The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️

The official Twitter for The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe.

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

"Voting is one of those contexts where deliberate and expert error minimization is not optional, it is necessary. What this means is that someone or some committee has to be responsible for reviewing the entire voter experience, from soup to nuts."

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

Steve voted early and you should too!

His experience was not as easy as it could have been, and he has some feedback.

https://t.co/z9RBRJKlD9

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

Happy Birthday Cara! We hope you’re having an amazing day! Leave your birthday wishes for Cara in the comments!

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

SGU Episode 1110 is now up https://t.co/U9V90xgTZj

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

"If someone told me in 2016 that in 2026 we would be less prepared for a massive Ebola outbreak, I would have found that hard to believe. Hadn’t we learned our lesson? Could it be simple stupidity, or had some calamity befallen human civilization, limiting our ability to respond"

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

An Ebola outbreak is happening in Africa, and we're somehow less prepared to handle it than we were a decade ago.

https://t.co/gtrNQVAQOc

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

"I also always like to use the Nobel prizes as an opportunity to highlight how cutting-edge science today is such a collaborative and often international effort."

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

Time for Steve's annual look at the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

https://t.co/yCt2N6uimJ

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

SGU Episode 1109 is now up https://t.co/9LCVuT3yYO

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

SGU Episode 1108, with Christian Hubicki, is now up https://t.co/LtKxlEE2DV

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

"Trump’s proposed directive was to create a commission that would review all NIH grants to ensure that they align with Trump’s political agenda. The commission would have the power to veto any grants the president did not like. This is naked Lysenkoism."

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

One of the Trump administration's attempts to erode our science infrastructure was stopped. Our scientific institutions are still struggling, but this is an important reminder that there are still some avenues where we can push back.

https://t.co/zSxxxUPtti

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

SGU Episode 1107 is now up https://t.co/bCStEUOV4F

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

It turns out the brain may not be a single organ - the hindbrain seems to have developed from different stem cells than the forebrain and midbrain. This could explain some difficulties researchers have had trying to work with neural stem cells.

https://t.co/Tc4YaJLKMm

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

"She is talking as if the occasional grifter is the exception rather than the rule, but if she had done a proper investigation she would know the situation is the opposite. Exploitation is core to the industry, it is not incidental."

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

The New York Times probably looked at their article on mediums as an emotional puff piece, but they're lending their credibility to an industry that feeds off people's grief.

https://t.co/uRbml8ad4Q

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

"Even if you do understand this, it is easy to be overly influenced by their output, which can falsely seem to be objective and definitive – even when they are completely wrong or simply making judgments."

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

As LLMs are becoming more ubiquitous, it's more important than ever that people understand their capabilities and limitations.

https://t.co/24WnID2xHN

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

SGU Episode 1106 is now up https://t.co/x8hBzPZ20P

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

"This is nothing short of a hack into human psychology – our brains are literally not equipped to distinguish things that are actually alive from things that simply act as if they are alive."

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

We can already make a more convincing artificial voice than the Star Trek computer, but maybe we shouldn't.

https://t.co/zfvwyEQNfr

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

"I would argue that gratuitously humanizing an LLM’s interaction is inherently deceptive. And sometimes this deception works, in that it convinces people that a non-sentient AI is actually sentient."