Since this has been coming up again, just a reminder of what I actually said (in public, no less) back in early 2020. Here's just one example from: www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/sci....
Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴
@wamsleylab.bsky.social
Cognitive neuroscientist, runs a sleep lab. Studying sleep, dreaming, memory and rest. Uses EEG, interested in open science, women in STEM. 🧠📈😴 Frustrated with the higher-education industrial complex. Luddite-adjacent. #AAUP. Views are my own.
I feel it's not merely being anti-AI; it's also that many people work off the assumption that AI is (and will stay) in the "incapable and harmful" quadrant (below), leading them to neglect the risks in the "capable and harmful" quadrant (which are pretty concerning imo, but hard to discuss here).
No. Nope. Still not falling for this. "University presidents and governing boards are asked to address seven subjects — including free speech, foreign influence, artificial intelligence and academic rigor — and post the statements prominently on their websites."
After Colleges Reject ‘Compact,’ Trump Officials Try a Letter (Gift Article)
The open letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon fell far short of the attempt at a compact last year that dangled research money in return for embracing the Trump administration’s agenda.
nytimes.com
THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE POWER ACCOMPLISHES! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who wrote comments, contacted Congress, and yelled! This is OUR WIN! @standupforscience.net www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
Senate finalizes funding patch that would block Trump’s grant overhaul
Language is included to delay the president’s move to put political appointees in charge of grant approval.
politico.com
If Julia Roberts sent me flowers, I would definitely write about it in my diary. If Barbara Streisand called me on the phone, I would definitely write about it in my diary. Yes, even during a pandemic I was in charge of managing. So what? This is supposed to be SCANDALOUS?
The Doctor and His Diary: What Fauci’s Innermost Musings Reveal (Gift Article)
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci seemed to be the life of the party, even in the midst of a deadly pandemic.
nytimes.com
"a comprehensive, "line-by-line" review of every course taught at the military academies... Courses determined to be non-essential or "ideologically driven" would be slated for elimination." #edusky #academicsky
Rob Taber@robtaber.bsky.social · 5d agoHear me out: we want our senior military officers to have a robust liberal arts education, including multiple perspectives from history, literature, and the social sciences, and to know that civilians sometimes know things.
WHEN WE FIGHT, WE WIN. It's time to APPLY HEAVY PRESSURE. Call you Senators NOW: fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/omb... I know, everyone hates calling. But this is CRITICAL. Make the calls today! (Use our super easy autodialer tool linked above) www.politico.com/live-updates...
Top senators consider blocking Trump’s grant shakeup in spending stopgap
It’s now “up to leadership” whether to head off the controversial changes, Sen. Susan Collins said.
politico.com
“To demand that the AAUP remain silent about the political attack on academia is ridiculous. To demand that the AAUP should do nothing to fight for academic freedom is wrong.” #academicsky
Critics of the AAUP and the Delusions of Neutrality
The AAUP is not and must not be neutral in defense of academic freedom.
insidehighered.com
Couldn’t agree more. Dr. Fauci is an American hero.
Whaaa? If this is true, it could resolve a lot of confusion about how the effects of sleep and rest on memory consolidation are weirdly similar across hippocampus-dependent and non-hippocampus dependent tasks. #sleeppeeps
Juan Linde-Domingo@lindedomingo.bsky.social · 2w agoReplay of procedural memory is independent of the hippocampus 👀👀 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🏆We are very pleased to announce the 2026 Awards Winners and Commendations recipients for the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science! 👏Join us in celebrating the exceptional projects that have revolutionized the field of psychological science. buff.ly/2lUKGFd
SIPS 2026 Awards Announced!
We are very pleased to announce the 2026 Awards Winners for the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science! Join us in celebrating the exceptional projects that have revolutionized the fi…
improvingpsych.org
Incredibly proud to be a part of ManyBeds, a multi lab replication effort of targeted memory reactivation during sleep, which was just honoured with a SIPS commendation! I'm very excited about what will come out of this (and then never shut up about it).
Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS)@improvingpsych.org · 2w ago🏆We are very pleased to announce the 2026 Awards Winners and Commendations recipients for the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science! 👏Join us in celebrating the exceptional projects that have revolutionized the field of psychological science. buff.ly/2lUKGFd
Simon Kern@skjerns.de · 2w agoAre you a sleep researcher? Then we're interested in your opinion on preregistrations! Help advance the field by filling out this short (5-minute) survey redcap.link/1zg4tezm (Any career stage, doesn't matter if you've preregistered before or not, we need you. Please share!)
