Trottier Symposium — Confronting Pseudoscience: The Threat of Pseudoscience

What this episode covers

The 6th annual Trottier Symposium focuses on the difference between science and “pseudo” science. While real science accumulates facts and formulates testable theories to gain a unified understanding of the physical world, pseudoscience relies on anecdotes, ideology and cherry-picked data to support preconceived notions. Pseudoscience masquerading as real science can lead to troublesome consequences, particularly when it comes to matters of health. Unfortunately, aided and abetted by the Internet, pseudoscience has been growing by leaps and bounds. Outstanding, world-famous science communicators discuss various aspects of pseudoscience and provide guidance for separating sense from nonsense. David Gorski, MD PhD FACS (Surgical oncologist; Managing Editor, "Science-based Medicine" Blog) and Michael Shermer, PhD (Scientific American columnist; Editor in chief, Skeptic magazine) share their wealth of experience and views on confronting pseudoscience. [flashvideo file="http://podcasts.mcgill.ca/pods/scienceandtechnology/P110400TRThreat.m4v" height=344 image="http://podcasts.mcgill.ca/files/2011/04/P110400TRThreat.jpg" /]

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