No abstract

Newspapers are a major source of health information, including on COVID-19. Many news articles are based on press releases describing research published in scientific journals. We studied a sample of articles in US and Italian newspapers for their mention of non-pharmacological interventions (face masks and lockdown) and pharmacological ones, both effective and ineffective (convalescent plasma, hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, vaccines and vitamin D), and whether these were mentioned in a favorable or unfavorable way. We checked for the presence or absence of explicit mentions or links of the primary source of scientific information. Finally, we analyzed whether there was a trend to form “information bubbles” where some opinions around different treatments cluster together.Of 480,819 news in the USA and 767,172 in Italy, vaccines, face masks and lockdown were the most mentioned interventions. Of the pharmacological interventions other than vaccines, ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were more frequently mentioned in the USA than in Italy (5- and 6-fold, respectively) although, when analyzing a sample of 210 news returned from a search on COVID-19 mentioning a research publication, articles from the USA were less favorable than those in Italy. We also found that the frequency of articles with a negative stance on vaccines was very small, indicating that the main newspapers do not contribute significantly to vaccine hesitancy. There was also evidence of information bubbles, where articles with a favorable or unfavorable view of a non-approved drug had the same stance on other non-approved treatments.Of the 210 news articles analyzed, half specifically mentioned a scientific publication. However, a link (or a complete citation) to the original source was provided in only 16% of Italian newspapers as opposed to 58% of those in the USA. The results highlight the fact that often news stories do not cite the scientific article they are reporting on, thus allowing the reader to verify the original source. This weakness in the citation behavior is particularly evident in Italian newspapers. This study suggests that linking to the original research article, rather than basing the news story on a press release, would improve the trustworthiness of the news and the critical thinking in the reader.

No abstract

For Llull, one of the most important concepts of thinking and exploring reality is the notion of divine attributes: they serve as a means of understanding and ordering the world, contemplating God and dialoguing with thinkers of other religions. Even in Llull's early writings one can fi nd an amazingly elaborate concept of divine attributes which Llull continued to use throughout his life.

During the 17th century, the debate over the true world system (sistema mundi) was essentially between the heliocentric and geo-heliocentric models. Comparisons were made between tables that recorded more and more celestial observations in various printed astronomical works. Giovanni Battista Riccioli’s Almagestum novum (1651) provides an excellent example of how tables were used. Riccioli wanted to find the best hypothesis (hypothesis absoluta) with the help of a rigorous database from which he could proceed to make mathematical deductions. Tables in early modern astronomical books were important because they showed the results of observations. Presented in a clear way they became persuasive visual arguments.