Tonight, he goes after the National Academy of Sciences, regarding climate change:
Many faculty have been sounding the alarm about the problems generative AI poses for student learning. Strangely, some higher ed administrations seem have emerged as major AI boosters. Why? As I write in the latest @hedgehogreview.bsky.social it's a labor story: hedgehogreview.com/issues/the-f...
"Not one of the people that is demonstrating looks like a normal person. Not one looks normal. They’re all deformed in some way – in their appearance, in their dress, in their mannerism... This so much deeper than issues about taxation and regulation... It’s about normal, healthy, ordered living."
Colette Delawalla, PhD@cdelawalla.bsky.social · 3w agoGood morning. This is fascism. This is the US Govt creating thought crimes. It’s not about who they are arresting today, it’s about how this vague and threatening pursuit will be used against dissenters. ✨EVERY✨ fascist govt to date, has taken this step. www.state.gov/releases/off...
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but… It is up to Roxanne whether or not she turns on the red light. Just sayin’ 💁🏽♀️
Good morning. This is fascism. This is the US Govt creating thought crimes. It’s not about who they are arresting today, it’s about how this vague and threatening pursuit will be used against dissenters. ✨EVERY✨ fascist govt to date, has taken this step. www.state.gov/releases/off...
Remarks at the Opening of the Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Terrorism - United States Department of State
DEPUTY SECRETARY LANDAU: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the State Department. It’s an honor and a privilege to have you here. For those of us who grew up in the 1970s, the topic that ...
state.gov
"It would perhaps be as productive to interview sufficiently drunken persons, as to have them report the contents of poorly recalled dreams." - Nathaniel Kleitman, 1982 #sleeppeeps
Our article introducing the #openESM database for experience samling data, led by @bsiepe.bsky.social, has now been published 🎉 Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.3... openESM interactive website: openesmdata.org GitHub repository: github.com/openesm-proj...
Lads, lasses, and everybody else down to party, I present to you: The Litowitz Center for Enlightened Disagreement at Northwestern Kellogg University
And if you think you don't have anything to do with federal grants? You DO. Anyone you know use Head Start? Federal grant. Anyone you know receive mental healthcare via Veterans? Federal Grant. Take Amtrak? Federal. Grant. railroads.dot.gov/grants-loans...
railroads.dot.gov
New paper out! We used MEG to catch the brain learning hidden patterns buried in noise and found two separate mechanisms at play: fast predictive activity (up to 500ms before a stimulus!) followed by slower representational change that tracks actual learning. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Learning regularities in noise engages both neural predictive activity and representational changes - Nature Communications
Extracting regularities from a noisy environment is fundamental to cognition, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Here, the authors use MEG and MVPA to reveal two temporally dissociab...
nature.com
You really can’t overstate how fake “viewpoint diversity” is as a problem in higher education. Not even conservative students want conservative ideological coursework. It’s a fake problem, just lies invented to accelerate faculty precarity and impose political and corporate vetoes over curricula.
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 4w agoOnly one student enrolled in West Virginia University’s new Washington Center after GOP lawmakers mandated the creation of the program Lawmakers allocated around $3 million to the program in the last two years
Whaaaat? When can I get mine?! #sleeppeeps A soft wearable near-infrared spectroscopy system for detecting brain water dynamics linked to glymphatic activity during sleep | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A soft wearable near-infrared spectroscopy system for detecting brain water dynamics linked to glymphatic activity during sleep
A soft, wearable NIRS device monitors brain water dynamics linked to glymphatic activity during sleep.
science.org
"AI-proofing" assignments doesn't work. But ELIMINATING GRADES would eliminate the "AI cheating crisis". Bonus: Most students would learn more and have better mental health. Drawback: No easy way to distinguish between "good" and "poor" students. But that's already the case. #edusky #academicsky
I will die on the hill that eliminating "at home" assignments is NOT the answer here. Writing is important. Reading is important. THIKING IS IMPORTANT. And these things MUST be done deeply, alone, for many hours. In-class assignments can NEVER replace genuine academic work... #edusky 1/2
Brendan Nyhan@brendannyhan.bsky.social · 4w agoFriends don't let friends continue to give exams and papers that are not adapted to the current AI landscape www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty... (this is AFTER 27 bailed so the reality is even worse) PS Props to students 1, 22, and 31
Go #AAUP!
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 4w agoBREAKING: University professors (AAUP) represented by NAACP LDF and Lambda Legal, with Davis Wright Tremaine, file a federal lawsuit challenging censorship at the Texas Tech University System under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Complaint: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Our work on goal-directed theta sweeps is out! We found two different types of theta sweeps in the rat hippocampus. During random foraging, left-right alternating sweeps dominated (Vollan, 25). However, during memory-guided navigation sweeps pointing to hidden goal locations emerged with learning.
