Why do some shun science and cling to conspiracy? Bruce Miller, MD, recently wrote in JAMA about the dangerous consequences of antiscience rhetoric and the neurological mechanisms that can actually encourage acceptance of false beliefs. Miller is a world-renowned expert on the diagnosis and management of dementia. As a behavioral neurologist, he is the principal investigator of the NIH-sponsored Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the co-director of the Global Brain Health Institute. In this interview he makes the connection between the brain and science denial. He also talks about what clinicians can do to help their patients embrace science.
Bruce Miller, MD, holds the A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professorship in Neurology at UC San Francisco where he directs the Memory and Aging Center. He is a behavioral neurologist whose work in neurodegenerative conditions emphasizes brain-behavior relationships and the genetic and molecular underpinnings of disease. He is the principal investigator of the NIH-sponsored Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and program project on frontotemporal dementia. Additionally, he helps lead the Tau Consortium, the Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia and the Global Brain Health Institute. He was awarded the Potamkin Award from the American Academy of Neurology and elected to the National Academy of Medicine.