Timothy Caulfield

Vaccine hesitancy = > nocebo response.

"...the more respondents were vaccine-hesitant respondents the more likely they were to report [adverse events] and to rate them as severe..."

COVID vaccine hesitancy & perceived post-vaccination adverse event www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Scientists analyzed 38 million obituaries and found a hidden story about American values A brief obituary often stands as the final public word on a life. By studying millions of these memorials, researchers hoped to uncover what people consistently honor, remember, and preserve—and what ...

Interesting...👇

Scientists analyzed 38 million obituaries & found a hidden story about American values www.psypost.org/scientists-a...

Remember "honoring cultural customs & caring for others..."

But "personal value of benevolence decreasing after the COVID pandemic & never returning to baseline."

PS, so tough too!!

Very. Positive experience for me! And my coaches so nice.

Harder Better Faster Stronger | Films | CBC Gem Misinformation expert Timothy Caulfield investigates the purported ‘crisis in masculinity,’ debunks toxic men’s health myths, and meets with people challenging traditional masculine norms.

The manosphere pushes regressive lies & does real harm.

Check out our CBC documentary – Harder Better Faster Stronger – on @cbcgem.bsky.social gem.cbc.ca/harder-bette... 💪

- Urine drinking? ✅
- Stone lifting? ✅
- Raw testicle eating? ✅
- Flamethrower? ✅
- Thoughtful critique? ✅

Opinion | Why Young Men Are Losing Faith in Science

Men Are Losing Faith in Science www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/o... @adamfrank4.bsky.social🙏

"Framing science as a debate to be won makes it easy to paint established scientists as opponents..."

Manosphere BS "based on profound ignorance & a disinterest in even the most basic scientific principles..."

Study: Impact of AI Comments on Perceptions of Health Misinformation

"...misinformation posts perceived as highly endorsed, either through social endorsement or AI-generated supportive comments, are viewed as most credible."

"AI comments endorsing misinformation evoke greater fear..."

Drinking tea and coffee linked to improved cancer outcomes High intake of the popular beverages appears to be be associated with a 24 percent reduction in cancer progression.

"...high coffee and/or tea intake has been linked to a 24% reduction in the risk of cancer progression..."

via www.newsweek.com/cancer-drink...

From study: "This meta-analysis suggests a protective role for coffee and tea in cancer survival."

#TeamCoffee #TeamConfirmationBias

Tylenol, vaccines, and autism: the medical mayhem of the MAGA methodologists Are the MAGA methodologists out of control? The chief methodologists of the Make America Great Again cult are Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr—and, as with everything that Trump reigns over, the w...

Yep.

"The credo of MAGA: create a health crisis based on data that are unavailable & may not exist; misleading appraisals of the science; single studies that are preliminary, misinterpreted, or half remembered; and general amplification of misinformation."

MAGA mayhem www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Mom's COVID Shot Aided Baby, Too, Large Review Confirmed Vaccination during pregnancy was safe for both mom and baby

Mom's COVID Shot Aided Baby, Too, Large Review Confirmed www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcover...

"...vaccinated mothers tend to have healthier pregnancies and infants. What is reassuring here is that we now have robust pooled evidence..."

#VaccinesWork

The struggle to protect children from conspiracy theorist parents The inquest following the death of Paloma Shemirani raises the question of how to prevent young people from health misinformation

Sum: Misinformation is killing people.

Why we struggle to protect the young from conspiracy theorist parents bbc.com/news/article...

Anti-medicine conspiracy theories "have become more prevalent."

@lizoriordan.bsky.social: "[People] end up in an algorithm-induced rabbit hole."

Premature baby dies of measles in Alberta outbreak's 1st death | CBC News Alberta is reporting its first measles death since outbreaks of the highly contagious illness began in March. The province says a baby, who was born prematurely after the mother became sick, died shor...

Heartbreaking.

Premature baby dies of measles in Alberta outbreak's 1st death www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Canada’s Supreme Court will decide fate of ostrich flock hit by bird flu Farmers and supporters—including RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz—urge government to spare birds that survived H5N1 outbreak

Fascinating how this became a political flag for right.

Canada’s Supreme Crt will decide fate of ostrich flock www.science.org/content/arti...

Problem: "It’s people picking and choosing which public health orders they want to follow, not relying on evidence..." - @angierasmussen.bsky.social

How to get the best night’s sleep: what the science says Chuck the gadgets, the fads and the alarm. Circadian research reveals how important your body’s internal clock is to blissful slumber.

How to get the best night’s #sleep: what the science says www.nature.com/articles/d41... @nature.com

- Keep it dark! ("...bright days & dark nights.")
- Avoid late meals, late coffee, and late alcohol
- Be consistent
- But not too rigid. "Life also calls for flexibility."

Zzzzz....

Extinguishing wildfire misinformation: avenues for journalistic improvement Our Journalist Fellow Niko Efstathiou looks at how news publishers can improve their coverage of wildfires and fight false narratives around them.

Extinguishing wildfire misinformation: reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/extinguishin... via @reutersinstitute.bsky.social

Common misinformation themes:
- Scapegoating of minorities
- Land-grab plot
- Technological weapon
- Foreign or globalist threat

Scammers are using video deepfakes of journalists to peddle products online Broadcast journalists around the world are being targeted amid an explosion in deepfake scams. Are social media platforms doing enough to counter them?

