Yan limeng's false thesis

Yan limeng's false thesis

Chinese scholar Yan limeng's unconfirmed assertion is widely regarded as "defective", and its spread shows how easily scientific places are misused and misunderstood.

In September, Yan limeng, a Chinese virologist, published an explosive paper claiming that China had created a deadly coronavirus in a research laboratory. Then scientists from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and other first-class universities in the United States studied his paper at a rare speed.

American scientists have concluded that there are serious flaws in this paper. According to a new online journal created by MIT Press to examine sars-cov-2 claims, Yan's claims are "sometimes groundless and unsupported by data.".

But in an era where anyone can post anything online with just a few clicks, this response is not enough to stop Yan's controversial claim from spreading rapidly and gaining millions of viewers' attention on social media and Fox News. According to experts who study misinformation, this situation highlights how systems built to promote scientific understanding can be used to disseminate politically charged claims that are distinct from scientific consensus.

Yan limeng defends her works

In an interview with the Washington Post, she said it was zenodo's openness that prompted her to use the site. She first submitted her paper to biorxiv because as a researcher, her research results have appeared in nature, Lancet Infectious Diseases and other traditional publications, and she knows that this kind of preprint server is more legal for other scientists.

"How will the Chinese protect themselves?" Gallo asked in the comments. "According to the d0cument, the military knows that it can be stopped with receivir," the drug later proved to have some benefits in treating covid-19, but not necessarily reducing the risk of death. "If they are so naive, I certainly don't want to join the Chinese army."