We want to highlight the incredible science reporting being done at the local and regional level. Please submit your work for the Victor McElheny Award, which comes with a $10,000 prize. ksj.mit.edu/mcelheny-awa...

For those who missed our informational webinar last week about the @ksjatmit.bsky.social fellowships and tips on how to create a strong application, here’s a recording. 👇🏽https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dLw88Oempos

"It is not surprising that health news site STAT has some of the best reporting of what is happening now, including a December multipart piece, “American Science, Shattered,” which is the most comprehensive telling of this year’s carnage out there." Thanks for shoutout @gregggonsalves.bsky.social

(2035) Glad I got heart surgery before LLMs were used to teach surgeons anatomy

The flu is ramping up, friends. A few thoughts on that new strain driving cases and what we all can do to try to mitigate the worst of it. My latest for @opinion.bloomberg.com:

Really important.

Given all the recent buzz about how great ChatGPT has gotten, including its prowess with images, I figured I'd check in on its anatomical skills. Nope.

Before satellite mega-constellations began taking off in 2019, satellites used to go months without risking a collision in orbit. Now they have less than a week to take evasive maneuvers, and the window keeps shrinking. My @sciam.bsky.social story below. www.scientificamerican.com/article/sate...

An excellent opportunity for journalists interesting in covering AI (and holding the companies building it to account.) Deadline is Jan. 7. www.tarbellcenter.org/fellowship

Interested in applying to KSJ's world-renowned science journalism fellowships? Attend our informational webinar THIS THURSDAY, Dec 18 at 2:00 pm EST, where @usha.bsky.social and @ashleythesmart.bsky.social will be on hand to take your questions. Registration Required: mit.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

I fact checked this book and I cannot recommend it highly enough as an essential way to understand the history of propaganda and disinformation and how that impacts us right now.

A rare opportunity to ask KSJ's director your questions about applying for our world-renowned fellowship program. Don't miss it!

Pay attention to what the regime is doing and bear in mind that ingredients for supplements aren't regulated & can come from dubious sources. Frankly, @joho.bsky.social says it best in a split-screen👇

Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things

CONTAINS SQUIRRELS

We’ll be hosting a webinar 12/18 on the @ksjatmit.bsky.social science journalism fellowships and how to apply. Bring your questions and stay for the tips. Register 👇🏽 mit.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

"AI is everywhere. It's like Dubai chocolate. But sometimes you just don't want pistachios." Hallway conversation at the great Computation and Journalism Symposium in Miami. #cplusj2025

Chat-GPT: Make me a magazine cover that completely rips off a human artist and looks like it’s been poorly photoshopped. (What an apt metaphor for AI.)

It's fitting that the cover on AI mindlessly apes an earlier creation and also displaces workers while elevating Silicon Valley plutocrats.

This entire article is positive about Trump Gold Cards. It contains positive quotes about it from Trump, Lutnick and a CEO. It contains no quotes from the many critics of the program. This is sandwiched between 6 posts about Erika Kirk. CBS is lost.

“The only reason I don’t have this funding is because my last name is Rodriguez.” MOSAIC checked many of the boxes of the administration — but that didn't matter. It was terminated, and left grantees scrambling Next installment of American Science, Shattered: www.statnews.com/2025/12/08/t...

And this vital story by @aniloza.bsky.social and @jaspar.bsky.social looking at the impacts of funding cuts to early-career scientists. They found that in the first 270 days of 2025, fewer early-career grants were awarded than in any similar period since 2016. www.statnews.com/2025/12/08/t...

Stories from the frontlines of Trump's attack on science: Follow-ups from a year of struggles in Part 8 of our series "American Science, Shattered." www.statnews.com/2025/12/11/a...

Interested in applying for the @ksjatmit.bsky.social fellowship? We're hosting a webinar next week. Register to learn more and ask any questions you may have. mit.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Seeing the future: Growing climate and disease-hardy baby corals for outplanting and reef restoration. Thank you Coral Reef Futures Lab at @miamirosenstiel.bsky.social for hosting @ksjatmit.bsky.social and for your work.

The measles outbreak in South Carolina is “accelerating” with no end in sight following Thanksgiving and other large gatherings, state health officials say.

Please share in your networks! Applications open now.

