Honoured to be selected as one of 100 Albertans as part of the celebration for AMA’s centennial! 🙏 Especially nice that they included my close collaborator and friend, Professor Maxwell! 😻 #Meow! I think he enjoyed the attention and recognition. ❤️

‼️ More parents declining vitamin K and hep B vaccines for newborns. ‼️ Misinformation & policy chaos does grave harm. Study: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... "VK prophylaxis decline rates doubled between 2018 and 2025 among both sexes..."

👉 Globally, strong trust in science & scientist. "But trust has dropped in certain groups, notably among Republican-leaning people in the U.S." This distrust created for political gain! Reality: “Trust in science is politicized & becoming more so." See: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Health #misinformation does incredible harm. 26% believe autism / vaccine lie ‼️ 24% believe COVID vaccine changes DNA ‼️ 27% believe COVID vaccine killed more than COVID ‼️ These are Flat Earth level misbeliefs. Lies that kill. #VaccinesWork

🇨🇦🥲🎉‼️

🚨 The Canadian right (looking at you, Alberta 👀) has been significantly influenced by election MAGA lies spread in U.S. U.S. misinformation is creating more rage & polarization in Canada.👇 See: academic.oup.com/poq/advance-... by @mathieulavigne.bsky.social @abridgman.bsky.social et al. 🙏

Enjoyed chatting at CBC about our new study on sunscreen # misinformation on TikTok: journals.plos.org/digitalhealt... Worrisome finding: "...sunscreen misinformation ideas resonated among particular audiences." The harmful bunk gets lots of engagement!

More trucks in rural communities, for sure. But that also tied (in part) to ideology/identity (see below). Also, in general, cars handle better on ice & rough roads, certainly more than trucks (higher centre of gravity, less ideal weight distribution). Rally cars? But, yes, more work trucks too.

Of course, SUV & truck marketing also closely tied to political identity... The correlation remarkably strong (says the guy who lives in truck 🛻 heaven Alberta). 👇

Dear Premier Smith, An often overlooked reality is that Canada is already one of the most "private" healthcare systems. NO evidence MORE private gonna help. I know you don't like research and data, but see: www.oecd.org/en/publicati... cc @charlesrusnell.bsky.social

Needed: LESS political agenda. MORE good science. via @nejm.org

Focus! Once again, my collaborator nods off during a brainstorming... #Meow.

Thrilled to be helping @wcrf.org in their effort to fight cancer misinformation! 💪 Check out (and share!) their content: www.wcrf.org/preventing-c...

🚨 More getting health info from social media. Most (61%), especially younger (73%), think can tell if true. 👉 Reality: NOPE. Top reason for going to social media is learning from others who share same experience (I get that). 👉 Reality: anecdotes OFTEN exploited to PUSH BUNK. via @kff.org

Canadians call for heavy AI regulation angusreid.org/ai-regulatio... via @angusreidinstitute.bsky.social Strong (and rare) bipartisan support. 68% agree must HEAVILY regulate AI. But also pessimism. 74% "doubt any government can keep pace with AI."

Wellness influencers push statin BS. "Risks or negative effects were discussed more often than benefits (63.2% vs 42.2%), and 39.5% contained at least one false or misleading claim, most often from complementary & alternative medicine providers & wellness promoters" www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

Only 11% of those who are NOT MAHA support ending fluoride in the water. Only 26% of MAHA support use. Also... Only 1% (again, ONE❗) of the NOT MAHA have "great confidence" in RFK Jr. 91% not confident (and 72% not confident at all). This the grifter gonna restore trust? Sigh.

Dear Canada, I know it feels like we must take drastic action to protect our children from social media. I get the intuitive appeal of a ban. But evidence supporting move ain't great. Complex problems require, alas, a nuanced policy. www.nature.com/articles/s44... @profsanderlinden.bsky.social

‼️ The report sidelined by RFK Jr et al is now out... "Alcohol consumption, including at what may be perceived as 'moderate' levels, is associated with increased mortality and morbidity risks." No protective effect. See: www.jsad.com/doi/10.15288...

Remind people that sharing bunk is BAD! Moral Deliberation Reduces People’s Intentions to Share Headlines They Recognize as “Fake News” psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202... This procedure "reduced intentions to share fake news about business, health, and politics..."

Childhood Vaccine Hesitancy www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... Vaccines "have substantially reduced incidence of disease & maintain a strong safety record." #VaccinesWork ‼️ Great advice on how to talk to patients! 👇

🚨 Intellectual humility = key tool against AI misinformation! "Individuals with higher humility scores rated pseudoscientific content as significantly less credible, while showing no correlation with credibility assessments of accurate content." Study (preprint): arxiv.org/html/2606.03...

Interesting analysis of the right's anti-science 👇 "...contemporary distrust of science is mostly collateral damage, a spillover from carefully orchestrated conservative distrust of government." Agree, but increasingly a deliberate part of the authoritarian agenda. direct.mit.edu/daed/article...

The decrease in trust in science has happened almost ENTIRELY on one side of the political spectrum. Mostly created for political gain (MAGA/MAHA), the creation of wellness & influencer brands (eg, Rogan et al), selling unproven products (eg, ivermectin), and the profit of social media platforms.

"LLMs generate fluent, authoritative-seeming outputs based on statistical patterns rather than true understanding, and they have limitations in reasoning, calibration, and transparency." Medicine as an Information Industry in the Age of AI ai.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

I try to be understanding. Try to respect different perspectives & experiences. But how the f*ck can anyone vote for this person?

The Enhanced Games (aka: Steroids Olympics) was a total bust. The "CHEATING IS COOL AND MANLY... AND FREEDOM!" ethos translated into a cringey embarrassment. Being an elite athlete requires more than drugs. Love how the sponsors stocks tanked the next day.👇

Half of those under 50 get info from health influencers. - Most use influencers to make health change (83%) - 67% "say they mostly get that information because they happen to come across it" (ie, algorithms push) - Only 24% of users say don't trust advice See www.pewresearch.org/data-labs/20...

Truly honoured to have participated in #GaliciaBiodays26 in beautiful Vigo Spain. Lots of discussion about harmful health misinformation, counterproductive hype, scienceploitation, and the need for quality science! #GoScience!

67% stay in Canada. 🇨🇦 Still, sickening that 30% would vote leave. via @angusreidinstitute.bsky.social