Stand up for science

Dear reader,

Happy new year from everyone at the Guardian.

I wanted to write to you today about the impact of rigorous factual reporting in an age of online misinformation. Especially in my own field of science journalism.

Back in early 2021, in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, a nonpartisan thinktank in the United States asked hundreds of experts for their thoughts on what life would be like in 2025.

Firm themes emerged from their predictions. Our relationship with technology would deepen, they said, raising fresh concerns over surveillance, privacy and manipulation. The world would witness rising authoritarianism and rampant misinformation. The advantaged would enjoy more advantages, while the disadvantaged fell further behind.

Many countries made mistakes in the pandemic. The UK’s early handling of the crisis was branded one of the worst public health failures in the nation’s history. But misinformation and disinformation, some stemming from politicians themselves, made a brutal situation worse, opening the door to those who pushed fake treatments, spread lies about vaccines, or framed the entire pandemic as a hoax.

This has created huge challenges for news organisations such as the Guardian who are trying to counter these false narratives with clear-headed fact-based reporting.

The Covid crisis, thankfully, has abated, but 2025 will have its own critical challenges. Artificial intelligence has the power to transform lives for the better, but without careful and ethical deployment, it could wreak havoc and suffer what the physician and author Siddhartha Mukherjee has called an “AI Fukushima”, a catastrophe that derails its potential. AI made headlines in 2024 for delivering precision forecasts for flash floods, heatwaves, and the climate more broadly, but its huge energy consumption could hinder crucial efforts to combat the climate crisis.

What happens in the US, of course, will have consequences around the world. Among researchers, concern is running high at the prospect of a climate sceptic energy secretary, a health secretary who founded an anti-vax group, and a president who has form on interfering with and censoring scientific evidence.

We will challenge any misinformation coming from official sources – but we’ll also bring you positive scientific news. There is much to get excited about. AI is poised to turbocharge science and medicine. Drugs are in line for a hefty boost if the technology delivers on its promise to slash development time. Meanwhile, cancer vaccines, and new cancer treatments based on modified immune cells, are on the horizon. A private fusion reactor that will operate at near-commercial scale is due to open. And in space exploration, the first private mission to another planet, the ambitious Venus Life Finder, is slated for launch. There will, inevitably, be important unexpected breakthroughs too. We’ll cover them all.

With so much at stake, fact-based journalism has never been more important. At the Guardian, we are determined to look beyond the spin, to challenge the lies, and present the truth as we find it. Because without the facts we are powerless.

There’s an easy way to help us on this mission, and to stand up for facts. If you afford to, you can support our journalism from as little as a one-off €1 payment, or set up a regular monthly payment from as little as €4 a month. Your support is the most powerful tool there is to support independent journalism in 2025.

Thank you,
Ian

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