Recent posts by Computational Cognitive Scientists on Bluesky

Hans von Spakovsky has gone woke

Thank you to everyone who offered camera advice after Saturday’s catastrophe. I’m happy to say that the insurance claim is going forward and I’ll be getting a replacement soon. If you’re particularly sensitive to damage, don’t watch this, but if you’re curious to see the destruction, here it is.

What does it mean if I've got a goose egg on the back of my head that hurts like hell but I've got no memory of hitting my head That's a normal thing to not worry about, right

So sorry, my mistake: I thought your question was in good faith, but now it seems you just want to express discontent about a thread. The full paper of course includes information that does not fit in a thread (though even the thread made clear the context). link.springer.com/article/10.1...

While much of machine learning is retrospective (learn the past distribution) learning in biology is prospective (learn for the future) - here we discuss some implications for neuroscience (with @tdverstynen.bsky.social, Josh Vogelstein, Pratik Chaudhari): www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...

Wow. To the nature feed. 🌿

Trailer for 'The Odyssey' produced by the Nolans is out. Looks to be another big film from them. Score def. sounds like Hans Zimmer. Glad to see Elliot Page also is on the cast to make an appearance! More Elliot Page please! And Zendaya as the Goddess Athena!

The Salton Sea Bird Festival is on January 17, 2026. Be there or be square! 🪶

I got the UFO files from the Woomera rocket range in South Australia out of the National Archives - a huge % of the sightings were the planet Venus, but there was one that I couldn't dismiss, 3 military aviation observers in different locations. Hmm....

It isn’t “for no reason”. The tariffs allow Trump to hold large corporations hostage until they pay him massive bribes. The reason is to enrich Trump, whatever the cost. I’m tired of people thinking there’s some deep policy or something when it’s just mundane mob shakedown shit.

A smooth galaxy, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in the COSMOS survey. It is at redshift 1.45 (lookback time 9.41 billion years) with coordinates (150.33377, 2.73767). 51 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo: Hubble.

When 60 Minutes aired the Google “emergent intelligence” piece I realized that if they could so shallow about my own field then I had no way of knowing if they were being shallow about anything else. The latest controversy is just a step function in the downward trajectory of CBS.

The light was better when I was photographing from ground level. At this time of the year the sun goes behind the town and hills to the south-west so you don't get to see the whole stack in golden hour light. Bow Fiddle Rock #Scotland #CanonR5ii

Black-crested Coquette staying busy at @tapirworf.bsky.social #CostaRica #hummingbirds #birds #nature

Opening in the fog… From a beautiful morning in the Écrins National Park, French Alps. #photography #nature #art #landscape #mountains

If you think that surveillance can eliminate crime then please read Light of Other Days by Arthur C Clark and Stephen Baxter www.forbes.com/sites/thomas... (sure the book is about wormholes, but also using wormholes to surveil everyone)

Yes, agree — seems sudden, and am interested to see where Bruno lands. He did really well with ULA (launch success). Always found him to be very engaging and more down to Earth than other CEOs of other launch companies (not mentioning the evil one’s name!).

Just had some visitors up the driveway. These are two of three coyotes that came by a few minutes ago. The the second photo is one that almost came right up the driveway, but saw me in the window and turned around. Always a treat to see them. #mammals 🌿

The 1983 diving accident that killed five through explosive decompression. A mechanical failure on an oil rig in the North Sea killed five men so quickly and violently that the physics involved still gets cited in diving safety courses four decades later. boingboing.net/2025/12/22/t...

Actually, two, maybe three of the telescopes in this list are no longer there: Arecibo, Molongolo and potentially Mullard. 😭 All very significant instruments! 📡 Wondering what happened to Reber’s ashes from these locations? Maybe @drspacejunk.bsky.social might know?

The Best Space Photos of 2025 Reveal the Most Jaw-Dropping Views of the Cosmos www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

The Justice Department Just Released More Epstein Files www.wired.com/story/the-ju...

Whom amongst us has not tried to build their own radio telescope in their backyard?!

'It's amazing' – the wonder material very few can make. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Fantastic thread! Reber lived in Tasmania in the later part of his life, and passed away here. There’s even a museum dedicated to him down there! He was of such importance and pivotal to #RadioAstronomy that his ashes were sent to radio telescopes all around the world! 📡

Over the weekend my best friend (who is a huge transit nerd) learned about the word "Bustituted", which is when a trolley line is replaced with a bus. I can't stop thinking about it. Good word, transit nerds.

I love the holiday card — so frequently corny, yet in the end, an honest expression of human kindness. We need more of that these days.🎄❄️

Finally got some photos of Australia’s “blue ant”, Diamma bicolor, which is not an ant at all but a shockingly large metallic blue thynnid wasp, wingless and solitary, that hunts mole crickets. Been meaning to shoot this thing for years.

Drone view of Bow Fiddle Rock. #Scotland #DronePhotography #DJIMavic3Pro

Im rich in life because people like when I make jokes like this 🥹🥰

Happy Wreath of Khan season to all who celebrate

Observations from Chile suggest that Japan's H3 survived the first orbit and reentered at second perigee, circa 0400 UTC, somewhere over S America along the track shown here

All hail the felines! the ancient god has returned!

