Brigitte Nerlich

Ahead of next week's new episode of Under Review podcast, just a reminder of the fascinating first edition with my guest @deevybee.bsky.social as we discussed The Royal Society, Musk and academic fraud.

Listen on Apple podcasts
apple.co/4qthaFo

Watch on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=35dc...
1/2

Perhaps we need a Critique of Pure Reckoning...

No. 10 communications were being directed!?

Just started doing new data analysis and I know I keep saying this, but: I really, really don't think people appreciate how much this moral panic was a deliberate and extremely expensive invention.

Never mind the Mandelson debacle, the new rules for child refugees are a far bigger disgrace for Labour. Inhumane

One of my favourites, apart from Bréal and Wegener, of course.

we are sort of neighbours it seems

What a fascinating story and what a twist at the end!

Morgan McSweeney resigns.

Ah!

the book came out before ChatGPT though I think

On the Future of Species by Adrian Woolfson review – are we on the verge of creating synthetic life? A genomic entrepreneur’s guide to the coming revolution in biology raises troubling questions about ethics and safety

In @theguardian.com Robin McKie thinks Adrian Woolfson underestimates the risks of building genomes from scratch in his new book. In my forthcoming review in @thelancet.com I argue that he underestimates the scientific obstacles to doing this in the first place.
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

I know how it feels!

#Spéirghorm
#Sparegollum
#speirgorm

Metaphors for AI: Networks, holes and loops I have been observing metaphors for generative AI for some time. This does not mean that I understand what’s going on in AI, but they provide me with an illusion of knowledge. They throw a net or m…

For weekend readers, last shout-out for some musings on #AI #metaphors and their interconnections makingsciencepublic.com/2026/02/06/m...

I'll be told on Tuesday. Fingers crossed.... At least the rain has stopped this morning :)

Metaphors for AI: Networks, holes and loops I have been observing metaphors for generative AI for some time. This does not mean that I understand what’s going on in AI, but they provide me with an illusion of knowledge. They throw a net or m…

I wrote this quickly last week before my eye op... some musings about #metaphors and #AI and how they relate to each other makingsciencepublic.com/2026/02/06/m...

Update: I have received a repsonse from Sir Paul reiterating the Society's statement to the media:

"“The Royal Society does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment or bullying. That is, and will continue to be, enshrined in our code of conduct.”
See www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Metaphors for AI: Networks, holes and loops I have been observing metaphors for generative AI for some time. This does not mean that I understand what’s going on in AI, but they provide me with an illusion of knowledge. They throw a net or m…

I wrote this quickly last week before my eye op... some musings about #metaphors and #AI and how they relate to each other makingsciencepublic.com/2026/02/06/m...

Just what I need :)

is there not one benevolent billionaire in the USA, who could start a newspaper that would employ those sacked by Washington Post, and provide a home for proper journalism?

Imbolc, Chandeleur and the Fête of the Marmot Sunday in the US was Groundhog Day…I suppose that it was no great surprise, based on the winter that’s gone down this year, that the news was less than optimistic.In France, this holida…

Feeling sorry for myself because of an operation and the weather and waiting for warmth and light, I came across this post on various festivals - la Chandeleuse, Imbolc, ground hog day, Lichtmess, candlemas - we're all just yearning for sun and warmth vinauverre.wordpress.com/2014/02/04/1...

Interesting online workshop for metaphor researchers: Large Language METAPHORS: New Trends in Computational Approaches to Metaphorical Expressions

ℹ️ Full details here: neplab.it/large_langua...

Oh no, I hope you get this sorted somehow...

such a lovely garden path sentence

lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · 49m I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated. Quote lizzie johnson @lizziejohnsonnn · Jan 25 Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil — pen ink freezes — by headlamp.

INBOX: Washington Post Ukraine Correspondent Lizzie Johnson announces that she has been laid off in the middle of a below-freezing war zone without power, heat, or running water.

Today is a good day to follow and support news outlets that avoid generative AI slop:

bsky.app/profile/alex...

🎥 This is fun; mostly about the dictionary craze.

I remember that so well.... it certainly stuck in my head

‘If I think about what this means, I want to cry’: what happens when a city loses its university? When Essex University’s Southend campus opened, it was a message of hope for a ‘left behind’ UK seaside town. Its closure will be felt far beyond its 800 students, some of whom will not get their degr...

Incandescent. One of the best pieces I've read about what university means to people and their communities - and what will happen to a city and people after one closes. The *Labour* government and Jaqui Smith in particular should be ashamed of themselves and shamed into doing something. Deplorable.