Cool way to publish scientific research without the 17th Century technology of journals 🧪 arxiv.org/html/2607.05...
Publishing Without Journals: An Open, Forkable Archive with Attributed Review
arxiv.org
Ian Sample
@iansample.bsky.social
Guardian Science Editor and co-host at Science Weekly. Author of Massive | Sony Gold Award | PhD in Biomedical Materials https://www.theguardian.com/profile/iansample
This is sooooo good from @sarahchurchwell.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Burning flags, busty blondes and bison skulls: 48 photographs that capture America at 250
From the gold rush to civil rights, the moon landing to 9/11, the US has always understood, mythologised and sold itself through the power of the still image
theguardian.com
Orlando’s book on rehabilitating people after stroke and brain injury is fascinating and profoundly moving. And very welcome after some of the previous hype around neuroplasticity 🧪 www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
The doctor who mends broken brains: why there is room for hope after a stroke or head injury
The neurologist Orlando Swayne doesn’t suggest everyone can recover. But he does argue that early, targeted and intense therapy can sometimes bring about life-changing improvements – and we have a mor...
theguardian.com
Glorious stuff from the fabulous Charlotte Higgins: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
It wasn’t exactly The Devil Wears Prada, but my time working at Vogue in the 90s was preposterous fun | Charlotte Higgins
The decline of the glossy magazine industry as depicted in the sequel made me cry – but I shed no tears for how it was back then, says Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer
theguardian.com
More than 50 years after Apollo, what would it mean to return to the moon? Great insights from Jan Woerner, former DG at @esa.int and @rossandersen.bsky.social from @theatlantic.com Kudos @madifinlay.bsky.social And @elliebury.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/science/audi...
Does going to the moon still matter? – podcast
Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, the Atlantic journalist Ross Andersen, and Jan Wörner, a former director general of the European Space Agency
theguardian.com
We knew @cern.bsky.social was planning a test run with antimatter on a truck: www.theguardian.com/science/2026... And it worked! Fun chat with Dr Christian Smorra on Science Weekly: www.theguardian.com/science/audi... Kudos @madifinlay.bsky.social, Ellie Sans, and Exec prod @elliebury.bsky.social 🧪
Please drive carefully: scientists plan to transport volatile antimatter for first time
Cern researchers are testing traps capable of moving antimatter, which explodes into energy as soon as it comes into contact with regular matter
theguardian.com
What's behind the craze for injectable peptides? Great Science Weekly ep from @madifinlay.bsky.social with Adrienne Matei and Dr Anna Barnard 🧪@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social Exec prod @elliebury.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/science/audi...
What’s behind the injectable peptide craze? – podcast
Madeleine Finlay hears from journalist Adrienne Matei and from Dr Anna Barnard, an associate professor at Imperial College London who researches peptides
theguardian.com
The ultimate FOMO: do some people have a richer conscious experience than you? Fascinating and funny chat with Michael Pollan, author of A World Appears, on Science Weekly 🧪. @elliebury.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/science/audi...
What sets human consciousness apart from AI? – podcast
Ian Sample speaks to author and journalist Michael Pollan about his new book A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness
theguardian.com
LOVED interviewing @jomarchant.bsky.social about the fascinating science of the present moment. The concept of Now, the topic of her new book, raises so many deep questions in physics, neuroscience, philosophy, you name it 🧪🤘 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...
What is 'Now'?
Podcast Episode · Where The Wild Thoughts Are · 16 February · 54m
podcasts.apple.com
HUGE congrats to @jomarchant.bsky.social on her sublime new book In Search of Now! This is where the rubber hits the road. You’ll never ponder the present in the same way again⏱️
Absolutely BRILLIANT three part mini-series by @nicolaksdavis.bsky.social on a Scottish tea mystery. Cracking story! 🧪 Production by @madifinlay.bsky.social Exec prof @elliebury.bsky.social First ep here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
A Scottish tea mystery: green shoots – episode one
Podcast Episode · Science Weekly · 28/10/2025 · 22m
podcasts.apple.com
Great article from @iansample.bsky.social. Starts with info on the significant harms to oral health from smoking and moves on to give nuanced assessment of the more limited evidence on vaping. If all coverage was like this then a majority of Brits would not think that vaping was as bad as smoking.
Action on Smoking Health (UK)@ashorguk.bsky.social · 10mo agoThere's been a few articles this week about vaping and oral health. This excellent article sets out the facts and crucially also highlights the extreme damage that smoking does to oral health. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
The Guardian's Science Weekly podcast is great, it's up there with More or Less for the best media science output. This latest on paracetamol, vaccines & #autism is superb. Madeleine Finlay, Ian Sample @iansample.bsky.social , & their production crew 👏👏👏 open.spotify.com/episode/5LRh...
