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Hilary Barth

@hilarybarth.bsky.social

Professor of Psychology at Wesleyan U, CT, USA. Cognition / Development. Still on Ukraine X/Twitter.

1,588 Followers  |  305 Following  |  447 Posts  |  Joined: 25.07.2023
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Posts by Hilary Barth (@hilarybarth.bsky.social)

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Video Shows US Tomahawk Missile Strike Next to Girls’ School in Iran - bellingcat New video footage shows a US Tomahawk missile hitting an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) facility in Minab, Iran, on Feb 28, showing for the first time that the US struck the area. The footag...

Read our analysis of the video showing a US Tomahawk missile strike next to Girls’ School in Iran on February 28 here: www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...

08.03.2026 19:14 β€” πŸ‘ 1124    πŸ” 498    πŸ’¬ 13    πŸ“Œ 54
OSF

When you collect data online, are the results from humans or AI? In a project led by Booth PhD student Grace Zhang, we estimate the prevalence of AI agents on commonly used survey platforms:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧡

07.03.2026 20:22 β€” πŸ‘ 107    πŸ” 50    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 3

β€œPeace in Ukraine cannot be built on promises alone. It must begin with proof. Until Russia returns the children it has taken β€” and ends the systems designed to erase those who remain under occupation β€” no settlement can be considered credible, durable or just.”

thehill.com/opinion/inte...

06.03.2026 03:36 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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More on Hungary's detention of Ukrainian bank workers and vehicles.

Ukraine's Foreign Min, Andrii Sybiha describing it as hostage taking and stealing money.

The armoured cars contained
♦️$40 million
♦️€35 million
♦️9kg of gold

06.03.2026 00:38 β€” πŸ‘ 89    πŸ” 35    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 3

Bigger. Problem. Than. Anticipated.

The first verified Shahed Drone attack on Ukraine was 1,270 days ago.

Ukrainian numbers put the number of Shahed strike UAVs launched at them last year alone at over 32,000.

Your brain, is it... not good? Do you have the bad brain? Sir? Sir?

05.03.2026 12:25 β€” πŸ‘ 264    πŸ” 79    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 4
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a large screen shows a man 's face and says ingsoc ALT: a large screen shows a man 's face and says ingsoc

So... A friend was supposed to give a PURELY SCIENTIFIC talk at NIH within the next couple of weeks and it was cancelled because of a "new process" where all speakers/talks have to be CLEARED BY A POLITICAL APPOINTEE.

04.03.2026 14:52 β€” πŸ‘ 550    πŸ” 241    πŸ’¬ 26    πŸ“Œ 28
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Chart of the week: Russia lost more territory than it gained for the first time since 2023 Russia lost more territory than it gained in February for the first time since Ukraine's failed counteroffensive in 2023, according to independent Finnish open-source intelligence collective Black Bir...

Russia lost more territory than it gained in February for the first time since Ukraine's failed counteroffensive in 2023, according to independent Finnish open-source intelligence collective Black Bird Group.

03.03.2026 21:04 β€” πŸ‘ 463    πŸ” 122    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 6
A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

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01.03.2026 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 667    πŸ” 446    πŸ’¬ 28    πŸ“Œ 118

my family plays this game, "you fell asleep at a talk, but have to ask a question at the end; what can you get away with?"

it varies by field.

e.g.

mom, clinical/social: did you control for gender?

dad, vision science: can't all this simply be explained by 'attention'?

28.08.2025 12:57 β€” πŸ‘ 69    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 11    πŸ“Œ 7

Putin could end the war tomorrow

25.02.2026 22:47 β€” πŸ‘ 1250    πŸ” 271    πŸ’¬ 47    πŸ“Œ 6
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Against frictionless AI - Communications Psychology AI’s greatest strengthβ€”removing friction from work and relationshipsβ€”is also a liability. Prioritizing outcome over process, it eliminates desirable difficulties that drive growth. By subtracting effo...

1/ New paper in Communications Psychology: Against Frictionless AI. Led by my student Emily Zohar and @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social.

The argument: AI's greatest selling point is also its problem.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

25.02.2026 01:50 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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The UN General Assembly has adopted the resolution "Advancing a Comprehensive, Just and Lasting Peace in Ukraine." The resolution calls for an immediate ceasefire, respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the exchange of prisoners of war, and the release of all unlawfully detained persons.

24.02.2026 21:10 β€” πŸ‘ 299    πŸ” 42    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 6

This is the fourth winter under missiles and bombs, in darkness and cold. And once again fascist Russia has failed to break Ukraine, no matter what it tried.

24.02.2026 13:12 β€” πŸ‘ 392    πŸ” 54    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 3

"silly"
and no, it's not a war over territory

23.02.2026 20:03 β€” πŸ‘ 1317    πŸ” 323    πŸ’¬ 137    πŸ“Œ 17
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Russia’s Grinding War in Ukraine Despite claims of success in Ukraine, new CSIS data shows that Russia is paying an extraordinary price for minimal gains, with over 1.2 million casualties. Russia is also in decline as a major economi...

