One of the places that I find pseudo-science rear its ugly head more often than almost any place else, is in the diet and exercise industry. You've got people like Dr. Oz spouting pure crap on his highly-watched show, you've got the Foodbabe spreading misinformation and fear-mongering throughout her blog, and that is just two examples of the bad science that is out there. There are so many more, and we haven't even touched on the fitness industry.
Yesterday, thanks to Kristie, I listened to my first episode of Sound Bites podcast. After just one episode, I was hooked! Sure, it is probably because the initial episode I listened to confirmed many of my biases, but at least they back up their claims with evidence, and link to that evidence within their show notes.
I'm not listening to it simply because of confirmation bias however. For instance, the second episode I listened to had an interview with Rachel Laudan, a historian who wrote a book about global food history. In this interview, she had some contrary points to some of the ideas of author, Michael Pollan. I really like Michael Pollan and his books, but some of the counter points I had heard in this interview, made some compelling arguments about how we should think about food.
So far, I've listened to about four episodes, and I am on a tear to make sure I hear them all. I have learned quite a lot from these first few episodes, as well as having some of my current eating/cooking practices validated.
I recommend that if you want to educate yourself on food, using good science and evidence, that you check out this podcast! The webiste is: http://www.soundbitesrd.com/ and you can find them in iTunes and other podcatchers.
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