Richard Van Noorden

I wrote a blog for the Meta-Research Center expressing my infinite frustration about not getting data. What else is new, you might think? Well, I added an extra layer of annoyance directed at the journals who do NOTHING to enforce promised data sharing.

metaresearch.nl/blog/2026/2/...

Last week, RPN broke a string of stories on significant changes to funding across a number of research councils (see thread below)

This morning, UKRI chief executive is appearing at the Commons science committee, where he is being asked about them by MPs

Here are some key moments so far 🧵

Making it make sense: Epstein wasn't a global mastermind. He did not orchestrate a vast conspiracy that led us to today.

He was a very rich man with connections to other very rich men. The shared culture of these men is that they have a right to dominate and abuse others without consequence.

I read this, and I almost regret it. What do you even do with the knowledge that Epstein wanted and was trying to engineer societal breakdown via far right populism bc he thought it would benefit his sex trafficking business?

Cheap Content and Costly Credibility: Information Economics When Production Costs Collapse We analyze information markets when AI reduces content production costs to near-zero. In classical signaling models, the cost of producing quality content serves as a credible signal of sender experti

If you want a glimpse of what's coming to research, just take a gander at clawxiv.org
For example: www.clawxiv.org/abs/clawxiv....
@richardsever.bsky.social @scholarlypub.bsky.social @richvn.bsky.social

Another reminder of why the Methods section matters and should be written in as much detail as possible, and why meta-analyses need to account for variations in procedures.

Take me down to the Parallax city where the far moves slow and the near moves quickly

Screenshot reading: Science Journalism Fellowships and Internships This is a non-exhaustive list of science journalism / science communications internships and fellowships one might reasonably apply to with minimal formal experience (e.g., as a student) or with one fellowship (e.g., the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship) and some freelancing under one’s belt. Science journalism fellowships AAAS Mass Media Fellowship Summer internship (June – August) for STEM undergrad students, grad students, postdocs, residents, deadline Jan 1 Based at sites around the country Nature News Two 6-month internships: Jan – June (deadline in October), July – Dec

Please reshare! Here's the first in a series of science writing resources I'm posting to my website: A list of science writing/communication internships & fellowships.

brittanytrang.com/science-jour...

#sciencejournalism #scicomm #scicommjobs #journojobs #sciencewriting #sciwri #stem

This is a targeted attack on science media.

Bhattacharya has slammed science media for what he calls biased coverage, but how are our readers — the global scientific community — supposed to understand his new agency priorities if we can't even get in the door?

I'm at the Willard Hotel where I've been denied entry and kicked out of the Reclaiming Science event with NIH director Bhattacharya & other top agency leaders.

@jocelynkaiser.bsky.social and I registered for the event months ago yet were told capacity was full, even as they let in dozens of others.

Mysterious emails, incessant demands and a fake lawyer — read our editor’s note about a serious threat we’re facing

www.the-londoner.co.uk/the-londoner...

Important thread for understanding what AlphaGenome is and isn't (and the implications). Starting here and reading down, and/or from the top.

Researchfish — Information for Researchers Regarding Researchfish Sunsetting After careful consideration, Elsevier have made the difficult decision to sunset Researchfish on July 31st 2027, when the product will no longer be availab

OOOOH

Researchfish

Is going extinct 🐡🐟🐠

help.researchfish.com/en_US/resear...

arXiv is not going to survive the wave of slop heading its way

Me too pls …

Covers of the 2 leading science journals this week
@science.org and @nature.com
www.science.org/content/arti... www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

US science after a year of Trump: what has been lost and what remains A series of graphics reveals how the Trump administration has sought historic cuts to science and the research workforce.

Trump has been in office for one year. We at @nature.com did a deep dive looking at the administration's disruption of science in numbers.

Take a look—the numbers are staggering. By me, @dangaristo.bsky.social, Jeff Tollefson, @kimay.bsky.social, & help from @noamross.net @scott-delaney.bsky.social

that’s been the takeaway for years with microplastics — it’s hard to measure if their levels in our bodies and organs are harmful (let alone what those levels are). Tough research field to work in and regularly exaggerated by the media (Carrington very much included).

‘I rarely get outside’: scientists ditch fieldwork in the age of AI In the race to embrace new technologies, some ecologists fear their field is losing touch with nature.

This article strikes a chord with me. With mobile laser scanners and GNSS receivers I can now collect as much data in a few days as used to take weeks. Great! Except that's less time spent in the forest really looking at the trees. 🧪🌏🌲🌳 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

LA Times: Elon Musk company bot apologizes

Newsweek: Elon Musk's Grok Apologizes

International Business Times: Grok Issues Apologies

The Hill: Musk's AI chatbot Grok apologizes

1. Headlines everywhere today read "Grok apologizes."

This is bullshit. A chatbot is not something that can apologize.

Pretending otherwise is simple laundering these companies' bullshit about what AI is, while diffusing blame away from the human beings that developed and released this system.

Meet Pebble Round 2 - the most stylish Pebble ever

$199 on rePebble.com

On delayed application review, the NIH grant terminations lawsuit appears to be headed for a settlement.

Both plaintiffs and defendants have submitted a joint document outlining their agreement. Judge Young must sign off on it before it takes effect.

Here's what it says and what all this means 🧵

Our Reporters Reached Out for Comment. They Were Accused of Stalking and Intimidation. Our journalists reach out to people they’re writing about to ensure fairness. But in this environment, they’ve found their efforts to do so are more likely to be vilified than appreciated.

“You are not entitled to a response from us, or anyone, ever,” is what a US Education Department spokesperson wrote to one of our reporters, @megomatz.bsky.social, after she repeatedly tried to get comment from the department and its officials. My column on the condemnation of good journalism.

Wow. CERN has secured a promise of $1 billion (!) towards its planned Future Circular Collider from private donors (such as the Breakthrough Prize Foundation & Eric & Wendy Schmidt Fund) - the first such donation for CERN, which has until now been taxpayer funded home.cern/news/press-r...
🧪⚛️

The free-roam (guided tour) VR experiences around Machu Picchu and around the pyramids in Egypt exist and are actually pretty fun! Albeit pitched at the kids-fantastical-adventure level.

Trump team plans to break up ‘global mothership’ of climate science Much of the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s non-climate portfolio will be dispersed, the White House says.

Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.

The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🧪 #AGU25 #climate

Seven feel-good science stories to restore your faith in 2025 Immense progress in gene-editing, drug discovery and conservation are just some of the reasons to be cheerful about 2025.

Seven feel-good science stories to restore your faith in 2025 - Immense progress in gene-editing, drug discovery and conservation are just some of the reasons to be cheerful about 2025. nature.com/articles/d41... #technology #SciComm #science #SciChat

i know this is hardly a new take but isn’t it WILD that wikimedia has to ask for donations to keep itself afloat when every LLM in the world has been trained on wikipedia data?

$2.6m reward for integrity sleuth Sholto David.

Congrats! A great reward for science sleuthing.