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MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE s MAY 8, 2021 & MAY 22, 2021 Awash in DECEPTION How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation

cover.indd 1 4/21/21 11:55 AM TURNING ADVERSITY INTO ++++++++++++++++++++++ OPPORTUNITY ++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++

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_C2.indd 2 4/12/21 9:52 AM VOL. 199 | NO. 9

Awash in Deception SPECIAL REPORT

22 The Battle Against Fake News Most people are concerned about the spread of false information, but few know how to spot it. By Alexandra Witze

29 Anatomy of Misinformation Purveyors of deceitful messaging use a few key tricks that take advantage of the brain’s desire to believe. By Laura Sanders

32 Vaccine Hesitancy Through the Ages Opposition to COVID-19 vaccines is just the latest chapter in a long history of anti-vaccination protests. By Tara Haelle

36 Turning the Page on Climate Change Denial As disinformation tactics evolve, researchers find ways to help 22 people tell true from false on climate claims. By Carolyn Gramling

News 6 Wobbling muons could East Asian people’s 12 Lion yawns may serve break with the standard DNA hints at an ancient as subtle social cues model of physics coronavirus outbreak Raindrops are all 48 7 Neandertals and 9 Early Homo brains may mostly the same size, humans had regular have had great ape–like no matter what planet liaisons in Europe frontal lobes for a lot they fall on Departments longer than suspected 8 Even when “less is 14 An underwater 2 EDITOR’S NOTE more,” people tend 10 The dinosaur-killing robot gets a glimpse 4 NOTEBOOK to choose more, asteroid reshaped of what’s eating an A warming Arctic may be experiments show tropical rainforests Antarctic glacier a lightning rod; face masks 16 Earth’s space dust under the microscope collection grows by 40 REVIEWS & PREVIEWS thousands of metric Viral BS fights fake tons per year health news with A pterosaur with a dose of storytelling opposable thumbs 46 FEEDBACK makes its debut 48 SCIENCE VISUALIZED 18 An oxygen-starved Larval fishes dazzle in galaxy hints at early new baby pictures universe conditions

20 Black and Hispanic COVER Researchers hope to help people stand people remain up against waves of social underrepresented media misinformation on in STEM, both at work health and climate change. 6 Brian Stauffer

FROM TOP: BRIAN STAUFFER; JEFF MILISEN; REIDAR HAHN/FERMILAB JEFF MILISEN; REIDAR BRIAN STAUFFER; TOP: FROM and in school

www.sciencenews.org | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 1

toc.indd 1 4/21/21 11:54 AM EDITOR’S NOTE

PUBLISHER Maya Ajmera When attacks on science EDITOR IN CHIEF Nancy Shute EDITORIAL EDITOR, SPECIAL PROJECTS Elizabeth Quill threaten our survival NEWS DIRECTOR Macon Morehouse DIGITAL DIRECTOR Kate Travis FEATURES EDITOR Cori Vanchieri We’re living through an extraordinary triumph of science — MANAGING EDITOR, MAGAZINE Erin Wayman DEPUTY NEWS EDITOR Emily DeMarco the deployment of new vaccines that promise to stop a ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Ashley Yeager ASSOCIATE EDITOR Cassie Martin pandemic that just a year ago looked unstoppable. But ASSOCIATE DIGITAL EDITOR Helen Thompson AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EDITOR Mike Denison just as governments and health organizations around the ASTRONOMY Lisa Grossman world are racing to protect billions of people, malevolent BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Bruce Bower BIOMEDICAL Aimee Cunningham agents of death and despair are working just as hard to persuade anyone they EARTH AND CLIMATE Carolyn Gramling LIFE SCIENCES Susan Milius can that these life-saving vaccines are dangerous, ineffective or part of a global MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, SENIOR WRITER Tina Hesman Saey NEUROSCIENCE, SENIOR WRITER Laura Sanders mind-control conspiracy. PHYSICS, SENIOR WRITER Emily Conover SOCIAL SCIENCES Sujata Gupta As we report in this special issue, misinformation and deliberate disinforma- STAFF WRITERS Erin Garcia de Jesús, Jonathan Lambert, Maria Temming tion about vaccines is rampant — and nothing new. The introduction of smallpox EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Aina Abell CONTRIBUTING CORRESPONDENTS vaccination in the late 18th century sparked decades of opposition, even though Laura Beil, Tom Siegfried, Alexandra Witze inoculation was a game changer — the virus had been killing up to 30 percent of DESIGN CHIEF DESIGN OFFICER Stephen Egts those infected. As freelance writer Tara Haelle reports, anti-vaccination groups DESIGN DIRECTOR Erin Otwell ART DIRECTOR Tracee Tibbitts argued that requiring vaccination violated personal liberty and interfered with ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Chang Won Chang parents’ rights to “protect their children from disease” (Page 32). Those intent SCIENCE NEWS FOR STUDENTS EDITOR Janet Raloff on delegitimizing vaccines today — from shots that protect against COVID-19 to MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Zielinski measles and more — use the same arguments. STAFF WRITER Bethany Brookshire WEB PRODUCER Lillian Steenblik Hwang Most people are eager to get a COVID-19 vaccine and return to something SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE approaching normal life; in the United States, over half of people ages 18 PRESIDENT AND CEO Maya Ajmera CHIEF OF STAFF Rachel Goldman Alper and older had gotten at least one shot by mid-April. But about 20 percent of CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Kathlene Collins CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER Michele Glidden U.S. adults say they remain unwilling to get vaccinated, and partisanship is a big CHIEF, EVENTS AND OPERATIONS Cait Goldberg CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER Gayle Kansagor factor: Forty-three percent of Republicans say they will shun vaccination com- CHIEF ADVANCEMENT OFFICER Bruce B. Makous CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER James C. Moore pared with 5 percent of Democrats, according to a Monmouth University poll. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Dan Reznikov Leading conservative media outlets including Fox News have relentlessly BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIR Mary Sue Coleman promoted unproven COVID-19 cures and attacked scientists for doing what VICE CHAIR Martin Chalfie TREASURER Hayley Bay Barna SECRETARY Paul J. Maddon AT LARGE Christine Burton scientists do — saying when they don’t yet know the answers, as in whether the MEMBERS Craig R. Barrett, Adam Bly, Mariette DiChristina, Tessa M. Hill, Tom Leighton, Alan Leshner, W.E. Moerner, Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be causing rare, serious blood clots. Scien- Dianne K. Newman, Thomas F. Rosenbaum, Gideon Yu, tists under attack include Anthony Fauci, a leader in both the Trump and Biden Feng Zhang, Maya Ajmera, ex officio ADVERTISING AND SUBSCRIBER SERVICES administrations’ COVID-19 response teams. Uncertainty is uncomfortable, but ADVERTISING Daryl Anderson SCIENCE NEWS IN HIGH SCHOOLS Anna Rhymes it’s intrinsic to the process of science. PERMISSIONS Maxine Baydush The shift to social media as a primary source of news has turbocharged the Science News 1719 N Street NW, Washington, DC 20036 spread of antiscience disinformation worldwide. But as contributing corre- (202) 785-2255 spondent Alexandra Witze reports on Page 22, studying that flood of messages Subscriber services: has also given researchers a much better understanding of why false informa- E-mail [email protected] Phone (800) 552-4412 in the U.S. or tion is so compelling. Recent work is beginning to reveal ways that the general (937) 610-0240 outside of the U.S. Web www.sciencenews.org/join public, scientists and social media platforms can identify falsehoods. Senior For renewals, www.sciencenews.org/renew writer Laura Sanders maps out the anatomy of misinformation, with real- Mail Science News, PO Box 292255, Kettering, OH 45429-0255 world examples of the tricks that hook us (Page 29). And earth and climate Editorial/Letters: [email protected] writer Carolyn Gramling talks with scientists about their work countering Science News in High Schools: [email protected] Advertising/Sponsor content: [email protected] decades-long efforts to cast doubt on the realities of climate change (Page 36). Science News (ISSN 0036-8423) is published 22 times per These are battles that won’t be easily won, but they must be fought if we are year, bi-weekly except the first week only in May and October and the first and last weeks only in July by the Society for to ensure the health and safety of our families, our communities and our planet. Science & the Public, 1719 N Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. We’re all susceptible to being manipulated by misinformation. But knowing Subscribe to Science News: Subscriptions include 22 issues how it works is the first step in beating back the tide. 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_p3.indd 3 4/12/21 9:54 AM NOTEBOOK

Excerpt from the May 8, 1971 issue of Science News

50 YEARS AGO

Lunar quarantine Citizen science and bird migration data could help prevent bald eagles and other birds from colliding with dropped wind turbines as more pop up across the United States. Spacecraft and men from Earth can contaminate SOAPBOX space … with Earth-related How to keep birds safe as U.S. wind farms expand material or organisms. But there is also a chance mate- Wind energy is surging in the United in 2000. While the growth is a positive step rial returned from another States. In 2020, wind turbines generated toward curbing climate change, scientists celestial body could con- about 8 percent of the country’s electricity, say, it could be bad news for birds. tain something harmful according to the U.S. Energy Information An estimated 140,000 to 500,000 to the Earth…. Last week Administration. That’s more than 80 times birds die each year in wind turbine colli- [NASA] announced it will the share of electricity generated by wind sions in the United States . Those deaths [recommend] … that “further lunar missions need not be subject to quarantine” SCIENCE STATS [because] … “there is no haz- Climate change may spark more Arctic lightning ard to man, animal or plants” from anything brought back Lightning strikes in the Arctic have become much more frequent over the last from the moon. decade, data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network suggest . That may be because the region, historically too cold to fuel many thunderstorms, is heating up, UPDATE: The last U.S. lunar r esearchers report in the April 16 Geophysical Research Letters. m ission to come back to Atmospheric scientist Robert Holzworth of the University of Washington in Seattle Earth, Apollo 17, didn’t have and colleagues tallied lightning strikes above 65° N latitude in the Arctic during the to quarantine upon return stormiest months of June, July and August from 2010 to 2020 (see graph below). The in 1972. But missions to number of strikes rose from about 35,000 in 2010 to about 240,000 in 2020. Part of the moon remained under the uptick may have resulted from the Arctic lightning strikes, 2010–2020 strict protocols to prevent 260,000 network expanding from 40 s tations to s pacecraft from contaminating 240,000 more than 60 stations over the decade. it. In 2020, NASA exempted 220,000 So the team calculated the expected most of the moon — minus 200,000 number of strikes if the network used areas of scientific interest 180,000 the same number of sensors over time 160,000 and historic sites — from (orange line). “I would argue that we 140,000 those rules (SN: 11/23/19, 120,000 have really good evidence that the num- p. 10) . For missions to other 100,000 ber of [strikes] … has increased by, say, planets, though, strict anti- 80,000 300 p ercent,” Holzworth says. contamination measures still 60,000 That increase happened as global apply. NASA has called for Number of lightning strikes 40,000 summertime temperatures rose by 20,000 research of possible risks as it 0.2 degrees Celsius, hinting that climate 0 aims to land humans on Mars 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 change may create favorable conditions in the 2030s. Year for lightning in the Arctic and, perhaps,

SOURCE: R.H. HOLZWORTH ET AL/GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS 2021 more wildfires. — Maria Temming 2.0); E. OTWELL BY-NC-ND (CC DENNIS SCHROEDER/NREL TOP: FROM NIST; INSTIT., VICENZI/SMITHSONIAN’S MUSEUM CONSERVATION BURBANK; E.P. DAVE TOP: FROM 4.0) BY-NC (CC © HERMANN FALKNER/INATURALIST

4 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 www.sciencenews.org | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 5

notebook.indd 4 WWLLN. Since that uptick may in part be due to the network adding more sensors, research- 4/21/21 9:54 AM ers calculated the number of lightning strikes they would have expected to see each year if the WWLLN used the same number of sensors over time (orange line). That analysis still showed a major increase in lightning strikes over the decade. could soar to 1.4 million per year if the endangered whooping cranes migrates U.S. D epartment of Energy achieves over a handful of states that produce its goal of wind energy accounting for most of the country’s wind energy. 20 percent of the country’s electricity GPS tracking data for 57 cranes from demand by 2030. To minimize harm to 2010 through 2016 suggests that the wildlife, some scientists advocate for birds were less likely to rest at stop- using citizen science and bird migration over sites if turbines were within about data when deciding where to construct five k ilometers, researchers report wind farms. April 7 in Ecological Applications . Citizen science is already filling vital As of early 2020, this equates to a loss information gaps. From 2007 to 2018, of 5 percent of the birds’ habitat, says Conservation scientist Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez more than 180,000 birders uploaded argues that citizen science data should inform wildlife biologist Aaron Pearse of the observations about bald eagles to the decisions about where to build wind turbines. U.S. Geological Survey in Jamestown, eBird database. Conservation scientist N.D. Over the study period, the number Viviana Ruiz-Gutierrez and c olleagues “What we’re able to do is really har- of turbines in the migration corridor used that data treasure trove to estimate ness strength that only citizen science more than tripled, from 2,215 to 7,622. where in the United States the eagles has,” says Ruiz-Gutierrez, of the C ornell If the trend continues, then additional would be most abundant throughout Lab of Ornithology . The U.S. Fish and habitat loss could lead to further popu- the year — and thus face the highest risk Wildlife Service has recommended lation decline, Pearse says. in 2000. While the growth is a positive step of colliding with wind turbines. Unlike using the team’s bald eagle maps to Like citizen science data, migration toward curbing climate change, scientists traditional surveys, which cover limited identify low-risk collision areas where tracking provides a clearer picture of say, it could be bad news for birds. time periods or locations, the citizen wind turbines could be built. bird activity over time, Ruiz-Gutierrez An estimated 140,000 to 500,000 science data span the entire country and Wind turbines can also harm animals says. Such information could help wind birds die each year in wind turbine colli- whole years , the team reports April 13 in by altering habitats. Each year, the energy developers keep birds and their sions in the United States . Those deaths the J ournal of Applied Ecology . only naturally occurring population of homes safe. — Jack J. Lee

THE LIST Invasive species cost a fortune Cleaning up the wreckage left by invasive species over the last 50 years has come at a big price for the global economy: at least $1.28 trillion. Between 1970 and 2017, annual costs roughly doubled every six years, scientists report March 31 in Nature. By 2017, the annual bill totaled $162.7 billion. While insects account for many of the costliest species from this period (partial list below), cats, rats (one shown) and mice are troublemakers, too. Gaps in data — on plants, for example — likely skew the rankings, the team says. — Jonathan Lambert PICTURE THIS Top 5 costliest invasive species, 1970–2017 Texture matters for face mask protection 1. Aedes mosquitoes, $149 billion Scientists are taking a microscopic approach to show how effec- 2. Rats and mice, $67 billion tive face masks are at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Using a 3. Domestic cats, $52 billion scanning electron microscope, researchers have examined dozens of 4. Formosan termites, $19 billion materials. While N95 masks are most effective at blocking the virus, 5. Fire ants, $17 billion when it comes to cloth masks, cotton (microscopic cross section, above) outperforms synthetic fabrics like nylon. That’s because cotton fibers, with wrinkles and complex shapes, trap more particles than smooth synthetics. Cotton also swells as it absorbs moist breath, making it harder for particles to get through , the team reports in the

