Truth or Lie? The Exhibition

What a fantastic sight to see...! But was this yogi truly levitating? View the event and decide for yourself.

Extra powerful energy drinks, a miraculous rock, mind-blowing magic tricks, UFOs, talking to spirits from beyond, a catchy slogan… it all seems quite real, but how can we be certain?  Life is filled with deceitful claims.  Discover the hidden world of magic, illusion, pseudoscience and the media.  Learn how critical thinking and science can help us see through the many illusions that surround us.  Explore an exhibition with over 40 fun and interactive activities that will help you unravel the truth from the lies and that will surprise even the sharpest of minds!

Strange phenomena, miracles cures… how can we tell what’s real? Why are we tempted to believe in these things?

To believe or not to believe? 

Does your memory play tricks on you? Is your good judgement affected by what you believe? This exhibition puts it all to the test. Find out how easy it is to become superstitious!  How can we steer clear of believing any old thing?

Putting evidence to the test

Use a scale to compare the weights of different evidence claiming to prove the existence of certain phenomena.  Find out how certain evidence holds more weight than others, and therefore offers more value.

The test of science

Use the scientific method to put strange phenomena to the test.  Will they pass the test?  Will we discover that telepathy and lucky numbers are truly real?

Explanation or complication?

Do-it-yourself! Recreate strange manifestations like making a table move, levitating like a yogi, and reading into your friends’ futures… You’ll see that no esoteric explanation is needed to explain these phenomena!

What are you talking about??

Listen to the strange and mysterious stories of other visitors and see how tempted you are to believe them.  You can also tell your own story.

• Cyrille Barrette, Professor Emeritus, Biology Department, Université Laval
http://www.bio.ulaval.ca/no_cache/departement/professeurs/fiche_des_professeurs/professeur/11/19/
http://multim.com/titre/?ID=153

• Martin Carli, Co-Host, TV show "Génial!" (Télé-Québec), DATSIT Studios
http://genial.telequebec.tv/emission/

• Marie-France Daniel, Professor, Kinesiology Department, Université de Montréal
http://www.kinesio.umontreal.ca/departement_bref/Pages_Professeur/daniel_marie_france.htm
http://www.puq.ca/catalogue/livres/pour-apprentissage-une-pensee-critique-primaire-288.html

• Ariel Fenster, Faculty Lecturer, Chemistry Department, McGill University
http://www.mcgill.ca/oss/who-we-are/arielfenster
http://www.sciencepresse.qc.ca/users/ariel-fenster

• Yves Gingras, Professor, History Department, Université du Québec à Montréal
http://www.chss.uqam.ca/
http://www.professeurs.uqam.ca/gingras

• Pierre Hamon, Mentalist Magician
http://www.omarius.ca/

• Régis Olry, Professor, Anatomy Department, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
http://www.cfou.ca/olry.php

• Dany Plouffe, Researcher, Geography Department, McGill University
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV0ivGtDBbo

• Patrice Potvin, Professor, Didactics Department, Université du Québec à Montréal
http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r26102/

WEB SITES
Blog of Ben Goldacre, best-selling author, broadcaster, campaigner, medical doctor and academic who specializes in unpicking the misuse of science and statistics by journalists, politicians, quacks, drug companies, and more.
http://www.badscience.net/

Series of short videos on critical thinking that explain why it is so easy to adhere to various beliefs and pseudoscience.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8516751A96F65829

James Randi Educational Foundation promote critical thinking by reaching out to the public and media with reliable information about paranormal and supernatural ideas so widespread in our society today.
http://www.randi.org/site/

Robert Tood Carroll. The Skeptic’s Dictionary. Exploring Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions and Dangerous Declusions since 1994.
http://www.skepdic.com/

The Skeptics Society is a scientific and educational organization whose mission is to engage leading experts in investigating the paranormal, fringe science, pseudoscience, and extraordinary claims of all kinds, promote critical thinking, and serve as an educational tool for those seeking a sound scientific viewpoint.
http://www.skeptic.com/

The Brain from Top to Bottom. Motion Pictures: The Grand Optical Illusion.
http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_02/i_02_s/i_02_s_vis/i_02_s_vis.html

Videos of Derren Brown, a British illusionist, mentalist, trickster, hypnotist, painter, writer, and sceptic.
http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialDerren

The Invisible Gorilla. Website of researchers Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons including videos and demonstrations of their research and experiments.
http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/videos.html

Michael Bach. 106 Visual Phenomena & Optical Illusions.
http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/index.html

Quirky mind stuff from psychologist and author Richard Wiseman. If you are into psychology, illusions, bets you always win, magic, and the impossible, this is the place to be.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Quirkology

Sleights of Minds. What the neuroscience of magic reveals about our everyday deceptions.
http://www.sleightsofmind.com/media/

Diluting the Scientific Method : Ars Looks at Homeopathy (again).
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/04/the-pseudoscience-behind-homeopathy/

Quackwatch. Your Guide to Quackery, Health Fraud, and Intelligent Decisions.
http://www.quackwatch.com/

The Most Bonkers Scientific Theories (Almost) Nobody Believes Anymore.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/08/the-most-bonkers-scientific-theories-and-why-you-should-be-thankful-for-them/?pid=10001

FACEBOOK PAGES
Junior Skeptic Magazine. September 6th, 2013.
https://www.facebook.com/Junior.Skeptic.magazine

The Skeptic Society & Skeptic Magazine. September 25th, 2013.
https://www.facebook.com/Skeptic.magazine

Richard Wiserman. September 21st, 2013.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Richard-Wiseman/216389545522

BOOKS
Cazeau, Charles. 2000. Test your Science IQ. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 368 p.
Using a question-and-answer format that is fun to read and easy to understand, Dr. Charles Cazeau takes you through more than 450 of the most intriguing science questions, from the profound to the amusingly trivial.

Dawkins, Richard. 2012. The Magic of Reality: How we know what Really True is. Ney York, NY: Free Press, 272 p.
The Magic of Reality explains a stunningly wide range of natural phenomena. Starting with the magical, mythical explanations for the wonders of nature, Dawkins reveals the exhilarating scientific truths behind these occurrences.

Goldacre, Ben. 2009. Bad Science. London: Harper Perennial, 382 p.
Ben Goldacre takes us on a hilarious, invigorating and ultimately alarming journey through the bad science we are fed daily by hacks and quacks.

Kida, Thomas E. 2006. Don’t Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 286 p.
The author vividly illustrates these tendencies with numerous examples that demonstrate how easily we can be fooled into believing something that isn't true

Lilienfeld, Scott O., Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio & Barry L. Beyerstein. 2009. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 352 p.
This book uses popular myths as a vehicle for helping students and laypersons to distinguish science from pseudoscience.

Loxton, Daniel & Donald R. Prothero. 2013. Abominable Science! : Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 411 p.
Throughout our history, humans have been captivated by mythic beasts and legendary creatures. Tales of Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness monster are part of our collective experience. Now comes a book from two dedicated investigators that explores and elucidates the fascinating world of cryptozoology.

Macknik, Stephen L., Susana Martinez-Conde & Sandra Blakeslee. 2010. Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about our Everyday Deceptions. New York: Henry Holt, 291 p.
Sleights of Mind is the result of the authors’ multi-year, world-wide exploration of magic and how its principles apply to our behavior. Now magic can reveal how our brains work in everyday situations.

Swanson, Diane. 2009. Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain: The Good, the Bad and the Bogus in Science. Toronto: Annick Press, 151 p.
Bite into Nibbling on Einstein's Brain and learn some winning strategies for sorting the good from the misleading in science.

Yes Mag. 2006. Science Detectives: How Scientists Solved Six Real-Life Mysteries. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 48 p.
Think science is a bunch of test tubes, microscopes and guys in lab coats? Think again! Science is bursting with far-out but true stories, fascinating puzzles and mind-boggling mysteries. Science Detectives follows fearless and dedicated science sleuths tracking down leads and solving cases all over the world - in cities and in deserts, deep underground, and high in the sky and even in your DNA.