Percival Everett wins the National Book Award fiction prize

Arts & Culture, Books

Percival Everett, the prolific author of dozens of books, won the fiction prize Wednesday at this year’s National Book Awards. He won for his book James, which retells the story of Huckleberry Finn but from the perspective of Jim — the escaped slave Huck becomes friends with.

At his acceptance speech, Everett let his work speak for itself and stuck to thanking family, friends and colleagues. But he did open with a jab at artificial intelligence, saying it’s “no replacement for the real thing.”

The 75th National Book Awards ceremony took place in New York City Wednesday night. The actress, comedian and recent author Kate McKinnon hosted the show and took her own shots at A.I. in her opening monologue. “A book is an offering. It’s a hand in the darkness, a way of saying ‘I know, isn’t this crazy?'” she said. “And that’s something a robot will never be able to do.”

The non-fiction award went to Jason De León, who’s book Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling is an anthropological look at the people who bring migrants over the southern border. In his speech, he addressed the recent presidential election, saying “I will not accept the dystopian American future of unchecked corruption, border walls, misogyny, mass deportations, transphobia, climate change denial and all this other garbage that this incoming administration wants to propagate and profit from.”

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, winner of the poetry award, also addressed politics — criticizing both major U.S. political parties. Her collection, Something About Living, is an expansive look at Palestinian history and the Palestinian diaspora. Tuffaha encouraged people to “demand that any administration — no matter what letter it has at the end of its name… should stop funding and arming a genocide in Gaza,” she said.

The prize for translated literature went to Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and her translator Lin King, for their book Taiwan Travelogue. The book is a novel about the relationship between a Japanese novelist and her Taiwanese interpreter. But it’s also about the work of translation, as it presents itself as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer. And Shifa Saltagi Safadi won the award for Young People’s Literature for her book Kareem Between, a coming-of-age novel about a Syrian refugee.
Hosted by the National Book Foundation, the prizes are among the most prestigious awards in American letters. According to a statement from the foundation, a total of 1,917 books were submitted for consideration this year: 473 in Fiction, 671 in Nonfiction, 299 in Poetry, 141 in Translated Literature, and 333 in Young People’s Literature.
Copyright 2024 NPR

Booksale isn’t about books. It’s about treasures.

Arts & Culture, Books

Once again, reports of Booksale’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. And it seems the bookstore shares part of the blame for posting a cryptic statement about moving to a new chapter in its storied existence, sending an army of book lovers in a tizzy.

No, they’re not closing all their branches, Booksale later clarified. The new chapter, apparently, was the announcement that their books can now be purchased on Shopee, a nod to the new ways of purchasing tactile items. Still, old-timers like myself prefer the sensory experience of holding a book and leafing through its pages, lost in the heady smell of old ink, dust, and stained paper.

In the early 1980s, there was a thin, slightly balding middle-aged man who sold used books near Jones Bridge. At that time I was working for a publication that had an office in one of those ’60s-era buildings on Plaza Sta. Cruz. During lunch breaks I would prowl the inner streets, often ending up at this guy’s book display at the other end of Escolta.

I would browse through the spare collection, knees almost touching the sidewalk in the noontime heat. The books were laid out on a tattered blanket. No more than 20 books at a time, paperbacks and a few hardbound titles, arranged in a neat row, covers facing the sun. The book seller sat on a low stool, paying no mind to his customers. He was always reading each time I would drop by. On hot days he would hold an umbrella while reading. He would glance up only to take your payment and give you your change. Then he would go back to his book, unbothered by the heat and the ebbing flow of commerce on what used to be the country’s financial and business district.

As a college student, the magazine stands that used to line the stretch of Avenida and Recto onwards to Morayta were prime picking spots for old books and foreign magazines. I was fascinated by these magazines. Rock stars of the ’60s and ’70s mugging for the cover of Rolling Stone, still printed on tabloid-size colored newsprint. There were back issues of the edgier Creem and Circus. Heavy Metal, the fantasy and sci-fi magazine with those fantastic artworks from European illustrators, was comics for adults. It sent me to a world far, far different from the DC and Marvel titles I grew up with, purchased from a stall in the carinderia section of the old Pasig public market by my father, a carpenter, whenever he had extra money. Heavy Metal was steampunk, sci-fi, and fantasy with undisguised erotica. 

