Joe Schwarcz
Director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society
McGill University

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have been fascinated by phenomena which appear to lie outside the scope of science.  Our history is peppered with accounts of psychics predicting the future, mediums conversing with the dead, and aliens in UFO's abducting earthlings.  Today, there is widespread belief that the moon and planets influence our behavior, that 'psychic surgeons' can remove tumors without making incisions and that Uri Geller bends spoons with the power of his mind.  Do these effects really lie outside the scope of modern day science?  This lecture examines paranormal phenomena and describes how many of the effects can be explained by perfectly 'natural' means.  The presentation is highlighted by a number of 'demonstrations' aimed at increasing the awareness of the need to evaluate 'paranormal' phenomena by critical scientific methods.

Joe Schwarcz is Director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society. He is well known for his informative and entertaining public lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to the science of aging. Dr. Joe has received numerous awards for teaching chemistry and for interpreting science for the public and is the only non-American ever to win the American Chemical Society’s prestigious Grady-Stack Award for demystifying chemistry. He hosts 'The Dr. Joe Show' on Montreal's CJAD and has appeared hundreds of times on The Discovery Channel, CTV, CBC, TV Ontario and Global Television. He is also an amateur conjurer and often spices up his presentations with a little magic. Dr. Joe also writes a newspaper column entitled “The Right Chemistry” and has authored a number of books including best-sellers, “Radar, Hula Hoops and Playful Pigs,” “The Genie in the Bottle,” 'The Right Chemistry,' and “An Apple A Day.'  Dr. Joe was awarded the 2010 Montreal Medal, the Canadian Chemical Institute’s premier prize recognizing lifetime contributions to chemistry in Canada. In 2015 he was named winner of the Balles Prize for critical thinking by the US based Committee for Skeptical Inquiry in recognition of his 2014 book, 'Is That A Fact?”