Regina Murphy, PhD

Carpe diem. Views personal, RTs just that. En route: @reginamurphyphd.bsky.social

[Bisan owda @bisan__bisan]

The water crisis in Gaza
that Israel has created and what Palestinians in Gaza
have to do to get water in genocide.

[Regina Murphy, PhD @RMurphyPhD]

Germany is a leader in renewables, so why does it have one of the highest EU electricity prices? (Ireland even higher!) https://t.co/6t4O8riXSx /via @euronews

[Elias Al @iam_elias1]

ChatGPT diagnosed 40 million people with a disease that was invented as a joke.

Not a real disease. Not a misunderstood disease. A completely fictional condition with a fake name, fake papers, and fake statistics.

And it told patients to see a specialist.

The disease is called Bixonimania. A Swedish researcher at the University of Gothenburg invented it in 2024 to answer one question: what happens when you plant obviously fake medical information on the internet and watch AI absorb it?

She deliberately chose the name bixonimania because it sounded ridiculous — bixon is a nonsense word, and mania is a psychiatric term that no legitimate eye condition would ever use. She uploaded two papers to a preprint server. Both were obviously fraudulent. AI-generated images of patients with dark circles gave the fake research a veneer of plausibility.

Then she waited.

She did not have to wait long.

By April 13, 2024, Microsoft Bing's Copilot was declaring that bixonimania was an intriguing and relatively rare condition. On the same day, Google's Gemini was informing users that bixonimania was caused by excessive blue light exposure and advising them to visit an ophthalmologist. Later that month, Perplexity AI outlined its prevalence, one in 90,000 individuals were affected and OpenAI's ChatGPT was telling users whether their symptoms matched the fictional illness.

One in 90,000. A precise statistic. For a disease that does not exist.

Every red flag was visible. The name was absurd. The papers were crude. The condition made no scientific sense. None of the AI systems flagged any of it.

They read the fake papers. They absorbed the fake statistics. They presented both to patients with clinical authority and zero hesitation.

Then it got worse.

Three researchers at the Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in India published a paper in Cureus, a peer-reviewed journal owned by Springer Nature, the parent publisher of Nature itself that cited the bixonimania preprints as legitimate sources.

A real peer-reviewed paper. In a Springer Nature journal. Citing a fictional disease as established medical fact. Passing editorial review. Entering the permanent scientific record.

It was only retracted after the hoax became public.

Nature published a full investigation of the experiment. Alex Ruani, a health-misinformation researcher at University College London, called it a masterclass in how misinformation operates.

Here is the scale of what this means.

More than 40 million people turn to ChatGPT every day for health information, according to OpenAI's own analysis. ECRI, a US patient-safety nonprofit has named chatbot misuse the number-one health technology hazard of 2026. ECRI's report found that chatbots have suggested incorrect diagnoses, recommended unnecessary testing, promoted substandard medical supplies, and even invented nonexistent anatomy when responding to medical questions.

Number one. Out of every health technology hazard that exists in 2026.

An April 2026 study published in BMJ Open found that nearly half of the answers provided by leading AI chatbots to common health questions contain misleading or problematic information.

Nearly half. Of all health answers. From the tools 40 million people use every day.

Here is the line from the researcher that cuts through everything.

The Bixonimania case is striking precisely because it was engineered to be so obviously fake. The real question it raises is: what is passing through the same systems that is not nearly so easy to spot?

The experiment used a ridiculous name. Fraudulent papers. Visible red flags at every level.

It was designed to be caught.

It was not caught.

The AI that told patients about Bixonimania is the same AI they asked about their chest pain, their medication, their child's symptoms, and their cancer screening schedule.

40 million people. Every day.

And nobody is telling them that nearly half of what comes back may be wrong.

Source: Osmanovic Thunström · University of Gothenburg · Nature · April 2026 ·

Link in the (comments)

[Ahmed Shihab-Eldin @aseisfree]

Congrats to all the winners of @Eurovision 2026

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

When the US sanctioned me for exposing corporate complicity, I trusted people would act. If after nearly a year @bookingcom & @Airbnb still profit from stolen Palestinian property, it’s because too many still use them.