FROM TOP: DENNIS SCHROEDER/NREL (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); E. OTWELL BY-NC-ND (CC DENNIS SCHROEDER/NREL TOP: FROM NIST; INSTIT., VICENZI/SMITHSONIAN’S MUSEUM CONSERVATION BURBANK; E.P. DAVE TOP: FROM 4.0) BY-NC (CC © HERMANN FALKNER/INATURALIST March 26 ACS Applied Nano Materials. — Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

Get a closeup view of more mask materials at bit.ly/SN_FaceMask www.sciencenews.org | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 5

notebook.indd 5 4/21/21 9:54 AM News

ATOM & COSMOS Muons may signal new physics Experimental measurement could shake up standard model

BY EMILY CONOVER A mysterious magnetic property of The Muon g–2 experiment studies how muons wobble as they circulate at nearly the speed of subatomic particles called muons hints light in a giant, doughnut-shaped magnet (shown). New results disagree with the standard model that new fundamental particles may be of particle physics, hinting at the possible existence of new particles. lurking undiscovered. In a painstakingly precise experiment, or precessed. Notably, the precession tions of the magnetic anomaly extremely muons’ gyrations within a magnetic field rate diverged slightly from the standard complex. An international team of seemed to defy predictions of the stan- model expectation, physicists report in more than 170 physicists finalized the dard model of particle physics, which the April 9 Physical Review Letters. theoretical prediction in December 2020 describes known fundamental particles The researchers worked under self- in Physics Reports. and forces. The result strengthens ear- imposed secrecy, hiding the final number Though many physicists believe that lier evidence that muons, the heavy kin as they analyzed the data, to avoid bias. this prediction is unlikely to budge, of electrons, behave unexpectedly. When the answer finally was revealed, “I debate lingers. Using a computational “It’s a very big deal,” says theoretical was having goose bumps,” says physicist technique called lattice QCD for a par- physicist Bhupal Dev of Washington Meghna Bhattacharya of the University ticularly thorny part of the calculation University in St. Louis. “This could be of Mississippi in Oxford. The research- gives an estimate that falls closer to the the long-awaited sign of new physics ers found a muon magnetic anomaly experimental value, physicist Zoltan that we’ve all hoped for.” of 0.00116592040, accurate to within Fodor of Penn State and colleagues Muons’ misbehavior could point 46 millionths of a percent. The theo- report April 7 in Nature. If the calcula- to the existence of unknown types of retical prediction pegs the number at tion is correct, “it could change how we particles that alter muons’ magnetic 0.00116591810. That discrepancy “hints see the experiment,” Fodor says, perhaps properties. Muons behave like tiny mag- toward new physics,” Bhattacharya says. making it easier to explain the experi- nets, each with a north and south pole. A previous measurement from an mental results with the standard model. The strength of that magnet is tweaked experiment at Brookhaven National As theoretical physicists continue by transient quantum particles that Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., also dis- refining predictions, experimental constantly flit into and out of existence, agreed with theoretical predictions estimates will improve too. Muon g−2 adjusting the muon’s magnetism by an (SN: 2/17/01, p. 102). When the new physicists have so far analyzed only amount known as the muon magnetic result is combined with the earlier dis- a fraction of their data. And physicist anomaly. Physicists can predict the value crepancy, the measurement diverges Tsutomu Mibe of the KEK High Energy of the magnetic anomaly by considering from the prediction by a statistical mea- Accelerator Research Organization in the contributions of all known parti- sure of 4.2 sigma — tantalizingly close Japan and colleagues are planning an cles. If any fundamental particles are in to the 5-sigma benchmark for claiming experiment using a different technique hiding, their additional effects on the a discovery. to begin in 2025. magnetic anomaly could give them away. “We have to wait for more data from If the discrepancy between experi- Physicists flung billions of muons the Fermilab experiment to really be ment and prediction holds up, scientists around the doughnut-shaped magnet of convinced that this is a real discovery,” will need to find an explanation beyond the Muon g−2 experiment at Fermilab says theoretical physicist Carlos Wagner the standard model. The new measure- in Batavia, Ill., to suss out the particles’ of the University of Chicago. ment will intensify investigations, says magnetic subtleties (SN: 9/29/18, p. 18). According to quantum physics, muons Muon g−2 physicist Jason Crnkovic of Inside that magnet, the orientation of constantly emit and absorb particles in a the University of Mississippi. “It’s going

the muons’ magnetic poles wobbled, frenzy, which makes theoretical calcula- to generate a lot of conversations.” s HAHN/FERMILAB REIDAR

6 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

muon.indd 6 4/21/21 10:09 AM HUMANS & SOCIETY Neandertal DNA, indicating he was four to six generations removed from a Neandertals and humans mated often N eandertal relative (SN: 6/13/15, p. 11). The two groups regularly interbred about 45,000 years ago Neandertals went extinct around 40,000 years ago, though their genetic BY BRUCE BOWER Cave yielded nuclear DNA containing remnants remain — today, non-African When some of the earliest human Neandertal contributions of about 3 to people carry, on average, nearly 2 percent migrants to Europe encountered 4 percent, evolutionary geneticist Mateja Neandertal DNA. Present-day Africans N eandertals already living there around Hajdinjak of the Francis Crick Institute possess a smaller Neandertal genetic 45,000 years ago, hookups flourished. in London and colleagues report in the legacy (SN: 2/29/20, p. 6). Analyses of DNA found in human April 8 Nature. The ancient DNA came Taken together, the new studies sug- fossils from around that time — the from a tooth and two bone fragments gest that some early human entrants oldest known human remains in radiocarbon dated to between around to Europe had a long-lasting impact on Europe — suggest that interbreeding 43,000 and 46,000 years ago. Stone tools our DNA while others hit genetic d ead between Homo sapiens and N eandertals typical of late Stone Age humans were ends. Bacho Kiro humans represent a occurred more commonly than has found in the same sediment as the fossils. newly identified population of ancient often been assumed, two new studies “All of the Bacho Kiro individuals had Europeans with genetic ties to present- suggest. recent Neandertal ancestors, as few as day East Asians and Native Americans, Genetic evidence in those reports five to seven generations back in their but not western Eurasians, Hajdinjak’s indicates for the first time that dis- family trees,” Hajdinjak says. group says. The Czech Republic woman, tinct human populations reached Further evidence of ancient inter- like the ancient Romanian and Siberian Europe shortly after 50,000 years ago. breeding comes from a nearly complete men, may have contributed no DNA to Neandertals — who were on the fast human skull discovered in 1950 in a H. sapiens groups that lived after around track to extinction — interbred with cave in what’s now the Czech Republic. 40,000 years ago. all the groups detected so far, ensuring About 3 percent of the DNA from that “It is remarkable that the Bacho Kiro

Č that some of their genes live on today fossil, identified as a female, comes from finds could represent a population that in our DNA. Neandertals, evolutionary geneticist Kay was spreading 45,000 years ago at least Remains of three H. sapiens males Prüfer of the Max Planck Institute for from Bulgaria to China,” says evolu-

MAREK JANTA unearthed in Bulgaria’s Bacho Kiro the Science of Human History in Jena, tionary geneticist Carles Lalueza-Fox Germany, and colleagues report April 7 of the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Nature Ecology & Evolution. in Barcelona, who peer-reviewed both DNA from a woman’s skull previously found in what is now the Czech Republic indicates The H. sapiens fossils in Bulgaria and studies. that she belonged to a human population the Czech Republic aren’t the first ones If H. sapiens and Neandertals regu- living in Europe more than 45,000 years ago. found with bits of Neandertal DNA in larly interbred as the latter population Those people apparently mated frequently with Neandertals. their genetic instruction manuals, but neared its demise, then relatively large they most likely are the oldest. Several numbers of incoming humans accu- lines of genetic evidence suggest the mulated a surprising amount of DNA Czech Republic woman lived around from smaller Neandertal populations, 45,000 years ago. For instance, long Lalueza-Fox suspects. After 40,000 years Neandertal DNA segments break into ago, additional migrations into Europe shorter segments over generations. Com- by people with little or no Neandertal paring the lengths of the Czech Republic ancestry would have diluted Neandertal woman’s Neandertal DNA segments with DNA from the human gene pool, he says. those of a previously reported Siberian Those humans made distinctive stone man who lived 45,000 years ago suggests and bone tools and served as ancestors of the woman lived a few hundred to a few present-day Europeans, Hajdinjak sug- thousand years before him (SN: gests. At Bacho Kiro Cave, for instance, 11/29/14, p. 8). Previous studies newly recovered DNA from a roughly of the man’s DNA indicated that 35,000-year-old H. sapiens bone frag- interbreeding outside of Europe ment displays a different makeup than began as early as 60,000 years that of the cave’s earlier human inhabit- ago. A R omanian man who lived ants. This individual contributed genes roughly 40,000 years ago also mainly to later populations in Europe possessed long stretches of and western Asia, Hajdinjak says. s

www.sciencenews.org | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 7

neandertal.indd 7 4/21/21 10:10 AM brains_corona_subtraction.indd 8 8 SCIENCE NEWS the roofonapillar. removeremove ablock andrest ablock andrest blocks wasfreedidmost blocks wasfreedidmost ed peoplethatsubtractinged peoplethatsubtracting Only whenscientistsremind- Only whenscientistsremind- each block cost each moneyblock cost money to add. to add. added blocks,evenadded blocks,even though though figurine (paperslip).figurine (paperslip). Most Most a Lego roofover a people hadtosecure In anexperiment, reworked theoriginalnumberofsquares. squares andanother threesimply grid task,73addedsquares, 18 s ubtracted Out of94participantswhocompleted the pants chose addition over subtraction. items fromatravel itinerary. an experienceby adding or subtracting In another, individualscouldoptimize a gridtomake apattern symmetrical. required shadingorerasingsquareson or removing somethings. Onep uzzle problems thatcouldbesolved by adding participants to tackle eight puzzles and the behavior whenthey asked 1,585study class ofsolutions.” C harlottesville. “We’re missing an entire C onverse oftheUniversity ofVirginiain says behavioral scientist Benjamin tape and even an overburdened planet, such as cluttered homes, institutional red could contributetomodern-day excesses Thinking in pluses instead of minuses assembling blocks, cookingandwriting. researchers reportintheApril8Nature. essay — requires remindersandrewards, ingredients inarecipeorwordsan ple to subtract — whether block, a Lego instead? Itturnsoutthatgetting peo- a piece so that each side has two supports new study suggests. But why not remove there arethreesupportsoneachside,a How would youstabilize thebridge? has threesupportpieces, theother two. madeofLegos. Picture abridge Oneside BY SUJATA GUPTA People’s notion that more is better may explain modern excesses naturally come not does Subtraction HUMANS &SOCIETY NEWS Across allexperiments,Across most partici- He andhiscolleaguesfirst observed This default to addition isn’t limited to Most people wouldaddapiecesothat | May 8,2021&May 22,2021 than nudges andaclearmind,saysthan nudges Hal more.” But curbingexcess will take more is the adoption suchas“less ofadages less naturally than addition. Hence mation overload, experimentsshowed. even morewhentheyexperienceinfor- their likelihood ofsubtracting. People add with unrelated information decreased solved thetaskwithoutpractice. during theactualtaskthanthosewho prompted moreparticipantsto subtract solution showed thatthreepracticeruns in whichsubtraction yielded thesuperior found. Avariationonthegridexperiment mind that elusive minus sign, the team 99 p articipants removed theblock. but removing blocksisfree,60outof that addingblockscosts 10centseach team told another group of participants rested the roof on the pillar. When the 98 p articipants removed the blockand Even withthatpenalty, only40outof told thateachblockaddedcosts 10cents. figurine. About halftheparticipantswere stabilize therooftoavoid squashingthe Researchers asked theparticipantsto lar, asingleblocksupportedflatroof. s tanding infrontofapillar. Atop thatpil- structure onwhichafigurine was 197 peopleadollartostabilize aLego peopletowardnudged theminussign. of controlledexperiments, theteam think about subtraction. Through a series ticipants addedbecausetheyfailedto People intuitthatsubtraction comes However, bombarding participants Practice helpedparticipantscallto In oneexperiment,theteamoffered The scientists hypothesized thatpar- Arkes, ajudgmentanddecision- more dollars, you won’t make more dollars, you won’t make any enemies,” Arkes says. “If youaddmorepeopleand cially, abhor cutting the fat. any enemies,” Arkes says. “If youaddmorepeopleand cially, abhor cutting the fat. downsides.” “Subtraction hasserious downsides.” “Subtraction hasserious Political leaders, espe- Political leaders, espe- making researcherat Ohio StateUniversity. s gene variants became more common in gene make those proteins foundthatspecific 25,000 yearsago. of 42thoseproteins back toroughly traced the origins of the viral responses only in East Asianpeople.Enard’s group to coronavirus-like epidemics, appeared all 420proteins, asignofpast exposures ing avirushijackcell. from boosting immuneresponsestohelp- COVID-19. These interactionsmay range that interactwiththeviruscauses act withcoronaviruses, including332 focused on 420 proteins known to inter- and African Yoruba people. The team including ChineseDai,Vietnamese Kinh continents and 26 ethnic populations, database of2,504individualsfromfive vide cluesinsearchesforantiviraldrugs. viral histories mightalsosomeday pro- ern outbreaksunfold.Geneswithancient epidemics may play inshapinghow mod- linked toancient viralwhat rolegenes or relatedviruses. biological adaptations tocoronaviruses East Asianpeopletoday have inherited finding raisesthepossibilitythatsome ciation ofPhysical Anthropologists. The a virtualmeeting oftheAmericanAsso- of ArizonainTucsonreportedApril 8 at geneticist David Enard of the University next 20,000 yearsorso, evolutionary sistent epidemic accumulated over the inresponsetothatper-genetic changes 2,000 modern-day peopleshows that a newstudy indicates. Asian people roughly 25,000 years ago, among ancestors ofpresent-day East an epidemic triggered related pathogen, An ancient coronavirus, or a closely BY BRUCE BOWER DNA shows signs of aviral fight Modern East Asian people’s lastingleft marks epidemic Ancient GENES &CELLS Analysis of the genes known tohelpAnalysis ofthegenes Substantially increasedproductionof Enard’s groupconsultedapublic DNA The discovery opensapathtoexplore Analysis ofDNAfrommorethan 4/21/21 10:17AM