The @ksjatmit.bsky.social program changed my life and ultimately helped shape the book I'm about to publish with National Geographic. And now they're looking for next year's fellows! I cannot recommend this program enough. Happy to talk if you have questions! 🧪 ksj.mit.edu/news/2025/11...

@dropeik.bsky.social (KSJ '95) is the one to follow for the latest on all things "risky," he has authored three books on the subject of risk assessment. His latest book, "Curing Cancerphobia" is the result of over a decade of research on the subject.

Christian von Preysing-Barry on How Television Journalism Can Survive The veteran broadcast journalist and current Knight Science Journalism Fellow sees social media as more an opportunity than a threat. ksj.mit.edu/news/2025/11...

Alumni news: @beebrookshire.bsky.social (KSJ '20) fought a turkey once, and you can read about it in her book!

The 1890 linguistic map was created under the direction of John Wesley Powell, a pioneering ethnologist and the first Director of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology. This map reflects Powell’s extensive efforts to classify Native American languages and advance ethnographic research.

This regressive move will literally kill people. It's making kids' liver cancer great again. And it's a sign of more harm to come. CDC panel recommends delaying birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine www.statnews.com/2025/12/05/c... via @statnews.com

I haven’t found every @ksjatmit.bsky.social fellow here at #WCSJ25 but here’s a start. Rosalia Omungo, Fabio Turone, and our inaugural Africa/Middle East fellow @sharonmuzaki.bsky.social

The energy at #WCSJ25 in vibrant beautiful Pretoria is astounding. So much energy and excitement around science writing!

The masked burglar broke into the closed Virginia liquor store early on Saturday and hit the bottom shelf. The bandit was something of a nocturnal menace: bottles were smashed and alcohol pooled on the floor. The suspect acted like an animal because, in fact, he's a raccoon.

“If I’m not getting attacked…I would have felt I failed.” @charlespiller.bsky.social at #WCSJ25 on how his work exposing fraud in Alzheimer’s research was attacked and called misinformation and how he responded. “Ignoring scientific misconduct invites public distrust.”

So excited to be at the World Conference of Science Journalists ’25 in Pretoria. First meeting held on the African continent and session topics are 🔥! if you’re here please find me to say hello. #WCSJ

The Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT genuinely changed my life. I learned a ton, witnessed how science is done firsthand, and took my writing career in a new direction. If you write about science/tech, you should apply!! ksj.mit.edu/fellowships/...

Coach John Beam’s legacy is everywhere: defector.com/coach-john-b...

i was unprepared for the degree to which (some) techbros are computer illiterate like. they don't know how computers actually work, and they tricked themselves. this is MIND-BOGGLING

I was interviewed for this piece on the mental health journey throughout unemployment, particularly at a time when many Black women are out of work. gmattison1.substack.com/p/the-thin-l...

Crazy happenings in the courts today. Just wow.

Happening now! "Its not that we didn't want to work with them, it was that what they were asking of us was inappropriate." - Daniel Jernigan, M.D., MPH, former Director, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC

The bookshelf in our beautiful seminar room @ksjatmit.bsky.social is filled with books by former fellows. Want to be next? Applications to our fellowship are open and on our website. @annaleen.bsky.social @ferrisjabr.bsky.social @tomzellerjr.com @s-r-m.bsky.social and Melanie Kaplan. Please share.

New from me: The same tactics marketers use to get you to find their toothbrushes or photography business on Google were also used by Jeffrey Epstein & co. to try to launder his reputation online. SEO to try to cover up the most infamous pedophile ring. www.theverge.com/report/82231...

Everything that actually made America great is being destroyed

New from me: Are the deals to save research funding good for research? More and more scientists at Cornell, Columbia, and elsewhere are going back to work after their universities struck unprecedented—some say mistaken—arrangements with the Trump administration. www.chronicle.com/article/are-...

Rest in peace, Alice Wong 🕊️ thesicktimes.org/2025/11/15/a...

I was asked by @ksjatmit.bsky.social to share my advice for journalists dealing with misinformation. It’s a really important topic so I was happy to oblige. It’s also a topic where we are all trying to navigate a constantly changing landscape, so do let me know what you’ve found works or doesn’t…