Academics team up against pseudoscience peddled as fact

Twenty-one academics have joined forces against pseudoscience disseminated by some news outlets and on social media - a phenomenon that has been skyrocketing since the outbreak of the new coronavirus - by setting up a monitoring agency to debunk unfounded claims.

Expressing concern about the "unprecedented dissemination of fake news and pseudoscientific claims that have great influence and a significant social impact," the academics published a letter on Wednesday announcing the creation of the Pseudoscience Observatory in Iraklio on Crete.

"Pseudoscience is any claim presented under a scientific mantle that does not stand up to independent assessment from the scientific community," they said, pointing to the anti-vaccination movement, which they say may bring back diseases that had been eradicated in humans.