Misinformation can undermine a well-functioning democracy. For example, public misconceptions about climate change can lead to lowered acceptance of the reality of climate change and lowered support ...for mitigation policies. This study experimentally explored the impact of misinformation about climate change and tested several pre-emptive interventions designed to reduce the influence of misinformation. We found that false-balance media coverage (giving contrarian views equal voice with climate scientists) lowered perceived consensus overall, although the effect was greater among free-market supporters. Likewise, misinformation that confuses people about the level of scientific agreement regarding anthropogenic global warming (AGW) had a polarizing effect, with free-market supporters reducing their acceptance of AGW and those with low free-market support increasing their acceptance of AGW. However, we found that inoculating messages that (1) explain the flawed argumentation technique used in the misinformation or that (2) highlight the scientific consensus on climate change were effective in neutralizing those adverse effects of misinformation. We recommend that climate communication messages should take into account ways in which scientific content can be distorted, and include pre-emptive inoculation messages.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Most known extrasolar planets (exoplanets) have been discovered using the radial velocity or transit methods. Both are biased towards planets that are relatively close to their parent stars, and ...studies find that around 17-30% (refs 4, 5) of solar-like stars host a planet. Gravitational microlensing, on the other hand, probes planets that are further away from their stars. Recently, a population of planets that are unbound or very far from their stars was discovered by microlensing. These planets are at least as numerous as the stars in the Milky Way. Here we report a statistical analysis of microlensing data (gathered in 2002-07) that reveals the fraction of bound planets 0.5-10 AU (Sun-Earth distance) from their stars. We find that 17(+6)(-9)% of stars host Jupiter-mass planets (0.3-10 M(J), where M(J) = 318 M(⊕) and M(⊕) is Earth's mass). Cool Neptunes (10-30 M(⊕)) and super-Earths (5-10 M(⊕)) are even more common: their respective abundances per star are 52(+22)(-29)% and 62(+35)(-37)%. We conclude that stars are orbited by planets as a rule, rather than the exception.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The terms "post-truth" and "fake news" have become increasingly prevalent in public discourse over the last year. This article explores the growing abundance of misinformation, how it influences ...people, and how to counter it. We examine the ways in which misinformation can have an adverse impact on society. We summarize how people respond to corrections of misinformation, and what kinds of corrections are most effective. We argue that to be effective, scientific research into misinformation must be considered within a larger political, technological, and societal context. The post-truth world emerged as a result of societal mega-trends such as a decline in social capital, growing economic inequality, increased polarization, declining trust in science, and an increasingly fractionated media landscape. We suggest that responses to this malaise must involve technological solutions incorporating psychological principles, an interdisciplinary approach that we describe as "technocognition." We outline a number of recommendations to counter misinformation in a post-truth world.
General Audience Summary
Imagine a world that considers knowledge to be "elitist." Imagine a world in which it is not medical knowledge but a free-for-all opinion market on Twitter that determines whether a newly emergent strain of avian flu is really contagious to humans. This dystopian future is still just that-a possible future. However, there are signs that public discourse is evolving in this direction: terms such as "post-truth" and "fake news," largely unknown until 2016, have exploded into media and public discourse. This article explores the growing abundance of misinformation in the public sphere, how it influences people, and how to counter it. We show how misinformation can have an adverse impact on society, for example by predisposing parents to make disadvantageous medical decisions for their children. We argue that for countermeasures to be effective, they must be informed by the larger political, technological, and societal context. The post-truth world arguably emerged as a result of societal mega-trends, such as a decline in social capital, growing economic inequality, increased polarization, declining trust in science, and an increasingly fractionated media landscape. Considered against the background of those overarching trends, misinformation in the post-truth era can no longer be considered solely an isolated failure of individual cognition that can be corrected with appropriate communication tools. Rather, it should also consider the influence of alternative epistemologies that defy conventional standards of evidence. Responses to the post-truth era must therefore include technological solutions that incorporate psychological principles, an interdisciplinary approach that we describe as "technocognition." Technocognition uses findings from cognitive science to inform the design of information architectures that encourage the dissemination of high-quality information and that discourage the spread of misinformation.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, OILJ, PEFLJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The widespread prevalence and persistence of misinformation in contemporary societies, such as the false belief that there is a link between childhood vaccinations and autism, is a matter of public ...concern. For example, the myths surrounding vaccinations, which prompted some parents to withhold immunization from their children, have led to a marked increase in vaccine-preventable disease, as well as unnecessary public expenditure on research and public-information campaigns aimed at rectifying the situation. We first examine the mechanisms by which such misinformation is disseminated in society, both inadvertently and purposely. Misinformation can originate from rumors but also from works of fiction, governments and politicians, and vested interests. Moreover, changes in the media landscape, including the arrival of the Internet, have fundamentally influenced the ways in which information is communicated and misinformation is spread. We next move to misinformation at the level of the individual, and review the cognitive factors that often render misinformation resistant to correction. We consider how people assess the truth of statements and what makes people believe certain things but not others. We look at people's memory for misinformation and answer the questions of why retractions of misinformation are so ineffective in memory updating and why efforts to retract misinformation can even backfire and, ironically, increase misbelief. Though ideology and personal worldviews can be major obstacles for debiasing, there nonetheless are a number of effective techniques for reducing the impact of misinformation, and we pay special attention to these factors that aid in debiasing. We conclude by providing specific recommendations for the debunking of misinformation. These recommendations pertain to the ways in which corrections should be designed, structured, and applied in order to maximize their impact. Grounded in cognitive psychological theory, these recommendations may help practitioners—including journalists, health professionals, educators, and science communicators—design effective misinformation retractions, educational tools, and public-information campaigns.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We report the discovery of an extensive system of scattered-light echo arclets associated with the recent supernovae in the local neighborhood of the Milky Way: Tycho (SN 1572) and Cassiopeia A. ...Existing work suggests that the Tycho SN was a thermonuclear explosion while the Cas A supernova was a core-collapse explosion. Precise classifications according to modern nomenclature require spectra of the outburst light. In the case of ancient SNe, this can only be done with spectroscopy of their light echo, where the discovery of the light echoes from the outburst light is the first step. Adjacent light echo positions suggest that Cas A and Tycho may share common scattering dust structures. If so, it is possible to measure precise distances between historical Galactic supernovae. Ongoing surveys that alert on the development of bright scattered-light echo features have the potential to reveal detailed spectroscopic information for many recent Galactic supernovae, both directly visible and obscured by dust in the Galactic plane.
