14% of Americans don't think climate change is happening, and only 71%  consider it very important to vaccinate children. Statistics like these  can be frustrating to scientists and researchers. Despite the wealth of scientific evidence pointing one direction, a notable percentage of people believe differently.

The problem, laid out meticulously by Elizabeth Kolbert in the  New Yorker, is that facts sometimes don't change people's minds. Opinions are created and strengthened by affirmation from others. Though facts are not subjective, people's belief in those facts certainly is.

Our January newsletter investigates facts in media and politics as well as in science. We look at  a prominent German fact-checking organization, an initiative that brings together liberals and conservatives to have civil conversations, a software that monitors comments online and a media startup incubator. In an interview, Markus Weisskopf, Director of Wissenschaft im Dialog (Science in Dialogue), speaks about upholding scientific facts and how to most effectively communicate scientific research.