G.S. ADAMS ET AL/NATURE 2021

M.S. PONCE DE LEÓN AND C.P.E. ZOLLIKOFER/UNIV. OF ZURICH GENES & CELLS the population around 25,000 years ago have been exposed to coronavirus-like COVID-19 infections, he says. And strict before leveling off in frequency by around epidemics for a long time and are more lockdowns and widespread mask wear- Ancient epidemic 5,000 years ago. That pattern is consis- [genetically] adapted to epidemics of ing may have deterred infections in some tent with a vigorous genetic response to these viruses,” says evolutionary geneti- East Asian nations. left lasting marks a virus that waned over time, either as cist Lluis Quintana-Murci of the Pasteur Large-scale genetic studies in modern Modern East Asian people’s East Asian people adapted to the virus Institute in Paris. It’s possible that DNA East Asian people and of ancient human DNA shows signs of a viral fight or as the virus lost its ability to cause dis- adjustments to coronavirus epidemics DNA spanning the last 25,000 years are ease, Enard said. Of the 42 gene variants, over thousands of years may contribute needed to explore how the gene variants BY BRUCE BOWER 21 either enhance or deter the effects to lower COVID-19 infection and death may contribute to COVID-19 or other An ancient coronavirus, or a closely of a wide array of viruses, suggesting an rates reported in some East Asian nations infections. Those variants may also pres- related pathogen, triggered an epidemic unknown virus that exploited similar versus in Europe and the United States, ent opportunities to develop treatments, among ancestors of present-day East proteins as coronaviruses could have Quintana-Murci s peculates. But many Enard said. So far, just four of the genes Asian people roughly 25,000 years ago, started the ancient epidemic, he said. factors, including mandatory on-site are targets of 11 drugs being used or inves- a new study indicates. These findings “show that East Asians work and lack of health care access, drive tigated for treating COVID-19, he said. s Analysis of DNA from more than 2,000 modern-day people shows that genetic changes in response to that per- HUMANS & SOCIETY sistent epidemic accumulated over the next 20,000 years or so, evolutionary Humanlike brains had a late start geneticist David Enard of the University Modern frontal lobes began shaping up by 1.7 million years ago of Arizona in Tucson reported April 8 at a virtual meeting of the American Asso- BY CHARLES Q. CHOI lobes, brain areas linked with complex ciation of Physical Anthropologists. The Even after members of the genus Homo mental tasks such as toolmaking and finding raises the possibility that some took their first steps out of Africa, they language. Early Homo from Dmanisi and East Asian people today have inherited still may have possessed brains more like Africa retained a great ape–like organiza- Early hominid brains may have evolved from a biological adaptations to coronaviruses those of great apes than humans today, a tion 1.8 million years ago, “a million or so more apelike version (left in this digital recon- struction) to a more modern human–like one or related viruses. new study suggests. years later than previously thought,” says (right) between 1.7 million and 1.5 million years The discovery opens a path to explore For decades, scientists had thought paleoanthropologist Philipp Gunz of the ago, an analysis of fossilized skulls suggests. what role genes linked to ancient viral modern human–like organization of Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary epidemics may play in shaping how mod- brain structures evolved soon after the Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who from Africa separate from the first migra- ern outbreaks unfold. Genes with ancient lineage Homo arose roughly 2.8 million was not involved in the study. tion, the team says. It’s unclear whether viral histories might also someday pro- years ago (SN: 4/4/15, p. 8). But an analy- The findings reveal that hominids this second wave merged with or replaced vide clues in searches for antiviral drugs. sis of fossilized skulls that retain imprints may have possessed relatively primitive earlier groups. Enard’s group consulted a public DNA of the brains they once held now suggests brains even after they first left Africa Future research into what evolution- database of 2,504 individuals from five such brain development occurred much some 2.1 million years ago (SN: 8/4/18, ary pressures might have driven the continents and 26 ethnic populations, later. Modern human–like brains may p. 7). Homo sapiens started migrating emergence of modern human–like brain including Chinese Dai, Vietnamese Kinh have emerged in an evolutionary sprint from the continent about 210,000 years organization could reveal how it relates and African Yoruba people. The team s tarting about 1.7 million years ago, paleo- ago (SN: 8/3/19, p. 6). Still, it is essential to the evolution of language and sym- focused on 420 proteins known to inter- anthropologist Marcia Ponce de León and to not underestimate the mental capabili- bolic thought, says paleoanthropologist act with coronaviruses, including 332 colleagues report in the April 9 Science. ties of those earliest hominid migrants, and coauthor Christoph Zollikofer, also that interact with the virus that causes To learn more about how the human says Ponce de León, of the University of the University of Zurich. COVID-19. These interactions may range brain evolved, the team analyzed rep- of Zurich. “These people ventured out Reconstructing ancient brains from from boosting immune responses to help- licas of the brain’s convoluted outer of Africa, produced a variety of tools, skulls remains largely controversial, cau- ing a virus hijack a cell. surface. Those replicas were re-created exploited animal resources and cared for tions paleoanthropologist Bernard Wood Substantially increased production of from the oldest fossils from the Dmanisi elderly people, as we know from the site of George Washington University in all 420 proteins, a sign of past exposures archaeological site in Georgia known to of Dmanisi,” she says. Washington, D.C., who was not involved to coronavirus-like epidemics, appeared p reserve the inner surfaces of early Homo Ponce de León’s team discovered that in the study. Deducing how the insides only in East Asian people. Enard’s group skulls, dated to around 1.85 million to modern human–like brain organiza- of fossil braincases reflected bumps and traced the origins of the viral responses 1.77 million years ago. Researchers com- tion appeared in Africa between about grooves on the brain’s surface, or what of 42 of those proteins back to roughly pared the replicas with those re-created 1.7 million and 1.5 million years ago. The the effects of such organization might 2021 NATURE 25,000 years ago. from bones unearthed in Africa and scientists also found that hominids with have had on brain function, can prove Analysis of the genes known to help S outheast Asia that range in age from modern human–like brains appeared in challenging, “This is just the beginning make those proteins found that specific roughly 2 m illion to 70,000 years old. Southeast Asia shortly after 1.5 million of discussions about what this means,”

gene variants became more common in ET AL / G.S. ADAMS OF ZURICH ZOLLIKOFER/UNIV. M.S. PONCE DE LEÓN AND C.P.E. The scientists focused on the frontal years ago, hinting at another dispersal Wood says. s

www.sciencenews.org | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 9

brains_corona_subtraction.indd 9 4/21/21 10:17 AM NEWS

LIFE & EVOLUTION and tracked how these factors shifted. the asteroid hit, those dinosaurs were out Plant diversity declined by 45 percent of the picture (SN: 2/4/17, p. 22). Extinc- Amazon is rooted in the immediate aftermath of the aster- tion of certain plant families from the oid strike, the team found, and it took impact may also have played a role. in asteroid impact 6 m illion years before the rich diversity of A third likely factor was a shift in the Dino-killing bolide revamped the tropical rainforests rebounded. Even chemical composition of forest soil. Fre- region’s tropical rainforests then, the forests were never the same. quent rainfall leached Cretaceous soils “A single historical accident changed of many nutrients, which would have BY CAROLYN GRAMLING the ecological and evolutionary trajec- favored gymnosperms, Jaramillo says. The day before a giant asteroid hit Earth tory of tropical rainforests,” says Carlos Ash falling to the ground in the wake of the 66 million years ago, a very different Jaramillo, who studies ancient pollen asteroid impact may have fertilized the kind of rainforest thrived in what is now at the Smithsonian Tropical Research soils with phosphorus, the team suggests. Colombia. Ferns unfurled and flower- Institute in Panama City. “The forests With more food available, angiosperms ing shrubs bathed in sunlight shining that we have today are really the by- outcompeted the gymnosperms, swiftly through large gaps in a canopy made of product of what happened 66 million growing and blocking sunlight. towering conifers. years ago.” Overall forest diversity took much Then the bolide hit and everything Just before the extinction event, the longer to recover as new species began to changed. The impact set off a massive tropical forests were a roughly 50-50 mix evolve to occupy new ecological niches. extinction event that wiped out more of angiosperms, or flowering trees and This was also true of the many insect than 75 percent of life on Earth and shrubs, and gymnosperms such as coni- species that had once feasted on the transformed the Amazon’s sun-dappled, fers and ferns. Afterward, angiosperms plants, leaf fossils indicate. Insects that open-canopied tropical rainforests into took over, making up about 90 percent of can make a meal from many different today’s dark, dense, lush, dripping forests, the plant species in the forest. types of plants were largely unaffected, researchers report in the April 2 Science. The reasons why aren’t wholly clear. says paleoecologist Conrad Labandeira The team analyzed tens of thousands At the end of the Cretaceous Period of the Smithsonian National Museum of fossils of pollen, spores and leaves, 66 million years ago, the region’s cli- of Natural History in Washington, D.C. collected from 39 sites across Colombia, mate was similar to how it is today: hot Insects “that got really creamed were that were dated to between 70 million and humid. But other factors were likely things like leaf miners and piercers and and 56 million years ago. The scientists at work. Huge plant-eating sauropods suckers,” which are more dependent on assessed forest plant diversity, dominant would have helped maintain the open particular plant types, Labandeira says. species and insect-plant interactions, gaps, letting light in, Jaramillo says. Once The findings provide the first com- prehensive picture of what happened in t ropical ecosystems right after the extinction event, says paleoecologist Elena Stiles of the University of Washington in Seattle, who was not involved in the study. Most work on the very end of the Cretaceous and the start of the Paleogene Period comes from North America (SN: 4/27/19, p. 10) or from much farther south, such as in Patagonia, Stiles says. “In the tropics, there is no place where we have the boundary [between periods] preserved,” she says, and the fossil record is very fragmented. Also striking is the possibility that the findings may help explain South A merica’s rich biodiversity. R esearchers have speculated that the continent’s climate or its long isolation from other SCIENCE 2021 continents may be responsible. “This mass extinction event could have been Fossils of leaves (shown) from across Colombia reveal how tropical rainforests in the Western Hemisphere shifted from a mix of conifers, ferns and flowering trees (bottom row) to forests one of the mechanisms that shaped it to

dominated by flowering trees (top two rows) after a mass extinction event 66 million years ago. be this unique region,” Stiles says. s ET AL / M.R. CARVALHO

10 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p11.indd 11 4/12/21 9:18 AM NEWS

LIFE & EVOLUTION Yawning is ubiquitous among verte- brates, possibly boosting blood flow to Yawning lions the skull, cooling the brain and aiding alertness. In many species — like humans, move in sync monkeys and even parakeets — yawners Contagious behavior may help can infect onlookers with their yawn con- a pride coordinate activities tagion, leading onlookers to yawn shortly afterward. And some species appear to BY JAKE BUEHLER have co-opted the behavior for purposes Watch a group of lions yawn, and it may conducive to group living. A lion’s yawn may be a subtle social cue that seem like nothing more than big, lazy cats Curious if the lions’ prodigious yawn- helps the big cat’s pride move together. acting sleepy, but new research suggests ing was socially linked, Palagi’s team that these yawns may be subtly commu- recorded videos of 19 lions at the Greater In lions, contagious yawning might be nicating important social cues. Yawning Makalali Private Game Reserve in South important for maintaining social cohe- not only is contagious among lions, but Africa over about four months in 2019. sion, Palagi says. Yawns that help lions it also appears to help the predators syn- The team analyzed when the cats yawned harmonize group movements could help chronize their movements, researchers and any behaviors around those times. get the pride on the same page — crucial report in the April Animal Behaviour. Lions that saw another member of for cooperative hunting and cub rearing. The discovery was partially made by the pride yawn were about 139 times Other researchers have suggested that chance, says Elisabetta Palagi, an ethol- as likely to yawn within the next three yawning helps coordinate group behav- ogist at the University of Pisa in Italy. minutes, the team found. And lions that ior in other species, says Andrew Gallup, While studying play behavior in spot- caught a yawn from another lion were a biopsychologist at State University of ted hyenas in South Africa, Palagi and 11 times as likely to mirror the move- New York Polytechnic Institute in Utica. colleagues often had the opportunity to ments of the original yawner than those “But this is the first study … that’s actually watch lions at the same time. She noticed that hadn’t. This motor synchrony attempted to quantify that,” Gallup says. that lions yawn frequently, concentrat- involved lions getting up and walking Contagious yawning, he says, may prove ing the yawns in short time periods. around or lying down. common for some highly social species. s

ATOM & COSMOS host clouds of water vapor. The pair also considered Titan’s methane rain, Physics helps alien rain stay in shape Jupiter’s ammonia “mushballs” and exo- Drops stay a similar size regardless of makeup or planet of origin planet WASP 76b’s iron rain (SN: 4/11/20, p. 4). “All these different condensables BY LISA GROSSMAN consider rain made from any liquid. behave similarly, [because] they’re gov- Whether they’re made of methane on “They are proposing something erned by similar equations,” Loftus says. Saturn’s moon Titan or iron on the exo- that can be applied to any planet,” Worlds with higher gravity tend to planet WASP 76b, alien raindrops behave says astronomer Tristan Guillot of the produce smaller raindrops, the duo similarly across the Milky Way. They are O bservatory of the Côte d’Azur in Nice, found. Still, all the raindrops studied always close to the same size, regardless France. “This is something that’s needed, are within a narrow size range, from of the liquid they’re made of or the atmo- really, to understand what’s going on” in about a tenth of a millimeter to a few sphere they fall in, according to the first the atmospheres of other worlds. millimeters in radius. Much bigger, and generalized physical model of alien rain. Raindrops help transport chemical raindrops break apart as they fall. Much “You can get raindrops out of lots of elements and energy around the atmo- smaller, and they quickly evaporate. The things,” says planetary scientist Kaitlyn sphere, and are governed by a few simple scientists next want to investigate solid Loftus of Harvard University. In the April physical laws. Falling droplets of liquid precipitation like hail. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, tend to default to similar shapes, regard- The work is a first step toward under- Loftus and Harvard planetary scientist less of the liquid’s properties. The rate at standing precipitation in general, says Robin Wordsworth published equations which that droplet evaporates is set by astronomer Björn Benneke of the for what happens to a falling raindrop its surface area. U niversity of Montreal. “That’s what after it has left a cloud. Previous stud- Loftus and Wordsworth considered we are all striving for: to develop a kind ies have looked at rain in specific cases, different forms of rain, including water of global understanding of how atmo- like the water cycle on Earth or m ethane on early Earth, ancient Mars and a gas- spheres and planets work, and not just

rain on Titan. But this is the first study to eous exoplanet called K2 18b that may be completely Earth-centric,” he says. s PLUS IMAGES MANOJ SHAH/STONE/GETTY

12 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p13.indd 13 4/15/21 10:21 AM NEWS