I was drawn to these magazines for the same reason I began drinking beer, listening more to rock music, and wearing my hair long. These were personal statements. They signaled adulthood. It meant that I am now a man; yes, I am. And yes, I did grab a BTS on the sly. If you think BTS is that K-Pop group, better ask your horny tito or lolo.

I can’t recall when I first entered a Booksale store and where, but it was a gift from the gods of reading. 

Imagine a store filled with whodunits, spy thrillers, biographies, hagiographies, self-help, humor, new journalism, political writings, classics.  Magazines specializing in rock, jazz, classical, guitars electric and acoustic, gardening, home interiors, fitness, tattoos, a title for every imagined hobby. They’re all there. And at pocket-friendly prices.

Booksale was home to favorite authors, renowned authors, failed authors. Books by prophets, thinkers, poets, clowns. Books the size of doorstops, hardbound books, paperbacks, coffee table books that would give even the most dodgy apartment a touch of class.

A visit to the mall would always include a visit to the Booksale branch. Name a mall and chances are there’s a Booksale branch in there. When I managed to con an ad agency into hiring me, the Booksale branch in a nearby mall offered sanctuary while waiting for the rains to stop or traffic to ease, or when lunch breaks didn’t end up as liquid lunches.

Old, second hand, vintage, pre-loved. These books also bring with them their own stories. Why was that particular page creased at the corner? Why did the previous owner underline a phrase or entire pages? What was that comment scrawled illegibly on the margins? Are those wine stains? You find an old bookmark, a dried flower, a bus ticket, a dedication on the frontispiece, or an autograph from the author.

You never really go to Booksale with a title in mind. They find you. Booksale is where a reader yields to serendipity, and leaves with a book or magazine, or a bagful, and a smile. The joy is in the hunt, checking even the lower shelves, knees almost touching the floor, but far from the Escolta heat.

Today, the rare sighting of a Booksale branch prompts an instant detour, a departure from a set list of errands, to once again inhale the air and grab those books, even those at the lower shelves, with much effort and grunting. – Rappler.com

ALSO ON RAPPLER

Joey Salgado is a former journalist, and a government and political communications practitioner. He served as spokesperson for former vice president Jejomar Binay.

This is an update version of an article previously published in Our Brew

Trump’s science-denying fanatics are bad enough. Yet even our climate ‘solutions’ are now the stuff of total delusion

