‘It’s fake news’: A natural history of misinformation

It is not just humans who suffer fake news. So do fish, flies and even bacteria

- CARL ZIMMER

EARLIER THIS YEAR, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued a warning about the dangers of misinformation.Social media platforms are now rife with scientific falsehoods — that the Earth is flat, that climate change is a hoax, and soon. Misinformation can lead to large-scale harm, undermining public health and the well-being of the planet, the authors of the National Academies report said. “The stakes in understanding the origins, spread, and the impact of misinformation about science are high,” they warned.

For some fresh inspiration, misinformation experts can look beyond our species. That’s the advice from a team of Cornell researchers writing on Wednesday in the journal Interface. It’s not just humans who suffer from the effects of misinformation. So do fish, flies and even bacteria. “I hope we can learn something from these natural systems,’ said Andrew Hein, a computational biologist and an author of the new study.

Hein was drawn to the natural history of misinformation through his research on fish. He and his colleagues observed the movements of schools swimming around the coral reefs off the French Polynesian island of Mo’orea.

By staying in large groups, the fish enjoyed advantages that they lacked on their own. For instance, they could collectively stay alert for predators. When one fish noticed a threat, it darted in a new direction. That information quickly spread through the whole school, which could then escape together.

But Hein was struck by how often a fish got things wrong. “It’s safe, there’s nothing going on,’ he said. “But all of a sudden, it will just flee for its life”