EARTH & ENVIRONMENT collected the first direct measurements of the water’s temperature, salinity and Glacier trek reveals warm water risks oxygen levels. From those measure- A robot shows how water erodes Antarctica’s Thwaites ice shelf ments, the team traced the origins of water parcels mixing beneath Thwaites. BY CAROLYN GRAMLING place to place on the glacier, Rignot and Based on its chemical makeup, An autonomous underwater vehicle’s colleagues reported in Science Advances some of the warm water came from trek below the ice is giving scientists in 2019. Such uncertainty is one of the neighboring Pine Island Bay. “We their first direct evidence for how and biggest difficulties when it comes to pro- were very surprised” because that area where warm ocean waters are threat- jecting sea level rise (SN: 2/29/20, p. 18). wasn’t thought to be a major player in ening the stability of Antarctica’s Relatively warm ocean waters sneak- the future of Thwaites, Wåhlin says. vulnerable Thwaites Glacier. These ing beneath floating ice shelves is a The water mass from Pine Island Bay new data will ultimately help scientists primary culprit for the rapid retreat of was near the bottom of the cavity, about more accurately project the fate of the Thwaites and other Antarctic glaciers. 1,050 meters deep, and was both less glacier — how quickly it is melting and This water eats away at ice anchored salty than the surrounding seawater and retreating inland, and how far it might to the seafloor that keeps glaciers from several degrees Celsius warmer than the be from complete collapse, the team sliding into the sea. freezing point. That unstable situation is reports April 9 in Science Advances. Scientists have used satellite data to likely to create turbulence and increase “We know there’s a sick patient out roughly map out what lies beneath the the potential for erosion of the ice, there, and it’s not able to tell us where it Thwaites ice shelf. Three deep chan- Wåhlin says. hurts,” says Eric Rignot, a glaciologist at nels carved into the seafloor connect The find also suggests that what the University of California, Irvine who the ocean to a vast water-filled cavity happens in Pine Island Bay doesn’t nec- was not involved in the study. “So this is 120 kilometers across. But without direct essarily stay in Pine Island Bay — and the first diagnosis.” measurements of the water’s chemis- that the fate of Thwaites may be closely Scientists have eyed the Florida- try and paths to Thwaites’ underbelly, intertwined with that of the Pine Island sized Thwaites Glacier with mounting it’s been impossible to know where the Glacier, which also is rapidly melting, concern for two decades. Satellite threatening water is coming from, how Wåhlin says. Together, the two glaciers images reveal it has been retreating at warm it is and where it’s attacking the account for most of the ice and water an alarming rate of 0.3 to 0.8 kilometers ice, says physical oceanographer Anna that Antarctica is shedding. While per year on average since 2001. The gla- Wåhlin of the University of Gothenburg Thwaites is still pinned to the seafloor cier’s full collapse could ultimately add in Sweden. in some places, slowing the glacier’s slide more than half a meter to global sea In February and March 2019, Wåhlin into the sea, the Pine Island ice shelf’s levels and destabilize other glaciers in and colleagues sent an autonomous underpinnings are long gone, she says. West Antarctica. But estimates of how underwater vehicle, or AUV, to tra- In March, scientists described three quickly the glacier is retreating, based on verse two of the deep channels. Gliding tipping points for the Pine Island computer simulations, vary widely from 50 meters above the seafloor, the AUV Glacier, thresholds it might cross as climate changes that would lead to rapid, irreversible retreat. The final threshold, prompted by a rise in ocean temperatures of about 1.2 degrees C, would drive the glacier to complete collapse, the team found. Wåhlin and others are planning an expedition for January 2022 that will use two AUVs to explore much farther into the cavity beneath Thwaites. Ideally, the AUVs will reach the grounding line where the base of the glacier rests on land. Observing how water masses interact with the glacier’s grounding line will be crucial to understanding the glacier’s future, Rignot says. “That’s the place Ocean data collected by this red autonomous underwater vehicle from beneath the Thwaites where melting makes the most differ-

ice shelf in Antarctica are helping scientists identify sources of warm water eroding the ice. ence to the glacier’s stability.” s FILIP STEDT

14 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p15.indd 15 4/15/21 5:06 PM NEWS

ATOM & COSMOS mere fraction of Earth’s surface. Assum- ing that particles of space dust are just as Earth gains tons of extraterrestrial dust likely to fall in Antarctica as anywhere An estimated 5,200 metric tons settles on the surface each year else let the team estimate how much dust falls over the entire planet. BY SID PERKINS The team’s findings “are a wonderful As our planet orbits the sun, it swoops University in Paris. Nevertheless, col- complement to previous studies,” says through clouds of extraterrestrial lecting the samples was no easy chore. Susan Taylor, a geologist at the Cold dust — and several thousand metric tons First, Duprat and colleagues had to dig Regions Research and Engineering of that material actually reaches Earth’s down two meters or more to reach lay- Laboratory in Hanover, N.H. That’s surface every year, new research suggests. ers of uncontaminated snow deposited because Duprat and colleagues found During three summers in Antarctica between 1920 and 1980, before research- a lot of the small stuff that would have over the last two decades, researchers first arrived at an inland site dubbed dissolved elsewhere, she notes. ers collected more than 2,000 micro- Dome C. Then they used ultraclean About 80 percent of the micrometeorites from four snow pits. tools to collect thousands of kilograms meteorites originate from comets that Extrapolating from this meager sample of snow, melt it and sieve the tiny trea- spend much of their orbits closer to to the rest of the world, tiny pebbles sures from the frigid water. the sun than Jupiter, the researchers from space account for a whopping In all, the team found 808 micro- estimate. Much of the rest probably 5,200 metric tons of weight gain each meteorites that had partially melted as derive from collisions of objects in the year, researchers report in the April 15 they blazed through Earth’s a tmosphere a steroid belt. All together, these tiny par- Earth and Planetary Science Letters. and another 1,280 pristine micro- ticles deliver somewhere between 20 and Much of Antarctica is the perfect meteorites. The particles ranged in size 100 metric tons of carbon to Earth each repository for micrometeorites because from 30 to 350 m icrometers across and year, the team suggests. This sort of there’s no liquid water to dissolve or all together weigh a fraction of a gram. space dust could have been an important o therwise destroy them, says cosmo- But all the micrometeorites were found source of carbon-rich compounds early in chemist Jean Duprat of Sorbonne within just over 100 square meters, a Earth’s history (SN: 12/5/20, p. 4). s

LIFE & EVOLUTION Pterosaur thumbed through trees Future Jurassic Park films could feature one weird new beast in the menagerie: a pterosaur nicknamed Monkeydactyl for its opposable thumbs. This flying reptile may be the earliest known animal that could touch the insides of its thumbs to the insides of its other fingers, researchers report online April 12 in Current Biology. Such dexterity probably allowed Monkeydactyl to climb trees about 160 million years ago, perhaps to feed on insects and other prey (illustrated at left). The latter half of the creature’s official name, Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, comes from ancient Greek words for “opposite” and “thumb.” The fossilized remains, unearthed in northeastern China in 2019, are embedded in rock. So the team used micro-CT scanning to create a 3-D rendering. “We’re able to look at the fossil from any angle and make sure that the bones are in their right [original] place,” says paleontologist Rodrigo Pêgas of the Federal University of ABC in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil. The scans helped confirm that each hand had a well-preserved opposable thumb. “Almost all of the modern animals that have opposable thumbs use them to climb trees,” Pêgas says. That evidence, along with Monkeydactyl’s flexible joints, suggests the species was well-suited to clam- bering through tree branches. — Maria Temming CHUANG ZHAO CHUANG

16 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p17.indd 17 4/12/21 9:15 AM NEWS

ATOM & COSMOS Star shrapnel may litter rare galaxy Explosions of giant stars could explain odd element ratios

BY KEN CROSWELL The most oxygen-poor star-forming galaxy ever found hints that the first galaxies to arise after the universe’s birth glittered with supermassive stars that left behind big black holes. Such galaxies are rare now because almost as soon as a galaxy initiates star The dwarf galaxy HSC J1631+4426 (centered in inset) boasts the lowest oxygen-to-hydrogen formation, massive stars produce huge ratio known. Such oxygen-poor galaxies hint at what conditions were like in the early universe. amounts of oxygen — the most abundant element in the cosmos after h ydrogen years away in the constellation Lynx. and showered their galactic homes with and helium. Astronomers prize the few “We’re counting the number of [very both iron and oxygen, leading to high oxygen-poor galaxies found close to oxygen-poor galaxies] in the palm of iron-to-oxygen ratios in the two primi- home because they offer a glimpse of our hand,” Thuan says. The new galaxy’s tive galaxies as well as a source of what what conditions were like in the very oxygen-to-hydrogen ratio is 83 percent little oxygen exists there. early universe, before stars had made that of J0811+4730. No stars this massive are known to much oxygen. In HSC J1631+4426, Kojima’s team exist in the modern Milky Way. But The newfound galaxy’s oxygen-to- also found odd abundances of another their possible presence in the two most hydrogen ratio — a standard measure chemical element: iron. While the over- oxygen-poor star-making galaxies sug- of relative oxygen abundance in the all amount of iron in the galaxy is low, gests that primordial galaxies also had cosmos — is well under 2 percent of the “the iron-to-oxygen abundance ratio is them, Kojima says. sun’s, researchers report in a study to surprisingly high,” he says. When the superstars died, they should appear in the Astrophysical Journal and The same pattern appears in the have left behind intermediate-mass black posted online March 22 at arXiv.org. o xygen-poor galaxy in Lynx. In contrast, holes, which are more than 100 times as “It is quite difficult to pick up such a ancient stars in the Milky Way usually massive as the sun (SN: 9/26/20, p. 7). rare object,” says astrophysicist Takashi have little iron relative to oxygen. That’s That’s about 10 times as massive as typi- Kojima, who made the discovery with because newborn stars get most of their cal black holes, which can form when colleagues while he was at the U niversity iron from the explosions of long-lived bright stars die. of Tokyo. stars. Those explosions had not occurred Kojima’s team sees evidence for these Named HSC J1631+4426, the by the time the Milky Way’s oldest stars big black holes in the newly discovered record-breaking galaxy, found by using formed. But in the two nearly pristine galaxy. Gas swirling around such large the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, is galaxies, the amount of iron relative to black holes should get so hot that it emits 430 m illion light-years from Earth in oxygen is as high as that of the sun, which high-energy photons, or particles of light. the constellation Hercules. The galaxy acquired large amounts of both elements These photons would tear electrons from is a dwarf, with far fewer stars to create from previous generations of stars. helium atoms, turning them into posi- oxygen than the Milky Way has. Those “This is a very unusual pattern, and tively charged ions. Sure enough, the relatively few stars have given the runt it’s not obvious how to explain that,” says newfound galaxy in Hercules emits a just a pinch of oxygen: one atom for Volker Bromm, an astrophysicist at the wavelength of blue light that comes from every 126,000 hydrogen atoms. That’s University of Texas at Austin who was such helium ions. only 1.2 to 1.6 percent of the oxygen not involved with the discovery. The galaxy is “an exciting preview of level in the sun. Just before Kojima earned his Ph.D. in things to come,” Bromm says. In com- “Any new galaxy is good,” says Trinh 2020, he hit upon a possible explanation: ing years, enormous new telescopes Thuan, an astronomer at the U niversity High-mass stars in dense star clusters will find even more extreme galaxies, he OF JAPAN OBSERVATORY ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL 2020, NATIONAL ASTROPHYSICAL of Virginia in Charlottesville. He merged together to make stellar goli- says. “Then we will have a w onderfully helped find the previous record holder, aths more than 300 times as massive as c omplementary way to learn about the

J0811+4730, which is 620 million light- the sun. These superstars then exploded early universe.” s E T AL / KOJIMA T.

18 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p19.indd 19 4/12/21 10:05 AM NEWS

HUMANS & SOCIETY Meanwhile, Asian STEM professionals’ typical earnings rose from 125 percent of STEM’s racial gaps still strikingly large white workers’ pay to 127 percent. Black and Hispanic scientists are underrepresented and paid less The authors of the Pew report see no major shifts in workplace representation BY MARIA TEMMING engineers and architects, skew particu- in the near future. That’s because racial Efforts to promote equity and inclusion larly white. But even fields that include and ethnic gaps in STEM education are in science, technology, engineering and more professionals from underrepre- similar to gaps in the workforce. Black math have a long way to go, a new report sented groups do not necessarily boast and Hispanic students are less likely suggests. more supportive environments, notes to earn undergraduate and advanced Over the last year, widespread pro- Jessica Esquivel, a particle physicist at degrees in STEM than in other fields, tests in response to the police killings Fermilab in Batavia, Ill. the Pew report finds. For instance, Black of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and For instance, Black professionals students earned 7 percent of bachelor’s other Black people have sparked calls are represented in health care jobs at degrees in STEM in 2018 (the most recent for racial justice, including in STEM. the same level as they are in the overall year with available data) — lower than Social media movements have drawn workforce, according to the Pew report. their 10 percent share of all bachelor’s attention to discrimination faced by But many white people with medical degrees that year. Asian students, on the Black students and professionals, and training continue to believe racist med- other hand, are overrepresented. They the Strike for Black Lives challenged ical myths, such as the idea that Black earned 7 percent of all bachelor’s degrees the scientific community to build a people have thicker skin or feel less pain in 2018, but about 10 percent of all STEM- more just, antiracist research environ- than white people, reports a 2016 study related bachelor’s degrees that year. ment (SN: 12/19/20 & 1/2/21, p. 26). in Proceedings of the National Academy These findings are important but not Now, an analysis of federal education of Sciences. Such medical myths may surprising, says Cato Laurencin, a sur- and employment data from recent years not create a supportive learning envi- geon and engineer at the University of highlights how wide the racial and eth- ronment for Black students who are Connecticut in Farmington. “Why the nic gaps in STEM representation are. pursuing STEM careers. numbers are where they are, I think, “This has been an ongoing conversation When it comes to compensation, is maybe an even more important in the science community” for decades, racial and ethnic disparities have wid- discussion.” says Cary Funk, director of science and ened. Black STEM professionals typically The barriers to entering STEM “are society research at the Pew Research earned about 78 percent of white work- very, very different with every group,” Center in Washington, D.C. ers’ earnings from 2017 to 2019 — down says Laurencin, who chairs the National Because the most recent data come from 81 percent in 2016. And typi- Academies of Sciences, Engineering from 2019, Pew’s snapshot of STEM can- cal pay for Hispanic professionals in and Medicine’s Roundtable on Black not reveal how recent calls for diversity, STEM was 83 percent of white workers’ Men and Black Women in Science, equity and inclusion may have moved earnings — down from 85 percent in 2016. Engineering and Medicine. In particu- the needle. But from 2017 to 2019, Black lar, he says, “Blacks working their way professionals were 11 percent of the over- Median annual earnings of STEM workers through STEM education and STEM all U.S. workforce, but only 9 percent of by demographic, 2017–2019 professions really face a gauntlet of STEM workers in the United States. Asian men $103,300 adversity.” That runs the gamut from The representation gap was even fewer potential STEM role models in White men $90,600 larger for Hispanic professionals, who school to workplace discrimination. were 17 percent of the total U.S. work- Asian women $88,600 Esquivel, a cofounder of the group force, but made up only 8 percent of Hispanic men $73,000 Black in Physics, is optimistic about people working in STEM. Black men $69,200 change. Over the last year, “we’ve real- White and Asian professionals, ized the power of our voice, and I see us White women $66,200 meanwhile, remained overrepresented. not going back because of that — because Although white professionals made up Black women $57,000 we’ve started grassroots movements, like 63 percent of the overall workforce, Hispanic women $57,000 Black in Physics, like all of the Black in X they accounted for 67 percent of STEM networks that popped off this past June,” U.S. dollars workers. Likewise, while Asian profes- she says. “These early-career, student- SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTER sionals constituted only 6 percent of all led grassroots movements are keeping U.S. workers, they made up 13 percent Getting paid STEM workers’ typical annual the people in power’s feet to the fire, and pay varies by gender, race and ethnicity. Black of all STEM professionals. and Hispanic professionals earn less than their just not backing down. That really does

