McGill Office for Science and Society (OSS)

11/03/2025

While today, many people point accusing fingers at pesticides, vaccines, and technology as the cause of illness or misfortune, in the past, witchcraft was deemed to be responsible 🧙‍♀️✨

From identifying "witches' teats" to the infamous swimming test, some 200,000 innocent people were burned, drowned or tortured to death with the hope of relieving the world from suffering 🔥⚖️ Even black cats fell victim to the hysteria 🐈‍⬛ They were hunted down and killed by the thousands.

Though today we no longer burn witches, people still fear what they do not understand 💭 Check out Dr. Joe’s article to learn about the ludicrous history of witch hunts and how it can help inform how we approach the unknown today 📖🕯️

https://mcgill.ca/x/iHx

11/02/2025

🧬 When most people think of DNA’s discovery, they picture Watson and Crick in 1953 holding their famous double-helix model. But that breakthrough was just the finale of a much longer story, one that began in 1869 with a Swiss chemist studying white blood cells scraped from used bandages.

For nearly a century, DNA sat in the background while scientists chased proteins as the supposed key to heredity. It took decades of persistence, rivalries, and quiet brilliance, from Friedrich Miescher’s “nuclein,” to Phoebus Levene’s building blocks, to Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray images, before the structure of DNA finally came into focus.

The result wasn’t just a scientific “eureka” moment; it transformed biology itself. The molecule once dismissed as boring became the foundation for everything from genetic testing to CRISPR.

Read all about the century-long journey, and the forgotten figures who carried the baton, on our website 👇

https://mcgill.ca/x/iHq

When most people hear about the discovery of DNA, they picture James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, triumphantly holding up a model of the double helix. But DNA’s story doesn’t begin, or end, there. In fact, the molecule that carries our genetic code had been sitting quietly in lab notebooks ...

11/01/2025

Growing up, apple season meant cider doughnuts, haystacks, and eating apples right from the tree 🍎🍂. Unfortunately, my parents hated that I bit right into them without washing. I was frustrated because I thought: “It’s straight from the tree, what could go wrong?” 🤷‍♀️

More than you would think. Even when pesticides are used, whether they be natural or synthetic, bacterial contamination - like E. coli or Salmonella 🦠 - is still a looming threat. Organic produce is certainly no exception. In this article we will break down:

🌱What it means to grow something organically 🤢Why bacterial contamination of produce should be taken seriously 💦Proper produce washing methods

The Key Takeaway? 🔑
A quick wash could be the difference between a night out and a night in the bathroom. Just because your produce has a flashy “organic” sticker on it doesn’t mean it’s clean🚰

Read more 👇
https://mcgill.ca/x/iHS

Growing up, the arrival of apple season was always enough to get me through the back-to-school blues. The sweet aroma of apple cider doughnuts and the numerous haystacks provided necessary relief from the pungent smell that lingered in the city. While my siblings would fight over who got to use the....

10/27/2025

If you missed this year’s Trottier Sympsoium (or would simply like to re-watch it), you can watch a recording of the presentation & the fireside chat on our Youtube channel!

Dr. Drew Weissman, Nobel Laureate and co-creator of the COVID vaccine, will be discussing the twists and turns that inevitably occur when embarking upon scie...

10/27/2025

Sometimes it takes a Babybel to remind us how tangled life is with plastic 🌍🧀 Once sealed in stubborn plastic, the cheese now arrives wrapped in paper — likely a result of the exploding publicity about our overuse of plastics. Unfortunately, with the blessing of plastic also comes a whole lot of curses: essential for modern life yet devastating in excess.

Heat, light, and wear cause plastic to shed tiny particles—microplastics and even tinier nanoparticles—that spread through air and water, reaching every corner of the planet and, alarmingly, every organ of the human body. Research links these particles to heart attack, stroke, cognitive decline, and other health concerns 🏥

While the major exposure comes from micro and nanoparticles in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat, every small change represents a step toward balance ⚖️ However, if many individuals make such efforts, then fewer plastic items will be produced, fewer will be dumped as garbage and fewer will end up in water systems🌊🗑️.

Get the whole scoop in Dr. Joe’s latest 🌍💚

https://mcgill.ca/x/iKL

I sometimes have a Babybel cheese as a snack and I used to feel that the little cheese did not want to be eaten. It seemed to defy attempts to open the plastic in which it had sought refuge. But no more! The latest batch I got was wrapped in paper not plastic and yielded its contents without the sli...

10/26/2025

On Wednesday October 1st, 2025, Dr. Jane Goodall passed away while on a speaking tour in the United States.
From her 1960 groundbreaking discovery of chimpanzees using tools — shaking the very definition of “human” — to becoming the only person to deliver McGill’s Beatty Lecture twice (1979 and 2019), Dr. Goodall had a fervent commitment to education and our world 🌍📚

⚠️ But her legacy is not without controversy. In 2013, she was accused of plagiarism in her book Seeds of Hope — using word-for-word sentences taken from Wikipedia pages and blog posts, without attribution. Though she apologized and promised to make corrections, this sparked critical conversations about academic integrity 📖✍️

Seeds of Hope also includes a chapter on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) - something that Dr. Goodall was an avid opponent of. Goodall premised her anti-GMO claims on a lack of evidence on their safety; however, according to the FDA and the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, among other esteemed bodies, evidence is abundant and, in fact, conclusive ✅🔬

💬 Dr. Goodall inspired generations — and will continue to — but this does not excuse violations of academic integrity nor spreading unbacked claims. In the current age of copious amounts of misinformation circulating, backing up your work with reputable sources is non-negotiable🔍🧾.

