Anjana Ahuja

OpenAI is spending at a scale that even Silicon Valley can't quite believe, buying up 20 nuclear reactors' worth of computing power this year. But there are big questions around whether it can turn that power into profit.

An #FTEdit 🧵on the ChatGPT maker’s $1tn bet on artificial intelligence 👇

Freshers' flu: Why is it so hard for students to dodge? It's not the actual flu, and it's rarely serious, but when thousands of students arrive on campus they bring a cocktail of viruses.

Freshers' Flu, the seasonal viruses that pray on vulnerable students. Great to work with @joshelgin.bsky.social and @sheencr.bsky.social on this piece for BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is a beautiful tribute to an amazing person who truly revolutionised our understanding of non-human animals.

On 15th Sept, billionaire & Royal Society fellow Elon Musk called for political & interethnic violence, to pre-empt (ie, begin) a civil war. ("Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die."). A fortnight later, the Society expresses its disapproval

Prize ceremony

The winner of the Royal Society book prize 2025 is ... Masud Husain

A lovely thread on my FT piece today!
So many mentions of Soundgarden, who knew about this before the astronomers 👏🏽

Autism has no easy answers Donald Trump’s promotion of an unproven link between Tylenol and neurological disorders does not help pregnant women

My take on #Tylenol for the FT: The White House is drifting ever farther from scientific reality.

Autism has no easy answers.

www.ft.com/content/72fa...

Huge thanks to @mja-uk.bsky.social for last night's awards for my brilliant columnist colleague @anjahuja.bsky.social and the @financialtimes.com project on the race against time to defeat mosquito-borne diseases. Congratulations to @ian-bott.bsky.social, @sdbernard.bsky.social and Charlie Bibby!

Honoured to be in the mix here, and congrats to all the finalists! 🙌🏽

@anjahuja.bsky.social here on the phenomenon called “emergent misalignment” where AI models can end up optimising for malice even when not explicitly trained to do so. www.ft.com/content/7f14...

The race against time to defeat mosquito-borne diseases Researchers are trying to tackle the threat before nature’s ‘flying needles’ become more prevalent and resistant to prevention

Big thanks to the @mja-uk.bsky.social ‬for the double shortlisting, including for this piece on mosquitoes with @ian-bott.bsky.social, Steve Bernard and Charlie Bibby.

www.ft.com/content/816c...

Congrats also to my wonderful columnist colleague @anjahuja.bsky.social.

mjauk.org/2025/08/15/f...

Janet Yellen in FT oped - Trump’s attack on the Fed threatens US credibility. History teaches us that chaos follows when leaders undermine the independence of central banks www.ft.com/content/d2ea...

The science of starvation A seminal 1940s study remains hauntingly relevant today

The science of starvation - timely column here from @anjahuja.bsky.social on seminal 1940s study that remains hauntingly relevant today www.ft.com/content/fb0a...

The book that explains the billionaire doomers A niche investment text from the 1990s may explain why powerful tech leaders fixate on the apocalypse

The book that explains the billionaire doomers https://on.ft.com/3H4sp6x | opinion

The incredible shrinking fish: Baltic cod evolve to dodge nets Genetic shift driven by over-exploitation risks undermining populations beyond repair, according to research

NEW: The incredible shrinking fish: Baltic cod evolve to dodge nets

Genetic shift driven by over-exploitation risks undermining populations beyond repair, according to research

Register here to read some @financialtimes.com articles free:

www.ft.com/register

www.ft.com/content/5bf6...

Royal Society prize winner returns award in protest over Elon Musk Andrea Sella is latest scientist to express dismay over UK science academy’s refusal to criticise tech billionaire

Top chemist gives back Royal Society medal, in deepening Musk fallout.

@sellathechemist.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

Exclusive @ft by @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social and me.

www.ft.com/content/8778...

I also skeeted about this conference while it was happening: bsky.app/profile/drml...

Health secretary RFK Jr. abruptly fires CDC vaccine advisory panel Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has taken the extraordinary step of firing the expert panel that advises the CDC.

This is the big one: Kennedy is firing the entire #ACIP in a move he says is needed to restore confidence in vaccines.
"It scares me to think of what’s ahead,” Mike Osterholm of CIDRAP told me. www.statnews.com/2025/06/09/r...

This is on everyone who voted to confirm him, despite his track record.
People fail to acknowledge the obvious when their privilege depends on being blind.

If an animal could speak, would we listen? [FREE TO READ] A prize aimed at cracking interspecies communication could make humans think differently about the welfare of other creatures

If an animal could speak, would we listen? Fascinating column by @anjahuja.bsky.social on.ft.com/4kwGAzC

EU food safety chief warns of bird flu threat to pigs Europe’s swine herds could become a ‘dangerous virus laboratory’, Bernhard Url says

NEW: EU food safety chief warns of bird flu threat to pigs

Europe’s 133mn swine could become ‘dangerous virus laboratory', mixing bird and human influenzas to create pathogens transmissible between people.

Register with @financialtimes.com here:

www.ft.com/register

www.ft.com/content/9c16...

Do we need a new generation of public institutions for ST&I? Is science stuck in the past? Join us to explore how rethinking public institutions could transform science, technology and innovation.

Do we need a new generation of public institutions for ST&I?

Join us tomorrow at 4pm for the first in a new UCL-STEaPP seminar series with @geoffmulgan.bsky.social, followed by a discussion with @anjahuja.bsky.social & @williamcb.bsky.social. Details here:

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/do-we-need...

The cost of Trump’s attack on American science Sweeping funding cuts threaten to undermine the innovation that has been a central part of US economic strength for decades

The cost of Trump’s attack on American science

https://www.ft.com/content/67fd40e3-104e-4599-a8b2-3f34cd75c74a

Congrats Alex and lovely to catch up recently!

NEW: Researchers have sued the NIH and HHS, alleging that they have engaged in a "reckless and illegal purge to stamp out NIH-funded research that addresses topics and populations that they disfavor" by terminating hundreds of grants, violating the APA, Fifth Amendment and the Separation of Powers.

Vaccine critic’s apparent selection to head HHS autism study shocks experts The apparent choice of a major player in the anti-vaccine community to conduct an HHS study on autism has shocked vaccine experts.

Even in 2025, some things still shock. Like the apparent selection of a long-time vaccine opponent who was disciplined & fined for practicing medicine without a license to conduct a new HHS study into whether there's a link between vaccines and autism.
www.statnews.com/2025/03/26/r...

My kids’ schools did have paper forms. And yes, it (mostly) worked!

UK’s Royal Society ‘makes case for science’ after facing calls to expel Elon Musk Academy’s fellows raise alarm as tech billionaire and Trump ally slashes US health and research spending

About that meeting last night, by my colleague @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/abd8...

Your rights are under threat from AI. It’s time to have your say! The Government recently launched a consultation on AI and copyright. Now is the time to have your say and make sure that legislators hear the concerns of creators.

If you haven't - please do fill this in. If you are a creative of any sort. The ALCS guidelines are very useful as the questions become more impenetrable. Also - you don't have to answer it all. www.alcs.co.uk/news/your-ri...

Recently joined BlueSky? Here's a starter pack of FT journalists to follow go.bsky.app/GhSgfrR