Some STEM occupations, such as white and Asian colleagues. give me hope for the future.” s E. OTWELL

20 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p21.indd 21 4/12/21 10:09 AM fighting-missinfo.indd 22 22 SCIENCE NEWS The battle against fake news AWASH INDECEPTION | May 8,2021&May 22,2021 F misinformation to stemthetideof Scientists offertools By Alexandra Witze ). Others ). Others evidence that it helps (SN Online: 8/2/20 protect themagainst COVID-19 — even withno lowed hydroxychloroquine hoping the drug will Awash in bad information, people have swal- our democracy. Anditisdangerous. hoods, misinformationisracingthrough theories and anti-vaccineconspiracy false- rom liesaboutelectionfraudtoQAnon 1,115 U.S. adults, by NPRandtheresearchfirm in basic institutions. In a December poll of to dam it, is taking an enormous toll on trust ing acrosssocialmediawithlittle fact-checking society. Thesheer volume offake news, flood- the tideofmisinformationthatthreatenstodrown tion cankill.Andscientists arestruggling tostem University inBoston. scientist Briony Swire-Thompson ofNortheastern ofhealthmisinformation,”gers says cognitive “COVID has opened everyone’s eyes to the dan- blocking life-saving shots for hundreds of people. disrupted amassvaccinationsiteinLosAngeles, lic healthadviceavailable. InJanuary, protestors refuse towearmasks, contrarytothebest pub- The pandemichasmadeclear that badinforma- 4/21/21 9:38AM

BRIAN STAUFFER

IRFAN KHAN/LOS ANGELES TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES Ipsos, 83 percent said they were concerned about the spread of false information. Yet fewer than half were able to identify as false a QAnon conspiracy theory about pedophilic Satan wor- shippers trying to control politics and the media. Scientists have been learning more about why and how people fall for bad information — and what we can do about it. Certain characteristics of social media posts help misinformation spread, new findings show. Other research suggests bad claims can be counteracted by giving accurate information to consumers at just the right time, or by subtly but effectively nudging people to pay In January, protests closed attention to the accuracy of what they’re look- down a mass vaccination ing at. Such techniques involve small behavior site at Dodger Stadium changes that could add up to a significant bulwark in Los Angeles. against the onslaught of fake news. being spread includes video, above those that are Wow factor text-only. And media-literacy efforts might focus Misinformation is tough to fight, in part because on educating people that videos can be highly it spreads for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it’s deceptive. “People should know they are more bad actors churning out fake-news content in a gullible to misinformation when they see some- quest for internet clicks and advertising revenue, thing in video form,” Sundar says. That’s especially as with “troll farms” in Macedonia that generated important with the rise of deepfake technologies hoax political stories during the 2016 U.S. presi- that feature false but visually convincing videos dential election. Other times, the recipients of (SN: 9/15/18, p. 12). misinformation are driving its spread. One of the most insidious problems with fake Some people unwittingly share misinformation news is how easily it lodges itself in our brains on social media and elsewhere simply because and how hard it is to dislodge once it’s there. they find it surprising or interesting (see Page 29). We’re constantly deluged with information, and Another factor is the method through which the our minds use cognitive shortcuts to figure out misinformation is presented — whether through what to retain and what to let go, says Sara Yeo, a text, audio or video. Of these, video can be seen science-communication expert at the University as the most credible, according to research by of Utah in Salt Lake City. “Sometimes that infor- S. Shyam Sundar, an expert on the psychology mation is aligned with the values that we hold, of messaging at Penn State. He and colleagues which makes us more likely to accept it,” she says. decided to study this after a series of murders That means people continually accept information in India started in 2017 as people circulated via that aligns with what they already believe, further WhatsApp a video purported to be of child abduc- insulating them in self-reinforcing bubbles. tion. (It was, in reality, a distorted clip of a public Compounding the problem is that people can awareness campaign video from Pakistan.) process the facts of a message properly while Sundar recently showed 180 participants in misunderstanding its gist because of the influ- India audio, text and video versions of three fake- ence of their emotions and values, psychologist news stories as WhatsApp messages, with research Valerie Reyna of Cornell University wrote in 2020 in funding from WhatsApp. The video stories Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. were assessed as the most credible and most likely Thanks to new insights like these, psychologists to be shared by respondents with lower levels of and cognitive scientists are developing tools knowledge on the topic of the story. “Seeing is people can use to battle misinformation before believing,” Sundar says. it arrives — or that prompts them to think more The findings, in press at the Journal of deeply about the information they are consuming. Computer- Mediated Communication, suggest sev- One such approach is to “prebunk” before- eral ways to fight fake news, he says. For instance, hand rather than debunk after the fact. In 2017, social media companies could prioritize respond- Sander van der Linden, a social psychologist at the

BRIAN STAUFFER ANGELESVIA GETTY IMAGES TIMES KHAN/ LOS IRFAN ing to user complaints when the misinformation University of Cambridge, and colleagues found

www.sciencenews.org | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 23

fighting-missinfo.indd 23 4/21/21 9:38 AM AWASH IN DECEPTION | THE BATTLE AGAINST FAKE NEWS

misinformation as a virus, and prebunking as a weakened dose of that virus. Prebunking becomes a vaccine that allows people to build up antibod- ies to bad information. To broaden this beyond climate change, and to give people tools to recognize and battle misinformation more broadly, van der Linden and colleagues came up with a game, Bad News, to test the effectiveness of prebunking (see Page 36). The results were so promising that the team developed a COVID-19 version of the game, called GO VIRAL! Early results suggest that playing it helps people better recognize pandemic-related misinformation.

Take a breath Perceived credibility of message based on format and issue involvement Sometimes it doesn’t take very much of an inter- More vention to make a difference. Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting people to stop and think for a moment about what they’re doing, says Gordon Pennycook, a social psychologist at the University of Regina in Canada. Video In one 2019 study, Pennycook and David Rand, a cognitive scientist now at MIT, tested real news Credibility headlines and partisan fake headlines, such as Text “Pennsylvania federal court grants legal author- Audio ity to REMOVE TRUMP after Russian meddling,” with nearly 3,500 participants. The researchers also tested participants’ analytical reasoning Less Low High skills. People who scored higher on the analyti- Involvement with the issue cal tests were less likely to identify fake news headlines as accurate, no matter their political Video sells WhatsApp users looked at three versions of a story that falsely claimed that rice was being made out of plastic — in text, audio or a video showing a man affiliation. In other words, lazy thinking rather feeding plastic sheets into a machine (images above). Participants tended to rate the than political bias may drive people’s susceptibil- video version as more credible than the audio or text versions. The effect diminished ity to fake news, Pennycook and Rand reported for users who were highly involved with the topic of the false story, suggesting that video is a particularly compelling medium for those who may not be knowledgeable on in Cognition. the topic at hand. SOURCE: S.S. SUNDAR AND E. CHO/PENN STATE AND M. MOLINA/MICHIGAN STATE UNIV. When it comes to COVID-19, however, political polarization does spill over into people’s that presenting information about a petition that behavior. In a working paper first posted online denied the reality of climate science following April 14, 2020, at PsyArXiv.org, Pennycook and HERE TO ENGINEER true information about climate change canceled colleagues describe findings that political polar- any benefit of receiving the true information. Sim- ization, especially in the United States with its ply mentioning the misinformation undermined contrasting media ecosystems, can overwhelm people’s understanding of what was true. people’s reasoning skills when it comes to taking That got van der Linden thinking: Would giving protective actions, such as wearing masks. people other relevant information before giving Inattention plays a major role in the spread of THE FUTURE. them the misinformation be helpful? In the cli- misinformation, Pennycook argues. Fortunately, We’re building something special here at Fowler School of Engineering, blending calculation with creativity, mate change example, this meant telling people that suggests some simple ways to intervene, ahead of time that “Charles Darwin” and “members to “nudge” the concept of accuracy into people’s experiential learning with industry partnerships, grand challenges with a thriving culture of achievement. of the Spice Girls” were among the false signa- minds, helping them resist misinformation. “It’s tories to the petition. This advance knowledge basically critical thinking training, but in a very At Chapman University, imagining is just the beginning. See what happens when you join helped people resist the bad information they light form,” he says. “We have to stop shutting off a community of storytellers, builders, creators and visionaries. were then exposed to and retain the message of our brains so much.”

the scientific consensus on climate change. With nearly 5,400 people who previously TIBBITTS MOLINA AND E. CHO ; GRAPH: T. M.D. S.S. SUNDAR,

Here’s a very 2021 metaphor: Think of tweeted links to articles from two sites known TOP:

24 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 Chapman.edu/engineering

fighting-missinfo.indd 24 4/21/21 9:39 AM HERE TO ENGINEER THE FUTURE. We’re building something special here at Fowler School of Engineering, blending calculation with creativity, experiential learning with industry partnerships, grand challenges with a thriving culture of achievement.

At Chapman University, imagining is just the beginning. See what happens when you join a community of storytellers, builders, creators and visionaries.

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_p25.indd 25 4/12/21 10:10 AM AWASH IN DECEPTION | THE BATTLE AGAINST FAKE NEWS

March 17 in Nature, suggests that very basic reminders about accuracy can have a subtle but How to debunk noticeable effect. Debunking bad information is challenging, For debunking, timing can be everything. especially if you’re fighting with a cranky family Tagging headlines as “true” or “false” after present- member on Facebook. Here are some tips from ing them helped people remember whether the misinformation researchers: information was accurate a week later, compared s Arm yourself with media-literacy skills, at sites such as the with tagging before or at the moment the infor- News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to mation was presented, Nadia Brashier, a cognitive spot hoax videos and stories. psychologist at Harvard University, reported with s Don’t stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show Pennycook, Rand and political scientist Adam empathy and respect, or you’re more likely to alienate your Berinsky of MIT in February in Proceedings of the audience than successfully share accurate information. National Academy of Sciences. s Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that Prebunking still has value, they note. But are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help. providing a quick and simple fact-check after s When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the someone reads a headline can be helpful, par- misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- ticularly on social media platforms where people picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers). often mindlessly scroll through posts. s Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social Social media companies have taken some steps media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something. to fight misinformation spread on their platforms,

SOURCE: THE DEBUNKING HANDBOOK 2020; NEWS LITERACY PROJECT with mixed results. Twitter’s crowdsourced fact- checking program, Birdwatch, launched as a beta test in January, has already run into trouble with for posting misinformation — Breitbart and the poor quality of user-flagging. And Facebook InfoWars — Pennycook, Rand and colleagues has struggled to effectively combat misinforma- used innocuous-sounding Twitter accounts to tion about COVID-19 vaccines on its platform. send direct messages with a seemingly random Misinformation researchers have recently question about the accuracy of a nonpolitical called for social media companies to share more news headline. Then the scientists tracked how of their data so that scientists can better track the often the people shared links from sites of high- spread of online misinformation. Such research quality information versus those known for can be done without violating users’ privacy, for low-quality information, as rated by professional instance by aggregating information or asking fact-checkers, for the next 24 hours. users to actively consent to research studies. On average, people shared higher-quality Much of the work to date on misinformation’s information after the intervention than before. spread has used public data from Twitter because It’s a simple nudge with simple results, Pennycook it is easily searchable, but platforms such as acknowledges — but the work, reported online Facebook have many more users and much more data. Some social media companies do collaborate Push in the right direction Nudging Twitter users to think about the accuracy of with outside researchers to study the dynamics a nonpolitical headline resulted in users temporarily sharing more information from more of fake news, but much more remains to be done trustworthy media outlets (blue dots toward the right) and less from less trustworthy outlets (blue dots toward the left). Dot size is proportional to the number of tweets that link to inoculate the public against false information. to that website prior to the accuracy nudge. SOURCE: G. PENNYCOOK ET AL/NATURE 2021 “Ultimately,” van der Linden says, “we’re try- The effect of an accuracy nudge on news sharing ing to answer the question: What percentage of More the population needs to be vaccinated in order to NY Times have herd immunity against misinformation?” s CNN Fox News Infowars Wash Explore more Post s Gordon Pennycook and David G. Rand. “The Western Daily Wire Daily Mail Wall Street Journal psychology of fake news.” Trends in Cognitive Journal NY Post Sciences. May 2021. tweet frequency Change in relative Change in relative Breitbart s Dietram A. Scheufele et al. “Misinformation Less Daily Caller about science in the public sphere.” Low High Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Trustworthiness of media outlets April 13, 2021. TIBBITTS T. BOTH:

26 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p28.indd 28 4/12/21 10:16 AM AWASH IN DECEPTION Anatomy of misinformation

These tricks are more likely to psychology shows. We take notice of information that is new, that fires up our emotions, that supports what we already make fake news flourish believe and that we hear over and over. By Laura Sanders Most of the time, these shortcuts make us “super-efficient,” quickly leading us to the right answer, says cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Marsh of Duke University. But in fast-moving ad information isn’t new. Propagandists and scam digital landscapes, those shortcuts are “going to get us in trou- artists have been selling their brand of proverbial ble,” she says. snake oil for ages, all to bend people’s thinking to their How the various online platforms feed us information Bgoals. What’s different today is that the digital world changes the game, as well. “We are not only contending with flings information faster and farther than ever before. our own cognitive crutches as humans,” says Jevin West, a Our brains can’t always keep up. computational social scientist at the University of Washington That’s because we often rely on quick estimates to figure out in Seattle who cowrote the 2020 book Calling Bullshit: The Art whether something is true. These shortcuts, called heuristics, of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. “We’re also contending are often based on very simple patterns (SN: 9/20/14, p. 24). with a platform, and with algorithms and bots that know how For instance, most information we come across in our daily to pierce into our cognitive frailties.” The goal, he says, is “to lives is true. So when forced to guess, we often err on the side glue our eyeballs to those platforms.” of believing. Here, scientists who study misinformation pull back the Other shortcuts exist that encourage information — true curtain on some false social media posts to show how bad or false — to find its way into our minds, research on human information can creep into our minds.

www.sciencenews.org | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 29

anatomy-of-misinfo.indd 29 4/21/21 9:44 AM AWASH IN DECEPTION | ANATOMY OF MISINFORMATION

MISINFORMATION Sharing what’s new Editor’s note: The yellow highlighted People take special notice of fresh infor- text on these two pages show false “... found out COVID19 can be cured mation. “Novelty has an advantage in statements found on social media by the mixture of salivary water the information economy in terms of or in the news. These examples, all extracted from plantain stem, spreading farther, faster, deeper,” says misleading and untrue, show how pawpaw tree, scent leaf and Garlic.” information scientist Sinan Aral of MIT misinformation can trick us. and author of the 2020 book The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts This tweet provides un- Our Elections, Our Economy, and Our novel information,” Aral says. “It makes equivocal, confident certainty Health — And How We Must Adapt. Fresh us look like we’re in the know.” with “cure” and it appeals to intel can inform our beliefs, behaviors New information becomes even people’s beliefs [in natural and predictions in powerful ways. In a more alluring in times of uncertainty, remedies] with “pawpaw tree” study of Twitter behavior that spanned West says. That played out early in the and “garlic.” The author under- 10 years, Aral and his colleagues found COVID-19 pandemic, when research- stands well these tricks. The more signs of surprise — an indicator ers and physicians were scrambling to consumer will want to believe that information was new — in people’s find life-saving treatments. Unproven this, and … be in the know by responses to false news stories than to methods — vitamins, garlic and hydroxy- seeing it before their friends true ones. chloroquine, among others — got lots receive it as a share. Sharing new tidbits can also provide a of attention. “There were not a lot of — Jevin West, University of status boost, as any internet influencer answers on how to treat COVID early in Washington knows. “We gain in status when we share the pandemic,” he says.

