1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv. There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.

The Canopy Neurodiversity Foundation awarded a $15 million grant to the UW Information School to support the launch of the UW Institute for Neurodiversity and Employment. ischool.uw.edu/news/2025/10...

We are hiring tenure track faculty this year: apply.interfolio.com/171020

The idea that AI-as-scientist will replace human researchers, or augment their creativity and productivity, is drawing attention. But how soon? @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Research for grants rather than grants for research. This kind of policy, especially with additional cuts to federal funding, will create perverse incentives that will have consequences on the actual science that this whole system is supposed to support. www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025...

NIH is already feeling the effects of LLMs. A new policy was posted yesterday that limits the number of proposals that can be submitted by any one investigator. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Into the “golden age of science that is transparent, rigorous, and trustworthy”… www.notus.org/health-scien... h/t @shahanmemon.bsky.social

Evidence shows AI systems are already too much like humans. Will that be a problem? theconversation.com/evidence-sho...

Given concerns of anthropomorphic seduction, should we lean into human-like abilities of LLMs or should we look to dehumanize them? Sandra Peter, Kai Riemer, and I write about the benefits and dangers of anthropomorphic conversational agents in @pnas.org. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

What could go wrong? www.raps.org/news-and-art...

Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

The University of Washington has stopped processing all NSF grants on or after May 5th due to the uncertainty of the new 15% indirect rate. This is devastating, especially for junior faculty and early-career researchers. How many other universities will follow suite?

It's official. 15% ICR on NSF grants. My favorite line: "Reducing administrative burdens for awardee institutions." Say the opposite of what is true... the communication strategy of our time: www.nsf.gov/policies/doc...

My new piece in @theguardian.com Techno-optimism is human pessimism. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Federal judge extends TRO against NIH cap. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

Musk has received $13B in government contracts over the last 5 yrs. With all his fuss about the $9B/yr in overhead to the more than 2,500 universities conducting lifesaving research, I am curious when he is going to turn DOGE on his own contracts and ‘efficiencies’. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/u...

Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines? Looking forward to feedback. thebullshitmachines.com

Robert Jones, former Chancellor at the University of Illinois, will be the new President here at the University of Washington. news.uillinois.edu/view/7815/71...

Applications are open for the inaugural Disinformation Summer Institute. This 3-day, intensive summer institute is intended for graduate students, post-docs, assistant professors or early career researchers seeking to better understand and address disinformation. More info: disinfoinstitute.org

🚨 I recently came across a weird case of #AI in #preprints, with implications for burdening #SciComm with AI-mediated #PredatoryPublishing What did I find? Issues with the article, questionable behavior by the author, indexing problems, and AI's potential for streamlining predatory publishing. 🧵

TrueMedia.org: new non-partisan, non-profit effort to detect manipulated media geekwire.com/2024/new-ai-...

Silicon Valley hype oozes from this video (eg, ‘understanding of science’, ‘reasoning capabilities’, ‘reads 200k papers’) but the re-graphing tool is pretty nice. If it can do that consistently and reliably, worth trying out. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPiO...

Good to see philanthropies leaning into local news. Path Forward will award more than $500 million to revitalize local news: www.macfound.org/press/press-...

Frightening how easy disinformation has become: youtu.be/cwGdkrc9i2Y?...

Have large language models developed analogical reasoning skills? Maybe, but our simple experiments demonstrate otherwise: arxiv.org/abs/2308.16118