Stephan Lewandowsky

@lewan.uk

20485 Followers 1970 Following

Professor of Cognitive Science, University of Bristol. Homepage: https://www.lewan.uk

However, I think something deeper is happening. In her valedictory address to the 163rd Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Science last week, outgoing Academies president Marcia McNutt gave up the pretense. She bluntly said that, on her watch, the Academies moved away from addressing issues like vaccines and climate change, which she called partisan. The Academies have been no stranger to “partisan” issues (e.g., their reports on stem cell research), until now. For such an august body to capitulate like this reflects the moral decline of our scientific institutions, where, as Oren Gross has said about the German legal academy all those years ago, “professional myopia, personal opportunism, moral weakness,” and in this case, scientific claims have “been inexorably intermingled.” The Academies are not alone, of course; universities around the country have held similar events with administration officials and made their own compromises with the White House. (abridged)
Trump says US will blockade Strait of Hormuz after Iran talks end without a deal In marathon meetings this weekend, sources say the two sides were deadlocked over Tehran's nuclear program and control of the strait. Updated 11:03 AM EDT, Sun April 12, 2026
It is enormously difficult amid such swirling forces to hold on to a sense of empathy, to follow a moral compass, to understand that thousands of innocent people are dying, their homes destroyed, their nations destabilised for a generation. And that we have a duty towards them that can be exercised through pressure on the architects of their suffering. This is the challenge of this war and, in fact, our entire age: to retain and insist on humanity in the face of those political leaders who benefit from effacing it, and those owners of platforms who profit from it.
Safeguarding Scholarship in Emerging Autocracies 14:00 – 18:00 (2:00 – 6:00 PM) Presenters: Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol, United Kingdom Vera Kempe, Abertay University, Dundee, United Kingdom Christina Pagel, University College London, United Kingdom Drawing on the Anti-Autocracy Handbook ( https://sks.to/autocracy), this workshop helps scholars recognise the “3 Ps” of autocratization: populism, polarization, and post-truth. Participants will assess personal risk to choose safe activities to counter autocratization. Through active listening and collaborative exercises, attendees will build collective strategies to defend academic freedom and democratic accountability.
So, just to recap, we have two random DOGE bros with basically no knowledge or experience in the humanities (and at least one of whom is a college dropout), who just went around terminating grants that had gone through a full grant application process by feeding in a list of culture war grievance terms, selecting out the grant titles based on the appearance of seemingly “woke” words, then asking ChatGPT “yo, tell me this is DEI” and then sending termination emails the next day from a private server and forging the director’s signature. This is what “government efficiency” looks like in practice: two guys with zero relevant experience, a keyword list built on culture war grievances, and a chatbot confidently spitting out 120-character verdicts on federal grants that went through actual review processes. The experts who might have explained what these grants actually do? Locked out. The director whose signature appeared on termination letters? Couldn’t tell you which grants got cut or w
Members of the research group were ineligible to obtain data from the ABCD project. But one of them gained access through an American professor who was already being investigated by the N.I.H. over his handling of another child brain study.
A group of fringe researchers thwarted safeguards at the National Institutes of Health and gained access to data from thousands of children. The researchers have used it to produce at least 16 papers purporting to find biological evidence for differences in intelligence between races, ranking ethnicities by I.Q. scores and suggesting Black people earn less because they are not very smart.
Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’ The National Institutes of Health failed to protect brain scans that an international group of fringe researchers used to argue for the intellectual superiority of white people.
Ms. Jones consents to participate in an experiment that observes the effect of WM training on IQ Suppose Ms. Jones was black did she realize what she consented to? would she have given consent if she knew this could happen? given what happened, would she ever consent again? note that anonymity is not the issue
Don’t let transparency damage science Stephan Lewandowsky and Dorothy Bishop explain how the research community should protect its members from harassment, while encouraging the openness that has become essential to science.
The Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6, branding peaceful patriotic protesters as “insurrectionists” and framing the event as a violent coup attempt orchestrated by Trump—despite no evidence of armed rebellion or intent to overthrow the government. In truth, it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities, and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters, all while Pelosi’s own security lapses invited the chaos they later exploited to seize and consolidate power. This gaslighting narrative allowed them to persecute innocent Americans, silence opposition, and distract from their own role in undermining democracy.
