen…the 12 most toxic laden fruits and veggies in our supermarkets.

I discovered the Dirty Dozen is published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG)…I investigated their claims, evaluated their data (not really theirs but the USDA) and after a little more research proclaimed the story rubbish.

It got worse though, first because it was such a poor example of “journalism” by the CBC…it took be a few minutes to raise some red-flags about the story and an hour or 3 to complete debunk it…and yet the CBC not only reported uncritically but expanded by include and even worse study.

Secondly, i seem to have my loyal listeners that they did not seem to know how to evaluate this story. So listen to see both why the dirty in the Dirty Dozen applies to the EWG more than the flora and how you too can debunk a story like this.

Further Reading:

• Acceptable daily intake
• USDA – Pesticide Data Program 
• Apples top list for pesticide contamination in 2014
• How Wrong Is The Latest Dirty Dozen List?
• Going organic for one week cuts pesticide exposure: study
• Reference dose
• Pesticide Exposure in Children

Blinded by Science

Our semi-regular segment about cool science stories…this week:

Blinded by Science – Mice gotta run

Ever wonder why a mouse will run in those little wheels? Do they like it, are they bored or is it a sign of psychosis? Well, someone did some finally set out to answer that question…list to find out why and how snails came in second place in the wheelly marathon.

Further Reading:

•  Wild Mice like Running Wheels
• Will Wild Mice Use Running Wheels?
• Even in the Wild, Mice Run on Wheels

Blinded by Science –  The Beast asteroid

This past weekend a continent-killing asteroid whizzed by the earth, what makes this one so scaring is we did not know it was coming until April this year. We talk about the asteroid and the need to increase spending in locating near-earth object…especially those that might want to hit the planet .

Further Reading:

•  Asteroid dubbed ‘The Beast’ set to fly past Earth on Sunday
• Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking

Blinded by Science – DNA expands

DNA is the foundation of all life on earth…as far as we know the universe. Well, scientist have improved on the (at least) billions year old formula. No longer are we limited to the traditional two base pairs…they have added another. Why? How? Listen and find out.

Further Reading:

• Scientists create first living organism that transmits added letters in DNA ‘alphabet’
• Expanding the alphabet of life with artificial DNA

Prairie Correspondent – Reflections on the phrase “thank god”

This week, our correspondent reflect on “thank god” how we use it, abuse it and well, just sometimes get it wrong.

Web Wisdom – How to choose your news

There is a lot of  “news” on the internet…most of crap. Listen in on a Ted-Ed talk that help show you how to separate the chaff from the wheat.

D-Day…meaning to Canada and the context of controversy

D-Day is 70 years old. One of the most pivotal moments in western history. It is also a story of coming of age for Canada as one of the three nations (along side the US and UK) to be given the task of taking a beach (Juno)…we, not only succeeded but was perhaps the most successful under some of the hardest resistance of any of the landing forces.

I also talk about how heartless and stinging the Harper Government has been in only providing about 40% of the funds need for our dwindling number of vets (most 90 and up) participate in this 70th anniversary. Or it started out that way, but i go where the evidence leads me, and as it turns out (from my research, please correct me if i have it wrong)…Canada seems to be the only nation subsidizing our vets at all.

I started out being negative because of the large amount of bad press this issue has received, which now seems unwarranted. This lead to more important question…why the anger?

As it turns out, context is everything. Listen and find out why people are so angry over what seems to be a generous government.

Further Reading:

D-Day and the Battle of Normandy

Vet says feds cheap on D-Day trip

D-Day 70th anniversary: World leaders pay tribute to veterans

World War II vets in their 90s furious after France ‘breaks its promise’ to fly them to Normandy to celebrate 70th anniversary of D-Day

A fatal wait: Veterans languish and die on a VA hospital’s secret list

Veteran’s wife wants Julian Fantino to give support to spouses

Julian Fantino told ‘we’re nothing to you’

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RFT Ep 253 – Dark Origins Edition

Download the episode here! 

Evidence Based Medicine

In a double dose of this weeks whine, we start off talking about how alt-med…the practitioners of ‘woo’ medicine have coopted the term evidence based medicine. Find out how they have done, why its important and what we can do about it.

Further Reading:

•  Does integrated health have a place in Canadian medicine?
• Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (just proves, just because it’s in a “journal” does not make it science)
• The difference between science-based medicine and CAM
• Is Evidence-based Medicine Sufficient For Complementary And Alternative Medicine Research? (and even trusted site can have bull)
• CBC’s The Current: Does “integrated health” have a place in Canadian medicine?

A child’s capacity to consent

In a recent decision by the Child Protection Agency in Ontario, a 10 year old girl have been given the right to refuse life saving treatment.

We discuss what is wrong (as it if was not obvious) why this responsibility should not be given to a child…hell, she can’t even buy smokes or a beer but make critical medical decisions…that’s okay.

We also provide the context as to why such a terrible decision seems to be the right thing to do, no make who wrong it truly is.

Further Reading:

• Makayla Sault will not be apprehended by Children’s Aid
• Consent and Capacity Board
• First Nations girl chooses traditional medicine over chemo
• A history of residential schools in Canada
• Sixties Scoop

Prairie Correspondent Talks Language, Bias and Politics

When we elect an official…be they an MP or school trusty, what responsibility to they have to be “respectable”…how much should they suppress personal opinions…what right does the public/electorate have to dictate their lives and behaviors.

Listen and find out how a small local issue in Brandon can shed light on our society at large.

Bright Side

This semi-regular segment was inspired by a conversation i had with a friend of mine lately.

We talked for a couple of hours about a number of things.I could not help but notice that every time I had a new conversation bit, it was always a downer…some new scandal here…global catastrophe there…people being bad to other people…another study that is just propaganda…nothing up.

Anyway, it has set me on a quest to find some positive happy stories. So, this week:

Bright Side – New Prize to Save the World

300 hundred years ago the UK government offered a huge prize, the Longitude Prize,  to anyone who could solve the driving problem of the age…how to determine a ships longitude (hey, who are we to judge).

In the spirit of the first prize , the UK government is setting up the the Longitude Prize 2, which will offer 10 million pound to whom ever can solve today’s most pressing problem…what is it? Well, this is the cool part, they are leaving it up to vote of UK residence.

Which problem is more pressing? Food shortage, clean water, mobility and paralysis, independence and dementia, superbugs and the end of antibiotics or a green plane (yes, a green plane, have no idea why its on the list but it is).

 

Old School Tricorder

Also related, we discuss the X-Prize to develop the first Tricorder…yes, like in Star Trek…how cool is that? There is also a 20 million dollar prize to land a rover on the moon…

Tricorder the Next Generation

Further Reading:

• Longitude prize
• Wikipedia – 2014 Longitude Prize
• Longitude Prize 2014
• Star Trek tricorder inspires new X Prize contest
• Tricorder X Prize – Canada’s hope
• Tricorder X Prize
• X Prize Foundation
• Google Lunar X PRIZE
• Hockey puck may visit moon in X Prize plan

Web Wisdom

A semi-regular segment where i share with you my loyal listeners shyte I found on the internet just too interesting to keep to myself.

Web Wisdom – Dark Origins of Fairy-tales and Nursery Rhymes

We all know about Sleeping Beauty…Cinderella…how often as kids did we sing Three Blind Mice or Humpty Dumpty?  Did you know the real story behind these kid classics? Well, be forewarned, once you discover their dark origins you may never be the same again.