Agnotology-the study of how ignorance is produced and maintained-introduces a new and much-needed perspective for scholars across all fields of research, including the humanities and social sciences, business organization, and environmental policy and the law. "In the past years there have been few new fields of research as timely as agnotology. Many a time one is puzzled by the widespread ignorance of some of the greatest challenges mankind faces today, be it global warming, the way to the Iraq war, or the global tobacco epidemic. Agnotology might very well be the tool to delve into the great black holes of modern knowledge and also find a way out."