If I were a deep-sea mining company, I would be extremely nervous about the precedents this administration is setting for offshore leases.

A spiral galaxy, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in the COSMOS survey. It is at redshift 0.50 (lookback time 5.21 billion years) with coordinates (150.12009, 2.56149). 50 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo: Hubble.

Update: have finished The Sapling Cage and I *did* spot @margaret.bsky.social's Tamora Pierce shoutout in the acknowledgements, I love that the Tamora Pierce fans of my youth are all grown up and writing their own books now

I have a lot of great egrets. #BirdOfTheDay #birds #photography #ArtAdventCalendar

Me: Okay I am going to put your dirty clothes in the laundry, are you sure you got everything out of the pockets? The 13yo: Yes dad [eye roll] I got everything out of the pockets The pockets:

Emily Steel, an investigative reporter for The Times, got access to sealed court documents revealing more than 400,000 reports of sexual assault or misconduct during Uber rides over six years. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/b...

Artists Embrace an Affordable and Ubiquitous Material in ‘Cardboard: Infinite Possibilities’ www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/12/card...

Dignity. Always dignity.

Last week I heard that the sewage repairs were starting on last Wednesday and would be finished by today, so I could finally move back to Columbus. Texted today for an update and (surprise!) they still haven't started those repairs, so I'm still stuck in work-from-home purgatory. Losing it here.

Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" trailer brings the epic myth to vivid life. “After years of war, no one could stand between my men and home. Not even me.” arstechnica.com/culture/2025...

THIS IS LAGGAN. A special place that will always be my favourite place to visit. #bluesky #peace #tranquil #scotland #memories

A little review of some of the things I wrote this year. 🧵 It was of course the Year of Quantum, a highlight of which was the meeting on Helgoland in the summer. Here's what that was all about, and what happened there. www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/the-hol...

If you were wondering why I've been tweeting lots of history of immunology content recently - it's all in this episode! The 19th century battle for immunological theory, the history of discovering antibodies, their extraordinary diversity and how they've helped test, study & design better vaccines.

If you were wondering why I've been tweeting lots of historical immunology content recently - it's all in this episode! The 19th century battle for immunological theory, the history of discovering antibodies, their extraordinary diversity and how they've helped test, study & design better vaccines.

Signal boosting again!

Every so often I land on my profile page and think to myself - it's so weird they didn't find this sufficient for verification.

We had what I think counts as a Conclave of cardinals in the back yard this morning. I counted seven males and one female for sure, and there might have been another female – I didn't get a good look. Usually I see a single male, or a male and a female. I've never seen that many together before.

Hep B vaccines have been in the news recently, as the ACIP under RFK Jr voted to withdraw universal newborn vaccination. We recorded most of this episode before that happened, so we added more thoughts about why that's concerning, before explaining how special and awesome Hep B vaccines are:

This is well worth a read. It is essentially qualitative, which some might baulk at, but sometimes that's the way to start fleshing out an idea.

Just checked the Newcastle forecast for Wednesday night. Cloudy but no rain. Hopefully Father Christmas will be able to find his way to my house despite the clouds.

These pâtes de fruits were fun to make. You usually cut them into squares, but I have my grandma’s old card suit cutters, and thought this would be a good application for them. Flavours are orange and pomegranate.

A clumpy galaxy, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in the GOODS-N-FULLDEPTH survey. It is at redshift 0.85 (lookback time 7.29 billion years) with coordinates (189.35123, 62.27562). 40 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo: Hubble.

Here's a gorgeously put-together excerpt from my book Alchemy: An Illustrated History, in @chemistryworld.com. www.chemistryworld.com/culture/cruc...

Hey Kody? I’m watching your so-called apology and I need you to know that if you are only apologizing on YOUR terms, you aren’t actually sorry. Make one single attempt to do right by your kids, challenge level impossible #SisterWives

Nextdoor finally worked. I came home to the scene below (without food, which I added) -- a distressed lost kitty. Signed up immediately on Nextdoor and found a post from the owner looking for their cat, and got them reunited within ten minutes.

Look...it happens to everyone. Learning to let go is important. *realizes 2,500 word feature story has vanished into the digital ether* ...We are about to hyperventilate. www.popsci.com/diy/how-to-r...

The Eurasian Griffon has long been culturally significant, having been used in ancient flutes and mummified by Egyptians. Though the species has faced great declines, conservation efforts have significantly advanced recovery. More on this majestic bird here! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/...

The Hudsonian Whimbrel travels a long way from its breeding grounds in the Arctic to the coastal areas of its nonbreeding range. Some individuals have been recorded to fly around 8,000 km nonstop! Follow us and read more about the amazing journey : birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/...

If you're winding down for the year, take a little time to peruse the #ArtAdventCalendar feed for beauty and inspiration bsky.app/profile/did:...

One thing I've always struggled with is too many people seeing things I do, being impressed by those things, then walking away with the conclusion: "therefore it must be easy to do". 🧵

Help reimagine how @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social communicates about the amazing research and researchers in cognitive psychology. Psychonomic fellows - Apply for the role of Science Communication Editor by Feb 28th. www.psychonomic.org/page/2026_Sc...

Telling good science from bad – a user’s guide to navigating the scientific literature www.wiringthebrain.com/2021/08/tell...

This week at @coyotemedia.org we're doing a couple of roundups for the end of the year! Today is music day, and you can find a playlist of the songs that got us through the last 365ish days.

My Christmas tradition is quite different from most. I wake up and go birding (bird watching) then I play video games. Now it’s supposed to rain 😫

In case you missed this on Friday, at @unbreaking.org we updated our trans healthcare explainer with a timeline (100+ events) and a totally rewritten explainer (20k words, 150+ footnotes) to help people understand the many diverse attacks on gender affirming care, and where they currently stand:

In November, Flagstaff was named Dark Sky Place of the Year by a nonprofit focused on minimizing light pollution. www.nytimes.com/card/2025/12...

Now I need an analysis about the music: the choices seem so fucking spot on, deeply thoughtful and I want a deep dive on how these decisions were made

The always spectacular Snowcap #hummingbird at @tapirvalley.bsky.social #CostaRica #birds #nature #hummingbirds

Firedots (Caloplaca) growing on rock today 🌿

Now I need an article about the music: the choices seem so fucking spot on, deeply thoughtful and I want a deep dive on how these decisions were made

Cats transfixed by hummingbirds in Davis CA youtu.be/o_tlqJSoR-M?...

In some studies, half of patients stopped taking GLP-1s within a year despite the benefits, citing the expense and side effects. From NYT Health: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/h...

From NYT Games: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/c...

I can think of a fun way to find out

Share an actor who nailed a role so hard that nobody else will ever be able to live up to it

I let my nature geek flag fly at this time of year. I always do a centerpiece with things I have collected on my hikes. Pinecones, acorns, juniper berries, toyon berries, desert mistletoe, seed pods & whatever. I will add a few sprigs from our Noble fir 🌲 Christmas tree. Cost: $0 🌿

Jason figured it out? Jason? This is a real low point.

Can’t find still photos but this TikTok captures two that perfectly encapsulate the Joshua/Paul fight: “hold still this will all be over in a second” www.tiktok.com/t/ZTr7B3B1S/

A smooth galaxy, observed with the Hubble Space Telescope in the COSMOS survey. It is at redshift 0.97 (lookback time 7.83 billion years) with coordinates (149.79463, 1.88184). 42 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo: Hubble.

This whole video is totes adorbs youtu.be/s9AU0gUGumE

Had my first successful experience using a browser agent to solve a real problem - in this case I had the Claude in Chrome extension help me find some configuration I had lost deep within the Cloudflare control panel simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/22/...

Stressing out and trying to be the best as a kid usually makes you worse as an adult.

The hepatitis B vaccine is amazing. It was the first viral protein subunit vaccine, the first recombinant vaccine, AND the first vaccine to prevent a type of cancer. That's right: we've had a cancer vaccine for over 40 years. Our new three-hour episode of Hard Drugs is all about it:

#ArtAdventCalendar Neural Connections, Ink on Yupo, 2023

“I feel honored to be able to bring someone to life that so many people feel seen, understood, and represented by, and I think that transcends whoever I’m sleeping with in my real life.”

Planning out 2026 over here at ol' Skype a Scientist HQ. This year, our merch worked pretty well for keeping our program not only running but allowing us to fund projects we'll be rolling out in early 2026. Is there anything you hope we'll have in the shop in 2026?

Rob Reiner Walks Through the Sets of His Movies in a Profoundly Beautiful Tribute to His Legacy laughingsquid.com/rob-reiner-t...

My new year's resolution too. It takes actual resolution because this is often the most vocal perspective here, and it feels wrong to shrug and ignore something so visible. But truly, bsky is not the world: it is okay to shrug and move on.

Radio engineer, amateur astronomer, and Chicagoan Grote Reber was born #OTD in 1911. After reading about Karl Jansky’s accidental discovery of galactic radio emissions, he built a 9m radio telescope *in his back yard* and carried out the first radio survey of the sky. 🧪 ⚛️ 🔭 📡 Image: NRAO

AI in the classroom, as prophesied in 1985 www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB1X...

Making Sense of The Nutcracker’s Libretto daily.jstor.org/making-sense...

American food safety could be headed for a breakdown. Story by @sarah-todd.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/12/22/a...

What Pompeii Looked Like Hours Before Its Destruction: A Reconstruction www.openculture.com/2025/12/what...

A smooth galaxy, observed with the Apache Point 2.5m Telescope in the SDSS survey. It is at redshift 0.028 (lookback time 397.0 million years) with coordinates (236.05081, 46.13932). 46 volunteers classified this galaxy in Galaxy Zoo 2.

Stoplight parrotfish hammin AND cheesin for the Camera 😁🤪😝🤩 #stoplightparrotfish #parrotfishjungle #parrotfishcapitaloftheworld #hamminandcheesin #goofball #cheesin #smile #coral #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity

Wow, exciting convergence of chem bio technologies in this paper! 🤯

Probably still time for last-minute Xmas shopping.