Richard Van Noorden
@richvn.bsky.social
Features editor, Nature. E: r⟦dot⟧vannoorden⟦at⟧nature⟦dot⟧com or richardvannoorden⟦at⟧protonmail⟦dot⟧com. Signal: richvn.01 .
"The majority of papers most cited in patents are the product of publicly funded research."
Nature@nature.com · 8h agoPatent citations are one way to examine how academic research flows into commercial innovation. Which scholarly papers have patents cited the most? go.nature.com/4w45J9Z
Published estimates of AI energy use per prompt (~0.3 watt-hours) appear reassuring small. But they are increasingly disconnected from how we actually use AI. Modern agentic tools use around 600 times more energy per prompt, as I discuss in my latest over at The Climate Brink www.theclimatebrink....
Nature reveals the studies that are mentioned most often in patent filings — and why. A fascinating analysis by @richvn.bsky.social @heidiledford.bsky.social & Edward Chen at @nature.com 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: the science papers that patents cite the most
Nature reveals the studies that are mentioned most often in patent filings — and why.
nature.com
Patent citations are one way to examine how academic research flows into commercial innovation. Which scholarly papers have patents cited the most? go.nature.com/4w45J9Z
Exclusive: the science papers that patents cite the most
Nature reveals the studies that are mentioned most often in patent filings — and why.
go.nature.com
Controversial White House plan to overhaul US science funding faces Senate opposition www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧪 #academicSky
Controversial White House plan to overhaul US science funding faces Senate opposition
Proposal to put political appointees in charge of research grants could be temporarily halted if lawmakers’ efforts are successful.
nature.com
@katarinazimmer.bsky.social wrote a nice article on review-milling, including Rabiul Awual, who I consider a prime example: www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
‘A waste of time for all of us’: caught in the crossfire of the peer-review wars
Review mills — researchers who write fake referee reports with coercive citation requests — are setting off a war in academic publishing. What happens to those caught in the middle?
nature.com
The existential choice facing UK physics facilities: commercialize or close. Excellent paper by @lizziegibney.bsky.social on the current challenges faced by UK research facilities, like #Jodrell Bank, but also many other facilities under threat.🧪 #UKRI #STFC #Dbsit www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The existential choice facing UK physics facilities: commercialize or close
The national synchrotron source, a laser facility and a particle accelerator are under threat of closure unless cash is found.
nature.com
These stories are often being presented as "cunning AI escapes its test room". I can't see why. It's simply the case that the sandbox was not well isolated by the testing companies. Put the agency and responsibility where it belongs. cyberscoop.com/anthropic-cl...
Anthropic says its AI accidentally hacked three companies during safety tests
Anthropic revealed its Claude AI models accidentally breached three real companies during safety testing after a vendor configuration error exposed live systems.
cyberscoop.com
From this week’s Qualia column: “I’ll just say it: What the hell is going on with AI ‘reasoning’?” www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-reason...
Is AI Reasoning Right for the Wrong Reasons? | Quanta Magazine
The idea that artificial intelligence can “reason” is more intuitive than ever. But intuitions can be wrong, and the science is far from settled.
quantamagazine.org
This is a really great and well researched article for anyone interested in current AI and its limitations. Did you know you can replace the text in "reasoning" trace with something else without changing performance? These models don't work for the reasons we think they do.
Quanta Magazine@quantamagazine.org · 5d agoFrom this week’s Qualia column: “I’ll just say it: What the hell is going on with AI ‘reasoning’?” www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-reason...
“Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Right now people in blue states are basically paying federal taxes as if they’re colonized territories of red states. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
This is wildly irresponsible of Google - allowing people to create AI generated satellite images. Satellite imagery has always been such a useful and reliable source because it came from reliable sources, but now Google is messing with it at source. www.digitaldigging.org/p/how-to-pla...
How to plant a nuclear plant in Iran
The question is: what on earth is Google doing?
digitaldigging.org
I am sick of some media uncritically repeating Rand Paul's misrepresentation of Fauci's journal about the Huanan market. In late Jan 2020, it was a common commentary that the market may not be the origin of the outbreak, b/c of a Lancet paper on early cases ▫️1/6 www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/u...
It's that time of year again.. No-one has demonstrated the evolutionary significance of epigenetic inheritance, at least not in animals, primarily because that is very different from just showing a transgenerational effect can occur. theconversation.com/updating-dar...
