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April 30, 2025—A partisan split in beliefs about vaccines. Plus, the scientific study of consciousness is at a crossroads; and does Ozempic change food preferences? --Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Measles Misinformation Campaign With two children, and one adult, already killed by measles in 2025, nearly 900 confirmed cases of the virus have spread across 25 states. Why? An April poll finds one quarter of U.S. respondents believe the false notion that measles vaccines cause autism. Further, only half of self-declared Republicans in the poll know that measles cases are up this year compared to recent years. Nearly three-quarters of Democrats say they know the same. A partisan split in beliefs about vaccines seen in the poll reflects a long running, politicized, propaganda campaign aimed at Republican voters spurring the outbreak. The chart below shows the results of several polls conducted between March 2020 and January 2025. The lines track the percentage of Democrats and Republicans who said they trusted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to do either "a great deal" or "a fair amount" to fulfill the responsibilities below. | | Amanda Montañez; Source: KFF | | Why this matters: An April JAMA study finds falling U.S. vaccination rates will lead to measles, a once-vanquished, preventable virus, reemerging as an endemic disease within a generation. The study projects more than 50 million cases of measles, a virus with a 0.3 percent mortality rate, in the next quarter century.
The chart below shows the percentage of each group that said that the statements listed below were either "probably true" or "definitely true." | | | | |
Amanda Montañez; Source: KFF | | What the experts say: "We see that trust overall has fallen, but that's really been driven by declining trust in government sources of health information among Republicans," says Liz Hamel, vice president and director of public opinion and survey research at Kaiser Family Foundation. We are on the brink of an epidemic, one that could make millions of people sick with measles each year, and this is all being done for political and personal gain (votes and money) by the Trump administration and its allies, with children as the collateral damage. —Dan Vergano, senior opinion editor | | Despite the importance of technology and engineering to our society, U.S. students get very little engineering education. Engineering instruction has the benefit of teaching science, math, engineering, reading and writing in one fell swoop, writes Christine M. Cunningham, senior vice president of STEM learning at the Museum of Science, Boston. She and colleagues at the museum have created kindergarten through 12th grade engineering lessons that could be incorporated into school curricula. "Engineering increases student engagement and improves learning in science, math and literacy. It builds the kind of skills all children need—the ability to collaborate, think critically, problem solve and reflect on and improve upon their work," she says. | 4 min read | | - Google's generative AI tool will tell you the meaning of any idiom you ask it about—even if the idiom is completely made up. | Wired
| | - The record-breaking NJ wildfire is a reminder that wildfires are not just confined to the West anymore. | Grist
| | - AI content is flooding the Internet. Human perspectives and creations will soon become our most valuable resources. | Ars Technica
| | Truths should be stubborn things, right? Not in today's society. Perhaps because of the rise of social media (and other entertainment masquerading as "news"), our failings at objective reasoning seem more exploitable than ever. How can you guard yourself against bad actors who intentionally spread lies and misinformation? Science. Research into cognitive biases show that it is possible to take a more objective stance. | | I'm thrilled we're together in this community of scientific thinkers. I love hearing from you, so keep it coming: newsletters@sciam.com. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | | |
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