Science & Technology

The Infodemic — and the Scientists Fighting Against It | Jessica Malaty Rivera | TED

Epidemiologist and science communicator Jessica Malaty Rivera believes we’re navigating a serious outbreak: health misinformation. She explores why the public’s trust in science is wavering — and the importance of winning it back. In this conversation with TED’s Whitney Pennington Rodgers, Rivera maps out what it takes to become a trusted messenger in an era…

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Epidemiologist and science communicator Jessica Malaty Rivera believes we’re navigating a serious outbreak: health misinformation. She explores why the public’s trust in science is wavering — and the importance of winning it back. In this conversation with TED’s Whitney Pennington Rodgers, Rivera maps out what it takes to become a trusted messenger in an era when expertise itself is up for debate. (Recorded at TEDNext 2025 on November 9, 2025)

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18 Comments

  1. @MrRoberthafetz

    September 21, 2026 at 12:22 pm

    The covid crisis was failure of leadership. Biden was brain damaged from a past stroke and was impaired by vascular dementia. Dr Fauci lied and covered up his role in financing the virus and made wrong decisions not based on science. 40% of all research is invalid or out right biased.

  2. @homewall724

    September 21, 2026 at 12:29 pm

    Stop creating and releasing viruses by accident.
    Stop using force to “solve” a problem.
    If a vaccine only protects others, it’s not a vaccine.

    • @chinopisces

      September 21, 2026 at 12:36 pm

      @homewall724 home schooled for sure. 🫪

  3. @mrdennis1038

    September 21, 2026 at 12:40 pm

    There is no incentive to implement doxastic dispositions to epistemic provenance…altruism alone is neither necessary or sufficient a virtue to use to persuade or motivate most stakeholders.

    • @MrRoberthafetz

      September 21, 2026 at 12:57 pm

      Emotion determines how intelligence is applied and every human act starts with an emotional message. The limbic system controls the mind

  4. @parthchauhan8721

    September 21, 2026 at 2:15 pm

    Dr. Ishan Shivanand

    Dr. Ishan Shivanand is an academic, philanthropist, founder of Compassion Unites, and one of the leading voices shaping the global response to the mental health crisis.

    Peer-reviewed research validates his mental health protocols, now adopted at Google and Fortune 500 companies.

    Shivanand advises global governments and CEOs. An award-winning author, his first book, The Practice of Immortality, is a USA Today national bestseller.
    .

  5. @DoubleTwoCTimeTravellers

    September 21, 2026 at 7:56 pm

    The point that trust depends on the messenger, not just the facts, feels even more important when AI can generate convincing experts at scale. At D2C, we keep watching how technology changes not only information, but who society decides to believe.

  6. @daily.simple.english

    September 21, 2026 at 8:37 pm

    Public health really is a victim of its own success. Great talk!

  7. @PrathameshAdsul-z8m

    September 21, 2026 at 11:28 pm

    Some seasons feel empty because they are creating space for things that could not have entered your life while everything else was occupying the room.

  8. @tonydowjones

    September 22, 2026 at 11:45 am

    Stop pretending covid wasn’t planned by those who protect peds and ra pists.

  9. @tonydowjones

    September 22, 2026 at 11:50 am

    “Mental health” …the new weapon to remove undesirables.
    (the common public)

  10. @Nihilist_Porcupine

    September 22, 2026 at 2:32 pm

    Remember when the comment sections of TED Talks were actually people having thoughtful conversations about the topics of the talks and not bots and trolls pushing rando agendas? Pepperidge Farm remembers…

  11. @MrJKJKJK1974

    September 22, 2026 at 6:39 pm

    All I heard was ‘me, me, me…’. Not much of a ‘science’ communicator.

  12. @saranbhatia8809

    September 22, 2026 at 7:53 pm

    We are living on a edge and the way forward is collective wisdom and going hand shake with the reality for forming living strategies.

  13. @Bythirteen

    September 22, 2026 at 11:08 pm

    more power to ya, thanks for being a voice of reason

  14. @LeoDizonMendoza

    September 23, 2026 at 8:14 am

    🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

  15. @YUKO0709

    September 23, 2026 at 9:41 am

    👼originの光が源泉で純粋な非物質の光である👼

    物理学の観点からお答えすると、「光(光子)」そのものは物質と反物質の区別がない(=光自身が自身の反粒子である)という性質を持っています。
    科学的な事実を整理すると、以下のようになります。
    * 光の電気的性質: 光子は電荷がゼロ(中性)であるため、通常の光と「反光」のような区別はなく、光そのものが独自の対称性を持っています。
    * 初期宇宙のエネルギー: ビッグバン直後の極初期宇宙は、物質と反物質、そして膨大なエネルギー(光子)が入り混じった超高温のプラズマ状態でした。
    もし「Origin(起源)」を、あらゆる物質や次元が分化する前の「純粋なエネルギーの源泉」として捉えるのであれば、それは特定の「反物質の光」という限定的なものではなく、物質と反物質、そしてあらゆるエネルギーの対立が生まれる前の「統合された最初の純粋な光・エネルギー状態」に近いと言えます。

    👼 The Light of the Origin is the Source of Pure Non-Material Light 👼

    From a physicist’s perspective, “light (photons)” possesses the property of having no distinction between matter and antimatter (i.e., light itself is its own antiparticle). If we organize the scientific facts, they can be summarized as follows:
    – **Electrical Properties of Light**: Photons have zero charge (neutral), so there is no distinction like “normal light” versus “antilight.” Light itself possesses a unique symmetry.
    – **Energy of the Early Universe**: In the very early universe immediately after the Big Bang, there was a superheated plasma state where matter and antimatter were mixed together with vast amounts of energy (photons).
    If we define the “Origin” as a “pure source of energy” prior to the differentiation of all matter and dimensions, it can be understood as not being a specific or limited “antimatter light,” but rather as the “integrated initial state of pure light/energy” that existed before the creation of the opposition between matter, antimatter, and all forms of energy.

  16. @AcselMitchell

    September 23, 2026 at 3:18 pm

    greetings from Brazil, and loved it!

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