Exposing Scientific Nonsense

Patches that protect against almost anything, little glass beads with healing vibrations or miracle blankets for horses, but also e-fuels and the strategies of the tobacco industry – the list of their “cases” is long: since 2020, the Quarks Science Cops have been exposing mis- and disinformation in their podcast of the same name by testing statements made by politicians, influencers or self-proclaimed miracle healers against scientific evidence. “To do that, we critically assess the studies they cite and explain how research and the science system actually work,” says Jonathan Focke. Maximilian Doeckel adds: “We also want to help our community to help themselves: how do good studies differ from bad ones? And how can you unmask the methods of science washing and science denial yourself?”

As they work on their cases, most of which are sent in to them by the community, they frequently pass through the “Science Cops Valley of Tears”: at first glance, it is all “quite obviously rubbish”, they say, and then they realize that there is actually a fair amount of supposed evidence. So, even these experienced cops sometimes get the impression that the claims might be true after all. But as soon as they engage with the sources more closely and examine them critically, it becomes clear to them that most of it is “total garbage” after all. In the end this leads to a symbolic apprehension – because anyone, they point out, is allowed to apprehend someone, whereas an actual arrest requires a warrant from a judge.

From misleading name-dropping to studies from pseudo-institutes

According to the two science journalists, the strategies used to fake scientific credibility in order to invent an effect for products such as patches or glass beads are usually similar: studies are cited, for example, that prove nothing at all in the context in which they are used. Or studies are commissioned from pseudo-institutes and published in predatory journals. Misleading name-dropping, of Nobel laureates for instance, is also widespread, as is the citing of supposed experts who offer pseudo-scientific explanations.

Another method, they say, is to cast doubt on science – something Focke and Doeckel encounter again and again in fields such as homeopathy or anthroposophy – or to reject it altogether, which can be observed above all in esotericism. “Science also gets faked or called into question with the aim of playing down dangers, for example in the tobacco industry, in the denial of climate change or in the ‘Querdenker’  scene (literal translation ‘Lateral Thinkers’, a group of conspiracy theorists that mainly emerged from protests against anti-pandemic measures in 2020), which incidentally has given us the fiercest reactions so far, up to and including threats,” Maximilian Doeckel reports.

The greatest motivation: being able to change minds

But who do the Quarks Science Cops actually reach with their podcast? On a scale presented by the two of them, running between trust in science and hostility towards science, they are listened to primarily by the group at the left-hand end: by those who have a high level of trust in the system of “science” anyway and for whom the podcast mainly serves as self-affirmation. At the right-hand end of the scale are people who reject the “science” system so strongly that they can no longer be reached at all. “What we find particularly interesting is the large group in between, namely those people who are unsure whether something is true or in fact scientific nonsense. That is exactly who our podcast is aimed at,” says Jonathan Focke. They used messages sent in by listeners to illustrate that they regularly help to clear up scientific disinformation and can change minds. “That is hugely motivating.”

The Science Cops, both of whom previously studied Science Journalism at TU Dortmund University and then completed a traineeship at WDR, started out during the coronavirus pandemic. The initial plan was an Instagram format that would set the record straight on claims made by accounts such as “Faktastisch” (a site claiming to list interesting facts). What came out of it was a podcast with which Focke and Doeckel now achieve around 400,000 plays per episode. These days, they say, a critical enquiry from the Quarks Science Cops to providers or influencers is often enough for disinformation on websites to be changed.

About the event series:

“The Knowledge Makers” is a lecture series that has been running since 2003, organized by the Chair of Science Journalism at TU Dortmund University in cooperation with Ruhr University Bochum. Every year, around a dozen media experts are invited as guests and give talks offering insights into their everyday working lives as science journalists and in the rest of science communication.

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