PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Decoding Deception: The Psychology of Combating Misinformation

Decoding Deception: The Psychology of Combating Misinformation, a short film produced by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with support from the Pulitzer Center.

2024-11-12
(Press-News.org) Decoding Deception: The Psychology of Combating Misinformation, a short film produced by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with support from the Pulitzer Center, addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time: the quest to stem the swelling tide of misinformation.

Decoding Deception explores potential remedies to this growing societal problem. While social media acts as an accelerant for the rampant spread of misinformation on climate change, public health, and politics, the rise of generative AI risks worsening the problem. Left unchecked, disinformation and misinformation can inflict lasting damage on people, institutions, and society writ large.

Growing interest from a group of interdisciplinary researchers has led to numerous efforts to dissect the problem and seek solutions. Decoding Deception follows researchers at the forefront of such efforts as they attempt to unravel the nature of the infodemic and uncover ways to contain it. Their work has yielded some promising early results, but no easy fixes. In the end, an approach borrowed from the field of public health—one that aims to mitigate threats and quash outbreaks before they spread—might offer the greatest chance of success.

Film trailer:
https://youtu.be/E6SqsREJhgw

The complete film can be freely accessed here:
https://www.pnas.org/post/multimedia/combating-misinformation

MEDIA CONTACT: Gene Russo, PNAS, Washington, DC; tel: 202-334-2699; email: erusso@nas.edu

For rights and permissions, please contact Gene Russo, the film’s co-director and PNAS Front Matter Editor.

About PNAS

PNAS is one of the world's most-cited multidisciplinary scientific journals. It covers the biological, physical, and social sciences and mathematics and publishes cutting-edge Research Reports, Commentaries, Perspectives, Colloquium Papers, and actions of the Academy. PNAS publishes daily online and in weekly issues.

For more information about PNAS or the NAS, visit www.pnas.org or www.nasonline.org

 

 

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Plant green-up and herbivory in Greenland

Plant green-up and herbivory in Greenland
2024-11-12
A study links herbivory to phenology in the Arctic. Phenology is the study of the timing of events in the natural world. In recent decades, researchers have investigated how climate change is shifting many natural events. Eric Post and colleagues wanted to understand how a different variable—the presence or absence of herbivores—affects the timing of spring plant growth, or green-up, in Greenland. In an experiment lasting nine years, the authors excluded musk oxen and caribou from some areas, then compared the timing of the spring green-up of 9 tundra plant species in the areas with and without herbivores. Of the plants that showed altered green-up between the conditions, about ...

Grandparents help grandkids in many ways – but the reverse may be true too, poll suggests

Grandparents help grandkids in many ways – but the reverse may be true too, poll suggests
2024-11-12
As many Americans prepare to gather with their families for the holidays, a new poll shows the importance of grandchildren in grandparents’ lives. The poll also suggests that having grandchildren and seeing them regularly may have a link to older adults’ mental health and risk of loneliness. Although the poll can’t show cause and effect, the findings suggest a need to study the role of grandparenting in older adults’ lives, as part of a broader effort to address social isolation. At ...

Giving robots superhuman vision using radio signals

Giving robots superhuman vision using radio signals
2024-11-12
In the race to develop robust perception systems for robots, one persistent challenge has been operating in bad weather and harsh conditions. For example, traditional, light-based vision sensors such as cameras or LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) fail in heavy smoke and fog.  However, nature has shown that vision doesn't have to be constrained by light’s limitations — many organisms have evolved ways to perceive their environment without relying on light. Bats navigate using the echoes of sound waves, while sharks hunt by sensing electrical fields from their prey's movements. Radio waves, whose wavelengths are orders of magnitude ...

Digital twins and complexity data science

Digital twins and complexity data science
2024-11-12
A Perspective suggests that “digital twins” are not simply tools for science but are an example of the integration of complexity science and data science into a new scientific field. A “digital twin” is a digital representation of a real-world object or system. The idea emerged from manufacturing but has been adopted by science, especially by the fields of medicine, immunology, and epidemiology. Digital twins are typically frequently or continuously updated and improved with real data from the real object the digital twin mirrors, allowing ...

