Blake Hansen

January 30, 2021

ANTH 100

Real Science or Fake News?

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“Fake news”—in recent times, that phrase has circulated the media and has been a buzz word of

sorts in American culture. Many individuals attribute the coining of the phrase to Donald Trump, an

American businessman, celebrity, and 45th president of the United States of America. However, this begs

the question: Is it true? Was Donald Trump the first one to use the phrase “fake news” and make it

popular in the media? According to Melissa Mohr in an online Christian Science Monitor article, the

phrase existed long before its use by Donald Trump. She writes, “In 1895, for example, Electricity: A

Popular Electrical Journal bragged that ‘we never copy fake news’” (Mohr, 2019). For the sake of this

report, it is of little consequence whether Donald Trump invented fake news or not. However, it is

important to discuss ways that individuals can recognize false claims when they see them, particularly

claims within the scientific community. Robert L. Park, a physics professor at the University of Maryland

at College Park, provides seven tips for recognizing spurious scientific claims in his article “Seven

Warning Signs of Bogus Science.” He initially created the article “to help federal judges detect scientific

nonsense” (Park, 2003) in court cases, but he realized that recognizing false scientific claims is a skill that

will benefit everybody.

First, Park explains that anyone who brings a scientific claim straight to the media without

involving other scientists may be guilty of bogus science. Science is a community, and it ought to raise

suspicion if a claim circumvents that community by appealing directly to the media and spreading there.

Second, if a discoverer states that powerful governments, companies, or other establishments are trying to

suppress his or her beneficial work, that claim may not hold up to scrutiny. A claim that represents good

science will be examined and explored, not hidden. Third, if the scientific claim in question habitually

yields unclear or fuzzy data, chances are that it is not science. Fourth, a claim may be false if the only

evidence cited is in the form of stories, or anecdotes. “Contrary to the saying, ‘Data’ is not the plural of

‘anecdote’” (Park, 2003). Fifth, if a discoverer references so-called “ancient remedies” or “long-lost

solutions,” the claim may be bogus science because modern science performed in laboratories tends to

surpass ancient and historical methods. Sixth, true scientific claims do not come from individuals who

worked by themselves. Science is a team effort among fellow scientists. Seventh, if a claim suggests new
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laws of nature that have never been observed before, it may be false. Explanations for extraordinary

results must not conflict with what has already been studied and observed to be true scientifically.

Park’s seven warning signs make sense logically, but what do they look like when they appear in

modern scientific claims? An article entitled “An alien machine already visited us, Harvard astrophysicist

still contends” on Livescience.com contains several of the warning signs of bogus science. Written by

Rafi Letzter, the article describes how an astrophysicist by the name of Avi Loeb claims that there is

evidence of alien technology in our solar system. In 2017, a shiny disc-shaped object was spotted on the

William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands and has since been named “‘Oumuamua.” According

to Loeb, it is very likely that the satellite image on the screen is “alien garbage” (Letzter, 2021) and

represents evidence of alien life forms in our solar system. After reading the article in the context of Dr.

Park’s seven tips for recognizing bogus science, there are many red flags that need to be addressed.

According to Letzter, Loeb believes that “some other scientists don’t take his ideas seriously,” which fall

under Park’s first and sixth suggestions for recognizing bogus science. Loeb does not have the support of

other scientists and he appears to be the sole individual making this claim. The picture of ‘Oumuamua on

the article is also very fuzzy, and since more clarity cannot be obtained, Park’s third point applies. It is

apparent that Loeb’s claims appear to falter when placed under Park’s methods of scrutiny, but what do

people in the science community have to say about the matter? Yun Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher,

wrote an article entitled “After all, ‘Oumuamua is not an alien spaceship” on the Nature Research

Astronomy Community. Zhang disagrees with Loeb’s claim that ‘Oumuamua comes from alien life

forms, but she does describe the strange nature of ‘Oumuamua’s movement and its many other unknown

details. She states that “possible progenitors, including long-period comets, debris disks, and even super-

Earths, can be transformed into ‘Oumuamua-size pieces during stellar encounters… we showed that all of

‘Oumuamua's characteristics can be consistently explained by a natural origin. No alien explanation is

required” (Zhang, 2020). Although it is unknown exactly what object the telescope caught on camera

was, the fact that Loeb’s claims raise so many red flags and that the rest of the scientific community has

not accepted his claims are causes for concern.

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Another article that is beneficial to discuss is entitled “Ancient recipes led scientists to a long-lost

natural blue,” written by Carolyn Wilke and found on the website Sciencenews.org. According to the

article, “scientists have resurrected a purple-blue hue whose botanical origin had been lost to time”

(Wilke, 2020). The scientists investigated medieval texts that describe Chrozophora tinctoria, a plant that

was recently discovered growing in Portugal! They were able to extract a long-lasting blue dye, which is

rare among modern dyes but had been used historically. If one applies Park’s suggestions for recognizing

false scientific claims, it may appear that this article raises suspicion because of Park’s fifth suggestion

that “ancient or long-lost remedies” may be fake. However, the other six indicators for recognizing bad

science do not seem to appear strongly in the article. It may be that this article represents a sound

scientific claim. Similar articles also provide similar reports on the team’s discovery (Starr, 2020, and

Strickland, 2020).

In an ever-progressing world, there are always discoveries to make. Sometimes the only constant

is change! We live in a connected and informed society, and with that level of connectivity comes an

inherent responsibility to check information for accuracy. Dr. Robert L. Park’s seven suggestions for

recognizing bogus scientific claims offer simple and logical checks for this. Unfounded scientific claims

may always be around, but people who believe them don’t have to be.
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References

Letzter, Rafi. “An Alien Machine Already Visited Us, Harvard Astrophysicist Still Contends.”

LiveScience, Future US, Inc., 8 Jan. 2021, www.livescience.com/avi-loeb-alien-technology-has-

visited.html.

Mohr, Melissa. “Surprisingly Old Words That Seem Contemporary.” The Christian Science Monitor, The

Christian Science Monitor, 26 July 2019,

www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/In-a-Word/2019/0726/Surprisingly-old-words-that-seem-

contemporary.

Park, Robert L. “Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 31 Jan.

2003, https://www.unl.edu/rhames/park-seven-signs.pdf.

Starr, Michelle. “Scientists Discover a New Compound in Medieval Ink That Was Once Lost to Time.”

ScienceAlert, ScienceAlert, 22 Apr. 2020, www.sciencealert.com/we-finally-know-how-

medieval-artists-created-this-gorgeous-delicate-blue-pigment#:~:text=Medieval%20artists

%20used%20its%20tiny,colouring%20their%20famous%20illuminated

%20manuscripts.&text=And%20this%20structure%20is%20unlike,compound%20has

%20been%20named%20chrozophoridin.

Strickland, Ashley. “Solving the 1000-Year-Old Mystery of Rare Blue Medieval Paint.” CNN, Cable

News Network, 17 Apr. 2020,

www.cnn.com/style/article/medieval-blue-dye-mystery-scn/index.html.

Wilke, Carolyn. “Ancient Recipes Led Scientists to a Long-Lost Natural Blue.” Science News, Society

for Science & the Public, 18 Apr. 2020, www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-recipes-

medieval-pigment-natural-blue.

Zhang, Yun. “After All, 'Oumuamua Is Not an Alien Spaceship.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group,

13 Apr. 2020, www.astronomycommunity.nature.com/posts/62104-after-all-oumuamua-is-not-

an-alien-spaceship.