Podcast for Inquiry S05E10: Rooting out biases in medical studies and health advice with Dr. Christopher Labos

Dr. Christopher Labos is a cardiologist and an affiliate member of the Department of Global and Public Health of McGill University. He is a columnist with the Montreal Gazette and Medscape, featured on the Sunday Morning House Call on CJAD radio, and has a regular TV segment with CTV Montreal and CBC Morning Live. He hosts the award-winning podcast “The Body of Evidence.”  He is the author of “Does Coffee Cause Cancer?” a story about food epidemiology and why food headlines are usually wrong. Occasionally, he finds time to practice as a cardiologist so he can buy groceries.  

Christopher starts by answering the question his book asks - Does coffee cause cancer? We then talk about how nonexperts can reasonably interpret studies, and whether there is any benefit to listening to health advice beyond “Don’t smoke, exercise, and eat lots of fruit and vegetables.” I share one of my favourite xkcd web comics when Christopher describes various sources of bias in studies and the difference between frequency and Bayesian analysis when interpreting results.

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Podcast for Inquiry S05E09: Religion, theism, and race: The Black Practice of Disbelief with Dr. Anthony Pinn

Dr. Anthony Pinn is a professor, prolific author and much sought-after lecturer committed to academic rigor. Known internationally as a leading expert in the field of African American religion, Dr.  Pinn’s teaching and research interests span liberation theologies, black religious aesthetics, religion and popular culture, and African American humanism. 

On today’s episode, I speak with Dr. Pinn about his book The Black Practice of Disbelief. We start with how he defines religion, which might differ slightly from what many Inquirers understand. We talk What distinguishes Black Humanism from Humanism in general, and the need to partner with progressive theists to achieve the social change Humanists strive for. Black Humanists are often considered outsiders even within the Black community, a minority within a minority. Nonetheless, according to Dr. Pinn, Black Humanism is always about what we can do to reduce suffering in this world.

Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts (Spotify Apple YouTube Music Deezer Player.fm), or listen here:  

A video recording is also available: