The Decibel

Dr. Daniel Drucker’s research helped pave the way for Ozempic, the blockbuster GLP-1 class drug. The endocrinologist has been researching the effects on Ozempic’s active ingredient semaglutide in the body for decades.

Today, he’ll show us around his lab and explain how a stout lizard kept in a freezer helped unlock the science behind a drug taken by more than a million Canadians.

Then, health reporter Kelly Grant tells us about rising obesity rates in Canada, and we’ll hear from a doctor who prescribes GLP-1s – and a patient who takes them.

This episode originally aired February 23, 2026. This is part of a three-part series.

You can contact the National Eating Disorders Information Centre at their toll-free hotline at 1-866-NEDIC-20 or visit their website.

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With a Quebec provincial election on deck this fall, and the Parti Québécois leading in the polls, there’s a good chance Quebec will hold another referendum on independence. Support for separation is polling at around 30 per cent — far below the majority vote result needed to form an independent country. However, a new generation of sovereigntists is cropping up, one that hadn’t even been born for the last referendum, in 1995.

Maura Forrest is a Quebec correspondent for The Globe and Mail. She’s on the show to talk about what Gen Z sovereignty looks like, how it differs from previous movements, and the implications for the upcoming election.

Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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A Canadian woman has been arrested and accused of spying for a third country during her internship at NATO’s headquarters in Belgium. The woman had a work history with Canadian government agencies and was once found to have committed fraud when trying to apply for a job with the Canada Border Services Agency.

This case is now raising questions about how the Canadian government vets its candidates, especially for roles that could have access to sensitive information. Greg Mercer is an investigative journalist with The Globe and one of a team of reporters working on this story. He joins the show to explain what we know so far.

Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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The Dock has been around since 2015. It’s an invite-only conference where tech, business and political leaders gather to talk. This year it was at a billionaire real estate magnate’s cottage estate in Ontario’s Muskoka region. And Prime Minister Mark Carney attended for part of the three-day conference.

Guests are asked not to talk about what happens there, but business reporters Tim Kiladze and Sean Silcoff managed to report details about who goes, what ideas get suggested to the government and a dramatic moment involving Shopify CEO and co-founder Tobi Lütke.

Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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Ransomware attacks have become more prominent in recent years, with major breaches of hospitals, like Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in 2022, and companies like Indigo in 2023. In 2025, damages from ransomware attacks were expected to reach US$57-billion dollars worldwide.

Alongside the rise of ransomware attacks came the emergence of a new kind of industry: ransomware negotiators. They communicate with attackers to try to convince them to lower the ransom fee. Today, the Globe’s financial and cybercrime reporter, Alexandra Posadzki, joins us to talk about what it takes to hack the hackers, and what’s at risk in these kinds of engagements.

This episode originally aired April 16, 2026.

Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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