Supports prior beliefs Accepting information that’s consistent and opinions and claim to know facts vaccines are good, because it would be with what we already know to be true that are impossible, as Marsh and her against my world identity,” she says. can feel like a safe bet. We tend to give colleague Nadia Brashier of Harvard Baseball legend and civil rights advo- that sort of message less scrutiny. “It’s University wrote in 2020 in Annual cate Hank Aaron died on January 22 more comfortable to find pieces of infor- Review of Psychology. And with so much at age 86. Some people soon noted mation that fit our narrative,” West says. information streaming in, it’s easy to that he’d received a COVID-19 vaccine “And when we are confronted with infor- find the material that fits with what you 17 days earlier. Anti-vaccine groups used mation that breaks that narrative, that’s think you know. “To the extent that I his death to blame vaccines, with no incredibly uncomfortable.” want to believe X, I can go out there and evidence that the vaccine was involved. But this reliance on our stored knowl- find evidence for X,” Marsh says. “If I “It’s so opportunistic,” says global health edge can lead us astray. People are wrong were an anti-vaxxer, it wouldn’t mat- researcher Tim Mackey of the University about a lot of facts, easily confuse facts ter how many times you told me that of California, San Diego.

MISINFORMATION

“How long would HANK AARON have lived had he not been lied to about the safety of the experimental COVID19 Vaccine? What a tragedy. RIP Hank. You are truly a hero and a legend.”

This one is very emotive. Most everyone knows Hank Aaron. [The post is] playing on [a] reaction of shock over his death (novel info) and then introducing misinformation that leads people to believe he died from the COVID-19 vaccine. The use of the [CBS Sports] link is compelling as it’s from a trusted news source, even though the link says nothing about Aaron dying from the vaccine. It almost makes him an unknowing martyr for the anti-vax movement. Aaron said he wanted to encourage vaccine uptake among African American people. His untimely death is instead used strategically to target this population. — Tim Mackey, UC San Diego

30 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

anatomy-of-misinfo.indd 30 4/21/21 9:44 AM Tugs on emotions On repeat Playing on emotions is the “dirtiest, Even the most outlandish idea begins to people into a conversation, Mackey says. easiest trick,” West says. sound less wild the 10th time we hear it. On July 27, 2020, then-President Donald Outrage, fear and disgust can cap- That’s been the case since long before Trump tweeted a link to a video of a ture a reader’s attention. That’s what the internet existed. In a 1945 study, doctor making false claims that hydroxy- turned up in Aral’s analyses of over people were more inclined to believe chloroquine can cure COVID-19. Similar 126,000 instances of rumors spread- rumors about wartime rationing that tweets exploded soon after, jumping ing through tweets, reported in 2018 they had heard before rather than unfa- from an average of about 29,000 daily in Science. False rumors were more miliar ones. tweets to over a million just a day later, likely to inspire disgust than true Many recent studies have found simi- Mackey and his colleagues reported in information, the researchers found. lar effects for repetition, a phenomenon the Lancet Digital Health in February. “It “False news is shocking, surpris- sometimes called the “illusory truth just takes one piece of misinformation for ing, blood-boiling, anger-inducing,” effect.” Even when people know a state- people to run with,” Mackey says. s Aral says. “That shock and awe com- ment is false, hearing it again and again bines with novelty to really get false gives it more weight, Marsh says. “Keep Explore more news spreading at a much faster it simple. Say it over and over.” s Nadia Brashier and Elizabeth Marsh. rate than true news.” The presence There’s lots of repetition to be found on “Judging Truth.” Annual Review of of emotional language increases Twitter, where hashtags can draw many Psychology. January 2020. the spread of social media messages by about 20 percent for each MISINFORMATION emotion-triggering word, researchers at New York University reported in I will never trust a government on “If we had used it … would we have Proceedings of the National Academy ‘health mandates’ who denies access to saved more lives?” of Sciences in 2017. safe, decades-old drugs like #Hydroxy- “Yes … without a doubt” Along with message content, chloroquine and #Ivermectin but coerces All you need to know about the readers’ emotions matter, too. Peo- rushed vaccinations with legal immunity. handling of the #covid19 #pandemic ple who rely on emotions to assess It is nonsensical, unscientific behaviour in 21s. #ivermectin a news story are more likely to be from panicked politicians. #HydroxyChloroquine duped by fake news, misinformation scientist Cameron Martel of MIT You have to ask yourself why frontline “I demand that Bill Gates and and colleagues reported in 2020 in doctors who try to bring awareness for Dr. Fauci submit to urine tests to Cognitive Research: Principles and or try to use such medicines as determine if they have received Implications. #ivermectin & #hydroxychloroquine are #Hydroxychloroquine treatment as a being censored. If it saves lives under prophylactic against Covid-19. MISINFORMATION medical supervision it should be used. Retweet if you agree.” #savinglives #stopgroupthink “U.N. health experts admit toxic vaccine ingredients are harming children worldwide.” [The tweet about Gates and Fauci] was a pretty common theme. Repetition for this one is all about building an online campaign. Essentially propagation serves two roles: (1) getting [the fake message] out there that people who are against [In studies], this headline was use of hydroxychloroquine are involved in a conspiracy to keep the treatment particularly evocative of both out of people’s hands; and (2) a campaign [to] force these public figures to anger and anxiety, even relative actually get tested. — Tim Mackey, UC San Diego to other false news headlines. I would guess that this has to do with the fact that the headline is tapping into both a common myth about (false) vaccine dangers, and focuses on potential harm to a vulnerable population (children). — Cameron Martel, MIT

anatomy-of-misinfo.indd 31 4/21/21 9:44 AM vax-timeline.indd 32 THROUGH THE AGESTHROUGH THE HESITANCY VACCINE A philosophy expert at the University of Guelph, Ontario, who tific institutions andgovernment,” says Maya Goldenberg,a the science and more mistrust to do with general of scien has not beenmoney, selfishness orignorance. throughouthistoryThe primarydriver ofvaccinehesitancy vaccinesisjust thelatest chapter inthislongstory.COVID-19 for aslongtheyhave existed. Current oppositionto ideological orother reasons. disinformation about thesafety andeffectiveness of the vaccinesandspread 32 SCIENCE NEWS its earliestdays Disease prevention withvaccines hashaddetractors since in Toronto in1919. Canada filledthestreetsnearCityHall A rally oftheAnti-vaccinationLeague of AWASH INDECEPTION “Vaccine haslesstodowithmisunderstanding hesitancy Vaccines have been met with suspicion and hostility vaccines outofarmsreinforcemisinformation anti-vaccine groupsintensified. Effortstokeep becoming available inlate2020, therhetoric of started s vaccines to protect people from COVID-19 — | deliberately misleading people for political, deliberately misleadingpeopleforpolitical, May 8,2021&May 22,2021 By Tara Haelle -

vaccines asasurveillance tool. represents anxiety aboutboth vaccineingredientsand false beliefs mistakenly believe vaccinescontainfetal cells. Oneoftoday’s in cellculturelinesthatbeganfromabortedfetal cells, orthey For example, some people oppose vaccines that were grown objections, andworriesaboutinfertility, disability ordisease. Other concernsrelatetoparentalautonomy, faith-based ment surveillance orweapons, and personallibertyviolations. about unnaturalsubstances inthebody, vaccinesasgovern- globallyandhistorically.hesitancy Theseincludeanxiety University ofBristol inEngland. vaccines, addsAgnesArnold-Forster, amedicalhistorian atthe oppressed by such institutions are the ones most likely to resist studies thephenomenon.Historically, peopleharmedor A range ofrecurring andintersectingthemeshaveA range fueled — that COVID-19 vaccinescontainamicrochip that COVID-19 — 4/21/21 9:46AM

CITY OF TORONTO ARCHIVES, FONDS 1244, ITEM 2517

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE “The reasons people have hesitated reflect the cultural anxi- suspicious of a forced medical intervention since, under eties of their time and place,” Goldenberg says. People worried normal circumstances, they rarely received any health care. about toxins arising during environmentalism in the 1970s Anti-vaccination groups argued that compulsory vaccination and people in countries steeped in civil war have perceived violated personal liberty, writing that the acts “trample upon vaccines as government weapons. the right of parents to protect their children from disease” and Historical attempts to curb vaccine hesitancy often failed “invaded liberty by rendering good health a crime.” because they relied on authoritarian and coercive methods. Anti-vaccination sentiment grew and spread across Europe “They were very blunt, very punitive and very ineffective,” until an 1885 demonstration of about 100,000 people in Arnold-Forster says. “They had very little impact on actual Leicester, England, prompted the British monarchy to appoint vaccine intake.” a commission to study the issue. The resulting 1896 report led The most effective remedies center on building trust and to an 1898 act that removed penalties for parents who didn’t open communication, with family doctors having the greatest believe vaccination was safe or effective. The act introduced influence on people’s decision to vaccinate. Increased use of the term “conscientious objectors,” which later became more “trusted messengers” to share accurate and reassuring vaccine commonly associated with those who refuse military service information with their communities builds on this. on religious or moral grounds. Across the Atlantic, most U.S. residents had embraced 18th Century Jenner’s cowpox protective, leading to a precipitous drop Smallpox vaccine sets the stage around the globe in smallpox outbreaks. But with fewer outbreaks, compla- In a way, anti-vaccination attitudes predate vaccination itself. cency set in and vaccination rates dropped. As smallpox Public vaccination began after English physician Edward outbreaks resurfaced in the 1870s, states began enforcing Jenner learned that milkmaids were protected from small- existing vaccination laws or passing new ones. British anti- pox after exposure to cowpox, a related virus in cows. In 1796, vaccinationist William Tebb visited New York in 1879, which Jenner scientifically legitimized the procedure of injecting led to the founding of the Anti-Vaccination Society of America. people with cowpox, which he termed variolae vaccinae, The group’s tactics will sound familiar: pamphlets, court bat- to prevent smallpox. However, variolation — which staved tles and arguments in state legislatures that led to the repeal of off serious smallpox infections by triggering mild infection mandatory vaccination laws in seven states. The 1905 Supreme through exposure to material from an infected person — dates Court decision Jacobson v. Massachusetts upheld a state’s back to at least the 1000s in Asia, Africa and other parts of the right to mandate vaccines; it remains precedent today. world. In some cases people inhaled the dried scabs of small- VACCINE HESITANCY pox lesions or rubbed or injected pus from smallpox lesions into a healthy person’s scratched skin. About 1 to 2 percent of people — including a son of Britain’s King George III in 1783 — died from the procedure, far fewer THROUGH THE AGES than the up to 30 percent who died from smallpox. Benjamin Franklin rejected variolation, but later regretted it when smallpox killed his youngest son. Onesimus, an enslaved man in Boston, taught the procedure to Puritan minister Cotton Mather, who in turn urged doctors to inoculate the public during a 1721 smallpox outbreak. Many refused, and Mather faced hostility: A small bomb was thrown through his window. Reasons given for avoiding variolation — particularly that it was unnatural to interfere with a person’s relationship with God — were the seeds of later anti-vaccination attitudes.

