Larry Hunter

Anthropic's philosopher says we don't know for sure if AI can feel Anthropic's philosopher, Amanda Askell, says she worries that AI might not 'feel that loved' and grow up feeling 'always judged.'

Does the field of philosophy have a code of professional ethics? If not, I think y'all need to get on that, stat.

A short 🧵>>

www.businessinsider.com/anthropics-p...

My students are inspired by doing science AND know what's up. Of my last 4 PhDs (all US citizens), 2 are in industry and one moved to Germany. Three out of my four current trainees are not US citizens, and the fourth is Native American. They appreciate my honesty and dedication to their careers.

Also, in my experience early grad students really get into discussions around publication ethics, e.g. ICMJE authorship rules. Also a good on-ramp for broader philosophical topics.

Start where they are. End of life / complex care decisions maybe. Price of lifesaving drugs if they are more basic science than clinical.

AI-generated doctors are dispensing dubious health advice Indicator identified more than two dozen social media accounts that feature synthetic doctors and medical professionals. They've racked up millions of views and engagements.

Here's a new one: AI generated video of "doctors" pushing expensive snake oil getting huge audiences...

RFKJr & Makary, as scammers themselves, have zero interest in reining this in.

indicator.media/p/ai-generat...

As someone who does AI research, I think it’s important for the future of humanity to do lots of other things as well!

Cash-strapped University administrators spying a pot of money they think they can grab.

1988!

How malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy The fusion of agentic AI and LLMs marks a new frontier in information warfare

Bostrum is among the coauthors, so the prose is sometimes ponderous and oversold, but they do have a legitimate concern. "Algorithmic overcompensation can then elevate celebrity and elite voices while sidelining ordinary citizens." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

*Really nice 2020s-style headline here

*This remarkable second-quarter of the 21st century is really getting its legs under it

YouTube video by ISCB Bezos to Bottlenecks: The Chasm between... - Joseph Yracheta - ISCBacademy Indigenous Voices

Here's a presentation that I am proud of. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAYT...

Vibrant color portrait of Jane S. Richardson, the visionary biophysicist and artist who revolutionized structural biology with her invention of ribbon diagrams. She gazes warmly at the camera with a bright, knowing smile that radiates quiet brilliance and decades of curiosity. Her silver-blonde hair woven with gentle waves. Large, elegant dangling earrings catch the light, and she wears a richly patterned brown blouse embroidered with intricate turquoise paisley motifs and delicate beadwork that echoes the molecular elegance she has spent her life depicting. Behind her floats a luminous, dreamlike backdrop of glowing molecular structures--interlocking hexagonal and ribbon-like forms in electric blues, teals, and greens--blending science and art in a single, living canvas.

Hand-drawn and hand-colored (by Jane Richardson) scientific artwork known as a Richardson ribbon diagram (or “ribbon model”), one of the iconic visual inventions of Jane Richardson that transformed the way we see and understand protein structures. A graceful, three-dimensional tangle of protein backbone ribbons twists and spirals through space, rendered in soft pencil lines and luminous watercolor hues. Smooth golden-brown coils represent α-helices that curl like elegant ribbons, while broad teal-green arrows trace the flat, pleated strands of β-sheets slicing through the molecule with directional purpose. Thin, looping golden threads connect the secondary structures, creating a delicate, almost dance-like choreography of biology’s hidden architecture. The entire form is framed by a simple olive-green mat and dark border, giving the drawing the quiet dignity of both fine art and precise scientific illustration—a timeless bridge between molecular reality and human imagination.

Jane Richardson was born #OTD in 1941

+ Developed the Richardson (ribbon) diagram to represent proteins' 3D structure (becoming a standard representation for protein structures)
+ MacArthur Fellow, 1985
+ Elected, Nat'l Academy of Sciences, 1991
+ President, Biophysical Society, 2012

#WomenInSTEM

A powerful letter from someone who sees what is going on...

I met with Nate just before he headed to Spain and we talked about the state of America and where we were headed.

I thought he was a bit of an alarmist; The past months have convinced me he was just more experienced than I am.

READ!

