Years ago @mikeduncan.bsky.social told me "you can rewrite shit but you can't rewrite nothing" and it's made every draft easier since.

If you are remotely biology-minded this is well worth a read. Thanks @philipcball.bsky.social for unpacking a fascinating and very very cool paper. I suspect the synbio nerds are already on the case working out how to hack this into a de novo oligo printing factory...

For weekend readers some reflections on technical #metaphors in #AI research in the context of the debate about Claude Mythos and what that might mean for #scicomm makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/17/s...

I'm interested in reading Gothic-ey/creepy texts about the creation of artificial life (in whatever form that takes), beyond Frankenstein. Do you have a favourite or other suggestions? Got the contemporary Frankenstein in Baghdad already, too...

This is a bit niche, but for those interested in metaphor and metonymy research, here is one of the first articles I have seen using LLMs as research tool! #cogling #metaphor #metonymy arxiv.org/abs/2604.12919 Oh, they have also done something on visual metonym arxiv.org/abs/2601.17706

For weekend readers some reflections on technical #metaphors in #AI research in the context of the debate about Claude Mythos and what that might mean for #scicomm makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/17/s...

This post is about Claude Mythos, but about technical metaphors and my difficulties getting them, rather than about cybersecurity... #AI #metaphor makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/17/s...

This post is about Claude Mythos, but about technical metaphors and my difficulties getting them, rather than about cybersecurity... #AI #metaphor makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/17/s...

My new favorite concept: stigmergy! It's how ants build complex nests without any central plan. One ant drops a dirt pellet, and that pellet becomes a signal for other ants to drop pellets there too. The environment itself becomes the blueprint cognitivewonderland.substack.com/p/memory-as-...

No lie told.* *If the world were as it should be.

BBC News leading all its bulletins on demands by former Government advisor Lord Robertson for more defence spending, without at any point mentioning his current paid senior role for US defence lobbyists

Some pretty crazy staff in the AI Security Institute AI trends report. For Chemistry & Biology it says frontier models now outperform PhD-level experts on open-ended questions, protocol generation, and lab-based troubleshooting

The two golden rules of using AI in content creation: know your shit, and know what's shit. www.linkedin.com/pulse/two-go... Inspired by some particularly egregious recent incidents I experienced, and @naomialderman.bsky.social writing about the importance of discernment when using these tools.

If you know a public engagement with science'y academic looking for a postdoc next year (August 2026 start), @ucpews.bsky.social Center for Public Engagement with Science is hiring! #philsky #SciComm #STS #SocSky #HPS #SciEd jobs.uc.edu/job/Postdoct...

Good news. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...

Georges Redard and the Linguistic Atlas of Iranian Speakers - progressivegeographies.com/2026/04/12/g...

For weekend readers some musings about yet another #AI #metaphor, this time 'Habsburg AI', related to concepts like 'model collapse' and 'model autophagy disorder' or MAD makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/10/h...

Is there any good accessible #scicomm about Claude Mythos out there? Is it one of these scare stories or not? #AI www.quantamagazine.org/why-do-we-te...

For weekend readers some musings about yet another #AI #metaphor, this time 'Habsburg AI', related to concepts like 'model collapse' and 'model autophagy disorder' or MAD makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/10/h...

Can machines actually want things? Can they crave power, or scariest of all: Can they acquire the will to survive? In our latest Qualia column, writer Amanda Gefter explores some of the deeper questions behind our fear of total AI domination. www.quantamagazine.org/why-do-we-te...

This week's post is about another rather interesting #AI #metaphor, namely 'Habsburg AI' - which itself inspired a design project! makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/10/h...

Reposting for attention of #envhist #envhums #STS #HistSTM folks, can anyone help? Amazing story and a vital longitudinal datastream that needs continuity and care

This week's post is about another rather interesting #AI #metaphor, namely 'Habsburg AI' - which itself inspired a design project! makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/10/h...