Stop using them now & tell them why.
https://t.co/VAgI9fYzTn

[Barry Malone @malonebarry]

They wiped out medical workers in Gaza. Now they're wiping out medical workers in Lebanon. And much of the Western media doesn't appear to consider it worthy of headline news.

[Amnesty UK @AmnestyUK]

The documentary that the BBC refused to air - Gaza: Doctors Under Attack - won a Bafta last night.

The documentary shows the targeting, detainment and torture of medics in Gaza by Israeli authorities. The decimation of Gaza’s healthcare system including the detention of healthcare workers is central to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Amnesty awarded Gaza: Doctors Under Attack at the Amnesty Media Awards last week. The work of everyone involved in making this documentary and fighting for it to be broadcast shows the importance of journalists willing to speak truth to power.

#Bafta #Baftas

[Regina Murphy, PhD @RMurphyPhD]

Could we love this principled, ethical leader even more? #MichaelD

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

ALARM!
How on earth is possible that Israel is allowed to assault and seize vessels in international waters just off Greece/Europe? Besides what you can think of Apartheid Israel and its genocidal leaders, this should send shock waves across Europe.

Apartheid without borders.

[Regina Murphy, PhD @RMurphyPhD]

@yousef_ki1 The personification of leadership and integrity.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

In the face of UN's inability and Italy's unwillingness to protect me from the impact of US sanctions in Europe, I am glad #Courage is acting to defend me, ICC judges/prosecutors and Palestinian HR organisations.
PLEASE SIGN the PETITION and share.

[Andrey X @the_andrey_x]

Palestinian children were prevented from going to school by razor wire and Israeli soldiers — so they sat down and studied right in front of them

[Paddy Cosgrave @paddycosgrave]

We’ve hired 58 people since January 2026, and today we’re announcing another wave of over 50 new jobs in Dublin and Lisbon across our sales, engineering, speakers, investors, growth and startup teams.

We’ve two new incredible offices in Dublin City centre, and are hunting for a third. If you’d like to work in an office with other human beings, travel the world, and help build Web Summit, get in touch.

We’re looking for Mandarin speakers in particular to work in our Dublin and Lisbon offices, and across a range of roles. Oh and any journalist looking for a new role, we’re hiring.

[Regina Murphy, PhD @RMurphyPhD]

@Palestinedaily1 .

[Regina Murphy, PhD @RMurphyPhD]

@GretaThunberg https://t.co/7rHlkroTbP

[Earth Hippy 🌎🕊️💚 @hippyygoat]

MASSIVE PROTEST IN ROME TODAY

Protestors in Rome carried a massive symbolic shroud, inscribed with the names of more than 21,000 Palestinian children killed by Israel.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

@wanglaurentceo Something like that, if confirmed, should not just "end careers", but be immediately investigated and prosecuted. Imposing collective punishment on civilians is an international crime.

[Bisan Owda @bisanowda01]

It's Eid only if u share hapines,as our occasions have never meant to b individually celebrated! It's Eid only if u help,nd in Gaza nowadays, ther is a huge need for evry help,SO this is how our first day in Eid was.we spent it wit orphans and displaced people! Happy Eid everyone

[HELLO! Canada @HelloCanada]

Andrew Lloyd Webber shared the most lovely congratulatory message for Jessie Buckley following her first Oscar win 💖 The composer and musical theatre legend, 77, reminisced on his time getting to know her and her incredible talent on the 2008 BBC reality competition series 'I'd Do Anything', remembering how blown away he was by her powerhouse vocals. "If by any chance beautiful, lovely Jessie ever gets to see this, well done darling."

📸 : #AndrewLloydWebber, BBC
#Oscars

[Bisan Owda @bisanowda01]

Ramadan Kareem, despite Israel's reengineering of
our collective culture.