Show Segments

8:30 – Alberta’s newly-minted premier-designate Jason Kenney is threatening to “turn off the taps” to B.C. by passing legislation allowing Alberta to limit how much energy leaves the province, a move which would potentially send already-high B.C. gas prices even higher. While some experts have said the proposed move wouldn’t be legal, Blair King, a B.C.-based chemist, says there’s already a legal way Kenney could restrict B.C.’s gas supply through the Trans Mountain Pipeline. According to King, Kenney could require the pipeline carry more heavy crude, which would restrict refined fuel capacity in the batched pipeline and put the squeeze on B.C. Ironically, Ling says those who want to reduce carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels should be “cheering Kenney on.” King joins John now to discuss the issue.

Blair King, Chemist, Environmental Scientist, Writer.

9:00 – The Hour of the Big Stories… Open Session

10:00 – Alternative medicines – including naturopathy, homeopathy, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicines, chiropractic medicine, herbal remedies, and osteopathy – need to be better regulated in order to account for the risks they sometimes carry. That’s according to a new report from the CD Howe Institute, which says regulation is lacking compared to the tightly-regulated rules we see around medicine. Law Professor Michael Trebilcock, who co-authored the institute’s study into the area, says because alternative medicines are often promoted as substitutes for biomedicine, the degree of risk involved must be taken into account when they are regulated. In addition to tighter, risk-based regulation, the report also calls for the creation of an alternative medicine advisory council to give advice to governments, and ensuring accountability and liability for fraud, negligence, and false advertising. Trebilcock joins John now to discuss the issues with alternative medicine.

LIVE: Michael Trebilcock, Professor of Law, University of Toronto.

11:30 – Last week we heard about ASMR during our discussion on how to get a better night’s sleep. ASMR is the “autonomous sensory meridian response,” often described as a tingling, relaxing sensation in your brain and scalp triggered by sounds or images such as whispering. There’s a huge community of videos designed to create the response popping up on YouTube, and scientists are now starting to study the phenomenon. One of the experts on ASMR is Dr. Craig Richard, at Shenandoah University in Virginia. In addition to his research into ASMR, Richard served as a consultant for an ASMR Superbowl beer commercial and authored the book “Brain Tingles: The Secret to Triggering Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response for Improved Sleep, Stress Relief, and Head-to-Toe Euphoria.”

LIVE: Dr. Craig Richard, professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at the Shenandoah University School of Pharmacy in Winchester, VA.