Updating Darwin: biologists are returning to an older theory to explain anomalies in evolution
To make sense of some characteristics that species exhibit from birth, you have to turn to an old discredited theory known as Lamarckism.
theconversation.com
Enter INSPYRE. This massive NASA-led campaign is gearing up to fly through pyroCb exhaust to study the global consequences of these fire storms. @nature.com got an inside look at this mission taking off tomorrow in Colorado...🧪🌍 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
First mission to fly through monstrous ‘fire clouds’ about to take off
The towering formations appearing over severe wildfires in France and Oregon loft smoke so high they have global consequences.
nature.com
Firefighters in Oregon, Spain, and now France (?!) are battling wildfires big enough to generate pyrocumulonimbus clouds. These fire storms are treacherous on the ground. But scientists are concerned about the *planetary* consequences of injecting so much smoke into the upper atmosphere...🌍🔥🧵
Some fertility clinics offer to furnish clients’ embryos with donated mitochondria to help treat infertility -- this hasn't been proven in rigorous clinical trials and may have safety risks. Scientists who spoke to @nature.com are alarmed. By @edwrdchen.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Fertility clinics are offering young mitochondria in controversial fertility technique
Researchers are alarmed that the procedure, which has not been rigorously studied, is advertised by clinics around the world.
nature.com
The first volunteer was vaccinated against Ebola only 68 days after the WHO declared the current outbreak a public health emergency of international concern We spoke to the study's lead scientists about how they were able to move so fast go.nature.com/4x7jMN0
Inside the high-stakes race to develop an Ebola vaccine for an escalating outbreak
The University of Oxford has already vaccinated its first clinical-trial participant. The study’s lead scientist Teresa Lambe tells Nature how they were able to move so fast.
go.nature.com
I suffered through Kratsios' answer to Science: the Endless Frontier. The NYT summary is good, but there's more to it. And I should say that I welcome improvements to the scientific enterprise (which is why I'm participating in @alondra.bsky.social and Jenny Reardon's Public's Science project). 🧵
Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities (Gift Article)
Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.
nytimes.com
The centrality of discernment to productive AI usage is obvious, and that's why I find the insistence that AI can be used as a teaching assistant (or worse, a *teacher*) so baffling. By definition, a student *isn't* an expert on the subject they're studying. 44/
Living systems, from bacteria to plants to mammals, all emit a faint light, a byproduct of metabolic activity in cells. Could these 'biophotons' be subtle markers of health? Might other cells even react to light signals? by @jomarchant.bsky.social | @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
All living things emit a faint glow. Could this light be useful?
Ultra-weak ‘biophotons’ might be used to diagnose disease, or could even represent a new signalling mechanism in cells.
nature.com
No. Someone did a TINY trial on 47 overweight people, 26 of whom had restricted eating hours. They presented their non peer reviewed findings at a conference. Science journalists who should know better bigged up the press release. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Restricted eating hours may reduce cognitive decline in older age, researchers find
Preliminary study shows older people who avoided food four hours before bed did better in problem solving tests
theguardian.com
Confirmation that Jodrell Bank Observatory has lost funding (via the e-Merlin project) under STFC cuts, as first reported by RPN in early July www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands
Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.
bbc.co.uk
Robin Bisson@robinbisson.bsky.social · 4w agoFor 6 months the line from DSIT & UKRI on STFC cuts has been that no final decisions have been taken That is no longer the case, after DSIT approved UKRI's proposal for how to save £162m British research at Cern will be hit, along with UK science facilities Scoop by me & @francesjones.bsky.social
Following the bad news about influential UK science policy outlet Research Professional closing down, it's great news that its founder William Cullerne Bown is starting a new publication apparently to replace it: william.cullernebown.uk/a-new-beginn... 🧪
A new beginning
Research Professional News is to close on 31 December. This is the announcement of a new, independent publication coming on 1 January
william.cullernebown.uk
PSA: in the UK you *can* watch the Commonwealth Games live and free of charge on BBC iPlayer … but on BBC Alba only, so with Gaelic-language commentary.
A simple but (I think) compelling re-analysis of a paper that Director Bhattacharya frequently cites in his talks to claim that NIH-funded researchers no longer pick up the newest ideas. Dr. Bishop concludes the opposite using the same data. The original conclusion was contrary to my experience.
Dorothy Bishop@deevybee.bsky.social · 2w agoFurther analysis of Packalen & Bhattacharya article, where they claimed #NIH-funded research was slow to pick up on new ideas. I argue that their approach is flawed, and I present an analysis that shows the exact opposite. pubpeer.com/publications...
This should be truly shocking, but unfortunately isn't.
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (Gift Article)
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
nytimes.com
“NSF has now pulled back $300 million from two of its divisions: mathematics and physical sciences, and computer and information science and engineering. Programme officers…at the NSF, have pulled back 150 proposals that have already passed peer review to free up the money”
Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 2w agoWhite House science policy captured headlines this week, with the announcement of awards for its flagship AI program, Congressional hearings, and a Vannevar Bush-esque report "Science: A New Golden Age." We fashioned the news into one big story—incl. key updates at NSF. Reported w/ Kaia Glickman:
