20 years ago, a doctor published a study. It was completely made up, and it made us all sicker.

The entire study was fabricated.

Once upon a time, a scientist named Dr. Andrew Wakefield published in the medical journal The Lancet that he had discovered a link between autism and vaccines.

After years of controversy and making parents mistrust vaccines, along with collecting $674,000 from lawyers who would benefit from suing vaccine makers, it was discovered he had made the whole thing up. The Lancet publicly apologized and reported that further investigation led to the discovery that he had fabricated everything.


In the intervening years, millions have been spent on studying this further to see if there was anything that could connect autism and vaccines. This is what they found.

If you think science is a real thing, you could share this. I’ll owe you one.

Conservation

A Caribbean island looked like a ‘moonscape’ until goats and rats were removed. Now it’s flourishing.

Skills

Students spent 8 minutes giving advice to younger kids. Their own grades got a boost.

Generations

Gen Xers name the scariest things they saw on TV as kids. It’s nostalgic nightmare fuel.

Science

How to keep your mouth shut in conversations when you know you should really stay quiet