Science under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World Michael E. Mann & Peter J. Hotez PublicAffairs (2025)
Months into President Trump’s second term, science and scientists are under attack as never before in the United States. The administration is forcing devastating cuts to previously stable US research investments, dismantling federal science agencies and programmes, ousting independent scientific officials and blatantly disregarding evidence on issues that affect us all, including vaccines, air pollution and fossil fuels.
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The scientific community needs to recognize these trends and fight back in every way possible. The timely release of Science under Siege by paediatrician and vaccine specialist Peter Hotez and climate scientist Michael Mann is a welcome addition to the scientific community’s arsenal. Both authors work to dispel misinformation in the public and political arenas, and both have experienced personal attacks because of it.
Mann, known for his ‘hockey stick’ visual representation of soaring global average temperatures owing to climate change, has faced years of public disparagement and threats to his physical safety. Hotez found himself in the crosshairs of the politicization of public-health guidance, on vaccines in particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic — and had to hire private security. Together, they explore the forces that undermine science in the United States and beyond.
Five forces to contend with
The duo skilfully establishes parallels in the attacks on climate scientists and on public-health professionals. The two fields might seem disparate, but specialists in both share a responsibility to inform the public about the “one-two punch of climate change and pandemics” — the effects of which are mutually reinforcing to “threaten massive loss in human life” — and find solutions.
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In some cases, Mann and Hotez note, the same tactics are used in attempts to discredit their work in both fields — sometimes even by the same people. For example, climate-disinformation messaging morphed over several years from ‘it’s not real’ to ‘it’s actually good for us’. These same tactics were adopted by peddlers of COVID-19 misinformation, who claimed that widespread infection could lead to herd immunity, and caught on much faster, mere months after the virus began spreading.
But who’s behind the lies, propaganda and attacks? Mann and Hotez identify five forces — the ‘five Ps’ — that drive threats to science and scientists: plutocrats, petrostates, pros (that is, academics and specialists who use their credentials to promote disingenuous, and lucrative, contrarian views), propagandists and the press. Mann and Hotez detail how bad actors continue to propagate misinformation, persecute scientists, undermine science-based decisions from policymakers and the public and threaten global health and safety.
Fighting back
As the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists — a science-advocacy non-profit organization that spends its time fighting these known enemies — I found this thorough naming and shaming resonant and indeed cathartic. I imagine that this exploration of just how pervasive and well-funded these forces are might also bring relief to scientists wondering why their commitment to truth-telling isn’t enough.
