
Covid-19 conspiracy theories go mainstream
Too often the voices of science have been drowned out by the shrill certainties of the anti-science crowd. Meanwhile, wacky Covid-19 conspiracy theories, hyped by shrewd operators like Alex Jones of Infowars and Bobby Kennedy, Jr., have gone mainstream. Here’s the thing: most of the time science is both boring and frustrating. Einstein likened exploring the frontiers of knowledge to searching for four-leaf clovers. No matter how talented and prepared you are, you need some luck. As the physicist Richard Feynman (another genius physicist) said, “I have many brilliant ideas. Most of them are wrong.” Furthermore, most of the insights of researchers, including the specialized vocabulary, are beyond the ken of most educated laymen. Scientific American magazine is a welcome counterexample. It has done its best to bring science and technology to the masses since its first issue appeared in 1845. I have been reading it for decades. Many famous scientists,