"~15% of journal articles in biology have an associated preprint, the rate is >95% with the ASAP initiative" sparcopen.org/impact-story... Zero reason all funders shouldn't also mandate this #PlanU journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Tim Verstynen
@tdverstynen.bsky.social
Professor Department Gadfly Data Alchemist Synthetic Psychologist Zombie Apologist “The enemy” - JD Vance This is an anti-ICE account Opinions are my own. Not gonna let my employer take credit for them.
What do you do if you’re making over $1B/year from short-term trading but want to avoid taxes? If you're the head of one of the most profitable firms on Wall Street, you find creative ways to transform the "wrong" sort of income into the right kind. From the ProPublica archives:
Ten Ways Billionaires Avoid Taxes on an Epic Scale
After a year of reporting on the tax machinations of the ultrawealthy, ProPublica spotlights the top tax-avoidance techniques that provide massive benefits to billionaires.
propublica.org
This is wild. >1/2 of HC synapses disappear in artificial hibernation, come back in same/similar locations & memories intact. ~1/2 of engram synapses-between two memory-tagged cells-are clustered on dendrites, those preferentially spared. Not biggest synapses. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
After 17 years of teaching science at West Point, a professor says he was suddenly ordered last year to cut from his curriculum information about the human causes of climate change, according to a new lawsuit filed against the U.S. Military Academy.
West Point Climate Professor Says He Was Fired for Refusing to ‘Defy Science’
Dr. Adam Kalkstein is suing the U. S. Military Academy, where he was a professor of geography and the only climate scientist, after being fired.
nyti.ms
A 30% cut to international enrollment is lights out at many public R1’s. And: once again, this is not bungling on the part of the administration, or unintended consequences. It is *precisely* the intention.
Chronicle of Higher Education@chronicle.com · 9h agoAn administrator on the flagship campus offered that estimate as part of a federal lawsuit, filed this month, against a new four-year limit on student visas. https://chroni.cl/4wMDqgw
If you live in an area that has pockets of immigrants, and you think nothing is happening with ICE, you are probably wrong. I've been hearing about things happening EVERYWHERE right now.
Slurs derive their injurious force from a history of violence and dehumanization that folks are at least implicitly aware of. YOU CANNOT DEHUMANIZE A MACHINE IN THIS WAY. THERE IS NO HISTORY OF VIOLENCE THAT ENABLES "CLANKER" TO FUNCTION IN THIS WAY.
sorta seems like the military is one place where you really, really want to engage with how it is instead of how you want it to be
Stars and Stripes@starsandstripes.bsky.social · 6h agoA civilian geography professor was fired from West Point for pushing back after department officials barred faculty from teaching that humans contribute to climate change.
Movie night was moved up to Wednesday this week. We didn’t even have to discuss what to put on.
Someone this deranged shouldn't have full control of their own finances, let alone tens of billions in other people's money
ryan cooper@ryanlcooper.com · 8h agothe tech elite is officially off its goddamn rocker www.wsj.com/tech/ai/situ...
Ate a sandwich with lettuce tonight. We like to live on the edge in this household!
Tom Cruise as Maverick: Danger Zone
ALT: Tom Cruise as Maverick: Danger Zone
static.klipy.com
Great article on the ways in which government censorship of federally funded science, combined with the threat of grant termination, has forced anticipatory compliance in language across the scientific discourse, with potentially long lasting effects.
NIH Vigils@nihvigils.bsky.social · 11h ago“It’s an elegant arrangement. It converts coercive state action into private editorial decisions, distributes moral injury across thousands of individual scientists each making a defensible compromise, and leaves executive power free to deny with curious vigor that censorship is occurring at all.”
This morning in Danbury, ICE was arresting parents at school bus stops. But it’s more sinister. ICE waited until the kids were on the bus so when they are dropped off at the end of the day, they are alone, scared to death they can’t find their parents. I’m heading to Danbury.
The New York Times reported Monday on the global pause in immigrant visa interviews at US embassies and consulates. A new legal filing cites that story and challenges the State Department's rationale for the worldwide pause. Gift link to the NYT story: www.nytimes.com/2026/08/24/u...
Trump Administration to Target Visas of Up To 200,000 Foreign Citizens Applying for Asylum (Gift Article)
The State Department, in a move that could affect as many as 200,000 visa holders and asylum applicants, has begun its review. Cancellations could occur in waves.
nytimes.com
Garrett Langley, Flock’s CEO, told cops that a 404 Media story about cops using Flock to track someone who self-administered an abortion was "entirely false." He's lying. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Read the full story from @josephcox.bsky.social: www.404media.co/flocks-ceo-i...
The future of Parton’s Imagination Library has become uncertain due to the quiet machinations of Republicans in the Midwest that have sought to unravel public funding for the cause. trib.al/Z9f1GpD
reboosting this: please keep it going, everybody
Pieter T. L. Beck@ptrbck.bsky.social · yesterdayWe have written a statement in support of Ghent Uni's decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. We resist attempts to frame this as a punishment for "whistleblowing" or censorship of "controversial research". We invite all academics who share our views to sign our letter. forms.gle/qwN8xzEM5C7Q...
Buckingham Palace band playing 9 to 5 for Dolly Parton
It still bothers me that there are so many people who don’t believe climate change is real and currently happening.
The source of the flood in Nepal is a collapsed glacier 🧪⚒️
Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦@watershedlab.bsky.social · 17h agoThere has been a truly horrific flood in Nepal this morning (you can go search for videos). Let's be careful not to jump to conclusions about the trigger until we have visual confirmation. This is unlikely to have been a glacial lake outburst flood. 🧪⚒️
A direct line can be drawn from the fossil fuel corporation CEOs in their smart suits and swanky offices, to the brutal deaths of the terrified people you can see in these films Himalayan glaciers are collapsing, and meltwater lakes breaching, due to global heating www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c6...
Hundreds missing, including 291 foreign tourists, after deadly flash flood on Nepal-Tibet border
In Tibet, CCTV captured a wall of mud and water hitting a border crossing. The missing in Nepal include more than 100 from India and 12 from the UK.
bbc.co.uk
"In private, people who understand how good this stuff is, and how much better it’s getting, they’re very worried." Bill Gates is scared af about unchecked, unregulated AI development. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/t...
Bill Gates Is Warning That A.I. Is More Dangerous Than Big Tech Will Admit (Gift Article)
In an hourlong interview, he said his industry was downplaying the risks, which he believes include mass unemployment and bioterrorism.
nytimes.com
Thread. I have yet to see a proper explanation of how LLMs actually work that is targeted to an informed general audience. So here is an explainer that I put together along with Tim @countzerozzz (inspired by @CIFAR_News LMB discussions).
This data center boom is because 1) These companies can’t/won’t deal with compute efficiency www.theatlantic.com/technology/2... and 2) The persistence of the provably false belief that scaling will lead to AGI link.springer.com/article/10.1... The whole project is almost destined to fail.
Generative AI Is an Engineering Disaster
A shockingly inefficient trillion-dollar project
theatlantic.com
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · yesterdayNYT: “.. The move could prevent residents from raising concerns about — or even learning about — data centers before permits are approved and construction starts.” @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/c...
Immigrant visa applicants with scheduled interviews at US embassies and consulates have received emails telling them their appointments were being rescheduled and that they would receive future notice of a new date and time. ft.trib.al/3FVnNCL
