Confessions of a Climate Scientist
Hunting
Real or lab-grown, we’re talking diamonds now
Can we really know the intent of others?
misinformation
Both political parties use misinformation
Feynman’s learning technique
Anxious carnivore?
Car Dealers “one of the most important secular forces in American conservatism”?
Does masking reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2? The Cochrane Collaboration tried to analyze the messy evidence and re-ignited an incendiary political debate. What conclusion should we draw from their findings? There's lots of misinformation out there; there's also rampant misinformation about misinformation. Don't be fooled by either of them.
The misinformation about the 2016 and 2020 elections and the misinformation about COVID’s origins and treatments are responsible for our disarray. That, at least, is what many of us believe, even though what is “disarrayed” differs quite a bit between MSNBC and FOX. Is misinformation so powerful that it overcomes the truth? Or is there something about human behavior that makes misinformation seem more powerful than truth? A new study suggests the fault lies more within us than “in our stars.”
I’ve been thinking about Elon Musk’s social platform, Twitter, a lot lately. I wondered how one might keep the public square and identify the village idiots more readily. A new study in Nature’s Human Behavior looks at how knowing the identity of a writer alters our perceptions.
Reporters, fact-checkers, and academics routinely urge us to avoid "misinformation." The problem is, these trusted sources often spread the very nonsense they warn us about. I make the case over at BigThink.
Reporters and science communicators commonly point to widespread COVID misinformation to explain why so many people are skeptical of vaccines and other infection-control measures. Bad pandemic takes clearly influence the public, but there's much more to the story.
Scientists and farmers are taking to social media in increasing numbers to fight anti-GMO misinformation. The results so far have been promising.
Social media censorship has exploded since the beginning of the pandemic, in large part thanks to the proliferation of so-called "fact-checkers." While efforts to limit the spread of false information online seem sensible, experts are starting to point out the downsides of tech companies moderating scientific disputes.
Victims of disinformation campaigns can use a five-pronged strategy to fight back and win.
The coronavirus pandemic has spawned an equally concerning mis- and disinformation pandemic. The latest myth is that mRNA vaccines may trigger prion diseases like Alzheimer's.
Identifying the rioters at the Capital demonstrates the end of privacy, the bad-boys of healthcare 2020, the natural and un-natural in medicine, and an example of "misinformation" spread not on social media, but by a beetle.