In 1992, a group of rebel doctors published a radical idea in the Journal of the American Medical Association, arguing that medicine should be based on evidence from science rather than intuition. This “evidence-based medicine” faced fierce backlash, with some calling it a “dangerous innovation”. Yet it prevailed and became the norm.
Today, science rejection seems rampant. Donald Trump calls climate change a “con job”, US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr undermines vaccines, and only 40% of people in the UK think science information is “generally true”. However, there is a hopeful counter-narrative: the quiet integration of research evidence into our lives.
Helen Pearson, an editor for Nature and author of Beyond Belief, offers five ways to fight back. First, gain historical perspective: evidence-based medicine only emerged in the 1990s, replacing “eminence-based medicine”. Second, recognise that evidence increasingly informs education and policy. Over half of English schools use research-tested techniques, and Nobel-winning experiments on anti-poverty programmes have touched 850 million lives.
Third, the future looks bright: $126m has been invested in AI systems to synthesise scientific evidence for global use. Fourth, individuals can demand evidence behind claims, even from social media. Finally, check if studies are peer-reviewed. These small actions can counter the forces of unreason.
