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#scientific — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #scientific, aggregated by home.social.

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  1. @GeraldKutney #Trump thinks he's qualified to issue Executive Orders about #vaccines, too, & is shutting down #climate #research & other forms of #scientific, #biomedical & #scholarly research. He hates #science, he hates #knowledge - but thinks his abysmal #ignorance, not to mention #stupidity, makes him an "expert" on EVERYTHING!

  2. At an Oval Office event to promote that order, she stood by #Trump as he FALSELY suggested the number or timing of #vaccines could play a role in rising rates of #autism spectrum disorder, even as #scientific consensus & decades of #studies have firmly concluded there is NO LINK.

    #PublicHealth #Health #science #medicine #law #RFKJr #ConspiracyTheories #disinformation #eugenics #HealthyIfYoureWealthy #USpol

  3. …The #DOJ also is investigating whether #Harvard University is allowing #Chinese donors to create scholarships that exclude #US students 🙄, adding to the barrage of federal inquiries the #Trump admin has opened in its battle against the #university.

    A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said in a statement that the country opposes what it described as the politicization of “normal #scientific, #educational, & #academic exchanges.”

    #Trump #law #education #racism #AcademicFreedom #research

  4. RE: mastodon.social/@arstechnica/1

    Because #Perseverance has not had to spend much time stopped to wait ⏳ for navigation commands from drivers on Earth, the vehicle has been able to maximize the amount of #scientific return.

  5. Moving toward open-weight AI offers both accountability and efficiency

    While mega #datacenters dominate, efficiency gains remain elusive. Decentralization may indeed address AI's mounting energy issues and addressing specialized demands in #scientific applications.

    Alternative (more) #sustainable #llm: fully open, transparent, locally-deployable, and compliant with data protection and copyrights, as exemplified by #apertus by Swiss institutions

    nature.com/articles/d41586-026

    @apertus #leadership

  6. I'm glad to see "Will the widespread use of large language models in #scientific writing undermine scientists’ critical #thinking?" in @PLOSBiology.

    Yes, it will, so more people will make bad #health choices for us, as the Trump administration now does. #LLMs #disease doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3

  7. @GeraldKutney #Climate #deniers don't deal in #science & #truth, & have NEVER done so - the #attack now is quite explicitly against science & truth themselves. If #politics won't do the trick ("climate #scientists are all #communists"), they'll resort to #religion ("climate scientists are all atheists"), & if THAT won't do, they'll resort to #magic, & reject the entire #scientific #enterprise, as it has been constructed since the 17th Century.

  8. #Scientific papers are written to mask the human in the process, by design. This Perspective by John Tregoning invites us to consider the structure of the paper, and the need to celebrate the human in an age when #AI threatens to overwhelm us.

    plos.io/4xn4OlZ

  9. Ancient mummy DNA provides #scientific #evidence that #colonization brought #smallpox to the #Americas
    "Ancient mummy DNA recovered in #Chile has yielded the firmest evidence yet that #European colonization brought smallpox to the Americas. Smallpox was one of the #deadliest #diseases in human history before it was eradicated in 1980.. important molecular evidence, suggesting that the strains of smallpox infecting people in the Americas evolved first from #Europe"👈🧐
    english.kyodonews.net/articles

  10. The Cosmic Dunce: Great Books That Never Were 🪐

    The Cosmic Dance is a 2022 visual science book about the universe by Stephen Ellcock. It is a popular, clever, and excellent book about space mumbo jumbo and the like.

    But did you you know there’s a space book called The Cosmic Dunce? First published in 1983 by pseudoscience conspiracy theorist Dr. Henry McDoctorson, it postulates the thesis planets are stupid and not worthy of scientific study (or visiting) at all.

    Universal Waste of Space Time in The Cosmic Dunce

    “It should go without saying that a planet such as Jupiter has a low IQ. Just look at it. Erratic, weird, with a Great Red Spot it can’t apply acne cream to for centuries on end. Only a FOOL would fail at such basic personal hygiene and I, for one, consider it offensive the gas giant is allowed to stay up there and Lord it all over our solar system. Jupiter should be shot out of the sky with missiles and such.”

    The early chapters of the book involve Dr. McDoctorson ranting his inexplicable hatred about Jupiter. He argues vehemently it should be shot out of the sky, without offering much structure to his argument.

    He also considers Saturn to be “silly” and its “disorderly” rings to be “messy” and a clear indication the gas giant doesn’t have its house in order.

    By chapter three he target the rest of the solar system, his argument crumbling into a volatile selection of crude profanities and infantile rambling. To distract the readers’ various, respective, attentions he reminds everyone he studied physics at Oxford university, but had to drop out in 1969 due to a mixture of gout, scurvy, and longstanding accusations of cheating during exams.

