Jon Brock

"There were few people better placed to
know why notions of race-based differences in intelligence
have no scientific foundation; to sustain his beliefs in the
face of that demanded not just ignorance but active denial." @philipcball.bsky.social in @thelancet.com

This, from Ethan Hawke, is beautiful.

#TomStoppard

"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.

Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.

NYT headline saying "F.D.A. Attributes 10 Children’s Deaths to Covid Vaccines: The agency’s top vaccine regulator said that a review had found that the children were likely to have died “because of” the shots. But public health experts want to examine the data." With a photo of a light-skinned baby receiving a shot from a healthcare provider with darker skin.

Headlines like this are extremely dangerous. Because moms of young kids are the people who make the bulk of the vaccine decisions for famillies. And for a lot of them, "reading the news" looks like scrolling past headlines on social media in the spare moments of the chaos of caring for kids.

On top of the lowest DECRA success rate… what are we doing

Scientists: have you been the target of an online harassment campaign, doxxing, or weaponized FOIA requests? I'd like to talk to you about steps you had to take to protect your digital security for an upcoming Nature story. (You can be anonymous if necessary.)

RTs appreciated.

Today’s xkcd made me cry.

In a good way.

xkcd.com/3172/

#writingopportunity | Rachel Courtland #WritingOpportunity: MIT Technology Review is seeking pitches for an upcoming print issue. The theme is Nature. We're looking for pitches for longer pieces: narrative features, compelling investigati...

Hi freelancers, I just posted a call for pitches for @technologyreview.com's upcoming print issue. The theme is Nature. Pitch deadline is December 5. More info here! www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

A screenshot of a Facebook post where a person named Andy ask the Well now “What the hell is transgender?” The Royal Canadian Air Force account response with “That’s a pretty big question asked in a pretty small way, Andy. ‘Transgender’ putting describes someone whose gender – who they know themselves to be – doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth. It’s not new, and it’s certainly not a fad. People have lived this experience for as long as people have existed; we’re just finally talking about it openly. You don’t have to fully understand it right away, most learning takes time, but we can always start from a place of respect. That’s how decent folks handle things they’re still getting used to.”

Massive shoutout out to whoever handles the Royal Canadian Air Force’s social media account. They responded to every single comment on their already very solid Trans Day of Remembrance post and they responded like this…

The Science of Visual Data Communication: What Works - Steven L. Franconeri, Lace M. Padilla, Priti Shah, Jeffrey M. Zacks, Jessica Hullman, 2021 Effectively designed data visualizations allow viewers to use their powerful visual systems to understand patterns in data across science, education, health, an...

I'm surprised I only came across it now, but this review on improving communication in data visualization is excellent.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

I feel like writing about this again. CSIRO / broader research tips welcome: rickjamesmorton@protonmail.com

The CSIRO cuts are just the tip of the iceberg for Australia's science funding Australia is known as a country of innovators, but with a combination of brain drain, continuous cuts, and a loss of critical science projects, is Australia losing its edge?

www.abc.net.au/news/science...

‘Sad day for publicly funded science’: up to 350 more jobs to go at CSIRO Australia’s national scientific agency announces more research job losses as it looks for budgetary savings

This is obscene.

The challenges facing the nation means we should be scaling up CSIRO, not cutting it to shreds.

While we are sending billions to the US for nuclear shipyards, our science and industrial base at home is falling apart for lack of funds and direction.

If we don’t signal our virtue every now and again - then so many believe they are utterly alone - “virtue signalling” is not there to say “aren’t I good” but “there are more of us than you might imagine” and “fuck you for demanding that only the brutal and the bullies may speak”

“Our impression is that autism-microbiome research is an example of a field that has generated its own momentum, without necessarily going anywhere.”

A personal reflection on the destructive erosion of ethics, norms and respect for law at NASA:
🧪🔭

🧵

Is Jonathan Haidt right about smartphones? In ‘The Anxious Generation’, Haidt makes the case that social media and smartphones have ‘rewired’ today’s teenagers, but his critics say the evidence tells us something very different - and that bann...

