WHY EVIDENCE MATTERS
How can scientific evidence help us in an age of 鈥渁lternative facts鈥�?
In her new book, Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works, science journalist Helen Pearson tells the story of the global movement championing the idea that evidence, not opinions, should guide our decisions. For many years, most medical advice was based on doctors鈥� opinions and conventional wisdom, not solid science. Helen Pearson describes how evidence-based medicine swept the world in the 1990s鈥攂ecoming the predominant form of medicine practiced today鈥攁nd how the idea that evidence should guide decisions is quietly transforming a host of other fields as well. At a time when science is under attack and questionable claims run rampant, Pearson underscores the importance of evidence in all facets of our lives, empowering each of us to sift fact from falsehood and misinformation from the truth.
From the start of his reporting on climate change more than twenty years ago, David Shukman sought to convey the scientific evidence about it as clearly as possible - to try to give audiences a sense of what鈥檚 known about the risks and what isn鈥檛. Key to that has been finding the right language to explain complex research in intelligible ways, a task he鈥檚 continued in his new book, The Response: A Story of Fire and Flood in Britain鈥檚 New World of Extremes, published on May 7th 2026. The BBC鈥檚 first Science Editor, David now works as a speaker and consultant. Sir David Attenborough described him as 鈥榓 leader in raising awareness of the climate emergency鈥�.
is a journalist and editor for Nature, the world鈥檚 leading science journal. She has more than 20 years鈥� experience in science journalism, including five years as Nature鈥檚 Chief Magazine Editor. She has won multiple awards, including European Science Journalist of the Year 2025 and Editor of the Year 2022 at the Association of British Science Writers鈥� awards. She is an Honorary Professor at University College London, where she teaches science writing. Her first book, The Life Project, was named best science book of the year by The Observer and was a book of the year for The Economist. Her second book, Beyond Belief: How Evidence Shows What Really Works, will be published 28th April 2026. She has a degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in genetics from the University of Edinburgh.