Homeopathy, a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine based on principles including ‘like cures like’, came to be at a time when opium, blood-letting and alcohol were all common treatments for illnesses. Study after study, it has been proven not to work, and testing of homeopathic products appears to often fail
This week, read how Alex Jones, a trafficker in disinformation was held accountable by a Connecticut court. Read more: 📰News: 1. Alex Jones must pay eight Sandy Hook families $1 billion a jury ruled, The New York Times [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/alex-jones-sandy-hook-damages.html] reports.
The prospect of a cold winter makes energy a hot topic in Europe. Russia, aiming to chip away at Western support for Ukraine, is spreading energy disinformation.
Can Robots Detect Disinformation?We previously reported that robots can spew out new kinds of disinformation. But can they also help detect and flag it? To find out, Eva talked to researcher Giovanni Da San Martino, who is researching natural language processing at the University of Padova.Here are some
Hi readers, this is our last rodeo before we head out to enjoy our summer breaks – back in September, promise. We've already seen that the childhood vaccinations have dipped during the pandemic, but in some truly frightening news, traces of the polio vaccine and evidence that it has
📰 News: 1. A wave of parents has been radicalized by Covid-era misinformation to reject ordinary childhood immunizations — with potentially lethal consequences, according to the New York Times [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/magazine/anti-vaccine-movement.html?smid=tw-share] . 2. How a biotech company battles online lies about its COVID
Listen to our new episode here: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/szpm2r/30_Political_biases.m4a [https://theinoculation.podbean.com/e/political-biases-what-role-do-they-play-in-disinformation/] [https://theinoculation.podbean.com/e/political-biases-what-role-do-they-play-in-disinformation/] [https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/szpm2r/30_Political_biases.m4a] Researching the benefits of situations where people come together to
📰News of the week: 1. The lab-leak hypothesis complicated scientists' work, as COVID disinformation has threatened research—and lives, according to Scientific American [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-lab-leak-hypothesis-made-it-harder-for-scientists-to-seek-the-truth/#Echobox=1653538268] . 2. Fringe groups in Germany spreading Kremlin narratives are failing to catch on, but they underscore how the
In this episode, we fact-check VAIDS, a made-up syndrome anti-vaxxers are using to scare people away from getting vaccinated. Here is some background info: https://health-desk.org/articles/is-there-any-evidence-of-vaccine-acquired-immunodeficiency-in-relation-to-covid-19-vaccines-and-booster-shots Here's the list of the "Disinfo Dozen": https://counterhate.com/research/the-disinformation-dozen/ Please subscribe to our newsletter
Last month, Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter prompted the WHO's Mike Ryan, executive director of the health emergencies program, to say [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/musk-twitter-approach-spurs-who-warning-on-health-misinformation] that misinformation costs lives. We looked at what Musk might mean for disinformation and Twitter in last
Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter has prompted the WHO to make a statement on misinformation. Misinformation costs lives, Mike Ryan, executive director of the health emergencies program at the WHO, said [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/musk-twitter-approach-spurs-who-warning-on-health-misinformation] about the offer from Musk, a self-described free-speech absolutist.