Doubt is essential for science – but for politicians, it's a sign of weakness | Jim Al-Khalili

People are searching for certainty about coronavirus, and that's the opposite of what leads to scientific breakthroughs

As a regular Twitter user, I choose the people and organisations I follow online carefully. And therein lies my problem. On social media, we are more likely to engage with and trust content that aligns with our views, and thus become saturated by opinions we already agree with. Some of these views are based on political or religious ideologies, others on the flimsiest of evidence or the most superficial and unreliable of information. Against this backdrop of conflicting ideas and polarised worldviews, we're now being asked to trust in science - and scientists - like never before.

During the coronavirus crisis, everyone online seems to have a "scientific" opinion. We are all discussing modelling, exponential curves, infection rates and antibody tests; suddenly, we're all experts on epidemiology, immunology and virology. When the public hears that new scientific evidence has informed a sudden change in government policy, the tendency is to conclude that the scientists don't know what they're doing, and therefore can't be trusted. It doesn't help that politicians are remarkably bad at communicating scientific information clearly and transparently, while journalists are often more adept at asking questions of politicians than they are of scientists.