What Kremlin doesn’t want you to see. Nearly 4 years after the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has utterly failed to achieve its stated objectives while sustaining losses not seen since WW2. Now using Washington to try to get what it couldn’t on the battlefield.
www.csis.org/analysis/rus...

29.01.2026 06:33 β€” πŸ‘ 46    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2

without looking it up, guess the author. It's a person you know. "History proves that all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of government are transient. Only democratic systems are not transient. Whatever the shortcomings, mankind has not devised anything superior."

23.02.2026 16:50 β€” πŸ‘ 106    πŸ” 22    πŸ’¬ 24    πŸ“Œ 12

Wow.

23.02.2026 16:53 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Russia’s Aggression in Ukraine Will Persist Through 2026 Showing Russia that Ukraine can sustain its resistance while expanding the costs on the Kremlin is the only path towards a settlement on durable terms.

β€œShowing Russia that Ukraine can sustain its resistance while expanding the costs on the Kremlin is the only path towards a settlement on durable terms.”

www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

23.02.2026 12:48 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Computer-vision research powers surveillance technology - Nature An analysis of research papers and citing patents indicates the extensive ties between computer-vision research and surveillance.

New paper hot off the press www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We analysed over 40,000 computer vision papers from CVPR (the longest standing CV conf) & associated patents tracing pathways from research to application. We found that 90% of papers & 86% of downstream patents power surveillance

1/

25.06.2025 17:29 β€” πŸ‘ 937    πŸ” 533    πŸ’¬ 31    πŸ“Œ 77
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As Peace Talks Stall, Russia and Ukraine Share One Aim: Keep Trump Happy U.S. officials warn that he could lose interest as the midterm elections approach.

Very good overview of the state of peace talks. Key point: Team Trump fails to accept Putin means what he says.

"Russia wants all of Donbas, but also a rewiring of Ukraine’s government, military, media, religion and identity, amounting to the restoration of Russian sway over the country."

20.02.2026 21:17 β€” πŸ‘ 89    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Matching sounds to shapes: Evidence of the bouba-kiki effect in naΓ―ve baby chicks Humans across multiple languages spontaneously associate the nonwords β€œkiki” and β€œbouba” with spiky and round shapes, respectively, a phenomenon named the bouba-kiki effect. To explore the origin of t...

Hey linguists -- chickens can distinguish bouba and kiki:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

19.02.2026 23:02 β€” πŸ‘ 44    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 7
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Russia's hybrid warfare rattles Poland and NATO Russia is stepping up covert attacks across Europe β€” rail sabotage, drones, cyberstrikes β€” testing NATO. Polish officials warn "disposable agents" are sowing fear and weakening support for Ukraine.

www.npr.org/2026/02/18/n...

19.02.2026 15:50 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Humiliating as usual

18.02.2026 19:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

My team at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman.bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) has shared a big data update, covering all recorded US protests through Jan 2026. Some key takeaways 🧡:

12.02.2026 18:18 β€” πŸ‘ 696    πŸ” 334    πŸ’¬ 12    πŸ“Œ 56

Russia took ~5k more casualties in December than Russia gained in recruits. In January, casualties outstripped recruits by ~8k.

As @phillipspobrien.bsky.social writesβ€”with caveats that it may be a fluke or specific to those monthsβ€”if Ukraine can sustain that, they can exhaust Russia's ware effort.

15.02.2026 14:45 β€” πŸ‘ 161    πŸ” 57    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 3
A line curve showing number of awards for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025 across NSF. The fiscal year 2026 curve lies well below curves for other fiscal years.

A line curve showing number of awards for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025 across NSF. The fiscal year 2026 curve lies well below curves for other fiscal years.

NSF Update

Funding curve overall. A little bit of progress in the past week, but only a little bit.

Now by Directorate...

1/11

13.02.2026 21:21 β€” πŸ‘ 520    πŸ” 298    πŸ’¬ 22    πŸ“Œ 52

Read the paper (β€œDurably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI") and also watch this talk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj8M...

14.02.2026 01:20 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Honored (and genuinely, wildly grateful and -- even more than I am grateful -- surprised) to share that our paper "Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI" received the @aaas.org Newcomb-Cleveland Prize (for the "most outstanding" paper in @science.org last year).

13.02.2026 23:20 β€” πŸ‘ 55    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 1

In case you missed these, here's a compilation (for a few giggles to end the week).

1. Instagram post by NYUmed comms (oops).

bsky.app/profile/andr...

13.02.2026 13:31 β€” πŸ‘ 78    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 3

New details have emerged about the russian attack on a private home in Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv region, that killed 3 children and their father‼️

Russians struck a family home with a Shahed drone. The house was completely destroyed and burned down, leaving the residents trapped under the rubble.

11.02.2026 13:09 β€” πŸ‘ 296    πŸ” 88    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 10