Derek Chiang

This is figure 1, which shows LMs struggle to affirm first-person beliefs in factually false scenarios.

Large language models (LLMs) may not reliably acknowledge a user’s incorrect beliefs, according to a paper in Nature Machine Intelligence. The findings highlight the need for careful use of LLM outputs in high-stakes decisions. go.nature.com/48VRpIQ 🧪

I would much rather pivot LLM evaluation on Bloom’s Taxonomy of tasks, instead of Sam Altman’s money grab from companies about replacing people roles.

Although I’m a huge critic of LLM outputs, I found two perspectives helpful. First, I considered LLM as a Reddit summary, and I would pick query topics accordingly. Second, I came across the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy for cognitive capabilities. I only trust LLM with tasks on the 2 lowest capabilities

I sympathize. Have you tried RAG with Bing results? 😳😆

Did SBB stop the train at the border? I’ve heard that late trains from Germany are not allowed into Switzerland.

Guaranteed funding for five years and a 20% increase in a $39K base stipend if you haul in a fellowship. World class facilities and faculty in metabolism, structural biology, epigenetics, and beyond. Grand Rapids is half the cost of living of California or Boston. Apply by December 1st if interested

Now online in Cancer Discovery @aacrjournals.bsky.social: Epigenetic Regulation of Chromosomal Instability by EZH2 Methyltransferase - by Yang Bai, Samuel Bakhoum, Vivek Mittal, and colleagues doi.org/10.1158/2159... @weillcornell.bsky.social

How Diffusion Models Memorize

Juyeop Kim, Songkuk Kim, Jong-Seok Lee
tl;dr: classifier-free-guidance is to blame
arxiv.org/abs/2509.25705

Now online in Cancer Discovery @aacrjournals.bsky.social: Elevated Clonal Hematopoiesis in 9/11 First Responders Has Distinct Age-Related Patterns and Relies on IL1RAP for Clonal Expansion doi.org/10.1158/2159...

In the new issue of @science.org, @yoshuabengio.bsky.social on the implications (illusions) of accepting A.I.'s consciousness

science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Rogue DNA rings reveal earliest clues to deadly brain cancer’s growth In a new study, published today in Cancer Discovery, the eDyNAmiC team, led by Paul Mischel at Stanford University, and collaborator Charlie Swanton at the Crick, integrated genomic and imaging data f...

Research from the Cancer Grand Challenges eDNyamiC team found that rogue rings of DNA appear early in glioblastoma, a very aggressive form of brain cancer.

Co-first author Imran Noorani explains how this work makes the case for early detection of these tumours.

www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-09...

RLHF before its time!

Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice Evolution has shaped the genetic code, with subtle pressures leading to preferences for some synonymous codons over others. Codons are translated at different speeds by the ribosome, imposing constrai...

This preprint from Helen Sakharova is one of the coolest things to come out of my lab: “Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice.” Codon choice is a big puzzle in how information is encoded in genomes, and we have a new angle. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Every Scientific Empire Comes to an End America’s run as the premiere techno-superpower may be over.

For who still thinks this can’t happen here… it’s already happening.
www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Exclusive: Famed protein structure competition nears end as NIH grant money runs out Agency silent on funding renewal for contest that inspired creation of AIs that predicted how proteins would fold

Speak up to prevent a major loss for the field. CASP, which helped shaping structural biology including AlphaFold is on the verge of shutting down. NIH funding has lapsed, UC Davis support ends and the core team is being let go. Painfully shortsighted.

Cholinergic regulation of thymocyte negative selection Nature Immunology - Acetylcholine–α9 nAChR signaling regulates thymic negative selection.

Mak and colleagues find that double positive thymocytes express α9 nicotinic ACh receptors and these control negative selection. Read it here: rdcu.be/epjNm
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Trump administration cancels plans to develop a bird flu vaccine The Department of Health and Human Services is ending a $766 million contract with the vaccine company Moderna to develop an mRNA vaccine for flu strains with pandemic potential, including bird flu.

22 years ago I pivoted from working on antibiotic resistance to pandemic viruses.

Since then, I've argued that if we care about saving US lives in expectation, advance capacity for producing bird flu vaccine offers by far the greatest expected return on investment.

...

We were so goddamn close.

NIH funding supporting the HMMER and Infernal software projects has been terminated. NIH states that our work, as well as all other federally funded research at Harvard, is of no benefit to the US.

I would also add two points to this excellent advice! First, consider a few leadership role models. Second, observe what transferable skills and behaviors that they exemplify, for your own reinforcement learning.

👆👆

Blue background with text that says “ Last weekend, the National Cancer Institute had 28 Scientific Advisors.” Underneath that are headshots of the 28 current cancer institute advisors. then, another line of text says “today, it has Zero” with a blank circle.

The National Cancer Institute has disbanded its Board of Scientific Advisors — a group of experts that played a vital role in shaping the future of U.S. cancer research. Here’s why that matters. 🧵

The AI Researcher's Guide to a Non-Boring Bluesky Feed | Naomi Saphra How to migrate to bsky without a boring feed.

I wrote something up for AI people who want to get into bluesky and either couldn't assemble an exciting feed or gave up doomscrolling when their Following feed switched to talking politics 24/7.

I am a professor at Columbia University. All of the student NIH training grants have been canceled and now there are reports that ALL funding will be frozen. Why are Universities not banding together and speaking out publicly and forcibly about governmental attacks on biomedical research?

This is figure 1, which shows the synthesis of fluorochemicals from PFASs.

A paper in Nature presents a method for breaking down perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), environmental contaminants known as ‘forever chemicals,’ while recycling the fluoride contained within them. https://go.nature.com/3Rk1dCf #chemsky 🧪

RFK Jr is cutting Alzheimer's research to the tune of $3.9 billion.

I can't state this more clearly. The fraction of the American population that is elderly and susceptible to dementia is large and growing fast. This is a critical population health crisis. It needs more attention, not less.

Vaccines save lives. Leaders must champion them Attacks on vaccines and the cancellation of research into what causes vaccine hesitancy puts people in harm’s way.

We urge all leaders, for the good of their nations’ health, not to ignore or contradict advice that is supported by a consensus of evidence from research.

https://go.nature.com/43Rfr5a

Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow As the administration does its best to hide public records from the public, Wired magazine is stepping up to help stem the secrecy

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

Alexanderplatz is right in the middle of intriguing history!

Francis Collins, the NIH Director for 12 years, led the Human Genome Project and other NIH efforts for 32 years, resigned today. Key words from his resignation letter
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

1. Some #flu news:
This has been a big flu year. #CDC reported a couple of weeks ago that this has been a high severity season for all age groups & has been one of the worst seasons in years. Eg: the cumulative hospitalization rate for the week ending 2/22 is the highest seen since the 2010-11.