Science and Health

We now face, on all fronts, a war not just against the living planet and the common good, but against material reality. Power in the United States will soon be shared between people who believe they will ascend to sit at the right hand of God, perhaps after a cleansing apocalypse; and people who believe their consciousness will be uploaded on to machines in a great Singularity.The Christian rapture and the tech rapture are essentially the same belief. Both are examples of “substance dualism”: the idea that the mind or soul can exist in a realm separate from the body. This idea often drives a desire to escape from the grubby immanence of life on Earth. Once the rapture is achieved, there will be no need for a living planet.But while it is easy to point to the counter-qualified, science-denying fanatics Donald Trump is appointing to high office, the war against reality is everywhere. You can see it in the British government’s carbon capture and storage scheme, a new fossil fuel project that will greatly raise emissions but is dressed up as a climate solution. And it informs every aspect of this week’s Cop29 climate talks in Azerbaijan.Here, as everywhere, the living planet is forgotten while capital extends its frontiers. The one thing Cop29 has achieved so far – and it may well be the only thing – is an attempt to rush through new rules for carbon markets, enabling countries and businesses to trade carbon credits – which amount, in effect, to permission to carry on polluting.In theory, you could justify a role for such markets, if they were used only to counteract emissions that are otherwise impossible to reduce (each credit purchased is meant to represent a tonne of carbon dioxide that has been reduced or removed from the atmosphere). But they’re routinely used as a first resort: a substitute for decarbonisation at home. The living world has become a dump for policy failure.Essential as ecological carbon stores are, trading them against fossil fuel emissions, which is how these markets operate, cannot possibly work. The carbon that current ecosystems can absorb in one year is pitched against the burning of fossil carbon accumulated by ancient ecosystems over many years.Nowhere is this magical thinking more apparent than in soil carbon markets, a great new adventure for commodity traders selling both kinds of carbon market products: official “credits” and voluntary carbon offsets. Every form of wishful thinking, over-claiming and outright fraud that has blighted the carbon market so far is magnified when it comes to soil.We should do all we can to protect and restore soil carbon. About 80% of the organic carbon on the land surface of the planet is held in soil. It’s essential for soil health. There should be strong rules and incentives for good soil management. But there is no realistic way in which carbon trading can help. Here are the reasons why.First, tradable increments of soil carbon are impossible to measure. Because soil depths can vary greatly even within one field, there is currently no accurate, affordable means of estimating soil volume. Nor do we have a good-enough test, across a field or a farm, for bulk density – the amount of soil packed into a given volume. So, even if you could produce a reliable measure of carbon per cubic metre of soil, if you don’t know how much soil you have, you can’t calculate the impact of any changes you make.A reliable measure of soil carbon per cubic metre is also elusive, as carbon levels can fluctuate massively from one spot to the next. Repeated measurements from thousands of sites across a farm, necessary to show how carbon levels are changing, would be prohibitively expensive. Nor are simulation models, on which the whole market relies, an effective substitute for measurement. So much for the “verification” supposed to underpin this trade.Second, soil is a complex, biological system that seeks equilibrium. With the exception of peat, it reaches equilibrium at a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of roughly 12:1. This means that if you want to raise soil carbon, in most cases you will also need to raise soil nitrogen. But whether nitrogen is applied in synthetic fertilisers or in animal manure, it’s a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, which could counteract any gains in soil carbon. It is also one of the most potent causes of water pollution.Third, carbon levels in agricultural soils soon saturate. Some promoters of soil carbon credits create the impression that accumulation can continue indefinitely. It can’t. There’s a limit to how much a given soil can absorb.Fourth, any accumulation is reversible. Soil is a highly dynamic system: you cannot permanently lock carbon into it. Microbes constantly process carbon, sometimes stitching it into the soil, sometimes releasing it: this is an essential property of soil health. With rises in temperature, the carbon sequestration you’ve paid for can simply evaporate: there’s likely to be a massive outgassing of carbon from soils as a direct result of continued heating. Droughts can also hammer soil carbon.Even under current market standards, in which science takes second place to money, you need to show that carbon storage will last for a minimum of 40 years. There is no way of guaranteeing that carbon accumulation in soil will last that long. But as a new paper in Nature argues: “A CO2 storage period of less than 1,000 years is insufficient for neutralising remaining fossil CO2 emissions.”The only form of organic carbon that might last this long – though only under certain conditions – is added biochar (fine-grained charcoal). But biochar is phenomenally expensive: the cheapest source I was able to find costs roughly 26 times as much as agricultural lime, which itself costs too much for many farmers. There’s a limited amount of material that can be turned into biochar. While making it, if you get the burn just slightly wrong, the methane, nitrous oxide and black carbon you produce will cancel any carbon savings.There is a kind of substance dualism at work here, too: a concept of soil and soil carbon entirely detached from their earthly realities. This bubble of delusion will burst. If I were a devious financier, I would short the stocks of companies selling these credits.All such approaches are substitutes for action, whose primary purpose is to enable governments to avoid conflict with powerful interests, especially the fossil fuel industry. At a moment of existential crisis, governments everywhere are retreating into a dreamworld, in which impossible contradictions are reconciled. You can send your legions to war with reality, but eventually we all lose.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Interdisciplinary Science Rankings 2025: results announced

Science and Health

“It was designed as one large, interconnected building, and the intention was to provide our faculty and our students – all of them – opportunities to bump into one another, to share knowledge and collaborate,” she said. “Then over the years, other structures, like labs and centres, institutes and, most recently, a college, have been created to enable and facilitate interactions across disciplines.”Paula Hammond, MIT’s vice-provost for faculty, agreed that creating an environment and a culture that allowed spontaneous interactions was vital. “I have this feeling that I could bump into anyone in that hallway and start up a conversation and find a new collaboration or a new project or a new idea,” she said.ADVERTISEMENT
While university leaders talk of fostering a culture that encourages the cross-fertilisation of ideas, the academics THE spoke to were more concerned with career development. Several scholars undertaking cross-disciplinary research said universities needed to do more to support the careers of interdisciplinary scientists.
Flavio Toxvaerd, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Cambridge who engages in interdisciplinary research, said it all came down to incentives.
“The interdisciplinary research output of universities relies on individual researchers choosing to engage in such research. But researchers respond to incentives; so if universities do little to change incentive structures, that will hold back progress on interdisciplinary work,” he said.
“Many universities profess to back innovative research that crosses boundaries, but when it comes to what can actually encourage such research, very little is done.”
Kirsi Cheas, founder and president of Finterdis, the Finnish Interdisciplinary Society, agreed that “academic evaluation practices still tend to promote disciplinary research, projects and positions, rather than allowing space for interdisciplinarity”.
“Many universities still have a long way to go,” she said. “Interdisciplinarity is often a buzzword that is abundantly and vaguely used in university strategies and solemn speeches, but the university leadership announcing such fine goals often does not sufficiently consider what kinds of resources are required for successfully implementing interdisciplinarity.”
Dr Cheas said some fields were better at encouraging interdisciplinary science than others. “In interdisciplinary fields such as sustainability science, inter- and transdisciplinarity is often the norm, and therefore, promotions processes and other practices can more easily manage to encourage interdisciplinarity. In other fields, the process is slower,” she said.
Despite the challenges that interdisciplinary working presents, all the university leaders who THE spoke to were in no doubt of its importance in solving wicked global problems.

