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This is This is Scientific American 60 Second Science.

I'm Julia Rosen.

Along with COVID-19, something else is spreading across America, conspiracy theories.

In the dark alleys of the internet, people have concocted a dizzying array of unfounded explanations

for the pandemic.

The phenomenon doesn't surprise John Cook, a

cognitive scientist at George Mason University. When people feel threatened,

when they feel out of control, when they feel like random I guess vulnerable or likely to gravitate towards

conspiracy theories because it gives people a sense of control. We're just uncomfortable with

randomness. We humans are patent detectives. We need meaning, we need control, we need

to know that there is a system, there's an order to how the world works.

Cook's expertise is studying climate denial and he sees many similarities with COVID

conspiracies. Both play on distrust of science and the tension between personal liberty and the need to protect society as a whole.

The difference Cook says is the sheer number of COVID myths and how fast they're spreading.

I feel like I'm trying to scoop up flood water with a spoon.

He and colleagues hope to build a dam by alerting the public to the prevalence of misinformation.

They recently released a guide called How to Spot COVID-19 conspiracy theories.

Cook is also producing a series of YouTube videos.

The key is to identify the hallmarks of conspiratorial thinking.

Tell-tale signs include holding contradictory

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