‘Moonlighting’ enzymes can lead to new cancer therapies

‘Moonlighting’ enzymes can lead to new cancer therapies
2024-11-12
Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) reveal that metabolic enzymes known for their roles in energy production and nucleotide synthesis are taking on unexpected "second jobs" within the nucleus, orchestrating critical functions like cell division and DNA repair.   The discovery, reported across two separate research papers out today in Nature Communications, not only challenges longstanding biological paradigms in cellular biology but also opens new avenues for cancer therapies, particularly against aggressive tumours like triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).  For decades, biology textbooks have neatly compartmentalised ...

One genomic test can diagnose nearly any infection

2024-11-12
Next-generation metagenomic sequencing test developed at UCSF proves its effectiveness in quickly diagnosing almost any kind of pathogen.  A genomic test developed at UC San Francisco to rapidly detect almost any kind of pathogen – virus, bacteria, fungus or parasite – has proved successful after a decade of use.   The test has the potential to vastly improve care for neurological infections that cause diseases like meningitis and encephalitis, as well as speed up the detection of new viral pandemic threats. It uses a powerful genomic sequencing ...

Blood vessel-like coating could make medical devices safer for patients

Blood vessel-like coating could make medical devices safer for patients
2024-11-12
University of B.C. researchers have developed a groundbreaking coating that could make medical devices safer for millions of patients, reducing the risks associated with blood clots and dangerous bleeding. The new material, designed to mimic the natural behavior of blood vessels, could allow for safer use of blood-contacting devices like catheters, stents, blood-oxygenation machines and dialysis machines—especially in cases where blood clots are a significant concern. “This discovery could be a transformative step in the development of safer medical devices,” said Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu, ...

Sleep is no light matter for bees

Sleep is no light matter for bees
2024-11-12
In an emerging red flag for the digital era, sleep experts have warned us to avoid screen time in bed, sounding the alarm that light emitted from phones and other electronic devices can disrupt our sleep patterns. That’s one way that science is waking up to the broad range of health and disease implications related to circadian biology and our daily sleep-wake cycles. Now, researchers at the University of California San Diego have found that light disruption is not only a health concern for humans. A new study led by PhD candidate Ashley Kim and Professor James Nieh in the School of Biological Sciences has found that artificial light disrupts the circadian rhythms of ...

New study explores the role of BMI in disease risk

New study explores the role of BMI in disease risk
2024-11-12
New study from deCODE genetics/Amgen highlights the importance of BMI in pathogenesis of disease, suggesting that reducing BMI alone could lower the risk of several diseases. Scientists at deCODE genetics, subsidiary of Amgen, published a study today in Nature Communications that sheds light on how Body Mass Index (BMI) influences the risk of various diseases that are comorbid with obesity. The study, which used genetic data from Iceland and the UK Biobank, looked at whether disease risk associated with BMI-related sequence variants are explained completely or partially by their effect on BMI. The results showed that for some conditions, such as fatty liver disease, glucose intolerance, ...

Guardian, kids, or companions? What do dogs mean to us today

Guardian, kids, or companions? What do dogs mean to us today
2024-11-12
What role do dogs play in today’s world? For many, they are more than just pets. New findings from the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University show that whether seen as friends, family members, children or guardians, these roles affect the way dogs are cared for, suggesting shifting dynamics in human-animal bonds shaped by societal trends and individual owner profiles. In Western cultures, more and more people see their dogs as their best friends, family members or even their furry children. In fact, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

AACR: Topical treatment offers relief from painful skin rash caused by targeted cancer therapy

Buprenorphine treatment in pregnancy and maternal-infant outcomes

Donor lungs safely preserved up to 20 hours out-of-body prior to transplantation

Experts at ISHLT report urgent need for pediatric heart support devices

DCD heart transplantation reaches 10-year mark, now up to 30% of transplant volumes

Immunotherapy before and after surgery improves outcomes in head and neck cancer

Donor hearts are traveling longer distances with machine perfusion

Six leading organizations unite to launch the pediatric heart transplant alliance

Effect of coupled wing motion on the aerodynamic performance during different flight stages of pigeon

Cercus electric stimulation enables cockroach with trajectory control and spatial cognition training

Day-long conference addresses difficult to diagnose lung disease

First-ever cardiogenic shock academy features simulation lab

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

[Press-News.org] Decoding Deception: The Psychology of Combating Misinformation
Decoding Deception: The Psychology of Combating Misinformation, a short film produced by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with support from the Pulitzer Center.