This past week saw the release of a trove of documents related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a subject that's long been fertile ground for conspiracy theories. Other favorite topics include beliefs that the moon landing, the 9/11 attacks and the January 6 assault on

Can conspiracy theorists be shaken from their firm — and unsubstantiated — beliefs? Podcaster Zach Mack wanted to find out, so he turned to someone he’s debated about conspiracies for years: his father. He tells what happened in “Alternate Realties,” a three-part podcast from

Why people people fall for conspiracy theories, and how do we get people out of them? Spoke to John Yang on PBS News about this, and why discussion is always better than debate to get people out of rabbit holes.. youtube.com/watch?v=esaVxC…

Despite what the NYT seem to think, there's no evidence we were mislead about origins of COVID, & #lableak narratives remain unevidenced, underwhelming conjecture - but the abuse of scientists is very real, as I write in The Irish Times today: irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/0…

Social media giants profiteer off division misinformation, while downplaying any measure to mitigate those harms lest it hurt profits. In Scientific American I suggest our SM giants are effectively a modern tobacco industry, for whom doubt is the product scientificamerican.com/article/google…

Whitehouse insisting #lableak is origin of COVID-19, despite zero evidence for this assertion & plenty against it. Aside from the sinophobic swipes, they've also insinuated people like Tony Fauci are complicit: When governments endorse conspiracy theory, democracy suffers

Don't be fooled by any pretence of science - Kennedy has already decided that autism is environmental, appointing a wholly unqualified antivaccine crank to torture the data until it confesses; the medical equivalent of a show trial. theguardian.com/us-news/2025/a…

Robert F Kennedy Jr insisting parents "do their own research" on vaccines, then vomitting falsehoods on vaccine safety, approval, & assessment succinctly illustrates the point that "doing your own research" is a surefire way to arrive at half-assed conclusions.. @pet

This is Trump's new surgeon general. Maybe he thought the post was "serial grifter" ?

I recently read the fantastic book The Irrational Ape by Dr David Robert Grimes and summarised the sections I felt related to human risk management in #cybersecurity. The Psychology of Being Fooled: What The Irrational Ape Reveals About Human Risk linkedin.com/pulse/psycholo…

RFK Jr's threat to scientists is deeply concerning, but not surprising: for decades he's embraced conspiracy theory & rejected science. Now in a role he's perversely unsuited for, he thinks he can strong-arm reality to echo his alt-med delusions politico.com/news/2025/05/2…

The unbelievable audacity of Robert F Kennedy, a man who has for decades been a mouthpiece for antivaccine propaganda, dispel actual vaccine experts is a damning indictment of why he is so perversely unfit for office. History will rightfully rinse this man nytimes.com/2025/06/09/hea…

When I first started covering Kate Shemirani during the acute phase of the pandemic I said her medical disinformation would kill people. Tragic that her own daughter is one of her victims - arrogant, narcissistic conspiracy theorists kill innocent people bbc.com/news/articles/…

Women are disproportionally targeted with medical misinformation, and put at unique risk by it. Tonight Deborah Cohen and myself will discuss some of the reasons why and how to counter it. Still tickets available if you'd like to join us online.. eventbrite.co.uk/e/countering-d…

I'm not a famous economist writing for the Irish Times, obviously, but I know a bit about demography. I feel there's a huge conceptual error in this article, that suggests to me the writer doesn't fully grasp demography. I'll give my opinion on it, if anybody is interested.

"Health freedom" arguments against vaccination are popular again, but they've been tested in courts for centuries, and always found lacking. In today's Financial Times I explain why this dubious stance, and ancient history of antivaccine disinformation ft.com/content/030720…