✨ As we celebrate her life, let’s also honor the value of a proper citation 🕊️📚✅

https://mcgill.ca/x/iKu

On Wednesday October 1st, 2025, Dr. Jane Goodall passed away while on a speaking tour in the United States. As an esteemed scientist whose life mission was to advocate for wildlife, promote conservation, and strengthen ties between humans and other members of the animal kingdom, she stayed true to h...

10/26/2025

Just when we thought AG1 was done making waves, they’ve launched a sequel: AGZ, a “sleep support” powder promising “restful, restorative” nights.

From the same company once led by a founder with a troubling legal history, AGZ mixes herbs, minerals, and marketing magic without a single solid clinical trial. The pitch sounds soothing, but “research-backed ingredients” doesn’t necessarily equate to proven results.

Chamomile, valerian, magnesium, ashwagandha: each trendy, none reliably effective for real insomnia. If herbal teas and powders could fix sleep, we’d all be dreaming soundly by now.

AGZ may not help you drift off, but it’s another reminder that wellness marketing often dreams bigger than science.

https://mcgill.ca/x/iKB

10/21/2025

See you TONIGHT for the Trottier Symposium!

Due to overwhelming interest, registration is now closed.

But - good news! We will now also be LIVE STREAMING Dr. Weissman’s talk on the twists and turns of the development of this historical COVID vaccine, which ultimately led him to receive the Nobel Prize.

Tune in here at 7pm: https://www.youtube.com/live/tmF0CDqDu-Y?si=F07XCC5aCh17Ce_V

We look forward to seeing you in person (or online!) tonight!

*For those attending in person, you will be asked to show the QR code you received in your email upon entry.

Dr. Drew Weissman, Nobel Laureate and co-creator of the COVID vaccine, will be discussing the twists and turns that inevitably occur when embarking upon scie...

10/19/2025

🏃🏅 Olympic sprinter Fred Kerley made headlines in August: not for breaking records, but for breaking boundaries.

He’s now set to compete in the Enhanced Games, a new event that openly permits athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs, promising million-dollar prizes and a “redefinition of super-humanity.”

Critics call it reckless, unethical, even dangerous. Supporters say it’s the next frontier of athletic evolution.

But behind the spectacle lies a deeper question: what do we really value in sport? Fairness and discipline, or unfiltered human enhancement?

From anabolic risks to antitrust lawsuits, from moral debates to medical red flags, the Enhanced Games are forcing the world to confront how far we’re willing to go for faster times and bigger muscles.

Read the full story on our website.
https://mcgill.ca/x/izQ

For most people, track and field exists as a fleeting summer spectacle: ten days every four years when the fastest, strongest, and most gravity-defying humans wage war on a 400-metre oval. For me, this sport is much more. During my time as a varsity athlete, I was consumed by the oval: on it, I trai...

10/18/2025

One “Healthline” article about blue spirulina used “may” an astounding 21 times and “suggest,” “possible,” or “potential” 15 more — making it sound like a miracle superfood while saying very little definitively 🤔 Yes, spirulina may help your brain, heart, and immune system, but it just as easily may not! 🚫

Spirulina is a type of bacteria 🧫 specifically “cyanobacteria” from the ancient Greek word “kyanos” for “blue.” And more specifically, “blue spirulina” is an extract of spirulina that contains mostly phycocyanin and few other nutrients 💦 Spirulina is safe for consumption 🍽️ In fact, due to its high nutritional value, its light weight, and its ability to be grown in space, NASA has used it as a dietary supplement for astronauts 🚀🛰️ For us earthlings, kale, spinach or quinoa have a similar nutritional profile at a fraction of the cost 🥬💸

While wild claims about the health benefits of blue spirulina are numerous, the bottom line is that anyone consuming a decent diet has no need of spirulina 🌀 Whatever health effects it “may” produce would require about 8 grams a day at a cost of about two dollars. What blue spirulina WILL do is turn your smoothie a vibrant blue🥤 (And it WILL be more expensive than its alternatives).

Get the full scoop in Dr. Joe’s latest:
https://mcgill.ca/x/izP

In the science communication business, we call them “weasel words.” Why? Because weasels have a reputation for being sneaky and tricky. We are talking about words like “may,” “suggest,” “possible” and “potential” that can trick the reader into forming a positive impression withou...

10/17/2025

In advance of the upcoming Trottier Symposium, we decided to interview some students about their thoughts on vaccines 💉

Join us on Tuesday as we hear from Nobel Prize Winner and co-creator of the COVID vaccine, Dr. Drew Weissman, about the twists and turns on the road that led to the creation of this lifesaving vaccine.

10/15/2025

In response to the current ecological crisis 🌍, it is becoming ever-present that rapid industrialization 🏭 is not sustainable in the long term. Instead, biomimetics is being touted as a sustainable alternative to innovation, seeking to mimic processes that have existed within the animal kingdom 🐾 for millennia. Rather than dominating nature, biomimicry pushes us to learn from it 🌱

From Velcro to surgical glue to mangroves, we dive into the who, what, when, where, why, and how of biomimicry… even uncovering a surprise at Canada’s Wonderland 🎢!

The Key Takeaway?🔑
In using the evolutionary qualities of living organisms 🧬, combined with human knowledge 📚, biomimetics offer a productive way forward in combating environmental degradation ♻️ and an inevitable shortage of natural resources ⚠️. Get the whole scoop on biomimicry in this week’s piece:

https://mcgill.ca/x/iDP

Biomimicry, a scientific field dedicated to using nature as a model to guide the development of more efficient and better technology, recenters the anthropocentric narrative that often takes the reigns in science. In response to the current ecological crisis, it is becoming ever-present that the rap...