A series of studies published over recent years have shown that, while fact-checks will, of course, not alter an individual’s long-held worldview, they can and do have “significantly positive overall influence” on reader’s factual understanding and “reduce belief in misinformation, often durably so.” Two recent studies have shown that so-called “warning labels” attached to online content “effectively reduce belief and spread of misinformation” and do so “even for those most distrusting of fact-checkers.”
Commentary
DeSantis Is Kaput
Something is terribly wrong here: Iowa, a far-off land of snow and butter, failed to give our Ronbo a win. Yet he did everything right. He visited all 99 counties. He shook hooves with every single cow. He displayed the depth of his feelings toward his wife when he gave her a warm handshake after one of the debates.
The Child Tax Credit Changed My Life. Bring It Back.
A myth exists in America that financial well-being follows if we just work hard and make good choices. But it’s not that simple. At some point, most of us face unforeseen obstacles — from physical or mental health challenges to lost jobs, economic downturns, and natural disasters. Along with low wages and other structural causes of poverty, that puts financial well-being out of reach for about 140 million people in this country.
Is America Enduring a Slow Civil War? A Look at the ‘Undertow.’
Jeff Sharlet’s “The Undertow” tells how the cultural divisions in American society could allow such a thing as the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters to happen. (And how, despite everything that’s happened since, he remains the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential race.) Sharlet believes that event is part of a “slow civil war” that threatens the future of the American republic.
Why Extreme Cold Happens in a Warming World
Extreme cold-weather events often occur in association with changes to another river of air high above the jet stream: the stratospheric polar vortex, a great stream of air moving around the North Pole in the middle of the stratosphere. When this stratospheric vortex becomes disrupted or stretched in part due to warming, it can distort the jet stream as well, pushing it southward in some areas and causing cold air outbreaks.
In Free Florida, the Dictionary Is Dangerous to Your Children
A few people who call themselves parents but are really frustrated bullies who want everyone else to lead the miserable lives they do, at least when they’re not engaging in threesomes, have successfully made black holes of Florida’s school and classroom libraries and further marginalized slews of children whose one solace might have been that one book.
Your Laundry Is a Top Source of Microplastic Pollution
The most common microplastics in the environment are microfibers – plastic fragments shaped like tiny threads or filaments. Microfibers come from many sources, including cigarette butts, fishing nets and ropes, but the biggest source is synthetic fabrics, which constantly shed them.
Airstrikes in Yemen Risk Only Strengthening Houthis
The Houthis stand to gain politically from these U.S.-U.K. attacks as they support a narrative that the group has been cultivating: that they are freedom fighters fighting Western imperialism in the Muslim world.
Stop the LGBTQ Cheap Shots
There are some feel-good bills and cheap shots that require no courage to vote for and bring the political bonus of being difficult for an opponent to argue against this summer, when most legislators will be back home running for re-election. And no topic makes for easier demagoguery than sex, specifically any activity that makes strait-laced Republicans a little squeamish.
70 Years After Brown vs. Board of Education, Deep Segregation Persists
In June 2023, the Supreme Court ended most race-conscious college admissions efforts. The decision followed the Covid pandemic, which exacerbated racial inequalities in the U.S.. Politicians and school boards have banned or removed books by authors of color from school libraries and restricted teaching about racism in U.S. history. These setbacks amid the current political climate make finally realizing the full promise of Brown more urgent.