“It’s really difficult to craft a story that explains the complexity of the research literature, but still gives people something to take away with them to do. And that’s what parents are craving' @peteetchells.bsky.social
@jonsevers.bsky.social @tesmagazine.bsky.social
www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

Carbon credits are failing to help with climate change — here’s why The idea that emissions can be offset through projects that claim to avoid releases or to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is fatally flawed.

There is a reason "offsetting" does not exist in the vast majority of cases of avoidable harm to human safety: it would be laughed off as physically absurd and outright fraudulent.

Somehow, in the single most catastrophic physical threat facing our species, it became accepted as normal

“Science journalism can — and should — be a barrier against misinformation. It should be careful, cautious, considered. The bare minimum should be picking up the phone and speaking to researcher.”
Very much agree with this!

After 3,000 years of science, the embryo is very different | Aeon Essays For 3,000 years, humans have struggled to understand the embryo. Now there is a revolution underway

After 3,000 years of science, the embryo is very different – aeon.co/essays/after... via @aeonmag - a wonderful essay by John Wallingford

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Are You a Bad Mom for Taking Tylenol? - CNN One Thing - Podcast on CNN Podcasts Major medical groups are speaking out against claims made by President Donald Trump linking Tylenol use to autism. So where should pregnant people and parents of autistic children turn for guidance? W...

I went on CNN's One Thing podcast last week, talking about how absurd & ass-backwards last week's White House Big Autism Announcement was. But as not everyone listens to podcasts, here's a thread of the conversation:

www.cnn.com/audio/podcas...

#autism #TylenolDoesNotCauseAutism #neurodiversity 1/

Book Review: A Call to Arms About the Threat of Anti-Science "Science Under Siege," by Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Hotez, is an impassioned manifesto against attacks on science.

In their new book, Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Hotez present an impassioned manifesto against attacks on #science. I review “Science Under Siege” for @undark.org:
undark.org/2025/10/03/b... @michaelemann.bsky.social @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social #books

S14, Ep3 | The Psychology of Misinformation: Why Does It Work So Well? Investigating the obstacles to action on climate change.

In this week's episode, we dig into the psychology of mis/disinformation and why it works so well. We thought we knew a lot about disinformation, and then we talked to these experts!

drilled.media/podcasts/dri...

This moment from our latest episode with science writer @edyong209.bsky.social is 🔥

We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪

Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇

open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...

PR firms are spreading climate misinformation on behalf of fossil fuel companies. Could Australia stop them? This week, Australian policymakers heard about the real and growing problem of climate misinformation. Stopping it would mean regulating the PR industry.

"This is what climate misinformation looks like. These claims are common, influential and damaging. They’re often spread for a reason: to slow the uptake of clean alternatives to fossil fuels. Unfortunately, they are shaping public opinion. "

I have just left a lengthy Pubpeer comment on the autism/Tylenol study being cited by the Trump administration. There appear to be a number of fairly straightforward errors in the paper.

pubpeer.com/publications...

Sabine Hossenfelder Asks If Science Is Dying. It’s Not. Physics is dying. It’s mathematical fiction. Science is failing. Most of academic research that your taxes pay for is almost certainly bullshit. I don’t trust scientists. Would you believe me if I tol...

Great piece by @jonathanjarry.bsky.social on the descent of Sabine Hossenfelder, from science communicator to contrarian outrage-monger www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/...

Huntington’s disease treated successfully for first time in UK gene therapy trial Surgical procedure to treat devastating illness slowed progress of disease by 75% in patients after three years

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Screenshot of article highlighting the following: “Research in genetics and neuroscience has produced a staggering number of discoveries, but most have not yet been translated into novel ways to treat neurological and mental disorders, even disorders that are already well understood genetically (such as Huntington’s disease).”

Actually it does (happily) get one thing wrong…