SA Special Editions Vol 29 Issue 4s

Special Edition

Volume 29, Issue 4s

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Features

The Shared Past That Wasn't

How Facebook, fake news and friends are altering memories and changing history

Why Social Media Became the Perfect Incubator for Hoaxes and Misinformation

Data scientists are studying how information spreading online influences our social dynamics and what, if anything, can be done to smooth polarization

How to Think about 'Implicit Bias'

Amid a controversy, it’s important to remember that implicit bias is real—and it matters

Post-Truth: A Guide for the Perplexed

If politicians can lie without condemnation, what are scientists to do?

When Assessing Novel Risks, Facts Are Not Enough

How we make decisions in the face of incomplete knowledge and uncertainty

Why People "Fly from Facts"

Research shows the appeal of untestable beliefs and how they lead to a polarized society

How to Overcome Antiscientific Thinking

Convincing people who doubt the validity of climate change and evolution to change their beliefs requires overcoming a set of ingrained cognitive biases

Clicks, Lies and Videotape

Artificial intelligence is making it possible for anyone to manipulate audio and video. The biggest threat is that we stop trusting anything at all

How Misinformation Spreads--and Why We Trust It

The most effective misinformation starts with seeds of truth

Can Scientists Convince the Public to Accept CRISPR and Gene Drives?

Scientists are trying new ways to win over a skeptical public

How to Get Better at Embracing Unknowns

How to interpret uncertainty in common forms of data visualization

Are Toxic Political Conversations Changing How We Feel about Objective Truth?

As political polarization grows, the arguments we have with one another may be shifting our understanding of truth itself

How Professional Truth Seekers Search for Answers

Nine experts describe how they sort signal from noise

How to Defraud Democracy

A worst-case cyberwarfare scenario for the 2020 American presidential election

People Drawn to Conspiracy Theories Share a Cluster of Psychological Features

Baseless theories threaten our safety and democracy. It turns out that specific emotions make people prone to such thinking

Why Your First Idea Can Blind You to a Better One

While we are working through a problem, the brain’s tendency to stick with familiar ideas can literally blind us to superior solutions

Why People Refuse to Believe Scientists

It has nothing to do with science itself

Corruption Is Contagious

Dishonesty begets dishonesty, rapidly spreading unethical behavior through a society

Which Experts Should You Listen to during the Pandemic?

It should be a no-brainer: your best bet is to follow those who have actual expertise

The Significant Problem of P Values

Standard scientific methods are under fire. Will anything change?

Misinformation Has Created a New World Disorder

Our willingness to share content without thinking is exploited to spread disinformation

The Neuroscience of Reality

Reality is constructed by the brain, and no two brains are exactly alike

Departments

From the Editor
21st-Century Gaslighting
Innovations In
How Much Can We Know?
Opinion
The Truth about Scientific Models
The Intersection
More Data Don't Necessarily Help You Make Small Decisions
Anti Gravity
Even If We Knew Everything That Can Be Known, We Wouldn't Know It All
The Science Agenda
Everyone Is an Agent in the New Information Warfare