How can we approach interdisciplinarity in higher education?

Edson Cocchieri Botelho, pro-rector of research at the Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) in Brazil, said cross-cutting work was vital in middle-income countries that had many social challenges.
In Asia, the National University of Singapore (NUS), ranked third in the world for interdisciplinary science, is prioritising collaborations across disciplinary boundaries to address some of the world’s most difficult issues.
Liu Bin, deputy president (research and technology) at NUS, said interdisciplinary science was “integral to ensuring research remains cutting-edge and delivers impactful solutions where they are needed”.
The high level of participation in the inaugural Interdisciplinary Science Rankings – 749 universities from 92 countries and territories are included, making it THE’s biggest-ever debut ranking – can be seen as a reflection of the growing importance of interdisciplinary science. “The very fact that [THE] is recognising the significance of interdisciplinary work through a ranking is really exciting and validating,” MIT’s Professor Barnhart said.ADVERTISEMENT

American among 4 tourists dead after drinking tainted booze in Laos

Travel

An Australian teenager has died after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos in what Australia’s prime minister on Thursday called every parent’s nightmare. An American and two Danish tourists also died, officials said after reports that multiple people had been sickened in town popular with backpackers.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament that 19-year-old Bianca Jones had died after being evacuated from Vang Vieng, Laos for treatment in a Thai hospital. Her friend, also 19, remains hospitalized in neighboring Thailand.”This is every parent’s very worst fear and a nightmare that no one should have to endure,” Albanese said. “We also take this moment to say that we’re thinking of Bianca’s friend Holly Bowles who is fighting for her life.”

They are believed to have consumed drinks tainted with methanol, which is sometimes added to mixed-drinks at disreputable bars as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, but can cause severe poisoning or death.Telephone numbers listed for Laos’ Health Ministry did not work and police refused to comment on the incident.

Australia said “several foreign nationals” had also been victims of methanol poisoning. The U.S. State Department confirmed that an American had also died in Vang Vieng.”We are closely monitoring the situation and providing consular assistance,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News, adding that local authorities were responsible for determining the cause of death. The victim’s name was not provided.  

A woman carries a baby as she walks by the Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024.

Anupam Nath / AP

Denmark’s Foreign Ministry said two of its citizens had also died in “the incident in Laos,” but neither would comment directly on a link to the methanol poisoning that killed Jones.Shaun Bowles told reporters outside Bangkok Hospital on Wednesday that his daughter remained in critical condition and on life support.

“We just like to thank everyone from back home for all of the support and love that we’re receiving,” he said. “But we’d also like the people to appreciate right now, we just need privacy so we can spend as much time as we can with Holly.”In a statement to the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper, Jones’ family asked for privacy in their grief.”She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time with us,” the family wrote.”We want to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support, love, and prayers we’ve received from across Australia.”Landlocked Laos is one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations and a popular tourist destination. Vang Vieng is particularly popular among backpackers seeking partying and adventure sports.Details on the alcohol poisoning began trickling out about a week after the two Australian women fell ill on Nov. 13 following a night out drinking with a group in the remote town.Thai authorities confirmed that Jones had died by “brain swelling due to high levels of methanol found in her system.”

