As a course assignment, I had students rewrite the discussion section from an actual paper (using track changes) and incorporate information from a DAG and bias analyses they ran. Some of these are among the best discussion sections I've ever seen!

Today I'm posting a new blog about an astonishing scientific own goal. Hundreds of papers have reported using a totally wrong antibody to investigate the tumor suppressor p16. This mistake has happened because scientists have muddled the names of two proteins. forbetterscience.com/2026/06/02/m...

University administrators two years ago: we can’t allow social justice movements to change the university as we know it University administrators today: in order to accommodate the new probabilistic bullshit generator no one likes we must change everything about the university

New research finds coming back to Earth after floating in space leads astronauts’ brains to predict that items will rise, rather than float, if they drop them: www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...

This is the May cover of NN but it has already been debunked on biorxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Such a clear statement about the ridiculous pace of publishing (not just NN).

🧠 This could be yet another reason exercise is vital for brain health: New research in mice finds that exercise may help keep the brain healthy by mechanically assisting cerebrospinal fluid circulation. www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...

Scientists reveal the brain’s surprisingly active role in building exercise endurance

The Artemis II Orion capsule separating from the European Service module (now from two angles) 4K resolution: youtu.be/_QelA8UonoQ

I fear Labour people risk falling into an ecological fallacy visible from space when reacting to these results. Here is what is very clear in results so far: Labour are losing *seats* to Reform, but... Labour are losing *votes* to the Greens Greens split the vote, Ref comes thru middle

A student who sets out to write a research paper will now encounter chatbots who will offer to do their work in their word document, in their learning management system, in their email, in their web browser, and in certain library database interfaces.

Why consciousness science needs to look beyond the brain – and what practitioners can do right now. Stephen Hartshorn and Michael O'Brien argue that ‘the body is not the background’… With author-narrated audio for @bpsofficial.bsky.social members. www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

A new entry into our top three 'Most read of 2026'… our @researchdigest.bsky.social on a new study from Daniella Wain and colleagues including @brettheasman.bsky.social www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...

We're embarking on a new project to create guidelines for Emergency Department care for people with #MECFS and #LongCOVID. If you are able to support the project, that would be wonderful; if you aren't able just now, I hope you'll share. millionsmissing.funraise.org/fundraiser/m...

A success story, yes. But for whom?" The UK Covid Inquiry just called the vaccines & therapeutics rollout a triumph. Meanwhile: → 5M antivirals binned → UK denied immunocompromised people suitable protection → u5s never offered a vaccine www.clinicallyvulnerable.org/post/covid-i...

The Psychologist homepage looking fine today… www.bps.org.uk/psychologist

Absolutely incredible. NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman, who commanded Artemis II, took this footage from the far side of the Moon with his iPhone. Watch with sound on.

Our new study explored how well various AI chatbots responded to health questions on various topics. Sum: not great. Nearly half (49.6%) of responses were problematic. See study: bmjopen.bmj.com/content/16/4... via @bmj.com

This looks like a significant discovery from Doris Tao's lab: Rapid concerted switching of the neural code in the inferotemporal cortex @nature.com "..our findings indicate that there is a previously unknown mechanism for neural representation:.." www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Call for people to participate in ME/CFS research by completing survey: ME Association's Clinical Assessment Toolkit Project Read more and complete the survey: https://meassociation.org.uk/qglp #MECFS #pwME #MyalgicE #Survey #ClinicalAssessmentToolkit

“In a system where synthetic content moves faster than it can be verified, the only real defense may be behavioral: hesitation. A pause before the repost. A few minutes of scrutiny in a system designed to reward none.” www.wired.com/story/how-th...

I taught about the Gaulldet 11 alongside this article for the future of human evolution. Disability in space is a good way to think about what traits that are considered “dis” -ability in one context maybe a “super”-ability in another context. gizmodo.com/why-we-need-...

Do you want to use vibration stimuli in remote research studies? 👀 📳🤳🏼 Our latest paper in Behaviour Research Methods might be of interest to you! Coauthors include: @kalvinroberts.bsky.social @peircej.bsky.social @multisensorylab.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.3...

Traditional: "The mammalian cortex is composed of 17 billion neurons and we're not even sure of how many types there are" Revised: "The mammalian cortex is five neurons and they're all roomates"

Are you a parent of a 12-15 year old young person who experiences chronic musculoskeletal pain? Please share our study details (see below) with your child as we are eager to hear from more 12-15 year olds on how they manage their pain. For more information, see inspiremsk.stir.ac.uk

Thoughtful piece: “Rather than focusing on a crisis of boys or girls, many specialists say the priority should be supporting young people overall, sometimes in a gender-neutral way” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Been ages since I've seen a case study... Realisations that hit you at 3pm, I guess.

Catherine Carr explains her discovery that geckos retain a vibration-sensing pathway previously thought to be lost when animals moved onto land. By @helenak.bsky.social #neuroskyence" www.thetransmitter.org/neuros-ark/n...

