NIH kicks off 'Scientific Freedom' lectures with fringe climate and lab-leak advocate

The NIH launches a 'Scientific Freedom Lectures' series led by director Jay Bhattacharya, starting with Matthew Ridley, a British science journalist known for fringe climate ideas and support for the COVID lab-leak theory, raising questions about the series’ scientific basis and Bhattacharya’s drive for NIH reform in light of mainstream evidence on SARS-CoV-2 origins and climate science.