Look-back
Here’s a short list of key events on my radar that took place last year, even if some of them now feel like they happened years ago:
The Australian bushfire continued to burn and killed half a billion animals.
The impeachment trial and subsequent acquittal of the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
The WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, shortly after a global stock market crash began.
Malaysia’s Pakatan Harapan coalition government collapsed.
Protests against racism and police brutality broke out across the US and around the world after the killing of George Floyd.
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak found guilty of seven charges in the first trial on the 1MDB scandal.
Africa declared free of wild polio, 40 years after the continent eradicated smallpox.
Hey, could 2021 be better? We started the year with Brexit in full effect as the EU-UK transition period ends and a slow COVID-19 rollout, but it’s only just the beginning, right? (Did I jinx it?)
In 2021, it’s time to refocus on health and science misinformation
Diara J. Townes and Claire Wardle of First Draft, a project to “fight mis- and disinformation online,” write for Nieman Lab that “the field of misinformation [in the US] has been disproportionately focused on political disinformation” but globally, “the larger threat has been health and science misinformation” and it left us ill-equipped for the pandemic.
Health authorities [have to] play catch-up around the challenges of misinformation, a disproportionate focus on interventions designed to slow down misleading political speech, and journalists unprepared to report on scientific research. To prepare for the growing levels of distrust in science and expertise, alongside the flood of actual misinformation we expect to see in 2021, researchers, technologists, journalists, philanthropists, and policymakers must refocus their attention to health and science communication, most notably around medicine and climate.
There are three recommendations that should be considered. The first is the need to educate journalists about science and research so they are able to adequately question press releases from academics, researchers and pharmaceutical companies when necessary.
The second is a need to educate science and health professionals about the current information ecosystem. In this fragmented, networked world, the caution and discipline that define scientific discovery are being weaponized by bad actors.
The third is the critical need to raise awareness about the harm done to communities of color globally, and how that harm has created a deep distrust of medical health professionals. The focus on misinformation should not cover up an urgent need to understand these dynamics.
Next week’s newsletter’s essay: How to read a science paper, for non-science people.
Experts on how to fight US’ disinformation crisis
Speaking of the US’ misinformation, The Guardian’s Lois Beckett explains why facts won’t fix it:
While it is possible to engage with people who believe deeply in false narratives, and sometimes change their minds, that work is most successful on an individual basis, with people who know each other well, experts said.
It’s helpful to understand someone’s fundamental framework for viewing the world, including whom they view as the “good guys” and the “bad guys”, in order to understand what kind of additional information might sway them,” [Whitney] Phillips said.
“The other thing that makes people move on this – it’s corny – is love,” [Deen] Freelon added. “People who love you, your family, people who are willing to engage.”
But disinformation is also sustained by personal relationships.
How mRNA went from a scientific backwater to a pandemic crusher
David Cox for Wired UK on how Katalin Karikó’s work into mRNA therapeutics was overlooked by her colleagues for decades, only to be at the heart of two leading COVID-19 vaccines:
…Her bosses at UPenn felt mRNA had shown itself to be impractical and she was wasting her time. They issued an ultimatum, if she wanted to continue working with mRNA she would lose her prestigious faculty position, and face a substantial pay cut.
“It was particularly horrible as that same week, I had just been diagnosed with cancer,” said Karikó. “I was facing two operations, and my husband, who had gone back to Hungary to pick up his green card, had got stranded there because of some visa issue, meaning he couldn’t come back for six months. I was really struggling, and then they told me this.”
While undergoing surgery, Karikó assessed her options. She decided to stay, accept the humiliation of being demoted, and continue to doggedly pursue the problem. This led to a chance meeting which would both change the course of her career, and that of science.
What I read, watch and listen to…
I’m reading Samantha Rose Hill’s thoughts on where Hannah Arendt thought loneliness can lead – totalitarianism. A beautiful if not cautionary essay.
I’m watching The Wilds. Embedded in this 10-episode Amazon Prime series is a brilliant commentary of the toxicity of white feminism (spoiler: review), although I’m still uncertain if that’s the intention of the show creators, and if it isn’t then I’ve given it too much credit.
I’m listening to metal – returning to my roots in symphonic and folk metal but also a dash of rap metal and metalcore. Quite certain this playlist will mellow into indie-pop and R&B later in the year, but for now, Kim Dracula slaps.
Chart of the week
Canada may be the best supplied in terms of COVID-19 vaccines, with almost 9 doses per person, but Israel leads in vaccination per capita, at 12.59 per 100 people.