“Drink spiking and methanol poisoning are far too common in many parts of the world,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said after receiving news of Jones’ death.”At this time I would say to parents, to young people, please have a conversation about risks, please inform yourselves, please let’s work together to ensure this tragedy doesn’t happen again.”New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that one of its citizens was also unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning.”We have updated our travel advisory for Laos to note that there have been several cases of suspected methanol poisoning after consuming alcoholic drinks,” New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said.”Travelers are advised to be cautious about consuming alcoholic beverages, particularly cocktails and drinks made with spirits that may have been adulterated with harmful substances.”Australia also updated its travel advice, cautioning that several foreign nationals had been victims of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos this month. The U.S. did not immediately issue an updated travel advisory.On Tuesday, Duong Duc Toan, manager of the Nana Backpacker Hostel where the two Australian women stayed in Vang Vieng, told the AP that staff were told by other guests that the two women were unwell after they failed to check out as planned on Nov. 13, and they arranged transport to a hospital for them.

The Facebook and Instagram pages of the hostel had been deactivated as of Thursday and it was no longer taking bookings on websites.The women were then taken to Thailand for emergency medical treatment and their parents flew in to be with them.”All Australians offer them our deepest sympathy in this time of heartbreak,” Albanese said.”Bianca’s trip should have been a joyous time and a source of fond memories in years to come,” he said. “It is beyond sad that this was not to be.”What is methanol poisoning?Methanol is a toxic alcohol used in industrial and household products like antifreeze, photocopier fluids, de-icers, paint thinner, varnish, and windshield wiper fluid.Colorless, flammable, and with a similar smell, it can be easily confused with its molecular cousin ethanol, which is usually found in alcoholic drinks.But methanol is toxic to humans, with exposure or ingestion being extremely dangerous if left untreated.

Drinking just 25-90 milliliters of it can be lethal, according to the Methanol Institute, a global trade association for the industry.It is absorbed by the gut in less than 10 minutes, but patients may appear normal for the first 12 to 24 hours after ingestion.It will then cause nausea, vomiting and severe abdominal pain, followed by hyperventilation and difficulty breathing.Partial or complete blindness from methanol poisoning is common, and if left untreated, it can lead to a coma and even death.However, in smaller amounts, rapid diagnosis — within 10-30 hours of ingestion — and treatment can reduce the severest symptoms.People with suspected methanol poisoning should immediately consult a medical toxicologist or poison center.Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.  

Does Christina Hall Have Siblings? Meet the HGTV Star’s Scientist Sister Carly

Science and Health

Christina Haack, formerly Christina Hall, rose to fame on the series Flip or Flop alongside ex husband Tarek El Moussa. She loves to share moments from her life with fans and followers as she launches new brands, publishes books and buys and sells real estate. Now, get to know the investor and business mogul’s sibling, who tends to keep out of the spotlight for the most part while pursuing her own passion, which has nothing to do with house flipping.
Christina Hall Has One Sister
Christina’s sister, Carly Haack, is 10 years younger than the HGTV star. A native of Anaheim, California, Carly tends to keep to herself, unlike her big sister, who has 1.8 million followers on Instagram. Still, the world got to know a little bit about Carly after Christina shared a post in August 2023 wishing her “beautiful, fun and free-spirited sister” a happy 30th birthday on the platform.
Who Is Christina Hall’s Sister Carly Haack?
Carly is a research scuba diver and wetland ecologist. The former scuba instructor clearly loves all things outdoors, as in addition to being a professional diver, she’s an avid skier, sky-diver and hiker. 

Like her sister, she’s also a dog mom to a pup, Beau, that’s often featured in her socials wearing an adorable life preserver out on the water. Though, her own path in life couldn’t be further from the high-profile house-flipper’s television career.

Instagram
What Does Carly Haack Do?
The UC Santa Barbara alum, who also holds a master’s in Marine Biology and Ecology from James Cook University, now works for UCSB as a boat safety officer, providing training and oversight for UC Santa Barbara’s boating and scientific scuba diving operation. She was previously a research associate at SONGS Mitigation Monitoring Program based in the university’s Marine Science Institute, handling dive sessions, artificial reef surveys, boat operation and environmental monitoring.
Over the course of the brainy boater’s education, she’s traveled far and wide on research expeditions, diving in Costa Rica and the Channel Islands.
Before beginning her adventurous scientific career, she also worked as a scuba diver for SeaWorld, responsible for maintaining the water quality in the park’s tanks and helping to train new employees.
She also produces and posts training videos on her YouTube channel that teach others proper boating and diving safety measures.

