The Canadian (American) Federal (Presidential) elections are looming. This time around it seems like there is just as much discussion about the integrity of the candidates as there is about the media reporting on the candidates [cite]. #fakenews has become a globally recognized  hashtag, one-line-comeback, and an agonizingly slippery threat to democracy [cite]. By exploiting human psychology, the news industry is constantly presented with a shape-shifting slew of threats to its integrity.

Today I talk to Dr. David Venus of the Physics and Astronomy department at McMaster about the need for media numeracy, and what he's doing to help (teaching a course on it).

For details about the course, see the description here.

I mentioned some of Dr. Venus' opinion pieces. They are here and here.

Hey, you can follow me on Twitter @AdamFortais !

And be sure to follow us on your favorite podcasting app (eg. Spotify, Apple, Google...). I've started posting back episodes under the new flag Scientificanada. No specific announcement yet, but do note that I re-introduced this episode under a different name... :)