Since I can’t get it out of my head, I wrote up my thoughts on @kevinbaker.bsky.social's critique of AI-automated science and the logical end of processes that can't self-correct.

there’s now a petition for the canadian government to overturn the recent legislation in AB and SK designed to strip trans youth of their rights. please sign: www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

I just find it frustrating that the same people constantly pushing against ridiculous claims from AI-Luddites don't show similar frustration in response to equally ridiculous claims from the actual labs.

this, from @kevinbaker.bsky.social, is a better analysis of the intersection between LLMs and academic science than 98% of what's out there.

I got the same request. I filled it out, and I was glad to do so, but the LLM-generated hypotheses were really quite bad.

So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified

The RSF just attacked a kindergarten, killing at least 33 children in Sudan. Meanwhile, the Trump Admin. continues to sell arms to the UAE, who are aiding these atrocities. Imagine if Trump spent as much time trying to stop the killing, as he did getting the UAE to invest in his crypto coin.

No one of you is going to mistake this short column of mine for trenchant economic analysis. Nevertheless, here’s my attempt to explain to a popular audience why I think they should join the “raise my taxes” movement: www.christiancourier.ca/raise-my-tax...

my interview for the Digital Theory Lab with Karen Hao @karenhao.bsky.social at the Remarque Institute www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZpH...

Quality of life in Gaza has not improved since the "ceasefire". Most are still displaced and without food. Many are still dodging violence from Israeli attacks. Aid is still not being allowed in at anywhere near the levels required to help the population. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Almost everywhere in the City of Toronto has fewer people that it did 50 years ago

For the Monday morning crowd! My take on THE MASTERMIND and the politics of the heist film for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social lareviewofbooks.org/article/rebe...

CBC posted a video talking about a building losing its on street parking due to bike lanes. Somehow they failed to mention the building’s TWO visitor parking lots. One of which you can even see in the video. #yegbike

just a reminder that the 8 Dems who folded need to vote again later in the week (thanks to dumb senate procedure, unsurprisingly) light their phones up tomorrow at 9AM

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫

Next-generation specimen #digitization: capturing #reflectance spectra from the world's #herbaria for modeling plant biology across time, space, and taxa #TansleyReview by Jeannine Cavender-Bares, et al. nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #PlantScience

Whyte Avenue is Edmonton's most vibrant main street, but that doesn't mean we have to accept noise, traffic violence, and congestion In an opinion article we submitted to the Journal, ETR Chair Daniel Witte talks about his experience spending Halloween on Whyte edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...

New paper led by @bposch.bsky.social out in @newphyt.bsky.social . We reviewed evidence, mechanisms, and consequences of high temperature acclimation of leaf heat tolerance: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

“Individuals on the ground sent a message that reached us Monday morning that 1,200 were dead,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said. “By that evening, they said 10,000. By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”

I'm the next few days, it would be a mistake to: ❌️ limit the resistance to the teachers' demands or saving public education ❌️ make labour/workers/unions the only faces of opposition The UCP's pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause is much broader than one strike or one set of rights.

The days ahead will be crucial. Not just in terms of public opinion, but in terms of political culture. Champions of human rights and the constitution must not only outnumber the premier's supporters. They must persuade Albertans that these positions are dominant, piercing the populist bubble.

I gave my forestry students the 20 minute summary of modern coexistence theory as part of a quick overview of community ecology, and in retrospect I think this was probably not just useless but misleading

Please pass along - Our CAMBIUM NSF NRT provides fellowships to support new PhD students at @uarizona.bsky.social To train & prepare a new generation of scientists to harness the revolution in biodiversity big data to adapt to & mitigate the impacts of climate change. cambium.arizona.edu 🧪🌐🌾

Please pass along, I’m recruiting PhD students to join our Macroecology Lab @uofa-eeb.bsky.social We study phys ecology, macroecology, biodiversity - spanning scaling, trait-based ecology, theory, comparative biology & ecoinformatics. Several avenues for funding. Please reach out if interested🧪🌐🌾

📢 latest IDENT paper, in @journalofecology.bsky.social ! @paqlab.bsky.social @meganedeziel.bsky.social @ritasousasilva.bsky.social @cavenderg9.bsky.social @ebsearle.bsky.social

🍃 Functional traits best predict tree growth when age and leaf habit are considered–growth relationships shift over time and between deciduous and evergreen species🌿 @meganedeziel.bsky.social @alainpaquette.bsky.social Read more:https://buff.ly/2d9ppq9

it's a curious thing that at least two noteworthy works of French Canadian literature—Le ciel de Bay City and L'avenir—are set in Michigan

Lost Science is a new NYT series of accounts from scientists who have lost their jobs or funding. You can send your story to the Times here www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

I’m excited to announce that my new book, _The Irrational Decision_, is now available for pre-order from Princeton University Press.

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU. Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

The nomination deadline for 2026 @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social awards is coming up on November 13, 2025! This year we're accepting nominations for the inaugural Bazzaz-Pickett Award for inclusive mentorship in ecology. We'd love to see as many nominations as possible! esa.org/about/awards/

🚨 New preprint 🚨 Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions. Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased! osf.io/preprints/ps... Thread 🧵

AI always calling your ideas “fantastic” can feel inauthentic, but what are sycophancy’s deeper harms? We find that in the common use case of seeking AI advice on interpersonal situations—specifically conflicts—sycophancy makes people feel more right & less willing to apologize.

All ye of little faith, behold the new Happy Beer Street separated bike lanes, (nearly) complete with jersey barriers! #YEGbike @yegbike.bsky.social

Hey authors, the official list of Anthropic works is available for searching. secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup

New PhD position in tree ecophysiology at BiFoR-FACE (Uni of Birmingham) 🌳 Looking at tree carbon and water dynamics under elevated CO2 and warming 🌡️ Start Jan 2026. See more info here: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/376950

"Why would it bow to antidemocratic pressures by placing a professor on leave without their request, consent, or involvement? That any university would do this is beyond comprehension and is cause for alarm about the future of academic freedom in Canada."

We are searching for a Forest Ecophysiologist (tenure track Assistant or Associate Professor) to join the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry. Please share! Details are here: ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/ubcfacultyjobs

We mourn the passing of our Editor-in-Chief Steve Long. His vision to establish one of the first journals dedicated to Global Change over 30 years ago was truly ahead of its time. Through GCB, researchers have demonstrated that biology and ecosystems are not simply victims of global change..

Alberta looks to use notwithstanding clause on its 3 transgender laws: memo www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

This kind of smart, walkable, mixed-use urbanism is illegal to build in many American cities

Quand même elle, l’Asiatique préférée du Québec - qui a proclamé depuis des décennies son amour pour cette province et sa population bienveillante envers la diversité - dit sur Radio-Canada qu’elle a songé à quitter le Québec pour fuir le racisme actuel…ça va très mal. m.youtube.com/watch?v=fxX3...

as always, on the 11th of september: allende vive.

From me, a list of Trump supporters who killed, or tried to kill, Democrats and opponents of Trump in recent years (since the right are now claiming all the political violence is from the left!) Receipts: zeteo.com/p/charlie-ki...

Every elected Democrat is going to say the right thing, but remember that when 2 Democratic state legislatures were assassinated, elected Republicans went on a smear campaign of disinformation blaming Tim Walz and Democrats themselves.

literally impossible for music to sound more glamorous than this youtu.be/GsY2dxCBMZo?...

Can tropical rainforest trees keep their cool? Now out in @globalchangebio.bsky.social we explored whether intraspecific variation in leaf energy balance was a result of adaptation to local climate. doi.org/10.1111/gcb....