Big issue.👇

Scammers are using video deepfakes of journalists to peddle products online www.niemanlab.org/2025/10/scam... via @niemanlab.org

"Without intervention from major social media platforms ... there’s only so much individual journalists and newsrooms can do to counter these scams."

64% of America think country now too polarized to solve nation’s problems. It is broken.

"Polarization" viewed as 2nd most important issue.

Exploiting social media echo chambers to spread misinformation (about immigrants, crime, economy, vaccines, etc) BIG part of this...

Modeling the Health Impact of Discontinuing COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy in the US This decision analytical model study estimates the number of avertable COVID-19 hospitalizations in US infants younger than 6 months and pregnant persons with vaccinations during pregnancy.

Key...👇

Modeling Impact of Discontinuing COVID Vaccination During Pregnancy in US jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... by @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social et al.

"...US has a high risk of severe COVID-19 in newborns, underscoring relevance of maternal COVID-19 vaccination."

Vaccine "shown to be safe."

The protein craze is here. Why are climate activists sounding the alarm? Consumers are eating more animal products as they up their protein intake. What does this mean for the sustainable food movement?

A bizarre marketing (manosphere fuelled) trend...

Protein Craze Is Here. Climate Activists Sounding the Alarm www.newsweek.com/protein-craz...

Nearly 90% "inaccurately believe that it's important to eat meat or other animal products to get adequate protein..."

Misinformation/disinformation leads to US couples’ divorces, breakups Interviews with people in the U.S. who had recently ended a dating or cohabitation relationship or marriage with someone of differing political ideologies suggests that the misinformation/disinformati...

No surprise. 💔

Misinformation contribute to breakups www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

From study: "...mis/disinformation plays a key role in the termination of romantic relationships, encouraging informational, and relational isolation and disrupting shared reality between partners."

The complexity of misinformation extends beyond virus and warfare analogies - npj Complexity npj Complexity - The complexity of misinformation extends beyond virus and warfare analogies

Yes!

Complexity of #misinformation extends beyond virus & warfare analogies www.nature.com/articles/s44... @lenafrescamente.bsky.social

"Understanding misinformation as a complex, multilevel system allows for more effective interventions & underscores the value of interdisciplinary collaboration"

Trump's claims about autism's cause can harm people looking for diagnosis, say experts | CBC News Autism experts say misinformation can be a barrier for people seeking diagnosis, and the province needs to provide more support, like making autism assessments more available.

Trump's claims about autism's cause can harm people looking for diagnosis, say experts www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

"...many people still don't understand and accept autism, including U.S. President Donald Trump."

Pasteurization destroys H5N1 bird flu in milk Tests show pasteurized dairy with H5N1 remnants did not cause illness in mice, supporting safety of milk during outbreaks.

Sum: science works.

Pasteurization destroys H5N1 bird flu in milk www.sciencenews.org/article/past...

Unbelievable. Surreal. Disturbing.

Student asks an important Q and McAllister cuts his mic and recommends parents beat him?

THIS is the AB government's consultation process?

SOCIAL certainty illusion - Descript In the context of the work that you do, what do you mean by The Certainty Illusion? We live in a time when we've never had as much access as we do now to information and, and good quality information

REALLY enjoyed this chat with Gill Deacon about how the themes in my new book – The Certainty Illusion – relate to the current information chaos!

We can't let the lies win!

Check it out the teaser: share.descript.com/view/7WUgqu3...

Episode: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

Can fitness apps work long term? A 24-month quasiexperiment of 516 818 Canadian fitness app users Objective To examine whether a multicomponent commercial fitness app with very small (‘micro’) financial incentives (FI) increased population-level device-assessed physical activity (PA) over 2 years....

I'm a bit of a fitness app skeptic. (Less data, more living kinda thing.) But keeping open mind! Cuz #move!

Can fitness apps work long term? bjsm.bmj.com/content/earl...

"Modest PA increases of about 250 steps per day were sustained over 2 years."

And > increase for "low" active.

How powerful is doubtmongering & misinformation? This powerful...👇

Despite a large body of evidence on safety & efficacy (showing benefits for both mom & baby), huge amount of uncertainty around routine vaccines during pregnancy. via @asc.upenn.edu

#Vaccineswork #ScienceMatters

Energy Dept. adds ‘climate change’ and ‘emissions’ to banned words list It is the latest in a series of Trump administration efforts to dispute, silence or downplay climate change.

Anti-science. Censorship. Authoritarian. Orwellian. Etc.

Can't be said enough: What a dangerous & regressive moment in human history.

Energy Dept. adds ‘climate change’ and ‘emissions’ to banned words list www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

13 questions journalists should ask to gauge research quality Asking these 13 questions can help journalists spot red flags in research, including studies that policymakers cite to defend their stances.

Great resource for all!

How to gauge the quality of a research study: 13 questions journalists should ask journalistsresource.org/media/good-r...

Eg:
- peer reviewed?
- top-tier academic journal?
- other scholars trust this work?
- funding?
- credentials?
- COI?
- sample size?
- methods?

Are Childhood Vaccines ‘Overloading’ the Immune System? No.

🚨 Important myth bust! 👇

Are Childhood Vaccines ‘Overloading’ the Immune System? No. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/14/h...

Reality: "...the immune reactions produced by vaccines are 'minuscule' compared with those that children experience on a daily basis..."

#VaccinesWork #ScienceMatters!