A regional climate model, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, is forced with increased atmospheric CO
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and anomalous SSTs and lateral boundary conditions derived from nine coupled ...atmosphere–ocean general circulation models to produce an ensemble set of nine future climate simulations for northern Africa at the end of the twenty-first century. A well validated control simulation, agreement among ensemble members, and a physical understanding of the future climate change enhance confidence in the predictions. The regional model ensembles produce consistent precipitation projections over much of northern tropical Africa. A moisture budget analysis is used to identify the circulation changes that support future precipitation anomalies. The projected midsummer drought over the Guinean Coast region is related partly to weakened monsoon flow. Since the rainfall maximum demonstrates a southward bias in the control simulation in July–August, this may be indicative of future summer drying over the Sahel. Wetter conditions in late summer over the Sahel are associated with enhanced moisture transport by the West African westerly jet, a strengthening of the jet itself, and moisture transport from the Mediterranean. Severe drought in East Africa during August and September is accompanied by a weakened Indian monsoon and Somali jet. Simulations with projected and idealized SST forcing suggest that overall SST warming in part supports this regional model ensemble agreement, although changes in SST gradients are important over West Africa in spring and fall. Simulations which isolate the role of individual climate forcings suggest that the spatial distribution of the rainfall predictions is controlled by the anomalous SST and lateral boundary conditions, while CO
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forcing within the regional model domain plays an important secondary role and generally produces wetter conditions.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
In this study, microarrays of stromal-cell RNA showed one signature that correlated with extracellular-matrix deposition and monocytic infiltration and another that reflected tumor blood-vessel ...density. Immune cells, fibrosis, and angiogenesis in the microenvironment strongly influence the behavior of these lymphomas.
In this study, microarrays of stromal-cell RNA showed one signature that correlated with extracellular-matrix deposition and monocytic infiltration and another that reflected tumor blood-vessel density.
Although diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma is curable with anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens such as a combination of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP),
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the addition of rituximab immunotherapy (R-CHOP) has improved overall survival among patients with diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma by 10 to 15%.
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Diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma is a molecularly heterogeneous disease,
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and it is unclear whether rituximab preferentially improves the outcome in certain subgroups of patients.
Gene-expression profiling has identified two biologically and clinically distinct molecular subtypes of diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma.
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The germinal-center B-cell–like diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma subtype probably arises from normal germinal-center B cells, whereas the activated B-cell–like subtype may . . .
Given that being misinformed can have negative ramifications, finding optimal corrective techniques has become a key focus of research. In recent years, several divergent correction formats have been ...proposed as superior based on distinct theoretical frameworks. However, these correction formats have not been compared in controlled settings, so the suggested superiority of each format remains speculative. Across four experiments, the current paper investigated how altering the format of corrections influences people’s subsequent reliance on misinformation. We examined whether myth-first, fact-first, fact-only, or myth-only correction formats were most effective, using a range of different materials and participant pools. Experiments 1 and 2 focused on climate change misconceptions; participants were Qualtrics online panel members and students taking part in a massive open online course, respectively. Experiments 3 and 4 used misconceptions from a diverse set of topics, with Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdworkers and university student participants. We found that the impact of a correction on beliefs and inferential reasoning was largely independent of the specific format used. The clearest evidence for any potential relative superiority emerged in Experiment
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, which found that the myth-first format was more effective at myth correction than the fact-first format after a delayed retention interval. However, in general it appeared that as long as the key ingredients of a correction were presented, format did not make a considerable difference. This suggests that simply providing corrective information, regardless of format, is far more important than how the correction is presented.
The risk of collision between birds and turbines is seen as one of the key issues in the planning process for offshore wind farms. In some cases, predictions of collision risk have led to projects ...either being withdrawn from the planning process, or refused planning consent. Despite this, the evidence base on which collision risk is assessed is extremely limited and assessments rely on models which can be highly sensitive to assumptions, notably about bird collision avoidance behaviour. We present a synthesis of the current state of knowledge about collision risk and avoidance behaviour in seabirds. Evidence suggests species-specific responses to turbines and that in order to avoid collision, most birds adjust their flight paths at some distance from the turbines, rather than making last-second adjustments. We highlight the key gaps in knowledge and make recommendations for future data collection.
•Seabird collisions with turbines are seen as a key concern for the offshore wind industry.•Understanding the extent to which seabirds avoid turbines is a key part of the impact assessment process.•We synthesise the knowledge of seabird interactions with offshore wind turbines.•We highlight that most avoidance behaviour is likely to take place away from the turbines.•We identify the key remaining gaps in knowledge and discuss the most appropriate approaches to fill these gaps.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
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