Medical

How Dreams and Frog Hearts Led to the Discovery of Neurotransmitters

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 23:44:10 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

The banging on the door at 3 in the morning of March 12, 1938, by Gestapo agents was fierce. They were rousing Otto Loewi out of bed to drag him off to jail. His crime? Loewi was Jewish. It didn’t matter that two years earlier he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for a landmark experiment that was destined to change the course of medicine.

Paying Attention to My Own Lectures

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 20:00:01 +0000

“It builds muscle!” That’s the usual answer I get when I ask in class about the importance of protein in the diet. Sort of correct since muscles are indeed composed mostly of protein, but the protein we eat does not directly build muscles. It is broken down during digestion into its constituent amino acids that are then pieced together by enzymes (also proteins) to become the proteins that make up muscle tissue.

Rare Blood Clots After Certain COVID Vaccines, Explained

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 14:12:37 +0000

The light at the end of the pandemic tunnel was marred by a worrying shadow. As the COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out, headlines fuelled anxiety: some people were developing life-threatening blood clots after receiving either the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (made by one of its subsidiaries, Janssen Vaccines) or the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot.

The Gold Rush of Testosterone Replacement Therapy

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

If you’ve never injected yourself with dog semen, don’t worry: someone has done it for you.

The Placebo Myth Picked the Wrong War

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 13:43:10 +0000

There’s a medical myth with which a friend of mine and I have become obsessed: this idea that scientific research into the “placebo effect” began in earnest during World War II. As I’ve written before, the classic story is that Dr. Henry Beecher, a Harvard graduate transported to a military base hospital during the darkest days of the 20th century, ran out of morphine while treating soldiers in pain.

Ripples of Discovery Created a New Wave of Weight-loss Medications

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

When it comes to pharmacology, the big story these days is the development of the “glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) mimics,” the first truly effective medications to treat obesity. It’s a fascinating story to be sure, but get set for a bumpy ride. We are not playing Tiddlywinks here.

Dr. Michael Greger’s Bias Is Food for Thought

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

How can we distinguish between a sufficiently objective science communicator and an advocate? Communicating science to the public means choosing scientific papers, reading them, and appraising their worth before synthesizing all of this knowledge. We try to do it as impartially as we can… but what if we are ideologically biased?

The Costco Hot Dog….Decisions….Decisions

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 21:36:43 +0000

So, there I was at Costco looking at their special of a quarter pound hot dog and soft drink for $1.50. A good deal financially to be sure. These days I have hot dogs rarely, but I still have fond memories of the toasted hot dogs at the Forum and the steamies at the Montreal Pool Room. To try or not to try the Costco dog, that was the question. I was aware of course about the high salt and fat content, but I also knew that I didn’t have to worry about being struck down by botulism. That’s because the meat is cured with sodium nitrite. And therein lies a story.

Bacteria are Fearsome, Especially When Weaponized

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:22:07 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

They used to call it “wool sorter’s disease” or “hide-porter’s disease” because the affliction struck workers who spun wool or carried animal skins. They would sometimes develop circular lesions on their skin with a coal black centre, hence the name of the disease “anthrax” from the Greek word for coal. In rare instances drummers developed anthrax as they beat animal-skin drums.

Facial Filler, Reversibility, and the Science We Don’t See

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:42:17 +0000

I talked about Botox a lot in 2025. Which, in the social circles of a 22-year-old woman, raises a fair question: why? We don’t have wrinkles yet. Our frontal lobes aren’t even finished developing. And yet, Botox and filler, procedures once reserved for red carpets and midlife crises, have become casual conversation, slipped between Pilates classes and oat-milk lattes.

A Virus Most of Us Have Causes Multiple Sclerosis

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 22:29:21 +0000

Multiple sclerosis is a big deal in Canada.

Gua Sha Is Exotic Wellness That Leaves a Mark

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

When sales go stale, embrace the romanticism of exoticism.

That is one of the tricks of the wellness industry: selling gadgets and procedures that come from ancient traditions far, far away. There is, after all, an endless supply of folk remedies that can be repackaged for a modern audience suspicious of medicine but desirous of all-natural lotions and potions.

Fishing for the Benefits of Fish Oil Supplements

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:29:29 +0000

It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 different dietary supplements on the market in North America. Some of these, like “detox” supplements are totally useless, others such as immune boosters and megadoses of antioxidants have insignificant evidence while multivitamins mostly amount to an expensive soothing of nutritional anxieties without any evidence of reducing the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline or all-cause mortality in the general population. However, there are some supplements that are supported by clinical evidence in some situations.

The Crank Magnetism of Chiropractors

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 04:20:01 +0000

Did you know that a chiropractor can help you with menstrual pain and discomfort during pregnancy? I didn’t either, but some chiropractors in the city I live in seem to think they can do just about anything.

Is it Time to Cut Mouthwash from Your Oral Health Routine?

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

I find that I always go in and out of “mouthwash phases.” Sometimes I convince myself that it is an absolutely necessary component of my oral health routine, while in other moments in life I concede that a two-minute brush and a good flossing will suffice. However, I recently have been finding the mouthwash section of the pharmacy less appealing. I figure now is as good a time as ever to answer a reader’s query: What’s the scoop on using mouthwash? Will it deplete my nitrous oxide?