@sciencefunn: In July 2022, a well-known French physicist shared what appeared to be an extraordinary image of Proxima Centauri, supposedly captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The internet exploded with fascination, celebrating it as a rare and beautiful look into deep space. A few days later, the truth came out. The “star” was actually a close-up photo of a slice of Spanish chorizo sitting against a black background. What was introduced as a harmless joke meant to promote skepticism and critical thinking quickly turned controversial. Many argued that deliberately misleading millions of people — especially from a respected scientist during an era already flooded with misinformation — only deepened public distrust in experts and science itself. The story became a perfect example of authority bias and viral misinformation: people were so ready to believe the image because of who posted it that almost nobody stopped to question it. Lesson of the story: expertise deserves respect, but never blind belief. And sometimes, what looks cosmic online is just cured meat under good lighting. We share wholesome science content. Feel free to join us 👉 @sciencefunn for more.

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Tuesday 19 May 2026 16:36:52 GMT