This Week in Science

New research: Conspiracy theories don’t just thrive on anger—they flourish in ressentiment (bitterness + unfairness + suppressed rage). Across UK & US studies, feeling wronged predicted stronger belief in conspiracies.

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

We're running a short survey promotion to help us determine which subtopics are most relevant for our coverage. If you take this 2-minute survey, you can get 15% off Trawly for a year. Not bad!

app.opinionx.co/4c23e3c0-75e...

Yet another post on the Dylatov Pass Mystery? Why not?

UFOs? Yetis? Or something even more interesting

thisweekinsciencenews.com/blog/2024/12...

Universe expected to decay in 10⁷⁸ years, much sooner than previously thought The universe is decaying much faster than thought. This is shown by calculations of three Dutch scientists on the so-called Hawking radiation. They calculate that the last stellar remnants take about ...

Be sure to value the time you have....

phys.org/news/2025-05...

Science News Round Up, May 7, 2025 - This Week in Science Science News Round Up for May 7, 2025

This week in science:

Indigenous climate wisdom earns global recognition

Elon Musk gains from Trump’s Pentagon budget

ChatGPT matches linguists in grammar tests

Climate journalism reshapes disaster prep

Read the full roundup: thisweekinsciencenews.com/2025/05/07/s...

Climate rollbacks. Big Oil lawsuits. AI breakthroughs.

Catch up on the science that’s shaping our future in this week’s roundup.

🧠 Subscribe free. Support science. Share truth.
thisweekinsciencenews.com/2025/05/02/s...

#ScienceNews #ClimateCrisis #AI #IndependentScience

NOAA Datasets Will Soon Disappear - Eos NOAA has quietly reported that they will soon decommission 14 datasets, products, and catalogs related to earthquakes and marine, coastal, and estuary science.

Data hoarders, do you thing:

eos.org/research-and...

I mean, if he thinks this effort has the data and resources to do it, more power to him. I like audacious goals.

The problem is it's not a good faith effort, so who knows what garbage this will produce...

We Finally Read the Ape Genome Cover to Cover—Here’s What Blew Our Minds - This Week in Science Scientists just finished the ape genome—no gaps, no guesses. Discover what it tells us about evolution, our immune systems, and even... speech?!

Our closest cousins just handed us the director’s cut of evolution—and what it says about us will blow your mind.
From gene duplications to new immune system maps, the full ape genome is here.
Read the wildest story in genetics.

thisweekinsciencenews.com/2025/04/10/w...

This isn’t your average DNA update.
We’re talking: 🧩 215 fully assembled chromosomes

🧬 Bonobos with “mini centromeres”
🧠 Hidden genes tied to brain & speech
🧫 Immunity secrets buried in ape DNA

Scientists just did something WILD: they sequenced the entire ape genome—gapless, cover to cover.

It’s a telomere-to-telomere (T2T) breakthrough that rewrites what we know about human evolution, immunity, and even... SPEECH?!

Science News Round Up, April 4, 2025 - This Week in Science Science News Round Up, April 34 2025

Deep learning.
Rare Diseases.

Check out our news round up.
thisweekinsciencenews.com/2025/04/04/s...

Great metaphor ⬇️

Science News Recap, March 28, 2025 - This Week in Science The best and most impactful science news for Friday, March 28

Client change not a threat?

Read all about it in our news recap

thisweekinsciencenews.com/2025/03/28/s...

Frontiers | Innovating health prevention models in detecting infectious disease outbreaks through social media data: an umbrella review of the evidence

With the rise of infectious diseases, a new umbrella review highlights how social media data can help detect outbreaks.

Policymakers (if you're listening), take note!

www.frontiersin.org/journals/pub...

more here at our blog,

thisweekinsciencenews.com/2025/03/25/t...

AGI might be real. So might existential risk.

But let’s be honest: some of the ways we talk about it aren’t scientific.

They’re spiritual instincts in disguise.

And recognizing that helps us stay sane.

Behind all this is a deeply human pattern:

We face a huge unknown — death, AGI, cosmic purpose — and we build stories.

Sometimes those stories wear lab coats. Sometimes they wear robes.

But they always comfort or terrify.

Pascal said:

“Believe in God — just in case.”

Now it’s:
“Donate to AI safety — or risk eternal torture from a hypothetical AI.”

It’s Pascal’s Wager, but with computers and effective altruism.

The “Cult of AI Alignment” is real. Some folks dedicate their lives to ensuring future AI doesn’t destroy humanity.

That’s noble — but it’s also got Calvinist vibes: a predestined apocalypse and a chosen few who’ll be “saved.”

Roko’s Basilisk isn’t just a weird thought experiment — it’s a mirror showing how even hyper-rational people can fall into myth-making.

You can ban demons by name, but the fear stays

The Basilisk’s logic is brutal:

“Support me now or suffer later.”

It’s eternal damnation with a silicon twist — and eerily echoes old-school theology: judgment, sin, salvation. Only now, the god is code.

Imagine this: A future superintelligent AI punishes you because you didn’t help it come into existence.
Just knowing about it makes you guilty.
Welcome to Roko’s Basilisk — the sci-fi Pascal’s Wager that haunts rationalist forums

Some techies today fear hell—not from a god, but from a computer.

Let me take you down the rabbit hole where AI theory meets religious fervor, and where logic sometimes births new kinds of faith.

Over at our sister site, we are helping to build evidence for community-based supports

seven-way venn diagram

Ugh, and I forgot it was π day....

Science News Roundup: March 10, 2025 - This Week in Science Science news roundup for March 10, 2025

Similar to what we are doing over at @twiph.bsky.social , we started as short recap of science policy news.

thisweekinsciencenews.com/2025/03/10/s...

How an NSF Report Set the Stage for Current Anti-DEI Policies - This Week In Public Health A critical review of the NSF Politicized Funding report, examining how dismissing DEI research undermines scientific progress, excludes vital context, and weakens U.S. innovation. Learn what’s at stak...

Just when you thought Ted Cruz had disappeared, he continues to push for anti-science rhetoric.

thisweekinpublichealth.com/blog/2025/03...

Not the sexiest recent study, but at least it made us smile.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...