Cam Hostinar, Ph.D.

I realize broad science-literacy problems cannot generally be solved just by shoving more facts at people but I really wish more people understood that the entire purpose and mechanism of a vaccine is to educate your OWN immune system, making it about the most "natural" medical intervention possible

Me in 2023: Just chill. All the AI doom scenarios involve giving models direct access to and control over real world systems, and no one would be that dumb

In 2025: oh fuck

How do brain networks tracking past trauma react to stress in the future? Thrilled to share new work from the lab led by rockstar postdoc @felhardi.bsky.social with wonderful collab @dylanggee.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#psychscisky #neuroskyence

Positive Affect as a Developmental Mediator of Early Adversity and Internalizing Psychopathology Early life adversities (ELAs) including experiences such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction are strongly linked to psychopathology; yet, the developmental pathways connecting ELA to external...

🆕 RESEARCH: Not all kids respond to early adversity the same way. We examined data from ~7,400 children for 4 years and found something notable about positive emotions & mental health outcomes...
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

A thread 🧵 #MentalHealth #ChildDevelopment #Resilience /1

Fraudulent Scientific Papers Are Rapidly Increasing, Study Finds A statistical analysis found that the number of fake journal articles being churned out by “paper mills” is doubling every year and a half.

“If these trends are not stopped, science is going to be destroyed." Here's my story on the accelerating growth of systemic research fraud--aka paper mills. Gift link: nyti.ms/45rDirw

Plastic pollution 'grave and growing' health threat: Lancet Plastic pollution is a "grave, growing and under-recognized danger" to health that is costing the world at least $1.5 trillion a year, experts warned in a report on Monday.

We need to produce significantly less plastic; recycle a lot more of what is produced; and stop the rest getting into natural ecosystems

phys.org/news/2025-08...

Our new paper is out today! 🎉 In it, we use administrative register data to document how psychiatric disorders are strongly linked to parental income, from childhood far into adulthood. Furthermore, we attempt to separate causation and selection using kinship-based models.
doi.org/10.1111/jcpp...

Strong and sobering signals that need to be understood …

📣 Heads-up that our amazing dept (Berkeley Psych) is anticipating hiring *two* TT Asst Profs this Fall, under the themes of (1) Social & Personality Psychology, and (2) Biological Basis of Behavior.

Official job ads coming soon...

Send qs for (1) to Iris Mauss/Serena Chen, (2) to Linda Wilbrecht

NIH considers the use of AI in science as potential misconduct. Let that sink in.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Have a nice day!

Leading AI Models Are Completely Flunking the Three Laws of Robotics The type of advanced AI that Isaac Asimov imagined in fiction is finally here. And it's flunking his Three Laws of Robotics.

Wrote a little thing with my colleague Victor -- why is every "advanced" AI system completely flunking the Three Laws of Robotics?

futurism.com/ai-models-fl...

Sinclair Lab The Learning & Behavior Change Lab at Rice University, directed by Dr. Sinclair

Excited to share my new lab website!

The Learning & Behavior Change Lab will launch at Rice in July 2026. I’ll be recruiting over the next year! @ricesocsci.bsky.social

www.sinclairlab-rice.com

Interesting…

Looks great!

Replace large red noodle they are sharing :) with arrows between them?

Seamless Interaction: Dyadic Audiovisual Motion Modeling and Large-Scale Dataset Human communication involves a complex interplay of verbal and nonverbal signals, essential for conveying meaning and achieving interpersonal goals. To develop socially intelligent AI technologies, it...

Seamless Interaction dataset with 4000+ hrs of face-to-face dyadic interactions! 🤯

Seems like it could be a game changer for studying embodied turn-taking & mutual adaptation complementary with CANDOR, etc...

arxiv.org/abs/2506.22554

Ice baths are booming in popularity – but they come with health risks Behind the marketing and influencer testimonials on podcasts and TikTok lies a less appealing truth. Ice baths can be dangerous.

Reality: Thin research on benefits & possible harms.

Sum: mostly hype.

Ice baths are booming in popularity – but they come with health risks theconversation.com/ice-baths-ar... via @ConversationEDU

📌

5 reasons why Medicaid cuts affect everyone:

1️⃣ More ER Overcrowding
2️⃣ Higher Insurance Premiums — Hospitals shift unpaid costs to your insurance.
3️⃣ Job Loss — Fewer clinics, especially in rural areas.
4️⃣ Weaker Public Health — Less funding for services
5️⃣ Higher State Taxes or Service Cuts

Congratulations, Dr. Parenteau, and good luck on your postdoc at Stanford! Watch out, world, this rising star will be on the market over the next few years!

Most Literature Reviews Miss the Point. Don’t Let Yours Critically Engaging Past Work to Confidently Shape Your Own

Most literature reviews miss the point.

Not because they’re sloppy.

But because they treat the literature like a box to tick.

In my latest Respect the Marble Post, I carve out a 6-step process to writing a meaningful lit review:

catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/most-liter...

🧵

Postdoctoral Researcher in Psychoneuroimmunology Do you want to contribute to improving human health? Join a dynamic and inclusive research group at the forefront of psychoneuroimmunology, where we investigate the interplay between behavior, brain f

‼️🚨 postdoc position 🚨‼️
I am looking for a postdoc in psychoneuroimmunology - come join our group to work on sickness behavior in humans 🤒🦠 at Karolinska Institutet @ki.se !!

ki.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

deadline July 31st

@pnirs.bsky.social #neuroskyence #PsychSciSky #interoception

Is anyone talking about the big design flaws in this study, e.g. 1) small N, btwn subject design, 2) v. heterogeneous sample, 3) writing prompt confounded with condition (really!), 4) vast number of measures with no preregistration?

I can't believe this is getting so much press...

This week, I’ve seen colleagues serve on NIH study section, doing their job diligently, submit papers, mentor students, serve on university committees, be excited about the science at conferences. Despite all the uncertainties and chaos. Don’t know what’s ahead but you can’t break spirits so easily.

A Large-Scale Test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis: Quantifying the Relations Between Digital-Screen Use and the Mental Well-Being of Adolescents

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

It would be great if America’s pundits would pause this entire genre. “Burning down my house means I don’t need to take out the trash!” Your cleverness is not winning the day right now.

Toddlers’ Eye Movements Predict Ability to Judge Memories, New Research Suggests The simple act of looking and comparing may be the first step toward learning how to judge what we remember, a skill that is fundamental to learning and making decisions.New research from the Universi...

The ability to judge the accuracy of our memories is fundamental to decision making. A new study from the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain shows how this ability emerges in 2-3 year olds www.ucdavis.edu/news/toddler...

New Book Details the Good, Bad and Unexpected of Ibuprofen What you don’t know about ibuprofen, one of the world’s most popular painkillers, could well fill a book — and that book has just been published, authored by Professor Aldrin Gomes and 36 of his curre...

If you’ve ever wanted to know everything there is to know about ibuprofen, now there is a book about it:

www.ucdavis.edu/news/new-boo...