19th Century The first vaccination laws kindle resistance In 1809, Massachusetts passed the world’s first known mandatory vaccination law, requiring the general population to receive the smallpox vaccine. Resistance began to grow as other states passed similar laws. Then the U.K. Vaccination Act of 1853 required parents to get infants vaccinated by 3 months old, or face fines or imprisonment. The law sparked This 1838 illustration seems to take a negative view of a vaccination violent riots and the formation of the Anti-Vaccination method that used cowpox to immunize people against a similar, and

CITY OF TORONTO ARCHIVES, FONDS 1244, ITEM 2517 ARCHIVES, CITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NATIONAL League of London. Vaccine resisters were often poor people deadly, human disease, smallpox.

www.sciencenews.org | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021 33

vax-timeline.indd 33 4/21/21 10:46 AM AWASH IN DECEPTION | VACCINE HESITANCY THROUGH THE AGES

20th Century A menu of vaccines draws praise and ire 1982: Documentary hypes vaccine injuries The U.S. entered a golden age of vaccine development from the 1920s through the 1970s with the arrival of vaccines for diphtheria, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps and rubella. Opposition diminished as infection rates, particularly for polio, fell. Rosalynn Carter and Betty Bumpers, the wives of the governors of Georgia and Arkansas, respectively, began a vaccination campaign that grew into a national effort in the 1970s. The goal was to encourage every state to require children attending public school to receive most vaccines recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Protesters at a February 2021 event in Sydney, Australia, came out A nationally aired 1982 news documentary called against the idea of mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, just days before “DPT: Vaccine Roulette” changed everything. Lea Thompson, a vaccines became available to frontline health care workers. reporter with WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., shared emotional stories of parents claiming their children had suffered seizures MMR and autism, creating a storm of anger and fear surround- and brain damage from the diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus, or ing claims of vaccine harm. DPT, shot. Interviews with doctors lent the stories credence. Fever-caused seizures were a known side effect of DPT, and a 21st Century 1974 study had reported neurological complications develop- Social media and slick documentaries ing in 36 children within 24 hours of DPT vaccination. But the Despite the 2010 retraction of his study and the revocation study did not follow the children long-term. Later research of his license to practice medicine in the United Kingdom, revealed neither the seizures nor the vaccine caused long-term Wakefield remains a leader in today’s anti-vaccination brain damage. movement. Joining him is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who gained But the damage to public trust was done. Coopting the prominence promoting unfounded allegations about thimero- DPT acronym, one parent, Barbara Loe Fisher, cofounded sal. Both men rode the wave of anti-vaccination networking Dissatisfied Parents Together, which became the National on social media and the promotion of disinformation through Vaccine Information Center, the most influential anti-vaccine slick documentaries like 2016’s Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to organization in the United States. Catastrophe (SN Online: 4/1/16). In 2014, the United States saw its highest number of mea- 1998: Fraudulent study links vaccines to autism sles cases since the disease was eliminated from the country in The National Vaccine Information Center maintained a steady 2000, culminating in a large outbreak that began at Disneyland hum of anti-vaccination sentiment and activity through the that December. In response, California passed a law removing 1980s and ’90s. Then British gastroenterologist Andrew parents’ ability to opt out of vaccinating their children based Wakefield published a report in the Lancet alleging that the on personal beliefs and required that all children receive CDC- measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine caused autism recommended vaccines to attend school (SN Online: 7/2/19). spectrum disorder in 12 children. Wakefield falsified data, Extreme opposition to that law and subsequent ones helped violated informed consent and secretly invested in develop- fuel a resurgence in anti-vaccine advocacy along with an alarm- ment of a solo measles vaccine, but it took years to uncover ing measles outbreak in 2019 (SN: 12/21/19 & 1/4/20, p. 24). his deceit (SN Online: 2/3/10). Fears about autism and vac- The vast majority of people accept recommended vaccines cines had already exploded by the time the study was retracted and their role in stemming the spread of infectious diseases. 12 years after publication. Recent surveys suggest that 69 percent of U.S. adults say they Almost immediately after publication of the study, have or will get a COVID-19 vaccine, an improvement over U.K. vaccination rates began falling. But news of Wakefield’s the 60 percent willing to do so in November. But responses to work didn’t reach the United States until 2000, just as surveys don’t necessarily predict behavior, Goldenberg says. s U.S. medical authorities were embroiled in a debate about the use of thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative, in vac- Explore more cines. In 1999, the U.S. Public Health Service recommended s Talha Burki. “The online anti-vaccination movement in the removing thimerosal from childhood vaccines as a precau- age of COVID-19.” The Lancet Digital Health. October 2020. tionary measure to reduce infants’ mercury exposure. Later s “Smallpox: A great and terrible scourge.” U.S. National research showed no safety concerns about its use. Library of Medicine. bit.ly/NLMsmallpox The MMR vaccine never contained thimerosal, but fears

about mercury-related brain damage merged with those about Tara Haelle is a freelance journalist based in Dallas. IMAGES MITCHELL/GETTY BROOK

34 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p35.indd 35 4/12/21 10:19 AM AWASH IN DECEPTION Turning the page on climate change denial Researchers are testing ways to counter evolving disinformation tactics By Carolyn Gramling

ver the last four decades, a highly organized, well-funded campaign powered by the fossil fuel industry has sought to discredit the science that Olinks global climate change to human emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. These disinformation efforts have sown confusion over data, questioned the integrity of climate scientists and denied the scientific consensus on the role of humans. Such disinformation efforts are outlined in internal documents from fossil fuel giants such as Shell and Exxon. As early as the 1980s, oil companies knew that burning fossil fuels Researchers John Cook and Sander van der Linden hope to inoculate was altering the climate, according to industry documents people against climate change denial messages. reviewed at a 2019 U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing. Yet these companies, aided Cook of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., helped the by some scientists, set out to mislead the public, deny well- company develop a new “myth-busting” unit that debunks established science and forestall efforts to regulate emissions. common climate change myths — such as that scientists don’t But the effects of climate change on extreme events such agree that global warming is happening. as wildfires, heat waves and hurricanes have become hard Cook and van der Linden have also been testing ways to to downplay (SN: 12/19/20 & SN: 1/2/21, p. 37). Not coinci- get out in front of disinformation, an approach known as pre- dentally, climate disinformation tactics have shifted from bunking, or inoculation theory. By helping people recognize outright denial to distraction and delay (SN: 1/16/21, p. 28). common rhetorical techniques used to spread climate disin- As disinformation tactics evolve, researchers continue to formation — such as logical fallacies, relying on fake “experts” test new ways to combat them. Debunking by fact-checking and cherry-picking only the data that support one view — the untrue statements is one way to combat climate disinfor- two hope to build resilience against these tactics. mation. Another way, increasingly adopted by social media This new line of defense may come with a bonus, van der platforms, is to add warning labels flagging messages as pos- Linden says. Training people in these techniques could build sible disinformation, such as the labels Twitter and Facebook a more general resilience to disinformation, whether related (which also owns Instagram) began adding in 2020 regarding to climate, vaccines or COVID-19. the U.S. presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic. Science News asked Cook and van der Linden about debunk- At the same time, Facebook was sharply criticized for a ing conspiracies, collaborating with Facebook and how change to its fact-checking policies that critics say enables prebunking is (and isn’t) like getting vaccinated. The conversa- the spread of climate disinformation. In 2019, the social media tions, held separately, have been edited for brevity and clarity. giant decided to exempt posts that it determines to be opinion or satire from fact-checking, creating a potentially large dis- We’ve seen both misinformation and disinformation used in information loophole. the climate change denial discussion. What’s the difference? In response to mounting criticism, Facebook unveiled a pilot project in February for its users in the United Kingdom, with van der Linden: Misinformation is any information that’s labels pointing out myths about climate change. The labels also incorrect, whether due to error or fake news. Disinformation point users to Facebook’s climate science information center. is deliberately intended to deceive. Then there’s propaganda: For this project, Facebook consulted several climate commu- disinformation with a political agenda. But in practice, it’s dif- nication experts. Sander van der Linden, a social psychologist ficult to disentangle them. Often, people use misinformation

at the University of Cambridge, and cognitive scientist John because it’s the broadest category. DER LINDEN OF S. VAN COURTESY PHOTOGRAPHY, SILVA DA COOK; DANIELLE OF J. COURTESY LEFT: FROM

36 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

climate-qa.indd 36 4/21/21 11:06 AM ADVERTISEMENT

_p37.indd 37 4/15/21 5:03 PM AWASH IN DECEPTION | TURNING THE PAGE ON CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL

Has there been a change in the nature of climate change inoculation. It’s a multilayer defense system. If you can get denialism in the last few decades? there first, that’s great. But that won’t always be possible, so you still have real-time fact-checking. This multilayer firewall Cook: It is shifting. For example, we fed 21 years of [climate is going to be the most useful thing. change] denial blog posts from the U.K. into a machine learning program. We found that the science denialism misinforma- You’ve both developed online interactive tools, games really, tion is gradually going down — and solution misinformation to test the idea of inoculating people against disinformation [targeting climate policy and renewable energy] is on the rise tactics. Sander, you created an online interactive game called [as reported online in early March at SocArXiv.org]. Bad News, in which players can invent conspiracies and act as As the science becomes more apparent, it becomes more fake news producers. A study of 15,000 participants reported untenable to attack it. We see spikes in policy misinformation in 2019 in Palgrave Communications showed that by playing at just before the government brings in new science policy, such creating misinformation, people got better at recognizing it. as a carbon pricing bill. And there was a huge spike before the But how long does this “inoculation” last? [2015] Paris climate agreement. That’s what we will see more of over time. van der Linden: That’s an important difference in the viral analogy. Biological vaccines give more or less lifelong immu- How do you hope Facebook’s new climate change nity, at least for some kinds of viruses. That’s not the case for misinformation project will help? a psychological vaccine. It wears off over time. In one study, we followed up with people [repeatedly] for Cook: We need tech solutions, like flagging and tagging misin- about three months, during which time they didn’t replay the formation, as well as social media platforms downplaying it, so game. We found no decay of the inoculation effect, which was [the misinformation] doesn’t get put on as many people’s feeds. quite surprising. The inoculation remained stable for about We can’t depend on social media. A look behind the curtain at two months. In [a shorter study focused on] climate change Facebook showed me the challenge of getting corporations to misinformation, the inoculation effect also remained stable, adequately respond. There are a lot of internal tensions. for at least one week.

van der Linden: I’ve worked with WhatsApp and Google, and it’s John, what about your game Cranky Uncle? At first, it focused always the same story. They want to do the right thing, but don’t on climate change denial, but you’ve expanded it to include follow through because it hurts engagement on the platform. other types of misinformation, on topics such as COVID-19, But going from not taking a stance on climate change to tak- flat-earthism and vaccine misinformation. How well do ing a stance, that’s a huge win. What Facebook has done is a techniques to inoculate against climate change denialism step forward. They listened to our designs and suggestions and translate to other types of misinformation? comments on their [pilot] test. We wanted more than a neutral [label directing people to Cook: The techniques used in climate denial are seen in all Facebook’s information page on climate change], but they forms of misinformation. Working on deconstructing [that] wanted to test the neutral post first. That’s all good. It’ll be misinformation introduced me to parallel argumentation, a few months at least for the testing in the U.K. phase to roll which is basically using analogies to combat flawed logic. out, but we don’t yet know how many other countries they will That’s what late night comedians do: Make what is obviously roll it out to and when. We all came on board with the idea a ridiculous argument. The other night, for example, Seth that they’re going to do more, and more aggressively. I’ll be Meyers talked about how Texas blaming its [February] power pleasantly surprised if it rolls out globally. That’s my criteria outage on renewable energy was like New Jersey blaming its for success. problems on Boston [clam chowder]. My main tip is to arm yourself with awareness of misleading Scientists have been countering climate change misinforma- techniques. Think of it like a virus spreading: You don’t want tion for years, through fact-checking and debunking. It’s a to be a superspreader. Make sure that you’re wearing a mask, bit like whack-a-mole. You advocate for “inoculating” people for starters. And when you see misinformation, call it out. That against the techniques that help misinformation spread observational correction — it matters. It makes a difference. s through communities. How can that help? Explore more van der Linden: Fact-checking and debunking is useful if you s Stephan Lewandowsky and John Cook. The Conspiracy do it right. But there’s the issue of ideology, of resistance to Theory Handbook. March 2020. bit.ly/CThandbook. fact-checking when it’s not in line with ideology. Wouldn’t s T.G. Coan et al. “Computer-assisted detection and life be so much easier if we could prevent [disinformation] classification of misinformation about climate change.” in the first place? That’s the whole point of prebunking or SocArXiv.org. March 9, 2021.

38 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p39.indd 39 4/12/21 10:24 AM REVIEWS & PREVIEWS

BOOKSHELF A new book offers a cure for common medical myths How does misinformation spread? The antidote is easy to swallow, thanks to Yasmin’s approach. What causes medical myths and For instance: Should you eat your baby’s placenta? In pseudoscience to rapidly infect and chapter 2’s breezy three pages, Yasmin points to celebrities fester in society? Seema Yasmin, an epi- such as Kim Kardashian who say eating their placentas demiologist and author of a new book, helped them with postpartum recovery. Then Yasmin Viral BS, has a diagnosis: the pervasive, quickly moves to studies that have found no medical ben- persuasive power of storytelling. And, efits. In fact, studies point to potential harm from the Viral BS Seema Yasmin as Yasmin notes, “The more fantastical, practice, since the organ can carry feces, inflammatory JOHNS HOPKINS UNIV., the better.” cells and bacteria (SN Online: 7/28/17). $24.95 Take the anecdote that opens the She pulls no punches, referring to doctors who claim to book: A woman in Texas demands an Ebola vaccine for her be able to cure autism as “charlatans” who offer expensive, daughter as a deadly outbreak rages a continent away in unproven and sometimes dangerous practices. Children Africa in 2014. When the pediatrician tells her there is no have died, Yasmin writes, after being given Miracle Mineral Ebola vaccine and that her daughter faces a much greater Solution as an autism cure. The solution is actually indus- risk from the flu, for which he can give her a vaccine, the trial bleach. She rejects the overenthusiastic prescribing of mother storms out: “Flu vaccine?! I don’t believe in those vitamin D supplements for everything from obesity to can- things!” cer (SN: 2/2/19, p. 16), showing that the evidence of a benefit Stories — like those this Texas woman may have heard, or isn’t there, at least not yet. maybe told herself — help us find order in a world bursting Some of the issues she addresses seem ludicrous on first with uncertainty. But when these stories don’t reflect glance, like “Can a pill make racists less racist?” Actress reality, a public malady of tenacious and pre- Roseanne Barr claimed that the drug Ambien posterous medical myths can take hold, Storytelling and made her post a racist tweet in 2018. Yasmin Yasmin explains. Her book sets out to treat anecdotes that looks at the opposite notion, sparked by a 2012 this malady with a dose of the virus itself: move beyond study that linked heart disease medications Storytelling and anecdotes that move beyond dry facts and to a reduction in racial bias. She explains how dry facts and figures to reveal pseudoscience’s the drugs affect the body and how research- sticking power. figures can reveal ers tested for racial bias. Then she shifts to the Yasmin sets up her credentials in the book’s pseudoscience’s dangers of trying to medicalize racism, which opener — physician, director of the Stanford sticking power. is not a medical phenomenon. Health Communication Initiative, former The book ends with a tear-out “bullshit epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control detection kit,” a list of 12 useful tips to keep in mind when and Prevention — to build trust among readers. But, true weighing the credibility of a headline, research study or to form, it’s her anecdotes of pseudoscience in her own tweet. Questions to consider include: Who is funding the upbringing that linger. Her India-born grandmother told person or organization making the claim? Has a claim been her that the moon landing was a fake; as a child Yasmin verified by those not affiliated with the source? She explains would pray to the “unwalked upon moon” for clarity and how to run a reverse online search on an image to determine vision. Yasmin and her cousins once secretly listened to whether it was doctored and to learn its original source. This Michael Jackson songs for signs of Satan worship — which list will be particularly relevant to those navigating through an older cousin claimed were there. “Raised on conspiracy all the misinformation swirling around COVID-19. theories,” she writes, “I understand why a patient might Readers will come away from this book with a deeper refuse medications, say chemtrails are poison, or shun vac- understanding of what research studies can and cannot cines, even as I bristle at the public health implications of say, and the effects that storytelling and celebrity have these beliefs and behaviors.” on whether someone internalizes a health claim. Some Each chapter answers a question in a few pages of no- readers might prefer more background science for each nonsense basics. The book tackles a slew of questions that question — for a book that aims to crush pseudoscience, a have spread from the internet to dinner tables in recent bibliography or at least footnotes would have been useful. years. These include: Is there lead in your lipstick? Do vac- But perhaps this omission is part of Yasmin’s broader cines cause autism? Has the U.S. government banned point. For casual readers, references and statistics miss the research about gun violence (SN: 5/14/16, p. 16)? She ana- mark. Instead, anecdotes in easy-to-swallow doses may be lyzes the pseudoscientific answers that become hard to just the right amount of information and storytelling needed shake and reviews related research that presents the truth. to stop the spread of viral BS. — Cori Vanchieri

