Science under suspicion: Anatomy of a trust crisis

Trust in sci­ence is essen­tial: it enables soci­et­ies to adopt innov­a­tions that improve lives and help tackle glob­al challenges. 

But this trust is not abso­lute. Mis­in­form­a­tion, past abuses, and the com­plex­ity of sci­entif­ic com­mu­nic­a­tion have erode pub­lic trust.

This spe­cial issue exam­ines the root causes of this crisis of trust, explor­ing its com­plex nature, its philo­soph­ic­al found­a­tions, and the con­tem­por­ary pres­sures it faces.

What you will find:

#1 A case of mis­trust rather than trust:
Is trust in sci­ence being under­mined by con­spir­acy the­or­ies and the rise of digit­al technology?

#2 Sci­ence under pres­sure:
Mis­in­form­a­tion, con­spir­acy the­or­ies… the factors that weak­en the rela­tion­ship between soci­ety and sci­ence.

#3 Rebuild­ing trust:
How can trust in sci­ence be restored?

#4 True, False, or Uncer­tain?
Between myths and real­ity, sci­ence sorts out what is true, what is false, and what is uncertain.