Autism and Vaccines Questions and Concerns | Page 2 of 9 | All pages For Everyone Nov. 19, 2025 Key points The claim "vaccines do not cause autism" is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism. Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities. HHS has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links.
General Audience SummaryImagine a world that considers knowledge to be “elitist.” Imagine a world in which it is not medical knowledgebut a free-for-all opinion market on Twitter that determines whether a newly emergent strain of avian flu isreally contagious to humans. This dystopian future is still just that—a possible future. However, there are signsthat 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.
Beyond Misinformation: Understanding and Coping with the“Post-Truth” EraStephan Lewandowsky∗University of Bristol, United KingdomUniversity of Western Australia, AustraliaUllrich K.H. EckerUniversity of Western Australia, AustraliaJohn CookGeorge Mason University, United StatesThe 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 peoplerespond to corrections of misinformation, and what kinds of corrections are most effective. We argue that to beeffective, scientific research into misinformation must be considered within a larger political, technological, andsocietal context. The post-truth world emerged as a result of societal mega-trends such as a decline in social capital,growing economic inequality, increased polariza
You state in your letter three times that your client has suffered “overwhelming financial and reputational harm”. This is presumably on the Beetlejuice principle that it you say something three times it somehow appears.
Dear AI-Community, As part of our funding programme ‘zukunft.niedersachsen’, we would like to inform you about a currently open call for proposals for funding AI research groups. Further details can be found at the following link: zukunft.niedersachsen AI research groups. The funding offer is aimed at scientists with at least two years of research experience after completing their doctorate who do not yet hold a permanent professorship. The aim is to support researchers who are willing to establish an independent research group. The research groups must be based at universities or research institutions in Lower Saxony, while applicants can come from Germany or any other country in the world. Our programme aims to improve the starting opportunities for young scientists in Lower Saxony and to attract promising talent from all over the world to Lower Saxony. If you know of any other researchers who might be interested in this call for proposals, we would be grateful if you could pass on the information. If you have any questions regarding the content, please contact Dr Martin Berger at the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture: martin.berger@mwk.niedersachsen.de +49 (0)511 120-2520
Navigating Personal Risk: Actions for Scholars PERSONAL RISK ENTRY POINT ACTIONS Risk- Independent Pursue your personal and collective well-being Minimize legal attack surfaces Understand digital attack vectors Enhance IT and physical security Use precise language Beware of pluralistic ignorance and false consensus effects Beware of culture change Beware of entrapment Be prepared Commit to facts and truth Democracy Low Engage with media Engage with your representative Engage with the public Reach out to children and young people Work for the longer term Autocracy Medium Help others cope with shock and fear Support imperilled research Protect imperiled research participants Safeguard data High Introduce friction Engage with people around you Gauge administrators’ resistance and seek to inoculate them Practice small acts of defiance Extreme Tell your story (including anonymously) Seek support from colleagues Seek wiggle
Authors: Stephan Lewandowsky University of Bristol and University of Potsdam BlueSky: @lewan.bsky.social Vera Kempe Abertay University, Dundee Konstantinos Armaos University of Bonn Linkedin: @karmaos BlueSky: @karmaos.bsky.social Ulrike Hahn Birkbeck, University of London Christoph M. Abels University of Potsdam Susilo Wibisono University of Queensland Winnifred Louis University of Queensland Sunita Sah Cornell University LinkedIn: @drsunitasah Instagram: @drsunitasah Christina Pagel University College London BlueSky: @chrischirp.bsky.social Substack: christinapagel.substack.com Nina Jankowicz American Sunlight Project Renee DiResta Georgetown University BlueSky: @noupside.bsky.social Instagram: @renee.diresta Philipp Markolin Reatch! Research. Think. Change., Zurich BlueSky: @philippmarkolin.bsky.social Henrik Schoenemann Humboldt University of Berlin Ralph Hertwig Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin Henry Crull Louisiana State University Barry Mauer University of Central Florida Dawn Holford University of Bristol Ezequiel Lopez-Lopez Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin John Cook University of Melbourne BlueSky: @johnfocook.bsky.social
Why do they go after universities? A panel discussion reflecting on academic freedom and democracy, the people and forces working against them both, and what we can do. Wednesday, 4 June 2025 7pm to 8pm AEST Stephan Lewandowsky Bristol University Yasemin Acar University of St Andrews Melis Ulug University of Sussex Register: https://www.socialchangelab.net/academicrepression.html Gill Boehringer Retired professor of law & activist