A reminder that we used to do the odd April Fool, but we had to stop because the media would pick up on them as serious stories... wonder what that says about Psychology… www.bps.org.uk/search?term=...

I’m so excited to say that the WHO WANTS NORMAL? paperback is now available to pre-order. This edition has a brand new forward and all the interviews with 50+ of Britain’s best known disabled women, from Ruth Madeley to Rosie Jones. Pre-order from a range of stores here: linktr.ee/WhoWantsNorm...

New work could pave the way for objective assessment of cognitive fatigue across multiple conditions: www.bps.org.uk/research-dig...

I noticed the UK government's estimate of CO2 from future AI data centres was implausibly low. I asked for the methodology underpinning the analysis, but got nowhere. When I wrote an article about it they just... deleted the analysis. Now, @adamvaughan.bsky.social has covered this for the Times.

Your annual reminder that in this day and age, posting hoax paleontology (and other science) "discoveries" on April Fool's Day **will be misinterpreted by MANY people** unless the discovery is incredibly absurd.

The beautiful preservstion of trilobite compound eyes will never cease to amaze me. On this little 400ish million year old Phacops you can see all the little lenses - each one a rigid calcite mineral crystal! Together they had excellent 360° vision, perfect for finding lunch on the seafloor.

Friday bump for my survey - still recruiting and only a few weeks left now #hearingloss #hearingdifference #music #musiclistening #everydaymusic #mentalhealth #wellbeing #qualityoflife #researchstudy #survey #musicscience #psychology #phdlife #phdsky #academicsky #psychscisky

Fascinating new study about men’s friendships. There’s a lot of evidence here that the “male loneliness crisis” is actually a white, wealthy man problem. Other men are building friendships with similar depth to women’s friendships.

This is a core peril of connectome-body models: behavioral fidelity ≠ biological fidelity. Virtual animals are powerful, but ONLY if brain-body interfaces are grounded in biology. A model that walks like a fly might just be a worm in disguise. 👀

🧵 New preprint led by @bingbrunton.bsky.social, @elliottabe.bsky.social, @lawrencehu.bsky.social We gave a worm brain control of a fly body and it walked What did we learn? Nothing, other than deep reinforcement learning is effective We call it the digital sphinx www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I hope no one needs an MRI this year. The world's largest producer of liquified helium is in Qatar and is shut off. We just got a notice that our supply for the year will be at least cut in half. No one could have predicted this (unless they thought about it).

Bad news for all those Tech Bros. "It was once believed that clones were identical to the original, but it has become clear through this study that mutations occur at a rate three times higher than in offspring born through natural mating." shorturl.at/DMQuY

⚠️New review straight out of the oven! "Spatial navigation in preclinical Alzheimer's disease: A review" arxiv.org/abs/2603.23082 We focus on spatial navigation as a sensitive cognitive marker in preclinical AD, compiling evidence from cognitively unimpaired individuals with positive AD biomarkers.

LLMs are imputation machines. They pull patterns from text data; Useful for things like coding, especially coding that has been done before. Academics work in knowledge generation, which goes far beyond imputation. If you think LLMs can replace grad students, you are telling on yourself.

Why is the #cerebellum (known for coordinating motor functions) also engaged in #cognition? @diedrichsenjorn.bsky.social & @actlab.bsky.social investigate the problems that have made it so difficult to answer this question and outline strategies to make progress. 🧪 #NeuroSky

How exactly does artificial intelligence drive individuals toward violent extremism? ​I am excited to share our recent publication in Personality and Social Psychology Review, "Intelligent Systems, Vulnerable Minds: A Framework for Radicalization to Violence in the Age of AI."

This confirms all my prejudices, and I will not be critically evaluating its claims or evidence at this time.

Such a great article. These are behaviors that people may or may not know are problematic (although some people definitely do). And we all need to be aware of them when reviewing for publication and in other venues. And... (1/3) #PsychSciSky #AcademicSky #EduSky journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

🔊 New preprint 🧠 for the first time we show congenital #aphantasia has physical brain anatomy alterations. Surprisingly, they have structurally intact #visual pathways. Structural alterations instead found in the fronto-temporal and cingulate systems. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵

New study shows that many animals like the same sounds as we do - suggesting a shared aesthetic sense (further evidence that animals' perceptual worlds are an important part of their welfare experience) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A reply to my reply about bots in online studies - and a very cool demonstration! I summarized my thoughts in the comments to this post.

We show that synesthesia is sensory and automatic in nature: the pupil scales with the brightness of experienced synesthetic colors. doi.org/10.7554/eLif... Now in its new dress @elife.bsky.social (convincing & valuable in round 1). If anyone wants to pick up the method, happy to share & explain!

📢 New preprint from the lab🧠 ▶️doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.12.710517 What does fMRI connectivity actually reflect at the neural level? The natural intuition is: more neural activity = more connectivity! Using cortical perturbations we show this is not necessarily the case: sometimes less is more! 👇🧵