EXCLUSIVE: A book out next week from the Smithsonian claims to settle the debate about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. But at the eleventh hour, a Hemings relative who gave DNA to the study has dropped out. Her worry: the science in the book hasn't been vetted. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

Sally Hemings’s Oldest Descendant Gave the Smithsonian Her DNA. She Says It Lost Her Trust.

On the eve of a new book that promises to settle the debate about Thomas Jefferson, a Sally Hemings relative is raising alarms that its science hasn’t been vetted.

chronicle.com

The Smithsonian Used Her DNA. And Lost Her Trust. www.chronicle.com/article/the-... Why Sally Hemings’s oldest descendant is sounding the alarm about a new book on Thomas Jefferson.

Sally Hemings’s Oldest Descendant Gave the Smithsonian Her DNA. She Says It Lost Her Trust.

On the eve of a new book that promises to settle the debate about Thomas Jefferson, a Hemings relative is raising alarms that its science hasn’t been vetted.

chronicle.com

EXCLUSIVE: A book out next week from the Smithsonian claims to settle the debate about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. But at the eleventh hour, a Hemings relative who gave DNA to the study has dropped out. Her worry: the science in the book hasn't been vetted. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

Sally Hemings’s Oldest Descendant Gave the Smithsonian Her DNA. She Says It Lost Her Trust.

On the eve of a new book that promises to settle the debate about Thomas Jefferson, a Sally Hemings relative is raising alarms that its science hasn’t been vetted.

chronicle.com

Colada[139] Artificial Deadlines Part 2 Evidence of fraud in the 25 year old gradesheet behind the key finding in an influential paper on deadlines and procrastination. datacolada.org/139

Feeling very honored and grateful today. Some of the journalists whose work I admire most have received this prize in the past and at a time when journalism is under threat in so many ways it’s just really heartening to be recognized by people who care deeply about journalism.

CASW@sciencewriting.bsky.social · 4w ago

Congratulations to @kakape.bsky.social for winning the 2026 Victor Cohn Prize! Judges called his reporting on infectious diseases and misinformation bold, urgent and groundbreaking. And big thanks to Michelson Philanthropies for underwriting the award. casw.org/news/kai-kup...

An influential paper by Ariely & Wertenbroch (2002) reported two studies with tampered data. Post 1 of 2. datacolada.org/138

[138] Artificial Deadlines (Part 1): Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Study About Procrastination

A new paper in Psychological Science (.htm) reports a failure to replicate Study 2 of Ariely and Wertenbroch’s influential article entitled, “Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Contr…

datacolada.org

The debate over Ghent University’s handling of Nathan Cofnas has expanded beyond the merits of his accusations about Arday. It's become a proxy battle about whose viewpoint deserves protection. www.chronicle.com/article/shou...

Should Jason Arday’s Accuser Be Defended? American Scholars Disagree.

More than 200 signed an open letter protesting Ghent University’s suspension of Nathan Cofnas. But Cofnas’s views have left some scholars with misgivings about that campaign.

chronicle.com

Finally, this has gone a bit under the radar, so I want to highlight it: The social, behavioral and economic sciences directorate (SBE) has simply ceased to deliver grants to many of its subareas. Any topic not specifically OK'd by the Trump administration is receiving zero new awards.

SCOOP: 404 Media placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it. What did we find? It ended up at an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books. Yes. This is literally the logo outside the Amazon warehouse door. Read now:

We Tracked a Shipment of Rare Books. It Ended at an Amazon AI Training Facility

We placed a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying it, and found an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys books.

404media.co

Breaking news: FDA investigators traveled to Taylor Farms’ operation in Mexico for the first time this week to start inspecting the facilities linked to the largest cyclospora outbreak in the U.S., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

FDA in Mexico a month after linking Taylor Farms to cyclospora outbreak

Senior FDA official confirms that inspectors were on-site at the Taylor Farms processing facility and plan to be in the fields next.

washingtonpost.com

Sociologist Jason Arday has resigned from Cambridge University after being accused of rampant fraud. Now his very inspiring memoir is about to come out from Simon & Schuster, and it's already an Editor's Pick on Amazon. Something very weird is going on: www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/0...

