There's too much to unpack on a Saturday evening except to say I'm glad I know more about this exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Apparently they'll persevere wayyy beyond the realms of reasonable behaviour - I'd have gone for something a little less dried out, but what do I know? www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX8N...

<Small flex of pride> A great place to come and do a research Phd on anticipatory governance. We're offering a staff contract of 42 months, an ambitious training and development programme, and excellent job prospects! go.qub.ac.uk/foresighters

Update on the Taylor and Francis AI policy for Authors, Editors, and Peer Reviewers authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/editorial-po...

@jimmfelton.bsky.social Woo! www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxaX...

udm14.org with thanks to bsky.app/profile/tedi...

@olivia.science @irisvanrooij.bsky.social Another example of uncritical adoption (ie running towards a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow). Apologies if you've already seen this!

I really enjoyed this - which is a cackhanded way of saying I thought the writing was brilliant even though the subject matter was tragic and enraging. A welcome break from the guff dominating the front pages, even if your heart does break a little at the same time.

I'm reminded of a quote from a different context (triathlon): simple isn't easy. It's simple that Labour & others should lean into the cause of making arguments for Europe. It isn't easy, in part because of the despicable salesmen lined up to sell you the snake oil that is Brexit, but it is vital.

Please share wherever you can!

Now paywall free: Me on the way right-wing papers present Farage’s relationship with the public like Beatlemania with a ballot box thenewworld.substack.com/p/right-wing...

This whole thread is worth taking in. There's nothing radical in it, but @tanjabueltmann.net articulately shows how it will soon be described as such if we continue in the way we are cc @jdportes.bsky.social @iandunt.bsky.social @sundersays.bsky.social

Nominating (not for the first time) 'exnovation' as word of the year for 2027

Something for everyone here - apart from Ailanys and Eithans because you're going to spend your early to middle years cursing your parents for naming you something so trendy

A reply from Keep Our NHS Public to Streeting's resignation. And an awful lot of those waiting list reductions are due to 'list clensing' - removing names if the patient doesn't immediately respond when contacted. keepournhspublic.com/wes-streetin...

Tell me that thing again about how great things are going to be when we hand over decision making to the companies that tell us how great things are going to be when we don't have to make decisions? Sweet mercy. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Cool to see 19 new wind turbines generate as much electricity as 400 (!) old turbines in CA's Altamont Pass. The U.S. could more than double its onshore wind capacity with no new land via repowering, per a Stanford study: www.quittingcarbonmedia.com/a-repowered-... via @justingerdes.bsky.social

I'm supposed to be copy/pasting things onto a website that we need to publish urgently, so this has come at a perfect time...

Extra credit for who ever found (and who ever approved using) that picture of him taking his wallet out as if he has £1.4m in notes ready to dole out like he's paying for a round at the golf club (with apologies to all golfers who hate the idea he might actually play)

I propose a new sub-type of ratio for @atrupar.com that we will call the Rupar Ratio. It describes when he - or anyone - posts a clip of this yutz and more people are moved to comment on it than click a heart (which always feels wrong where this tin god is concerned.)

The fact that he announced it on X should be disqualifying on its own

Follow us for more Critical Reviews and news of publications - including guest blogs from authors that we share on our LinkedIn account!

Published with some minor changes! Please share widely. 😊 Guest, O., Suarez, M., ... & van Rooij, I. (2026). Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia. Digital Culture & Education, 16(2), 85–118. doi.org/10.5281/zeno... Journal: www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/volume-162

This seems like a good opportunity to promote a Critical Review we published in February on this very topic. The page also suggests other related papers. *Currently Open Access* www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

'Not-too-distant-future-you' will thank 'Right-now-you' for reading this and immediately researching how you can develop transferable competencies to have a career in fossil fuel exnovation!

I expect/hope 'exnovation' will be the word on everyone's lips soon

The Global Systems Institute is excited to be involved in the Exeter Climate Forum this summer, bringing together global leaders in climate science, policy and business. If you’re interested in the latest climate insights and solutions, join us: exeterclimateforum.com #ECF2026 #ExeterClimateForum

Amazing, but sadly predictable?

I'm going to resist the urge to lament about the past and say that all five things should be implemented quickly, and then hopefully rolled out globally. You can't say they wouldn't make the world a better place to live in.

Subscribe!!

@olivia.science @irisvanrooij.bsky.social (and, of course, @retractionwatch.com) (There's also an interesting - translation: tragic - debate on LinkedIn that made me lose the will to ever read anything again that I won't inflict on you) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fixed it: Hassett on record low consumer sentiment: "President Trump is taking every problem on earth and gone 100% at ENRICHING HIMSELF, HIS FAMILY, AND FRIENDS, and I think that can be stressful for people to see so much SYSTEMIC BRAZEN MENDACITY going on"

hate being right Erscoi, L., Kleinherenbrink, A., & Guest, O. (2023). Pygmalion Displacement: When Humanising AI Dehumanises Women. SocArXiv. doi.org/10.31235/osf... bsky.app/profile/oliv...

Too many in Europe take their security for granted. Had Ukraine fallen in 2022, we would likely be fighting a Russian invasion inside the EU by now. Ukraine’s resistance is the only reason we still have the luxury of peace. We owe them everything

And yet universities apparently almost everywhere are currently in a race to go all in on incorporating this into who knows what - possibly including HR decision making... cc @olivia.science @irisvanrooij.bsky.social

A good cautionary tale for when someone claims that trusting data analysis done with an LLM is good because it’s “objective.” In this example, Copilot apparently decided to ignore the data it was given and just run with all the subconscious biases its (human-made) training data inevitably gave it.

Preprinted! Been working on this for ~1 year w wonderful coauthors Nancy & Mark: > Understanding Artificial Neural Networks: Mysterianism about Known Mechanism is Mysticism doi.org/10.5281/zeno... Have you noticed many experts say they don't understand AI? What's going on? 🤯 Let us tell you... 1/

Global warming is real.

I'm admittedly biased but everything @ottoenglish.bsky.social writes and says is entertaining and thought provoking in the best possible way.

See also this (Open Access) paper - the dynamics of social acceptance of renewables is still being researched www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I hope a UK version isn't far behind

updated to link to all I know of; please sign: openletter.earth/open-letter-... > Colleagues and I have written and published: Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia. Also there are versions in Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Spanish olivia.science/ai/#activism

If you're not alive to @richardjmurphy.bsky.social's excellent Youtube channel, do yourself a favour and enlighten yourself asap!

'ai:dr' is epic!

Wind and solar have now beaten fossil fuels in Great Britain for a record 15 months in a row Just a decade ago, fossil fuels were generating four times more than wind + solar Now that's flipped: Since the Iran war, wind and solar generated twice as much as fossil fuels

Well this was fun. Did the BBC’s ‘Strong Message Here’ with Stewart Lee & Armando Ianucci & got to slag off incoming BBC Director General/tech bro, Matt Brittin 😂 Oh & snuck in an Andrew Neil drive-by too just for the hell of it 🎯 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Wilma (and Jess) update: They're now sleeping inside the house with very little prompting. They have 4 different beds of various sizes to choose from but this is their favourite. (More about Jess in the Alt Text.)

A Scottish council has apologised after incorrectly sending voters information saying they would need photo ID for Thursday's Scottish Parliament elections. Here's a clear guide to where photo ID is and isn't required across the UK tomorrow:

"The Washington law firm of Covington & Burling took the case pro bono. But expenses were also covered by a small group of bankers, oilmen and industrialists who appear in the archives of the lead plaintiff, Senator James L. Buckley of New York" gift article www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/u...

If you're within striking distance of York, the 'Picturing Grief' exhibition runs until Sunday 10 May at Thin Ice Press. Six artists respond to work on grief from the AHRC Grief Project @uoyphilosophy.bsky.social @hrcyork.bsky.social at the University of York projectinggrief.com/pg-exhibition