The Reality Check

Pat looks into a listener’s question about whether the Amazon rainforest is the Earth’s lungs responsible for 20% of the oxygen we breathe. Next, Adam raises concerns about headlines claiming there is no such thing as a “gay gene” according to a new study. Lastly, with the election season upon us, Darren gives us a handy primer on Canada’s election process.

Cristina looks into the naming convention for IKEA products. Is KOLBJÖRN just Swedish for where’s the allen key? Darren does a deep dive on absolute zero.  Adam looks into recent headlines about fires in the Amazon rainforest. The facts may surprise you. 

TRC’s ‘Fifth Beatle’ Dr. Stuart Robbins, aka AstroStu, joins us this week for a fun and fact-packed show! Adam kicks things off highlighting recent listener’s feedback. Stuart fact-checks Cristina and brings us a more in-depth look at retrograde in Astronomy. Finally, Pat gets cheeky with a game of ‘Name That’ about the moon landing.

Cristina kicks off the show by taking a closer look at the NY Times Best Seller list and what being a “bestselling author” really means. Adam puts Occam’s razor to good use while exploring whether it’s plausible that Jeffrey Epstein may have committed suicide in jail. Finally, Darren digs into anthropologist Joseph Henrich’s book, “The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter.”

After we posted a funny meme on TRC’s Facebook page, a couple of Checkers question whether hippos can really swim so Pat goes on a mission to find out. Simple yes or no answer, right? Not on this show! Darren breaks down Neil deGrasse Tyson’s tweet and apology around recent U.S. shootings that made some people more than a little upset. Finally, Adam gives us a cool art history lesson after visiting an exhibit on Leonardo da Vinci and realizing the Mona Lisa may not be who she seems.

Are you having a bad month, Checkers? Mercury is said to be in retrograde but what does that really mean? Cristina takes us on a little fact-finding mission through the Cosmos to find out. Next, Adam brings the panel another great ‘I did not know that!’ segment when he breaks down the origin of salt after Neil deGrasse Tyson tweets all salt comes from the Sea. Finally, Darren helps busts some sleep myths after reading ‘Why We Sleep’ by neuroscientist Matthew Walker.

This week we bring you a special episode after an Irish listener writes in and asks us to fact-check myths surrounding the Irish Famine. Luckily friend of the show, historian and author Joe Coohill, literally wrote the book on Ireland. Better known as Professor Buzzkill from the awesome podcast of the same name, Joe helps us set the record straight debunking historical myths on the tragedy.

Your fave fact-checking crew is back with a new show! First, Darren kicks things off by most certainly looking at quantum uncertainty...or not...or both. Next, Cristina celebrates the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic moon landing by probing whether a former NASA intern is really auctioning off “lost” footage of the first moonwalk. Finally, Adam questions the validity of the Facebook event "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us".

Not your typical episode of The Reality Check. We bring you a conversation with friends of the show Dr. Stuart Robbins and Ed Robertson. We discussed conspiracy theories and Ed’s recent run in with a flat earther. Stuart is a professional astro/geophysicist. Ed is the frontman of Barenaked Ladies and wrote the theme song for The Big Bang Theory.

This week we bring you an interview with Jason “The Germ Guy” Tetro, recorded earlier this month. Jason is a researcher in microbiology and immunology. He is a best selling author of “The Germ Code” and “The Germ Files.”  Jason is also the host of the Super Awesome Science Show podcast.

Adam dives deep into recent headlines suggesting that the Loch Ness monster could possibly be real based on some murky DNA research. Cristina throws her hands in the air and tries to set the record straight on the alleged Drake, aka Drizzy, curse rocking the sports world.  Lastly, Ed Robertson, of the band Barenaked Ladies, asks Dr. Stuart Robbins “where does the Earth’s atmosphere end and space begin?

Stuart has been on the show many times discussing food science and food myths but this interview is different. Some Checkers may not know that the Doctor before his name is because he is a medical doctor. Two days before Stuart was scheduled to undergo surgery, he talked with Pat and Cristina about brain tumours, cancer, cancer treatment and his story.

Cristina kicks off the show with a basketball related myth in honour of her beloved Toronto Raptors; did NBA legend Manute Bol really coin the phrase ‘My Bad’? As the only TRC co-host who is not married, Darren scrutinizes an article citing research that suggests unmarried people are happier, probably just to rub it in. Finally, Adam vents his Fornite pet peeve that the game just doesn’t get the Doppler Effect.

Our favourite Food Scientist is back to tackle some of your most pressing food-related questions. Ever find a 3 week old fry under a car seat? Stuart breaks down why fast food seems to last forever without going bad. Next, he tells us about why onions make us cry and what we can do about it. Bonus question: why do we “rest” beef and chicken but not fish? Pat rounds out the show with a 3 vs 1 edition of everyone’s favourite mostly guessing game “name that” where the crew teams up against Stuart.

Darren kicks off the show dropping a bombshell on the panel when he looks into reporting around the U.S. government seizing records for phone lines assigned to the Associated Press  and its journalists. Cristina finds out if we can prove rap is the most important music since 1960 using Science. Finally, Adam revisits his segment on plastic vs cloth bags after a listener points out he may have failed to consider the consequences of plastic on our environment.

This week Pat looks at the Social Insurance Number, what it is and who can ask for it. Darren ponders how many humans there are now, how many there were and how many there will be. Adam checks out rumours that someone made a life sized doll of a Sonic the Hedgehog character, Sally Acorn, built around a human skeleton.

This week, Cristina is fired up about an article she saw in a recent fitness magazine glorifying aura readings and aura photography. Darren asks, “What’s the deal with stand-up comedy NDAs?” after a comedy club posts a notice ahead of Louis CK’s set. Finally, Adam scrutinizes how well websites track your browsing history.

With the term ‘gaslighting’ popping up everywhere (again), Adam looks into the origins of the term, what is and isn’t considered gaslighting, and whether the cries that Trump is ‘gaslighting America’ fit the context. Cristina brings some needed levity after discovering an AskReddit thread listing people’s most highly believable facts that turned out to be B.S. Finally, Darren explores how the idea of the Loch Ness Monster may have manifested in our collective consciousness.

Adam is off this week but ‘5th Beatle’ Dr. Stuart Robbins joins the rest of the crew LIVE at TRC studios! First, Pat looks into headlines that a video game called Assassin’s Creed Unity could be used to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral. Stuart schools us on a topic that has been consuming his life for the last 18 months: planetary cartography. Lastly, Darren discusses controversial scenes depicting animal suffering in the new nature documentary ‘Our Planet’.

Happy Pagan Spring Weekend! Darren kicks off the show by looking at recent media coverage around Dr. Katie Bouman and how she ‘accidentally’ became the face of the Black Hole project. Adam brings us another fur-midable look at cats and asks how many lives do cats really have? Finally, Cristina has to remind us why ‘measles parties’ are a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea.