'Optimeet: A computational tool to enhance participant attendance in group research' In this paper we discuss the challenges of conducting group based research and provide a practical, web-based tool that can enhance the scheduling and recruitment of groups for experimental research.

Finally the rain has relented and the sun came out to play. In the Yorkshire Dales with Ingleborough in the distance on the left, Moughton scar ahead

Read the room (or the comments)?

Can large language models stand in for human participants? Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research. One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want. THREAD 🧵

New in #ProcB - From policy to practice: Progress towards #data- and #code-sharing in ecology and evolution @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social @eivimeycook.bsky.social tell us more in our blog royalsociety.org/blog/2025/09...

I got *really* excited about this hotel pre-check-in option but then realized that it meant you'd be bringing your own pet, not that you'd be temporarily assigned one for your room. Dammit.

Thrilled that our new review "Motor Working Memory" is now in press at TiCS! @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social @cellpress.bsky.social By me + Hanna Hillman We argue that a dedicated research program on 'working memory for movements' is long overdue Link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lmMX4sIRv...

Drop out of the World University Rankings you say? Don't threaten me with a good time ....

"The university will stop sharing the data required to be included in the ranking as of 2026. As a result, Sorbonne University will no longer feature in future rankings produced by THE, which include the World University Rankings, the Rankings by Subject or the Impact Rankings." Excellent!

Time for our annual update of "Open Research across disciplines". pdf: www.ukrn.org/disciplines/ K Reproducibility Network (UKRN) webpages: www.ukrn.org/disciplines/ Resources to add, please use (by 30/09/25): docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... @camillakgilmore.bsky.social @priyasilverstein.com

C’mon @news.rte.ie you know words matter and this will be sent around the X cesspit. He did not withdraw from the election, he couldn’t because he wasn’t in the election. Can you say he decided not to seek a nomination. www.rte.ie/news/preside...

“Deciding who gets research funding is a high-stakes problem...The decision is not just high-stakes, it is also fabulously difficult:…” Thoughtful piece as usual from @tomstafford.mastodon.online.ap.brid.gy

UKRN has trained 200+ trainers, led OR4 reforms and built sharing platforms. Now we’re launching UKRN Services to sustain our work with a £63k ESRC grant. read more about this and our future funding www.ukrn.org/news/

Next years #RSECon26 will be 9-11th September 2026 &co-located with the inaugural International Research Software Conference 7-8th September 2026 (www.researchsoft.org/irsc/ ) in Sheffield. Want to help organise RSECon26 see society-rse.org/volunteer-at... #RSECon25 #RSECon26 #IRSC26

Grimly crisp illustration of the mechanism whereby toxic and unrepresentative social media shapes mainstream coverage. Prominent journalist logs onto X, sees claim, assumes truth, repeats in national broadcast from trusted mainstream news org. Happens all day every day, just especially stark here.

These apples are growing on an unlabelled tree, in a part of the orchard that we don't seem to have any records for on the server at work. But I'm 99% sure, based on the flattened shape of the fruit, that these are 'Court Pendu Plat.' Can anyone confirm / deny / suggest an alternative?

Nicely put: "With no legends of unruly behaviour to keep people talking, they became another footnote in pop history. Except, that is, to those who still loved them. Those who embraced the quirks and the perverse cross between squareness and esoterica" www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

🤣🤣

The portals for the next EPS scientific meeting (University College London, between 7th – 9th January 2026) are now open! The portals for this meeting opened on Monday 8th September at 10am (UK time) and will remain open for at least 24 hours. eps.ac.uk/next-meeting/ eps.ac.uk/submit-an-ab...

One of the great exhibits that will be available to view at our Open House on 21 Sept www.beyond.radio/news/local-n...

Rick Davies, the Supertramp co-founder, singer, and keyboardist who penned some of the band's most popular and enduring songs, including "Goodbye Stranger," "My Kind of Lady," and "Cannonball," has died at age 81. Access the free article here: www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Since this is apparently a resigning matter, I’ll just leave this here… www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"UK government trial of M365 Copilot finds no clear productivity boost" www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/m...

John Ioannidis: "We need more RCTs" I agree, so here is an urgent call to the representatives of journals at #PRC10: Let's empirically test suggested improvements to peer review like open reports, open identities, structured review, results-free review, collaborative review, etc. Get in touch!

indeed Nature also posted our finding on Bluesky, and that post got higher interactions in Bluesky than X, which further confirms our study :) bsky.app/profile/natu...

The next EPS scientific meeting will be held at University College London, between 7th – 9th January 2026. The portals for this meeting will open on Monday (8th September) at 10am (UK time)! eps.ac.uk/next-meeting/

Our data stewards have started recommending that we no longer use US-based infrastructure for #openscience practices, given the risk of (near-future) censorship, from pre-print and data hosting to preregistration and more. That includes OSF.

I can’t help thinking the parking app world is a vicious turf war. Ringo has taken Devon. Justpark owns Cornwall. There is a battle for Dorset…

Closing date for this commissioning call fast approaching (Monday 8th Sep). Act now ...

Last day before school starts? Whatevs … today is Bowl Time!

Michael was my undergraduate thesis advisor. I have been moved to write some reflections on his life, and my time with him open.substack.com/pub/alexholc... #visionScience A hashtag seems gauche, but Michael should be more widely known - he didn't attend conferences much.

Behavioural research has been transformed by the digital revolution. The DECIDE framework, led by @hshawberry.bsky.social & published in AMPPS, aims to help researchers more effectively understand, reflect & navigate key research choices & their ethical consequences doi.org/10.1177/2515...

“What’s happening at the CDC should frighten every American...It’s unclear whether the CDC director—confirmed just weeks ago—has been fired or not. Absolute shitshow,” Dr Craig Spencer, emergency medicine doctor, professor at Brown Univ School of Public Health. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

But what's the downside?

Calum Miller, MP for the constituency where Nigel Farage delivered his repatriation speech today, says Oxfordshire is “thriving thanks to overseas talent” – and criticised him for not meeting residents living near Campsfield House detention centre, next to the venue for Farage’s event.

#NigelFarage has described illegal immigration as a "scourge" which is affecting the country on a "historic and unprecedented" scale. Has he not heard of the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans? Did history start on the day he was born?

“The study authors asked GPT 4o-mini to evaluate the quality of 217 papers. The tool didn’t mention in any of the reports that the papers being analyzed had been retracted or had validity issues. In 190 cases, GPT described the papers as world leading, internationally excellent, or close to that”

Velcrow Birds of a feather stick together. www.worldofmoose.com/products/vel...

Now published, the #DECIDEFramework in #AMPPS. Here we provide a suite of resources to support researchers with ethical considerations in digital behavioural research. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

The DECIDE Framework: Now published open access here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... @davidaellis.bsky.social @jntowse.bsky.social #EthicsInResearch #DigitalBehaviouralScience #DECIDEFramework #ResearchIntegrity

There is, of course, no connection at all between football fans feeling emboldened to fling racist abuse in public and mainstream politicians uttering barely-sanitised versions of the same sentiments.

I have a BA in music (classical voice) with a minor in philosophy, where I took logic, political philosophy, and legal philosophy. My PhD is in cognition and neuroscience w/an MA in stats, and now my work is applied stats. I am a better, more rounded scholar because of the humanities.

Morning family swim session at a sunny Ingleton outdoor pool. The water today is a balmy 31 C www.yorkshire-dales.com/ingleton/ing...

Yes please.

Butterflies: a Painted Lady and a Small White (I think) on the Verbena in the garden, a Peacock on the path, a Gatekeeper in the long grass near Mearness farm #cumbria #butterflies

£15m funding boost for saving historic sites in north-west England: Salford Lads Club; Morecambe Winter Gardens; Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley; National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The birds got there first … This was the remaining crop of one of this year’s new apple trees (Ellison’s Orange). Although the apples weren’t fully ripe, they were developed and sweet enough to actually get the kids approval, tasting what could be saved. Onto next year then for this tree …

Huge congratulations to the brilliant Nora Newcombe, recipient of the 2025 David E. Rumelhart Prize! 🏅#CogSci2025

This whole story is insane. Tesla apparently did everything it could to avoid providing the data it had about its Autopilot crash. This is just a snippet and there's a lot more. electrek.co/2025/08/04/t...