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Science is under attack, and not by accident.
In this episode of Cut to the Chase, Gregg Goldfarb sits down with Dr. Michael E. Mann, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, to expose the coordinated, well-financed campaign working to discredit research, intimidate scientists, and pull public opinion away from the facts.
From the “hockey stick” graph that made him a target to the death threats, the gutting of federal science agencies, and the way climate denial and vaccine misinformation merged into one anti-science machine, Mann lays out how we got here — and where the openings to fight back actually are.
Co-author with Dr. Peter Hotez of the new book Science Under Siege, Mann brings candor and a surprising amount of hope to a heavy subject: why he never backed down, and what he tells students who still dream of becoming scientists.
Join Gregg and Dr. Michael Mann on Cut to the Chase as they explore:
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Why the “hockey stick” graph made one scientist a target for powerful interests
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How climate denial and vaccine misinformation merged into one anti-science movement
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What “stochastic terrorism” is, and the real-world cost of speaking out
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Why clean energy and affordability may be the strongest case for climate action
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How attribution science could let courts hold fossil fuel companies accountable
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What Mann tells the next generation of scientists about staying in the fight
KEY MOMENTS
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0:12 — Opening: defending truth in a world awash with misinformation
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1:38 — The “hockey stick” graph and why it made Mann a target
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5:12 — How climate and vaccine denial merged into one anti-science machine
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8:12 — The “ladder of denial”: why the arguments keep shifting
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10:09 — Stochastic terrorism, death threats, and the personal cost
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13:26 — Social media, podcasts, and the spread of misinformation
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14:51 — Why he refused to give up
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18:53 — The political path forward and the midterm elections
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19:02 — The MAHA movement: common ground or trap?
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23:37 — Why clean energy and affordability should lead the message
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32:01 — Advice to students who still want to become scientists
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36:01 — The EPA’s rollback of the endangerment finding
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38:54 — Attribution science, climate liability, and “the polluter pays”
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41:03 — The U.S. on the world stage and ceding ground to China
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43:56 — Closing: don’t politicize the planet
Dr. Michael E. Mann is a presidential distinguished professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media. One of the world’s most influential climate scientists, he is best known for the “hockey stick” graph, which became an iconic and fiercely contested symbol of human-caused climate change.
His latest book, Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World (PublicAffairs, 2025), is co-authored with vaccine scientist Dr. Peter J. Hotez and examines the political and ideological forces driving today’s attacks on science, and how the public can fight back. He is also the co-author, with the late Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist Tom Toles, of The Madhouse Effect.
Named to Bloomberg News’s list of the 50 most influential people in 2013, Mann has spent decades at the intersection of science, policy, and public communication, defending evidence-based research in the face of organized denial and personal attacks.
The resources mentioned in this episode are:
Book:
Earlier Book Referenced:
The Madhouse Effect — by Michael E. Mann & Tom Toles
Learn More:
Dr. Michael Mann — michaelmann.net
Topics & People Referenced:
Dr. Peter Hotez · the “hockey stick” graph · the EPA endangerment finding · attribution science & climate liability · the MAHA movement
Contact / Follow Dr. Michael Mann:
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