What Is Christina’s Relationship With Carly Like?
Christina and Carly seem to have a very close sisterly relationship, despite the 10-year gap between them.
In addition to Christina’s sweet birthday post, Carly apparently has a great relationship with her sister’s children.

Christian shares Taylor and Brayden, who were born in 2010 and 2015, respectively, with her first husband Tarek El Moussa, and Hudson, born in 2019, with second husband Ant Anstead.
In fact, Carly even published a book dedicated to her niece and nephews. The book, titled Search for the Magic Pearl, was written and illustrated by the outdoor enthusiast “with lots of love” and depicts Taylor, Bradyden and Hudson on an underwater quest to find a perfect Mother’s Day gift for sister Christina. 

Intellectual Humility: A Key to Restoring Trust in Scientists

Science and Health

Table of Contents

Restoring Trust in Scientists Through Intellectual HumilityIn a time when public confidence in scientists is dwindling, especially on contentious issues like climate change and public health, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered a compelling way to restore that trust: by showcasing intellectual humility.Their comprehensive study, engaging over 2,000 people across five separate investigations, was recently published in Nature Human Behaviour.The Importance of Intellectual HumilityAt the heart of the study lies the concept of intellectual humility, which the lead researcher, Jonah Koetke, explains as the recognition that our understanding may be incomplete or even mistaken.This acknowledgment not only enriches how we process information but also strengthens the bond of trust between scientists and the public.The research team was determined to unpack how people view scientists’ trustworthiness.They theorized that people are much more likely to regard scientists as credible and their work as rigorous if these scientists exhibit qualities of intellectual humility—like admitting the limits of their knowledge and being willing to adjust their beliefs when presented with new evidence.Diving into the current trust landscape, the researchers noted a troubling decline: in just one year, confidence in scientists dropped by 10%, leaving only 29% of Americans expressing strong trust in them.This erosion has been particularly pronounced in recent years, as public opinion has swung wildly around issues such as vaccines and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite clear scientific backing of these actions.Exploring Factors Influencing TrustIn times of uncertainty, people crave reliable guidance and trustworthy sources.The researchers set out to identify specific factors that could enhance trust in the scientific community, especially amid pressing global challenges.The study explored three essential facets of perceived trustworthiness: expertise, benevolence, and integrity.Participants were asked how willing they were to engage with scientists’ findings and heed their advice.The first phase of the study involved a survey with respondents sharing their views on scientists, focusing on perceived levels of intellectual humility and corresponding trust in contentious topics.Results showed a clear correlation: higher perceived intellectual humility led to greater trust in scientists and their research.In another segment, participants read about a fictional scientist tackling long COVID-19 symptoms, framed in either a humble or less humble context.The findings highlighted a marked difference in trust based on the portrayal; scientists exhibiting low humility prompted skepticism among readers.Another aspect of the research examined how gender perceptions played a role.Despite balancing for gender in the studies, the overarching conclusion remained—intellectual humility positively influenced trust among the public, irrespective of the scientist’s gender.The researchers also expanded their investigation to include racial identity among scientists.Participants assessed a climate scientist researching plant-based diets, once again showing that high levels of intellectual humility boosted trust and interest in learning more.In this case, a scientist’s race did not significantly alter trust outcomes.The final phase of the study looked at practical communication methods for scientists to express their intellectual humility while discussing their work.Participants evaluated various interview strategies, such as openly acknowledging their limitations and crediting collaborators.Although some of these methods enhanced perceptions of humility, they didn’t consistently increase trust; in some cases, they even stirred skepticism.Despite acknowledging the research gaps that remain, Koetke points out the pressing need for scientists to demonstrate genuine humility in public discourse.The findings spark hope that people do value an approach rooted in open dialogue and the admission of uncertainties.While further exploration is essential to refine how scientists best express this quality, the study highlights that a lack of intellectual humility can undermine the core principles of scientific inquiry.For a deeper dive into this compelling research, check out “The effect of seeing scientists as intellectually humble on trust in scientists and their research,” published in Nature Human Behaviour.Study Details:
Title: The effect of seeing scientists as intellectually humble on trust in scientists and their research
Authors: Jonah Koetke, Karina Schumann, Shauna Bowes, Nina Vaupotič
Journal: Nature Human Behaviour
Publication Date: November 18, 2024
DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-02060-x