Can We Still Trust Science?

In the July 1st, 2026 episode of the De Gruyter Brill podcast Sustainability Matters, host Ramzi Nazir explores with Peter Mahaffy what having confidence in science really means.

What separates healthy skepticism from deliberate doubt? How do politics, economic interests, and misinformation shape public opinion around scientific research? And what role can scientists themselves play in rebuilding trust? All this and more with Dr. Peter Mahaffy, member of IUPAC and contributor to their Chemistry International journal, published by De Gruyter Brill. More info: https://www.degruyterbrill.com/ci

See “Restoring Trust in Science: A Global Imperative” Chemistry International, vol. 47, no. 4, 2025, pp. 50-54. https://doi.org/10.1515/ci-2025-0425 and including Building Trust in Science: A Two-Way Commitment by Peter Mahaffy.

Additional citations referred to in the podcast:

1. Cologna, V., et. al. Trust in Scientists and Their Role in Society Across 68 Countries, 2025, Nature Human Behaviour, 9, 713-730. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02090-5
2. Garcia-Martinez, J; Mahaffy, P.G., et. al. Responsible Chemistry for a Changing World: IUPAC’s Guiding Principles, RSC Chemical Science, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5sc08844e.
3. Mahaffy, P. G.; Garcia-Martinez, J.  From what Chemistry can do to what Chemists should do, J. Chem. Educ. 2025, 102, 11, 4661–4665. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.5c01467
4. Mahaffy, P. G.; Matlin, S. A.; Holme, T. A.; MacKellar. J. Systems thinking for educating about the molecular basis of sustainability. Nature Sustainability. 2019, 2, 362–370. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0285-3
5. Mahaffy, P.; Cornell, S. (2025). Sustainability frameworks I – Planetary boundaries. Chapter 6 in Kirchhoff, M.; Kummerer, K.; Mahaffy, P.; Middlecamp, C. (eds) Chemistry Education for a Sustainable Future. Advances in Chemistry Education series, Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK.
6. Mahaffy, P. G.; Elgersma, A.K. “Systems Thinking, the Molecular Basis of Sustainability and the Planetary Boundaries Framework: Complementary core competencies for chemistry education,” Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 2022, 100663, ISSN 2452-2236, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2022.100663