    He addresses the exam cheating directly in chapter four:

    “I did not cheat during my physics exams, in the tedious, qualia-based reductionistic sense. Why would I? My genius is such the exams were beneath me, so whether I cheated or not, the result would have been the same—full marks, a standing ovation, and mandatory appointment as NASA’s lead Administrator. Therefore, ‘cheating’ in the exam in the way I did merely sped up the process of ensuring my inevitable status.”

    Rumour has it his cheating led to his dismissal from Oxford university, but Dr. McDoctorson stated this was due to “maladies” such as gout and scurvy.

    “I also had piles for the longest of times. Those were dark days.”

    The Cosmic Dunce is a slight work. At only 150 pages, a big chunk of it doesn’t have much to do with science. Only in the final chapter (Space is Stupid) does the writer do any original thought, adding in a big bunch of confusing looking equations to distract readers from his lack of general clarity.

    He concludes that space is, indeed, stupid and “establishments” such as NASA are wasting their time studying idiocy.

    Mixing Up Epilogues & Prologues

    The Cosmic Dunce is notable for beginning with an epilogue, then ending with a prologue, but also including an appendix listing out the planets Dr. McDoctorson considers the most stupid.

    The prologue concludes what the epilogue stated first, by reconfirming what should have been confirmed last, in a conclusion complicated further as the appendix repeats much of what the two sections already clarify.

    To add to the confusion, at the very close of the work (its final page) the writer added who the book is dedicated to (normally included at the start of a text), and he dedicated the book to:

    “Jupiter, my favourite planet of them all.”

    Having spent the previous 150 pages bitching non-stop about the gas giant, this ending has baffled even the greatest minds on the planet (Earth) since the book’s 1983 launch.

    #Books #cosmos #Humor #Lifestyle #Literature #Physics #Reading #Satire #satirical #Science #scientific #Silly #Space
  11. AI-Written Research Proposals Rated Similarly to Human Ones, But AI Reviewers Show Systematic Pro-AI Bias

    Our best stories, delivered daily. Follow us.

    1ban.news/ai-scientific-resear

    #1ban #scientific #research #proposals #space #astronomy

  12. @GeraldKutney Unfortunately not. See Paul Krugman's latest blog post: paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the. We are talking about people who hate #science, hate #scientists, hate #scholarship, hate #universities, hate #thought, #knowledge, #reason & #facts. These are people who don't believe there is such a thing as #objective #truth - "truth" is what they say it is, what suits their convenience. You can't defeat obscurantism with arguments based on #scientific facts.

  13. I'm a #MedicalEditor, so yeah, I think #science is important. But #scientific #research affects YOUR #health too. Changes planned by the US Office of Management & Budget would drastically cut back on US federal #grants for #research. Please read & act BEFORE July 13: linkedin.com/posts/kokedit_med

  14. @mattblaze @SRDas @SteveBellovin As a program officer making #scientific #grants, I was acutely aware of the grad student funding dilemma. Whenever possible, on a site visit for example, I took time to meet with grad students. They are often doing a great deal of the work, have lots of ideas, and are very likely the people you want to respond to future Requests for Proposals #RFP.

    When I decided to fund a #proposal, I always included language that indicated intent to *extend* a grant/contract “subject to available funds”, progress, etc. and I followed through. I got criticized for this in my organization for a variety of reasons but never reversed.

    Here is the reason why: I spent the sponsors’ (NASA, DARPA, other government tech programs) money “wisely.” That meant I “delivered high quality research results.” I attribute this to the effort I made to forge mutual understanding and trust with PIs, communication, enthusiasm, and reciprocal personal commitments to excellence.

    To #professors and #gradstudents who are writing and working on grants, I highly recommend getting to know the program officer for an RFP and exactly what they hope to achieve. This kind of clarity means a better proposal for everyone’s benefit. When sponsored #research funds are under extreme pressure as they are today, it could make the critical difference for acceptance of your proposal.

    Good luck to all of you, and remember that luck favors the well-prepared.
    [*edited for typos]

  15. So apparently, the secret to cube-shaped wombat poop is buried under a pile of #JavaScript and #cookies 🤦‍♂️. Because obviously, nothing says "cutting-edge scientific insight" like a browser settings tutorial. 🏆🔧
    science.org/content/article/ho #cube-shaped-poop #scientific-insight #browser-settings #HackerNews #ngated

  16. Here's why we—everyone, no matter who we are—must publicly speak out now against a proposed rule that would allow the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to #further #politicize #funding for #scientific #research: medpagetoday.com/opinion/secon. And standupforscience.net/.

  17. Following the #Scientific #Consensus: how to be “the least wrong” : Medium

    Instead of Taking Your #Job, #AI Might #Transform It : Misc

    The ‘#AI #Boomerang’: Why some #Companies are #Rehiring #Employees they laid off due to AI : Misc

    Latest #KnowledgeLinks

    knowledgezone.co.in/resources/