40 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

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_p41.indd 41 4/12/21 10:25 AM SOCIETY UPDATE

CONVERSATIONS WITH

MAYA ROALD HOFFMANN Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters Emeritus, Cornell University

Maya Ajmera, President & CEO of the Society for Science and Publisher of Science News, chatted with Nobel Laureate Roald Hoﬀ mann, an alumnus of the 1955 Science Talent Search, a program of the Society for Science. Hoﬀ mann is the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters Emeritus at Cornell University. He is also an accomplished poet and HORIZON-EXPANDING playwright. We are thrilled to share an edited summary of their conversation. SCIENCE EDUCATION Dr. Hoffmann, you have a very powerful story. Would you As a child living in Europe during the Holocaust, you have be willing to tell us a little bit about your childhood? a pretty extraordinary story. I don’t know if you’d be willing My life was divided by a marker, which was coming to to share about that time. I believe you and your mother America. The irst 11 years of my life were spent both in were hiding for a while. You’ll be prepared for anything. “I want to be an astronaut. surviving and then being a refugee. Yes, it lasted 15 months. We were in an attic and then in a I want to go to space. The surviving was a geopolitical consequence of having storeroom. Five of us, my mother and I among them. We were • Participate in research and community Everything I’m doing is been born in 1937 in southeast Poland, in a Jewish family just hidden by a courageous and good Ukrainian schoolteacher opportunities for real-world experiences working towards that. My before World War II. The place where I was born was Austria- and his wife who had three small children. They did this starting in your Freshman year research internship at the Hungary when my mother was born, then Poland when I was at great risk to their life. I was a quiet child, but it was not NASA Langley Research born, then it was conquered by the Nazis, and then became an easy time. There were sometimes German soldiers and • Learn from faculty who will walk alongside Center in Hampton, Va, was part of the Soviet Union. Today, it is part of independent Ukrainian policemen in the house. It’s a great credit to my you to ensure your success a really great experience Ukraine. Two and a half waves of ethnic cleansing along mother, all the games she invented for me. and it has opened a lot of • Flexible bachelor’s programs for an the way. doors for me.” Over the years, this was not a very happy part of the world. Do you remember a game she invented that still sticks interdisciplinary education that fits your Only about 200 Jews out of 4,000 in this town survived the out for you? career goals Madelyn Hoying war. Among them was my mother and I, but not my father Yes. This was a schoolhouse with atlases stored in the attic. • Earn your master’s degree and accelerate Physics & Biomedical and not my grandparents. The dimensions of the loss are My mother taught me latitude and longitude, which you your career with only one additional year of Engineering Duquesne typical of what happened to Jews in that part of the world. usually don’t teach to 5- or 6-year-olds. To probe what I had Graduate It took us ive more years to come to America, with the same learned, she then asked me to describe what latitude and education Currently a student in discriminatory quotas and immigration laws at play as those longitude I would need to pass in order to travel from Poland • Enjoy the park-like campus steps away from causing a barrier to immigrants today. to San Francisco, for example. She would give me hard tasks, a joint Harvard/MIT Pittsburgh STEM career opportunities doctoral program. We had the hardest time to come to rejoin an aunt in asking me to go around the Strait of Magellan instead of and activities America. We got here, eventually, as immigrants, and I’m through the Suez Canal. not sure we came entirely legally.” Once we got here, the second chapter of my life opened up. I went to public Let’s talk about being at Stuyvesant. What was that schools in New York City and studied in a wonderful science- experience like for you? What was it like doing science oriented school, Stuyvesant High School, which to this day research as a high school student and participating in the supplies many of your inalists in the Science Talent Search. Science Talent Search? It’s time for bigger goals. Everything opened up in the world. Stuyvesant High School had always encouraged research Learn More at duq.edu/ScienceDegrees

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You’ll be prepared for anything. “I want to be an astronaut. I want to go to space. • Participate in research and community Everything I’m doing is opportunities for real-world experiences working towards that. My starting in your Freshman year research internship at the NASA Langley Research • Learn from faculty who will walk alongside Center in Hampton, Va, was you to ensure your success a really great experience and it has opened a lot of • Flexible bachelor’s programs for an doors for me.” interdisciplinary education that fits your career goals Madelyn Hoying • Earn your master’s degree and accelerate Physics & Biomedical your career with only one additional year of Engineering Duquesne education Graduate Currently a student in • Enjoy the park-like campus steps away from a joint Harvard/MIT Pittsburgh STEM career opportunities doctoral program. and activities

It’s time for bigger goals. Learn More at duq.edu/ScienceDegrees

_p43.indd 43 4/12/21 10:26 AM experiences for its students, and there were absolutely great Now, you ask why chemistry. Somehow chemistry, in the teachers in every subject. The only subject I didn’t take end, was the right ield for me. Chemistry is not based on advanced placement in was chemistry, which eventually certain knowledge. Sometimes our students complain that became my profession! I found a professor at NYU who was they have to memorize some things and then they’re also doing experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory on asked to explain some other things, like the mechanism of tracks left in a bubble chamber, which was a new device for an organic reaction. measuring the outcome of nuclear reactions. That mixture of part logic and part facts that you are The project was an interesting experience, but it did required to know, which you then have to connect with each not pull me into physics. It was quite wonderful, however, other, is at the heart of chemistry. One comes to peace with because it led to me being selected for the Westinghouse partial knowledge. I love that — somehow it was in resonance Science Talent Search, which included a trip to Washington with my psychology. where I had the opportunity to meet President Eisenhower. That kind of partial certainty, of having to deal with fuzzy Meeting President Eisenhower, ive years after coming logic, bothers some people. I tell them, if you want certainty, to America, had special meaning for me because he was try mathematics. Studying molecules is different, much like the leader of the armies who had liberated Europe. It was dealing with people. from the Talent Search, eventually, that I got a summer job between high school and college at the National Bureau In addition to being a chemist, you publish essays, of Standards. That summer job led to a second summer poetry and plays. Tell us about that — the process of there — these served as an introduction to real science. being a poet. Meanwhile, the world opened up in the arts and the Everything began in college for me. The interest in poetry humanities, thanks to a wonderful core curriculum in the came from a course with Mark Van Doren, a poet who wasn’t liberal arts at Columbia. I’m a strong believer in the liberal allowed to teach how to write poetry. There were no writing arts education. One way to summarize my college career courses in those days. If you wanted to learn how to write, was that I worked up enough courage in college at Columbia you went to night school at Columbia. to tell my parents I didn’t want to become a doctor, but not I remember going across the street to Barnard College enough to tell them I wanted to be an art historian. and seeing a production of Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding. Somehow it touched me, wondering how an What is it about chemistry that has inspired you and individual could come to feel that intensely. In time, I tried to continues to inspire you? write both poetry and plays. Maybe gaining con idence from I didn’t decide on chemistry right away. In fact, I didn’t make doing chemistry gave me con idence to try these things. a commitment to chemistry until three-quarters of the way I’m very glad I did write in time, for it put me in contact through my Ph.D. in chemistry. I took a year off after two years with the world of poets and playwrights. I could show you my in graduate school to go to the Soviet Union. This was 1960, logbook for submitting poems. Every poem of mine that has the Khrushchev period. Taking a junior year abroad while in been eventually accepted in a magazine has been rejected graduate school was not done — Harvard thought I was crazy. 10 to 15 times before. Living in that world gives me a better My mother thought I would be drafted into the Soviet army. feeling for what people who want to touch us spiritually have to deal with.

How does your childhood experience of surviving the Holocaust inluence your view of humanity and the debates that are going on around social justice in the United States and around the world? I tend to see good motives in the way people act. Perhaps that is not what people expect of someone who survived the Holocaust. The act of survival is suf icient. It is an af irmation of the human spirit that you can survive under extremely dif icult conditions. There were a few people willing to risk their lives to help you, like that Ukrainian family I mentioned. That is a great af irmation of the positive nature of human beings. It takes just a few. Here we are hiding from a virus. Seventy-six years ago, we were hiding from the Nazis. It’s hard to ind reasons for Roald Hoﬀ mann participated in the 1955 Science Talent Search, with his project “Recording and Identi ication of Nuclear Particles.” af irmation of the human spirit. But they were there, and I strongly believe that they are here. We will overcome.

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Cosmic crash also deters other insects such as fleas. The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies It would depend on the version will merge in about 10 billion years, and the of the receptor those species have, supermassive black holes at their centers G arcia de Jesús says. TRPA1, the will collide less than 17 million years later, receptor that catnip triggers in mos- Sid Perkins reported in “Crash will follow quitoes, is common in many animals ‘Milkomeda’ debut” (SN: 3/27/21, p. 9). and typically responds to irritants Perkins wrote that any civilization such as cold, heat, wasabi and tear within about 3.25 million light-years gas. But catnip doesn’t spark the same of Earth that has gravitational wave– reaction in all insects. “Some aphids, sensing technology similar to ours for instance, use nepetalactone as a would be able to detect the collision. pheromone, and green lacewings are Some readers questioned why the crash attracted to it,” she says. More studies would be detectable only to 3.25 mil- are needed to learn how catnip affects lion light-years when the gravitational other insects. MARCH 27, 2021 wave observatories LIGO and Virgo can detect black hole mergers billions of Leave it to beaver light-years away (SN: 1/30/21, p. 30). Building simple structures made of sticks Out of sight The reason has to do with the mass and stones in streams can entice beavers A rare bird sighting doesn’t lead of the black holes, the story’s editor to build their own dams and keep water to sightings of other rare bird Chris Crockett says. The black hole where it’s needed to fight drought and wild- species (painted bunting shown mergers discovered to date involved fires, Brianna Randall reported in “Reviving below), Anushree Dave reported relatively lightweight black holes, and riverscapes” (SN: 3/27/21, p. 22). in “Scientists debunk a popular the smashups emitted gravitational Such beaver restoration tactics would birding claim” (SN: 3/27/21, p. 4). waves that have frequencies within not be as effective in streams that flow Reader and punster Patrick J. LIGO and Virgo’s detection range of intermittently, Randall reported. O’Connor wrote: “Birds of a 10 to 10,000 hertz. But when super- Reader Pam Nelson asked why. rarity don’t gather for parity.” massive black holes collide, they emit “Intermittent streams usually don’t gravitational waves at much lower support beavers, since the rodents frequencies. need ponded habitat year-round to To observe such a crash today, survive, both for food sources and researchers need pulsar timing arrays. escape from predators,” Randall says. This technology can detect low- Beaver dam analogs could poten- frequency gravitational waves using tially work in such settings, but the variations in the steady radio blips of stick structures usually work best highly magnetized stars called pulsars. when beavers are around to build on, Pulsar timing arrays have yet to detect repair and rearrange them as part of a supermassive black hole collision, the natural process in healthy streams, but they are currently listening for she says. the “background hum” of such events throughout the universe. The arrays could single out a smashup like the Andromeda–Milky Way out to about 3.25 million light-years away, Crockett says. Join the conversation E-MAIL [email protected] Bug off MAIL Attn: Feedback 1719 N St., NW Catnip wards off mosquitoes by triggering Washington, DC 20036 a chemical receptor that, in other animals, senses pain or itch, Erin Garcia de Jesús Connect with us reported in “How catnip repels pesky mosquitoes” (SN: 3/27/21, p. 9). Reader Rick Gillespie wondered if cat-

nip’s active component, nepetalactone, IMAGES DOCUMENTARY/GETTY MORRIS/CORBIS ARTHUR

46 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

feedback.indd 46 4/21/21 10:05 AM USAID uses Science for Development

Working with scientists and researchers allows USAID to support our partners in more than 100 countries to become more resilient to shocks and stressors of all kinds. Photo: USAID/Claudia Gutierrez USAID is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. USAID’s work advances U.S. national security and economic prosperity, demonstrates American generosity, and helps people progress beyond assistance.

_p47.indd 47 4/12/21 9:18 AM SCIENCE VISUALIZED

A Pacific pomfret (Brama orcini) was caught riding a jellyfish (shown above from three angles; at left is a preserved specimen). Some larval fishes take shelter A preserved larval tripod fish (Bathymicrops sp.) is plain and pale in the tentacles of jellies, (bottom). But while alive, larvae (top) sport flamboyant spiky but hitching a ride is an odd fins and blue-hued bodies flecked with white and orange polka twist on that behavior. dots that may provide a flickering form of camouflage on the go.

Baby fish ready for their close-ups Newborn fishes are hard to study because they are tiny, semitransparent and get mashed when netted by research vessels. Now, a partnership between scientists and divers is letting researchers in on the secret lives of some fish larvae. Underwater photos taken near Hawaii at night — when larvae rise toward the ocean surface — reveal colors, body structures and behaviors that can’t be seen in preserved specimens. With lights in hand, divers snapped up-close photos of 26 larval fishes (three shown), then gingerly captured and shipped them and 50 others to scientists to be studied alongside their mug shots. DNA analyses let ich- thyologists match the photos to known species, researchers report in the March issue of Ichthyology & Herpetology. “Larvae that looked utterly drab as specimens have … bril- liantly colored markings and fantastic structures,” says Ai Nonaka, a larval fish expert at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Larval fishes don’t travel well. En route to the lab, they lose fins and other structures that evoke their behavior. And A scalloped ribbonfish ethanol preservation to repel bacteria and fungi leaches out (Zu cristatus) larva (above) has spaghetti-like ornamental colors. But getting a complete picture of larvae is crucial to fins that get broken off when conservation planning. captured (left). The flowing, “The chance to see these larvae in their environment was a spotted tentacles suggest that larvae mimic marine organ- wonderful advance in our scientific endeavors,” says retired isms known as siphonophores.

fisheries biologist Geoff Moser . — Devin A. Reese OF LIVE FISHES: JEFF MILISEN; SPECIMENS: A. NONAKA/SMITHSONIAN NMNH PHOTOS

48 SCIENCE NEWS | May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

scivis.indd 48 4/21/21 10:00 AM _C3.indd 3 4/12/21 9:49 AM THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY ILLUMINATES AND PROTECTS THE WONDERS OF OUR WORLD. WILL YOU JOIN US?

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