This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam. … “This week on Hidden Brain, we're going to look at how information and misinformation spread in the world of science and why evidence is often not enough to convince others of the truth. Cailin O'Connor is a philosopher and mathematician at the University of California, Irvine. She studies how information, both good and bad, can pass from person to person. She is co-author with James Weatherall of the book "The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread."”

For the full story, please visit https://www.npr.org/2019/01/11/684435633/how-science-spreads-smallpox-stomach-ulcers-and-the-vegetable-lamb-of-tartary.