Fact-checking Trump’s autism announcement
open.spotify.com
Thanks @iansample.bsky.social at @theguardian.com podcast for chatting #ScientificPublishing. This pod follows from The Strain on Scientific Publishing & reports of publisher profit margins rivalling Google etc... Paper: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Pod: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
Fraud, AI slop and huge profits: is science publishing broken?
Podcast Episode · Science Weekly · 02/10/2025 · 18m
podcasts.apple.com
If you'd like to read more on this, see @iansample.bsky.social 's article. Article: www.theguardian.com/science/2025... Paper: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Quality of scientific papers questioned as academics ‘overwhelmed’ by the millions published
Widespread mockery of AI-generated rat with giant penis in one paper brings problem to public attention
theguardian.com
Mark A. Hanson@hansonmark.bsky.social · 10mo agoThanks @iansample.bsky.social at @theguardian.com podcast for chatting #ScientificPublishing. This pod follows from The Strain on Scientific Publishing & reports of publisher profit margins rivalling Google etc... Paper: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Pod: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
The wonderful, brilliant Jane Goodall. Global environment editor @jonathan-watts.bsky.social tells @iansample.bsky.social about Jane's revolutionary work, her tireless activism, and the powerful legacy she leaves us all. www.theguardian.com/science/audi...
Remembering primatologist Jane Goodall – podcast
The renowned primatologist Jane Goodall has died aged 91. She will be remembered for her observations that revolutionised our understanding of chimpanzees, as well as her tireless environmental advoca...
theguardian.com
Putin, Xi and the obsession with radical life extension. Fascinating chat with @prof-tregoning.bsky.social and @pjotrsauer.bsky.social 🧪 With @elliebury.bsky.social And Tom Glasser www.theguardian.com/science/audi...
Putin’s quest for longevity – podcast
At a recent ceremony for world leaders in Beijing, a hot mic picked up a surprising exchange between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping about the possibility of living to 150. Putin suggested the secret mi...
theguardian.com
I have stacks of questions about how the model’s working: how is the grammar intact, why are certain words repeated, are any lowest probability? But I like it. AI threatens to reduce human experience by steering our choices to popular ones. This is feeble, silly pushback. Or token subversion? 🤖🧠🧪
Using least probable tokens, the answer was a hoot: “A great city emerges through kaleidoscope sandwiches of perpetual thunder. It integrates gelatinous traffic systems of whispering algorithms. It preserves holographic fountains of magnetic jam and encourages staircases of wandering moons.” 🤖🧠🧪
The question I posed was: What features make a great city? The normal (most probable, single token) response highlighted the richness of a city’s culture, the diversity of its people and the strength of its public spaces. Fair enough. But a bit dull.
I asked ChatGPT to emulate Least Probable Token Selection across single, double and triplet tokens. Instead of building sentences from the most probable next token(s), it chooses them from the long tail of lowest probabilities. The results are fun. 🤖🧠🧪
Accordion staircases of wandering moons AI chatbots churn out answers by repeatedly predicting the next token, be that a word, subword or character. Building sentences from highly probable next tokens isn’t a bad way to extract consensus from language. But it's boring. So I had a word. 🤖🧠🧪
Dostoevsky, bliss and the absence of prediction error between expectation and experience. Fascinating stuff from @jomarchant.bsky.social and Fabienne Picard at University Hospital Geneva 🧪 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...
Epilepsy, ecstasy and the nature of reality
Podcast Episode · Where The Wild Thoughts Are · 08/09/2025 · 35m
podcasts.apple.com
The Prof Angus Dalgleish mentioned in this story being the one who stood for Parliament in 2015 as a member of UKIP. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Doctor uses Reform conference speech to link king’s cancer to Covid vaccine
Aseem Malhotra claimed ‘eminent oncologist’ said jab was ‘significant factor in the cancer of members of royal family’
theguardian.com
We spoke to Dr Mandy Cohen, a former director of the CDC, and journalist @melodyschreiber.com about the absolute disaster unfolding at the CDC 🧪 www.theguardian.com/science/audi...
RFK Jr and the chaos at the CDC - podcast
Science editor Ian Sample hears from health reporter Melody Schreiber and former CDC director Mandy Cohen to find out what a week of chaos at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention could me...
theguardian.com
The Guardian has today printed the names, and where possible, images, of all the media workers killed in Gaza, as part of an international day of action involving more than 150 media organisations. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
The deadly toll on journalists in the Gaza war
With foreign media barred, Palestinians have reported alone, facing the ‘most deliberate effort to kill and silence’ them ever
theguardian.com