#790 The Dubious Botanist

CANADALAND

Steven Newmaster, a botany professor, once shone a light on the nutritional supplement industry and called them frauds. Now, the light is being shone on him by his colleagues. And boy, buckle up because this story is a wild ride.

A Canadian scientist wanted to demonstrate how he could use DNA barcoding to distinguish between different strains of cannabis; a pretty valuable thing to be able to do during the weed marketing gold rush.

To prove it, he just took a graph of U.S. arrest data, changed the title, and said ‘here, here’s my evidence.’

He did a lot more than that. And it might have all gone unnoticed, if not for some meddlesome researchers. Senior producer Sarah Lawrynuik gets into it.

Featured in this episode: Charles Piller, investigative journalist for Science Magazine; Ken Thompson, post-doctoral fellow at Stanford University; Paul Hebert, director of the University of Guelph’s Centre for Biodiversity Genomics

More from this series

#818 CTV Workers On Workplace Abuse

Lisa LaFlamme was but one CTV News employee. Dozens more speak to us about a toxic workplace where abuse, bullying, and burnout have allegedly been normal. This culture comes from a deliberate corporate plan. In one case, the consequences may have been fatal.

September 26, 2022

#816 The True Story Of Sasquatch

Every pop culture reference to Sasquatch or Bigfoot can be traced to one Macleans Magazine article from 1929, written by Indian Agent J.W. Burns, who stole the story of Sas’qets, a core part of Sto:lo cultural identity for thousands of years. Robert Jago is a Sto:lo writer and Sasquatch enthusiast who set out to take Sasquatch back. But the process of cultural appropriation turns out to be more complicated than passing a physical object back and forth, and Jago tells a unique story of how the Sts’ailes people kept their culture alive in the face of genocide, by appropriating appropriation.

September 19, 2022

#814 The McAfee Virus

A new Netflix documentary documents the violent life and death of John McAfee, a silicon valley magnate who became a murder suspect and the target of an international manhunt.

September 12, 2022

#812 Bruce McCulloch

This week we revisit our interview with Kid In The Hall, Bruce McCulloch.

September 5, 2022

#810 Updates On Nuclear Waste, A Bond Villain, And Starbucks Unions

After we turn off our microphones, here at CANADALAND, the story keeps going. Here are updates on three stories we told you over the last year and a half.

August 29, 2022

#808 Is New Brunswick Covering Up A Deadly Brain Disease?

This week, we revisit a mystery plaguing New Brunswick. Early on-set dementia, muscle atrophy, hallucinations -- in a word, a nightmare. But a mystery that still has yielded few answers.

August 22, 2022

#806 Sh*tty Cities

Governments all over Canada keep building infrastructure that is innately harmful to Canadians and the climate. What might better, more sustainable cities look (and sound) like?

August 15, 2022

#804 The Interrogation Of Jesse Brown

Jesse Brown might think himself quite the question master, but today the tables have turned and our guest host, the Jonathan Torrens, investigates the inner workings of this show's host.

August 8, 2022

All Podcasts

CANADALAND