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Science Goes Viral
Captivating Accounts of Science in Everyday Life
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Narrated by:
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Raoul Bhaneja
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By:
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Dr. Joe Schwarcz
About this listen
Best-selling popular science author Dr. Joe Schwarcz breaks down the science of essential oils, placenta creams, intermittent fasting, and of course the spread of COVID-19 misinformation in this new collection from the master of demarcating non-science from science
Science has gone viral! In more ways than one.
Since we first heard rumblings about a novel type of pneumonia in Wuhan, China, terms like pandemic, spike protein, viral particles, variants, mRNA vaccines, antibodies, hydroxychloroquine, social distancing, immune response, convalescent plasma, aerosol transmission, and of course, face coverings, have entered our everyday vocabulary. The scientific literature has exploded with studies exploring every facet of COVID-19, but unfortunately the “viral” spread of misinformation about the pandemic has also reached epic proportions.
Science Goes Viral provides a framework for coming to grips with the onslaught of COVID-19 information and misinformation in this ever-changing pandemic. Here, you’ll learn about the first antibodies ever identified, the connection between tonic water and coronavirus, and whether we can zap COVID with copper. And although our thoughts and daily activities have been hijacked by the pandemic, life does go on, as does the pursuit of science. Dr. Joe features his usual array of diverse topics, including biblical dyes, essential oils, Jean Harlow’s hair, Lincoln’s magician, and bioplastics, along with assorted examples of quackery.
Delving into the many fascinating facets of science can serve as a welcome distraction from the COVID curse. In fact, enchantment with science can also be contagious. Will you be infected?
©2021 Dr. Joe Schwarcz (P)2022 ECW PressListeners also enjoyed...
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Most Entertaining!
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Very cavalier attitude
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Of all the dietary and nutritional claims pitched to us, what can we believe? How does cinnamon affect your health? How splendid is Splenda? Should you buy farmed, wild, or canned food? What's fishy about fish-oil supplements? Will a diet of Twinkies and M&M's lead to weight loss? Water from a tap or from a plastic bottle - which should you choose, and which is better for the environment? Should you carry your groceries home in plastic or brown paper? We all have questions, and Dr. Joe Schwarcz has the answers, some of which will astonish you.
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Excellent! Science-baced nutritional information.
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Three of the most important words in science are I don't know. Not knowing implies a universe of opportunities—the possibility of discovery and surprise. Our understanding of science has advanced immeasurably over the last 500 years, yet many fundamental mysteries of existence persist: How did our universe begin? How big is the universe? Is time travel possible? What’s at the center of a black hole? How did life on Earth arise? Are we alone? What is consciousness, and can we create it?
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he lacks knowledge about his topics
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If you’ve never read about the wonder of animal sensory capabilities this is for you
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Quack Quack
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- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While quackery—loosely defined as the spread of false "knowledge," often accompanied by various versions of "snake oil"—is not a novel phenomenon, it has never posed as great a threat to public health as today. In Quack Quack, Dr. Joe Schwarcz focuses on the deluge of anecdotes, cherry-picked data, pseudoscientific nonsense, and seductive baseless health claims that undermine efforts to educate the public about evidence-based science. The wide scope of the topics drawn from past and present aims to cast a life preserver to people drowning in a sea of misinformation.
-
-
Most Entertaining!
- By Bob Steele on 12-11-22
By: Dr. Joe Schwarcz
-
That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles
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- By: Dr. Joe Schwarcz
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Interesting anecdotes and engaging tales make science fun, meaningful, and accessible. Separating sense from nonsense and fact from myth, these essays cover everything from the ups of helium to the downs of drain cleaners and provide answers to numerous mysteries, such as why bug juice is used to color ice cream and how spies used secret inks. Mercury in teeth, arsenic in water, lead in the environment, and aspartame in food are discussed.
-
-
Very cavalier attitude
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By: Dr. Joe Schwarcz
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A Grain of Salt
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- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
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-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Of all the dietary and nutritional claims pitched to us, what can we believe? How does cinnamon affect your health? How splendid is Splenda? Should you buy farmed, wild, or canned food? What's fishy about fish-oil supplements? Will a diet of Twinkies and M&M's lead to weight loss? Water from a tap or from a plastic bottle - which should you choose, and which is better for the environment? Should you carry your groceries home in plastic or brown paper? We all have questions, and Dr. Joe Schwarcz has the answers, some of which will astonish you.
-
-
Excellent! Science-baced nutritional information.
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By: Dr. Joe Schwarcz
-
The Edge of Knowledge
- Unsolved Mysteries of the Cosmos
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- Narrated by: Lawrence M. Krauss
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three of the most important words in science are I don't know. Not knowing implies a universe of opportunities—the possibility of discovery and surprise. Our understanding of science has advanced immeasurably over the last 500 years, yet many fundamental mysteries of existence persist: How did our universe begin? How big is the universe? Is time travel possible? What’s at the center of a black hole? How did life on Earth arise? Are we alone? What is consciousness, and can we create it?
-
-
he lacks knowledge about his topics
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Overall
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Performance
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-
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Performance
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The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us.
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Read This! Live this, WILL transform your life!!!
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Overall
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Performance
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Performance
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In The Rise of Yeast, Nicholas P. Money argues that we cannot ascribe too much importance to yeast, and that its discovery and controlled use profoundly altered human history. Humans knew what yeast did long before they knew what it was. It was not until Louis Pasteur's experiments in the 1860s that scientists even acknowledged its classification as a fungus. A compelling blend of science, history, and sociology, The Rise of Yeast explores the rich, strange, and utterly symbiotic relationship between people and yeast.
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awesome
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The Truth About Cancer
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Overall
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Performance
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One out of three women alive today, and one out of two men, will face a cancer diagnosis, according to the World Health Organization. Ty Bollinger takes this personally: in the course of a decade, he says, "I lost my entire family to cancer. I don't believe I had to lose them." The Truth about Cancer has been written for one simple reason: to share the knowledge we need to protect ourselves, treat ourselves, and in some cases save our lives or the lives of those we love.
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save a life with this valuable information.
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The Drug Hunters
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The search to find medicines is as old as disease, which is to say as old as the human race. Through serendipity - by chewing, brewing, and snorting - some Neolithic souls discovered opium, alcohol, snakeroot, juniper, frankincense, and other helpful substances. Ötzi the Iceman, the 5,000-year-old hunter frozen in the Italian Alps, was found to have whipworms in his intestines and Bronze Age medicine, a worm-killing birch fungus, knotted to his leggings.
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Aargh!
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Critic reviews
“Dr. Joe is at his best in this trip through history, science, and communicable disease, and in plain language helps us understand the dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic.” (Hon. Kelvin K. Ogilvie, CM, chemist and Canadian senator, 2009–2017)
“To all the people who feel that science is a dry and boring affair, this book will be an eye-opener. Joe Schwarcz has a great talent for turning science into amusing and entertaining, yet informative and easy-to-understand stories. It is, I think, impossible not to be fascinated by this terrific book.” (Edzard Ernst, Emeritus Professor of Complementary Medicine, University of Exeter)
“Joe Schwarcz does it again with this fun, fast-paced, and evidence-informed exploration of the hot topics in science we’ve been bombarded with over the past few years! From the biology of vaccines (including the new mRNA variety) and immune boosting (spoiler: you can’t) to the history of epidemiology and toilet paper, Schwarcz gives us the fact-filled low-down. In a world filled with misinformation and twisted science, this is a must-read!” (Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, best-selling author of Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?)