Icarus in the Faculty Lounge

The Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s unlikely ascent has come to a tragic end.

theatlantic.com

This is the best piece I have seen about Howard dropping 500 students from its incoming class due to not making sufficient payments. It's a complicated situation for students and the university alike, and Parent PLUS loan limits are a contributing factor.

Howard U. Disenrolled Hundreds of Students. Was It for Their Own Good?

Newly popular, Black colleges struggle to meet their mission and their bottom line.

chronicle.com

I wrote about the 'Compact 2.0' that the government offered yesterday: www.chronicle.com/article/for-.... I got: • A Dept. of Ed official to talk about goals ("radical reform") • AAU's president to respond to reports that AAU collaborated with the Trump administration on this Hope you'll read!

For Higher Ed, Trump’s Compact 2.0 Is Either an Olive Branch or a Gloved Fist

The White House has promised there will be no direct penalties — or rewards — for making the statements asked for, but some are skeptical.

chronicle.com

"What we did not anticipate was that the organization would apparently interpret 'policing their literature' as involving actual police to prevent people from reading opinion pieces." "We once praised the American Diabetes Association’s courage. How things have changed." In @statnews.com

We once praised the American Diabetes Association’s courage. How things have changed

“The ADA is no longer what we’d call a profile in courage,” write Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky of Retraction Watch.

statnews.com

New paper (led by Xiangji Ying) showing LLMs can achieve high accuracy in detecting changes in outcomes across registrations versions. Thrilled to have been a small part of this great work. Check it out below!

Colby Vorland@colbyvorland.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We show that LLMs are good at detecting outcome definition changes between registration versions: An automated approach to improve clinical trial registration and to identify outcome changes on ClinicalTrials.gov rdcu.be/fwHWo @ndevito1.bsky.social @mjpages.bsky.social @jamiecummins.bsky.social

Scoop: DeSantisworld went all-out to install UF’s new president—including privately threatening to Chris Rufo and tapping Nick Saban to rein in White House critics. Here’s how the GOP governor clashed with the conservative reform movement he helped build: www.chronicle.com/article/flor...

Florida’s Great Conservative Crack-Up

In the behind-the-scenes effort to install Stuart Bell as the flagship’s new president, Gov. Ron DeSantis played a starring role — to the chagrin of his onetime allies.

chronicle.com

A couple paid more than $800,000 for a gene-editing therapy for their daughter. She died, and it wasn’t made public. An exclusive from us and @science.org.

Exclusive: Death of girl in Chinese gene-editing trial was never made public

Parents want accountability after study went disastrously wrong, Science and Retraction Watch investigation reveals

science.org

Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California admitted that they used keywords related to diversity to screen for projects. It’s an admission that lawyers for the researchers say is proof the agencies illegally cancelled nearly $2b in grants.

DEI keyword search led to billions in cancelled California university grants

The Trump administration cancelled $2 billion of research grants to UC professors. Their legal team says it has proof that was unconstitutional.

calmatters.org

EXCLUSIVE: Internal CDC emails + meeting notes reveal how Dr. Jay Bhattacharya ordered 1AM Friday detention of over a dozen U.S. citizens returning from DRC + considered low Ebola risk, sparking chaos and concern at CDC. My latest for Rolling Stone: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Trump's CDC Is Detaining Americans in Response to Ebola: A 'Wild Misuse' of Power

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is needlessly detaining Americans as part of a chaotic Ebola response led by Jay Bhattacharya.

rollingstone.com

One of my favorite stories I wrote as a science reporter at BuzzFeed News was about CrossFit's crusade against scientific misconduct. It is now in a BOOK, out today! Thank you @theopennotebook.bsky.social for including me among so many outstanding journalists! www.theopennotebook.com/the-best-sci...