“Over the next decade these stem-cell-based models will increasingly help reveal the biology of complex brain conditions & demystify diseases that have long remained inaccessible” says organoid guru @sergiuppasca.bsky.social in this Nature news piece on an elegant & beautiful area of modern science🧪

I made a whole BBC TV series (2020) about the remarkable resilience of the people of Iran and their culture over centuries of threat and callous rule. You can watch it right here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Interesting piece by friend of @manchstm.bsky.social, Prof Robert Poole: how does the Artemis II Earthset photo compare to the iconic Earthrise photo from 1968? theconversation.com/how-artemis-...

The governing body for 14 Dutch universities (UNL) has published a "Vision on Publication Culture" that is so inspiring and forward thinking. Worth a read for those trying to changes publishing and research assessment practices. Take a read: www.universiteitenvannederland.nl/files/public...

Un estudio de 1700 idiomas identifica patrones universales que nos hablan de los factores cognitivos y comunicativos que dan forma a nuestras lenguas. Artículo original 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Resumen 👉 www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

"The harm to integration, to the social fabric, to children’s futures and to workers’ rights will be immense." @colinyeo.bsky.social on the government's "earned settlement" proposals. freemovement.org.uk/earned-settl...

Similarly, our work uses "collective sensemaking" as a lens, seeing it as taking shape thru interactions b/w facts & frames. From that view (1) misinfo = sensemaking gone awry; (2) conspiracy theorizing = corrupted sensemaking; (3) disinfo = manipulated sensemaking. www.cip.uw.edu/2023/12/06/r...

This study shows that disinformation spreads, not as “false facts”, but as narratives. Compare that to how mis- and disinformation are often operationalized in the big-N quantitative and experimental research in the Nature/Science journals — that’s a major weakness in the field.

Air-Borne continued: Wildfire smoke and antimicrobial resistance: A hidden link demanding global attention link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Gave this the soundtrack it deserves. Kubrick was onto something when he picked the Blue Danube as the Theme of Objects Floating In Space. Call me, Nutella

Scented viburnum brought in from the back of the garden, so I can smell it when doing the washing up!

First time this year we could sit out in the sun on the garden bench and feel warm!

Sharif University in Tehran was just bombed Founded in 1965, it is one the most elite science and engineering institutions in the world. Alumni include the mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman to win the Fields Medal Here is the list of other alumni en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

Rusi Jaspal and I have a new article out! Nerlich, B., & Jaspal, R. (2026). "Fire, wind, and lies: Mapping the metaphorical landscape of the January 2025 Southern California wildfires". Metaphor and the Social World. Online first doi.org/10.1075/msw.... I can send pdf #metaphor #wildfires

Our success as a species is owed to our unrivalled ability to cooperate and collaborate. We see evidence not just in our extensive cultural evolution but also in our genes #Transcendence

The excellent Adam Wishart has a new documentary, on AI and warfare. It's terrifying www.channel4.com/programmes/c...

A little easter egg post, inspired by an article on metaphors for AI by @jjn1.bsky.social in the Observer HT @matthewcobb.bsky.social makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/05/i...

"My patient is refusing a drug studied in 170,000 people because of side effects that a 124,000-person analysis just confirmed do not exist — while injecting a compound studied in 14 humans, from unregulated sources, based on the recommendation of someone who profits from selling it."

The rabbit-duck illusion explained at last.

A little easter egg post, inspired by an article on metaphors for AI by @jjn1.bsky.social in the Observer HT @matthewcobb.bsky.social makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/05/i...

I saw this metaphor in the context of getting a techbro to understand biology’s complexity, as Brigitte pointed out to me at the time. I’ve sympathy for that use! It’s too much work to get a techbro much further from their sphere 😄 3/3

Happy Easter! Old memories of Germany...

#AIMetaphorObservatory - Observer!

@bnerlich.bsky.social 10 AI metaphors and their implications in today’s Observer!

For weekend readers, some musings about an AI metaphor for biology and how to understand nested metaphors: 'vibe-coding spaghetti' (and 'coconuts'!) #AI #biology #DNA #metaphor makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/03/v...

For weekend readers, some musings about an AI metaphor for biology and how to understand nested metaphors: 'vibe-coding spaghetti' (and 'coconuts'!) #AI #biology #DNA #metaphor makingsciencepublic.com/2026/04/03/v...