Special - Talking Science in the Age of Fake News

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the McGill Office for Science and Society, a university-backed office dedicated to separating sense from nonsense, Jonathan moderated a panel discussion entitled “Talking Science in the Age of Fake News”. The panelists were Prof. Joe Schwarcz, the director of the Office; Timothy Caulfield, host of a User’s Guide to Cheating Death on Netflix; Carly Weeks, health reporter for The Globe & Mail newspaper; and Ryan Armstrong, director of Bad Science Watch.   They discussed trends in pseudoscience; how men and women are differently targeted by bunk; stem cells; newspapers running ads for quackery; false balance in the media; native advertising; the opioid crisis; deplatforming an antivaxxer; social media momentum; academic apathy; when scientists talk to journalists; mandatory childhood immunizations; chiropractors self-regulating; hate mail; Deepak Chopra; and whom should the public trust?   To watch the video for the entire event (which included a look back at the history of the McGill OSS and flash talks from each of the panelists): https://youtu.be/aztSt-hnS9I   Theme music: "Troll of the Mountain Swing" by the Underscore Orkestra.   To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/.