Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

I think for me the most compelling answer for "why fund basic research?" (and the one most relevant to the people doing the work) is that humans are curious and finding stuff out makes us happy and fulfilled. Science is a thing humans like. Life would be more dull and sad if we didn't do it. end/🧵

even crazier that all these novel discoveries never seem to get published and proven?

Post doc job alert 📢! Announcing a v exciting job on a Wellcome-funded project in my group at UCL, looking at auditory hallucinations... Advert here 👀: rb.gy/230w8l - deadline is end of Oct. Please apply! 1/5

"Politics has not become more statist. You're just in denial about being older!" - is I think just a pretty accurate read on where the UK political class is, whether the 'you' is closer to home or the country as a whole.

⏰ Only 1 week left to grab your early bird registration for #SMHR2025! Register now to join us in conversations on Pathways for Diversity, Equity and Personalisation in Mental Health Care www.smhrconference.com.au/registration 📅 Deadline: 7 Oct 2025 📍 Adelaide Convention Centre, SA | 19–21 Nov

University of Technology Sydney ordered a spreadsheet from KPMG targeting individual academics by research income, which might contravene the bargaining agreement. They repeatedly denied it even existed for several info requests. But that wasn't true. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/educati...

wondering if the firing of Gandevia has anything to do with his passionate interest in research integrity, which might be embarrassing for the boss researchintegrityconf.com

Of all the ridiculous “now that we have [x], we don’t need a knowledge-rich curriculum”, AI is maybe the silliest. How else are you meant to know whether it is right or wrong?

Moving from "what's the most authoritative answer?" to "what's the most plausible answer?" turns out to have downsides.

If Israeli foreign influence operations masquerading around as community groups in Australia don't like one of the world's leading children's hospitals discussing the death of children in war, then perhaps Israel should stop killing so many of them. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

I don’t know what Universities UK is, exactly, but I know anyone running anything in the sector who uses the phrase “hobbyist research” needs to resign immediately and never speak in public about Higher Ed ever again.

🧵 1/4 We’ve published updates of our schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder patient information resources, and a brand new resource on psychosis. These resources were written with the valuable input of individuals with lived experience. Please see the thread below for all resources.

‼️Announcement ‼️ 👉Check out the preliminary program for the 15th Annual BPA Scientific Meeting! biolpsychaustralia.com.au/conference-p... And a reminder that registrations are OPEN NOW! Places are capped so don't miss out! BPA, 26th-28th Oct 2025, Melbourne 🧠

sit with this quote for a minute

British NIMBYism is truly a sight to behold. “We are rejecting this solar farm, because one time I saw an electric vehicle on fire, which reminded me that decades ago a coal mining disaster killed lots of children”.

Look, at some level you cannot have a functioning democracy where both parties presuppose an electorate of selfish, ignorant louts and compete to offer them the best array of goodies, which is more or less what “focus on kitchen table issues” means. You have to activate some kind of civic impulse.

The lack of mainstream coverage of regular huge protests reminds me of a talk from a Twitter employees who explained that they had to drop BLM off the Trending Tags section because otherwise it would have been there permanently. The modern media environment has no appetite for sustained movements.

This is shocking news. Literary magazines - and all the other small orgs now under pressure or closing or gone - are the bedrock of culture and their ongoing costs are barely a blip in any institutional budget. Melbourne University ought to be ashamed www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/04/m...

Melbourne Uni needs to explain this bullshit. This is destroying critical cultural infrastructure. Unimelb axing Meanjin, ANU scuttling the Australian National Dictionary Centre, and then universities wonder why they can’t seem to exert any influence over the national discourse.

The term social cohesion has been said A LOT over the last few days. Most people using the term don’t know what it actually means. It’s not about assimilation or multiculturalism. It’s much broader, encapsulating class, social capital and inequality. www.abc.net.au/religion/and...

The absolute state of this pissweak flog

I want to explain a few things and then it might be clearer why UK trans people are upset. In 2001 I married my wife, Sylvia. In 2005 I started medical transition. (1/13)

🚨 SMHR Awards 2025 – Deadline Extended! 🚨 New closing date: Friday, 19 September 2025, 5pm AEST 🗓️ Recognising excellence in mental health research at all career stages. Award details: www.smhr.org.au/smhr-awards-... Don’t miss your chance to be recognised — apply now! #SMHRAwards #SMHR2025

Your regular reminder that every year the Australian people subsidise private schools to the tune of $22 billion while the public school down the road from you will be waiting another decade for its bare minimum funding.

Unfortunate truth is, U.S. academics are not going to find jobs overseas. Some of the biggest name glam faculty will be poached, but for most, the ride is just going to end. This isn't to say other countries won't take the lead in research, etc. They'll just do it mostly with their own citizens.

AI does appear to be rapidly accelerating human selection of the fittest…. except it’s doing it by straight-up killing people who rely on ChatGPT to plan dangerous trips, not by improving human cognition like the techbros want us to believe:

One of the biggest cultural issues we have is that no major media or journalistic institutions have been reinforcing norms of what things *should* look like. That corruption isn’t normal, that cronyism isn’t normal, that lies and scandals should be punished, that incompetence is disqualifying.

me, April 2024 www.wheresyoured.at/bubble-troub...

Bad news days for AI and everyone who slops it. 'If your incredible business idea – key word here, business – is to bake cakes for sale and then you complain that you have to pay for eggs and flour then I have some terrible news about your business idea and also quite possibly your soul and brain.'

This, by @grainnemaguire.bsky.social, is funny enjoy to justify her impending death when the Swifties get to her

youtube.com/shorts/l_Dkk... Saw this and instantly thought of @whatismusicpod.bsky.social

Here’s a piece I wrote about the damage done to Australian cultural institutions - ABC, Creative Australia, MSO, SLV, SLQ, etc and now Bendigo Writers Fest - by their surrender to the demands of pro-Israel pressure campaigns open.substack.com/pub/nickfeik...

From a story about a new species of pseudoscorpion, this sort of highlighted the management of Australia in a nutshell au.news.yahoo.com/incredible-p...

I think Three To Conquer by Eric Russell (proper pulp) and then probably anthologies of Asimov short stories? Although I think I read John Wyndham pretty young…

I honestly can’t believe there are still any AI skeptics out there. This tech is obviously revolutionary

*deep, heavy sigh*

Things can get better

Should sixteen-year-olds be given the vote? It’s a cautious yes from me

Great thread! And mildly less traumatic than the dead possum in the roof space at Orygen…

www.theatlantic.com/science/arch... Critical read: As noted by a colleague, from the examples in this article, it is amazing how quickly German physics collapsed (and US exploded) after 1934. #academicsky, #neuroskyence , is there time and a route to prevent the collapse of research in the US?

Not knowing things is good! It's exciting, it means there are still things out there to discover! It's not something to be ashamed of but it's also not something to be proud of either.

nice thread from the UK about why the whole idea of online age checks is such a complicated policies... because it's actually about 7 very different issues mashed together

As we talk about the cheerful insanity of Australia's Social Media Ban again this morning, here's your periodical reminder that the book it's inspired by - The Anxious Generation - is hogwash. Not just me saying it, but this little journal you might have heard of: Nature. www.nature.com/artic...

Well, I'll be damned. It's royalty free and there's already six, generic manufacturers lined up. newatlas.com/infectious-d...

youtu.be/frAEmhqdLFs?... RIP to a true GOAT

Tim Minchin: the most middle-aged, first-year Arts student ever

Fairness in sports