NYU psychologist Jay Van Bavel has recently pondered why our brains love fake news and how we can resist it.

Van Bavel is an associate professor of psychology and neural science that specializes in finding out how group identities and political beliefs shape the mind and brain.

Thanks to billions of users on Facebook and Twitter an article can be retweeted to 10,000 people. These social media platforms have created a perfect storm allowing for fake news to run wild.

Along with his follow colleagues, Van Bavel conducted a study of 560,000 tweets on contentious topics like gun control, climate change and same-sex marriage. Findings include how political differences can be hardwired, logic can be taught and how even experts can be fooled.

For more information visit https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2018/june/jay-van-bavel-on-fake-news.html

Read about how a fake news story about Michigan immigrant drivers licenses was debunked at https://www.hispanicoutlook.com/articles/not-real-news-no-yellow-star-michigan-immigrant-li

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