The Best Science Stories and How They Work: A Collection with Commentary - The Open Notebook

An invitation to engage with some of today’s most respected science journalists as they take readers beneath the surface to tell the stories behind eleven of the best science stories.

theopennotebook.com

“Do you have a conscious mind?” a mother once asked her Amazon Echo. “I think, therefore I—probably am something,” it replied. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/SldlHS

When A.I. Is a Member of the Family

A single mom, her two daughters, and the chatbots that fill in the gaps.

newyorkermag.visitlink.me

New from me: The University of Houston is proposing cutting 100 courses from its core curriculum to comply with SB 37, but faculty critics say the university's interpreting the law "in ways that go well beyond" what its text says. #HigherEd #AcademicSky

U. of Houston is Planning Big Cuts to Its Core Curriculum. Faculty Aren’t Happy.

The university is moving to cut 40 percent of classes from its core curriculum in response to a state law. Professors say administrators’ interpretation of the law is too broad, and that they should h...

chronicle.com

I wrote about Texas A&M's fall course-review process @chronicle.com. Some top-line results: Rhetoric and Film? OK, as long as discussion of critical race theory is removed. Contemporary Sociological Theory? Don't advocate while teaching. LGBTQ Literatures? Not allowed. #HigherEd

What Texas A&M Will — and Won’t — Let You Teach

Newly obtained records reveal that two courses for the fall were canceled outright, while administrators demanded changes to others. Instructors say the deliberative process is a black box.

chronicle.com

The Trump administration has proposed giving itself broad discretion to terminate grants if political appointees find that the work does not align with the administration’s priorities. "Every scientist can understand the threat that this poses." www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

The Government Tried to Cancel Colleges’ Grants. Now It’s Rewriting the Rules for Awarding Them.

As the Trump administration looks to further reshape American research, higher ed has entered a new battle.

chronicle.com

"CrossFit's 'Holy War': The Rise and Fall of Its Science Crusader" by @stephaniemlee.bsky.social, first in @buzzfeed.com News, is featured in our new book alongside annotations by @elaberwarren.bsky.social. Pre-order: www.theopennotebook.com/the-best-sci...

New Q&A: Is anthropology hopelessly politicized, more than any other humanistic field? That's the charge that's been flying around this summer, so I wanted to hear from Carolyn Rouse, the president of the American Anthropological Association. She had a lot to say. www.chronicle.com/article/is-a...

Is Anthropology Hopelessly Politicized?

We asked Carolyn M. Rouse, head of the American Anthropological Association. She had a lot to say.

chronicle.com

howard bunsis has accused dozens of universities of falsely claiming financial precarity to justify cutting budgets. administrators accuse him of just telling professors what they want to hear. @mzahneis.bsky.social and i dug into the disagreement www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...

The Faculty’s Numbers Man

The accounting professor has conducted analyses of more than 100 colleges’ finances. He often concludes that campuses are on more stable ground than administrators claim.

theassemblync.com

“We expect doctors to disclose, we expect politicians to disclose, and of course scientists and researchers too. Why not philosophers?” www.science.org/content/arti...

Philosophers call for their journals to require conflict of interest disclosures

A new petition urges greater transparency amid growing ties to AI and other companies

science.org

NEW: Should scholars be activists? My latest @chronicle.com story is on the debate fracturing the American Sociological Association, as told through one professor's effort to chart a path forward. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

The War for Sociology

A contest to lead the American Sociological Association distilled the field’s many conflicts. One was foremost: Should scholars be activists?

chronicle.com

My colleague @ngluckman.bsky.social and I wrote a profile of Jennifer Mnookin, the incoming president of Columbia University. Fairly or not, Columbia has become a chaotic poster child for everything wrong with higher ed. Can Mnookin repair the community, and how? www.chronicle.com/article/can-...

Can Jennifer Mnookin Heal Columbia?

One of higher ed’s most skilled negotiators arrives at one of its most fractured campuses.

chronicle.com