At a breezy bush camp in the Kimberley, Raquel Teixeira is gazing into a mirror seeking a moment of truth. She inhales deeply and smiles quietly. "There's change coming, and it's going to be huge," she says. Raquel is among a growing number of people embracing a personalised set of new age spiritual practices and […]
Scientists have learned a lot about why people believe in conspiracy theories and how they harm society over the past couple of decades. Yet little is known about how the groups targeted by conspiracy theories feel and behave. Our new research found that conspiracy theories can make people from their target communities want to help […]
On Oct. 4 at 2:20 p.m. EDT, the zombie apocalypse was supposed to begin, not with a bang, but with an unpleasant screeching sound coming from every phone in the United States. At that precise moment, the multiyear plans of shadowy elites would finally become reality, and by using 5G mobile networks and the emergency […]
People can be prone to believe in conspiracy theories due to a combination of personality traits and motivations, including relying strongly on their intuition, feeling a sense of antagonism and superiority toward others, and perceiving threats in their environment, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The results of the study paint a […]
There is an open question among pundits and researchers: Do more Americans believe in conspiracy theories now than ever before? But as a scholar of conspiracy theories and their believers, I am concerned that focusing on how many Americans believe conspiracy theories can distract from their dangers. Even if most people dismiss conspiracy theories or […]
Late last year, a semi-retired British scientist co-authored a petition to Europe’s medicines regulator. The petitioners made a bold demand: Halt COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. Even bolder was their argument for doing so: They speculated, without providing evidence, that the vaccines could cause infertility in women. The document appeared on a German website on Dec.1. […]