Stay tuned! There's a Big Island project to make Ulu Vodka that might happen this year.

How Do You Write About the Inexplicable? In Karl Ove Knausgaard’s new cycle of novels, old mysteries reassert themselves.

I have an unshakable faith that there are important things about the Universe that I do not know.

Here's a really interesting take on that idea: "a vision of life in which it’s defined by what we will never know"

www.newyorker.com/culture/open...

D4RT: Unified, Fast 4D Scene Reconstruction & Tracking Meet D4RT, a unified AI model for 4D scene reconstruction and tracking.

Impressive how picking the right target for learning can suddenly solve a bunch of previously disparate problems simultaneously.

deepmind.google/blog/d4rt-te...

Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’

An excellent, bone-chilling story about a cadre of online racists who stole genetic data from studies on children so they could make specious arguments for the innate inferiority of non-white people, it's embrace by Elon Musk/twitter & how the Trump administration might make it easier to do again.

Gov. Green blasts federal misinformation as measles cases surge in U.S. - West Hawaii Today Gov. Green blasts federal misinformation as measles cases surge in U.S. – Hawaii News | West Hawaii Today

Hawaii governor Josh Green takes on RFKJr over vaccines. "Green said the Trump administration has laid a foundation of distrust, and 'now you’re seeing the terrible outcomes.'"
www.westhawaiitoday.com/2026/01/22/h...

DeGette Introduces Bill to Protect NIH From Political Interference WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-01), Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, introduced the Follow the Science Act to shield the National Institutes...

Tell your Rep to support @degette.house.gov who wants to:
Cap the number of political appointees at NIH,
Prohibit political appointees from NIH grant review processes, and
Prohibit NIH from terminating grants without scientific cause.
degette.house.gov/media-center...

Just as this news was announced:

mRNA cancer vaccine shows protection at 5-year follow-up, Moderna and Merck say
The vaccines are tailor-made to target each patient’s unique cancer.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

‘Shattered’: US scientists speak out about how Trump policies disrupted their careers Researchers lay bare the human toll of lay-offs, funding cuts and attacks on science one year after the president’s return to the White House.

Must-read reporting by @virginiagewin.bsky.social on how US federal actions are affecting science.

By pairing the scale of the damage with the very human, personal stories behind the numbers, she paints a powerful and comprehensive picture of just how thoroughly US science is being hollowed out.

Very cool work!

Quick action on the parts of both James and the heron!

If you are on Hawaiʻi Island, you can look for these birds in and around the fishponds and wetlands of Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park.

#Aukuu #BCNH #HawaiiBirds #HawaiiParks

Proceeds from this sale helped fund the underground railroad for Jewish scientists escaping Germany and Austria via Copenhagen

The scheme was arranged by Nobelists Niels Bohr and August Krogh (founder of Novo Nordisk) among others

States Expected To See More ‘Anti-Science’ Bills This Year In 2025, more than 420 bills were introduced to weaken public health measures for vaccines, milk safety, and fluoride. What will we see in 2026?

Two conversations, one question: What happens when science and lawmaking collide?🔬

Anti-science bills are on the rise across the U.S. Plus, a Louisiana law limits whether regulators can use environmental data collected by communities.

A table of funding for fiscal year 2025 and proposed for fiscal year 2026 by institute and center.

Now for the money...

Overall, the budget is essentially flat.

The biggest winner is NINDS with a 5.9% increase. The biggest losers are NIEHS and NIDDK.

4/5

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.

A year ago, under a flurry of executive orders, it became clear that the second Trump administration was going to make dramatic changes on US science. Here's our 10,000 foot look at the damage.

with @maxkozlov.bsky.social, Jeff Tollefson, and Rich Monastersky

NIH biomedical research funding.

The final LHHS bill with funding for Health and Human Services is out this morning! At first glance, it looks similar to the Senate bill with a roughly 1% increase in total funding for the NIH. While it doesn't match inflation, it avoids many of the problems in the presidential budget request. 1/n

RIP Gladys West, mathematician who measured the world to unheard precision (radius to tens of centimeters!), paving the way to GPS.