The European Scientific Journal Did Not Conclude 9/11 Was A ‘Controlled Demolition’
It takes a moment to invent or spread a conspiracy theory, yet it can take years, even decades to debunk one. And even then, not everyone will have received the memo. As Alberto Brandolini said: "The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it."
There was quite a lot of excitement online from the tinfoil hat wearing brigade early September. Apparently, a proper, peer-reviewed scientific journal had concluded that the Twin Towers were in fact brought down by a ‘controlled demolition’. This information arrived just in time for the 15th anniversary of the terror attacks, conveniently:
And on and on it went.
First thing to clear up would be that these claims were not actually published in The European Scientific Journal at all, or any scientific journal for that matter – rather they came via a feature article titled '15 years later: on the physics of high-rise building collapses' in ‘Euro Physics News’ magazine, which is not a scientific journal. It’s a news magazine, as the title suggests.
The mysterious reclassification of online news rag to credible scientific journal appears to have been made by many media outlets including 'Anonymous' and this now deleted source:
The European Scientific Journal had to release the below statement to categorically deny they had any involvement in publishing 9/11 conspiracy theories:
They are also not affiliated with 'Europhysics News' in any way.
So, what are we left with then?
Firstly, the editors of ‘European Physics News’ even concede the ‘conclusions’ in their featured article are ‘speculation’. So far, not particularly scientific:
And who exactly are the authors of this featured article?
What do all these individuals have in common? Well, unsurprisingly they are all members of, or affiliated with 9/11 ‘truther’ movements.
This is essentially the equivalent of asking a group of creationists, who also happen to be scientists, whether there is any evidence for intelligent design. A qualification a good scientist does not make. The 'evidence' these authors presented is the usual collection of debunked tropes which didn't take long to be debunked yet again (again again).
There is nothing new here whatsoever. Europhysics News have published a pseudoscientific article of previously debunked 9/11 tropes to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the atrocity in a cynical attempt to maximise their publication's exposure. This has then been miss-sold as a scientific journal by media and commentators alike.
Although not a scientific journal, Europhysics News magazine is a reputable publication owned by the European Physical Society and associated with EDP Sciences. I will be contacting the various affiliates in the coming days to ask for a statement.
Shame on Europhysics News for lending a semblance of credibility to disrespectful, conspiratorial nonsense.
Bonus:
Mo Ansar, also shared the below tweet before it was deleted:
Ansar also had this to say about 9/11:
Help spread some actual truth about this atrocity. It’s too important not to. Click here for some resources on 9/11 conspiracy theories.
UPDATE 22 Sep 2016 - EDP Sciences, the organisation who owns 'Europhysics News' has released a statement in response to this article. You can read it here. In short, they have confirmed this magazine is not peer-reviewed and contains 'speculative' claims. They have announced they will publish a counter-argument in the next issue (Nov). Please join my mailing list to be informed of any follow-up posts on this.
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