Big Picture Science: Skeptic Check: Science Denial - Feb 03, 2020

How does it happen, what drives it, and how do we deal with it? Climate change isn’t happening. Vaccines make you sick. When it comes to threats to public or environmental health, a surprisingly large fraction of the population still denies the consensus of scientific evidence. But it’s not the first time – many people long resisted the evidentiary link between HIV and AIDS and smoking with lung cancer.

There’s a sense that science denialism is on the rise. It prompted a gathering of scientists and historians in New York City to discuss the problem, which included a debate on the usefulness of the word “denial” itself. Big Picture Science was there. We report from the Science Denial symposium held jointly by the New York Academy of Sciences and Rutgers Global Health Institute.

Find out why so many people dig in their heels and distrust scientific findings. Plus, the techniques wielded by special interest groups to dispute some inconvenient truths. We also hear how simply stating more facts may be the wrong approach to combating scientific resistance.

Guests:

Segments:
Part 1: What is Science Denialism?
Part 2: Sheila Jasanoff / Denial or Distrust?
Part 3: Michael Dahlstrom / Science and Storytelling
Part 4: Allan Brandt / Manufacturing Doubt
Part 5: David Scheer / Science and Industry
Part 6: Matthew Nisbet / Framing Denialism
Part 7: Arthur Caplan / Scientists’ Responsibility
Part 8: Nancy Tomes / Convert Outreach

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