Melissa Avdeeff, University of Stirling
At Super Bowl LVIII, Taylor Swift will appear on the field at Allegiant Stadium after her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs, wins the game. But she won’t be performing. Swift’s appearance will be a Pentagon-backed psy-op to turn the rigged game into a calculated political endorsement, to secure the 2024 presidential election for Joe Biden.
Daniel Jolley, University of Nottingham; Andrew McNeill, Northumbria University, Newcastle, and Jenny Paterson, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Scientists have learned a lot about why people believe in conspiracy theories and how they harm society over the past couple of decades. Yet little is known about how the groups targeted by conspiracy theories feel and behave.
Gabriel J. Chin, University of California, Davis
The Justice Department announced its second federal indictment of former president Donald J. Trump on Aug. 1, 2023. The charges are groundbreaking and not just because a former president is facing multiple criminal charges.