Dr. Calum Matheson, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication, recently contributed an article to The Conversation, an independent news organization that publishes articles written by academic experts for general audiences.
In “Why the chemtrail conspiracy theory lingers and grows – and why Tucker Carlson is talking about it,” Matheson discusses the revival and spread of the “chemtrail” conspiracy theory– the belief that visible airplane trails in the sky are actually biological or chemical agents being intentionally sprayed by the U.S. government. He argues that, like many conspiracy theories, this one endures not because of factual support for the claim but because people are naturally drawn to explanations that help them make sense of uncertainty and the unknown.