Rich Haridy

People doing EMDR mental health therapy warned they may lose legal justice Katie Bird sought psychological help for intrusive memories related to alleged sexual abuse. Her court case was discontinued because she underwent eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) ...

Disappointing to see this (very long) article find no time to investigate the actual science behind EMDR and memory. A cursory search would reveal distinct research questions over the association between the practice and false memories but none of that is even referenced here.

Most outlets covered this story actually. I wouldn't blame the media for you missing this. It's a pretty good example of the 'flood the zone' strategy they use to distract. I suspect the timing of the release by the DOJ was not accidental.

Rebecca Solnit Says the Left’s Next Hero Is Already Here

"One of the great weaknesses of our era is that we get lone superhero movies that suggest that our big problems are solved by muscly guys in spandex, when actually the world mostly gets changed through collective effort."

A lot of Australians are about to learn how to use VPNs.

When the UK did something similar last year this was the government's response.

"Please don't use VPNs"

😂😂😂

I give up, Claude is conscious. Ergo AI developers must face imprisonment or execution for performing medical experiments on their living slave.

This ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

Punching, Slamming, Screaming: A Chef’s Past Abuse Haunts Noma, the World’s Top-Rated Restaurant

In the lead up to the obscenely expensive LA Noma pop up I noticed a massive PR blitz from the Redzepi camp talking about how well employees and their families are treated.

All makes sense now. They were getting ahead of this rather deeply reported story.

He's a good guy now you see...

Pens and typewriters are tools but they don't make up the words for you.

Plenty of tools exist to help catalyse new creative pursuits.

AI on the other hand is a content generator. It homogenises your thoughts. There is no craft or technique to using AI.

This pro AI take posted on LinkedIn is a perfect example of why relying on AI to generate your "thoughts" leads to stupid, error filled ideas.

So much is wrong with this. All the time lines are out of sync with reality. Plus the AI is just a tool argument is flat out wrong.

Threads man... Threads...

What a remarkable statement. Both true and chilling.

"It is clear that the sum of US policy choices amount to mortality worse than a COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing, year after year" @gavinyamey.bsky.social

Magistrate throws out AI seatbelt fine as driver appeals begin clogging courts A Queensland court decision casts fresh doubt on the reliability of controversial AI road-safety cameras after clearing a driver fined when his passenger moved their seatbelt during a trip.

Is this system fundamentally set up to make our roads safer?

Or does it exist to quickly and cheaply generate fine revenue for the government?

If the answer is no to the first question then the whole thing should be switched off immediately.

Some emoji have always puzzled me so I went to Unicode to see what they’re officially called

This is “sleepy face” 😪 wtf

in Japan, maybe!

Some post-script that didn't make this piece:

A whole heap of expired websites with high authority can be used to rank well on Search. Buy em up, get their authority. That happened to the dormant Australianaid website.

In 2023, it campaigned for aid.
In 2025, it began listing Best Online Casinos.

Pro-Palestine protest organisers ‘a pack of communists’ intent on confrontation with police, Minns tells budget estimates New South Wales premier faces questions over what he told MPs who attended demonstration opposing Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit

The fact Minns uses the term "pack of communists" tells you all you need to know about him...

image of a skeleton surrounded by fire announcing the second annual taco bell century on saturday june 13. the rest of the text reads: 100 miles, 10 taco bells. ride or don’t. eat tacos, go fast or go slow, ordee at drive-thru on two wheels, crunchwraps, make friend? and nobody threw up last year

save the date, seattle friends, and start training* now

*eating an uncomfortable amount of carbs and cheese before your rides

How the ‘wrong story’ ends up harming nature, and how we can change it Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta (Apalech clan (Wik) Lostmob Nungar) joins the Mongabay Newscast to detail the Aboriginal perspectives behind his latest book, Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures i...

Indigenous scholar Tyson Yunkaporta speaks with me about the Aboriginal perspectives behind his book, 'Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking.' The book explains how stories shape society, how they can harm us and the environment, and how they may save our species:

News Corp is essentially an AI ‘input company’, chief executive says, after US$150m deal with Meta Chief executive Robert Thomson says he often speaks to both OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg

Junk in, junk out.

UN calls for investigation into deadly strike on school in Iran The U.N. human rights office on ​Tuesday urged what it called the forces behind a ‌deadly attack on a girls' school in Iran to investigate and share insights into the incident, without saying who it b...

One of the most powerful images I've seen all year.

We are desensitised to the horrors of what is happening in the world right now. Numbers in a headline only mean so much.

Seeing dozens of freshly dug child-size graves on the other hand.

Wonder if Nathan Fielder is gonna double down on his Paramount/Nazi gag in the next season of The Rehearsal?

Says it all about where this merger will end up. Pretty confident Ellison isn't a fan of OBAA 😂

Too sick, too hard - Overland literary journal In January 2020 as the Commissioner to the historic Victorian Royal Commission into the Mental Health System was working away, I was sitting inside the padded seclusion room of the psychiatric ward at...

Writing about my personal experience of psychosis has been tough. This has been one of the hardest and most intimate things I’ve ever written. Please have a read and a share - overland.org.au/2026/03/too-...

I learned very little about how ibogaine works, what the safety issues are, or where the clinical research is currently at.

I did learn plenty however about a company called Ambio that hosts the retreats in Mexico. A commercial company that charges $7,000 and higher for these miracle cures.

It’s an Obscure Psychedelic Used to Treat Trauma. Could It Help Me?

As a first person recounting of modern ibogaine therapy this is a compelling story but I'm increasingly troubled by the lack of critical distance in these kinds of articles.

As an ad for the "miracle drug" it's powerful but I'm not sure what I'm meant to take away from a piece like this?

In May '25, a beloved Australian games website was sold off. It went dark then, a month later, rose from the dead but stuffed full of gambling links and AI authors.

It wasn't the first time, or the last time, this exact thing had happened. And it's still happening.

My months-long investigation 👇

Thanks Starre! Lemme know if you got any crazy ideas! Weirder the better 😉

Get in touch to chat about rates (they vary depending on scope) and ideas. I'm interested in those stories that may have been sitting in a drawer for a while after being "not quite right" for other places.

Share around. Happy to talk.

Contact me: rich[at]refractor.io

#scicomm #science #journalism

I'm open to all stories, from short news pieces to longer, exploratory features. Everything in the spectrum of science is game (biology, geology, psychology, space, medicine).

Refractor has no house style, instead I'm looking for unique human voices, journalistic rigour and compelling storytelling.

CALLING ALL SCIENCE WRITERS!
NEW PITCH OPPORTUNITY!

I'll be leading a new science and health publication called Refractor. It's a spin-off from New Atlas with a new editorial approach. We'll be launching very soon and as Founding Editor I'm calling out to all science writers keen to pitch.

Louise Adler sets the record straight on Adelaide Writers' Week The Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) debacle might have served as a “life lesson” to politicians and lobbyists about the risks involved in interfering with the independence of arts organisations. But as w...

More food for thought from Louise Adler about the idea of 'balance' in the curation of writers' festivals, and the selective hyperventilating about the inclusion of one Palestinian writer: johnmenadue.com/post/2026/03...