How Hair Cells in the Ear Actively Respond to Sound Our ability to hear relies on tiny “hair bundles” in the inner ear. A new thermodynamical model offers an explanation for the different ways that bundles oscillate.

Tiny hair cells in the inner ear help us hear. On top of each hair cell is a hair bundle, a sensory organelle that senses and amplifies sound. 👂🏽🧪

✍🏽 For @physicsmagazine.bsky.social, I wrote about a new #thermodynamics model of energy flow within hair bundles. physics.aps.org/articles/v19...

A samurai crab in a hand

My favorite crab is the Samurai crab, which evolved from crabbers throwing back crabs that looked like a Samurai.

4. As Jevin West and I have been saying for several years now, because a seemingly credible message no longer implies a human sender, LLMs will push us toward more emphasis on reputation and status — and as such serve as an anti-egalitarian force in all aspects of society, science included.

A shocking explanation for tape’s distinctive screech Fast-moving cracks in tape’s adhesive layer produce shock waves that make the stuff sing as it unrolls

This. This is the type of science I would like my tax dollars to pay for right here.

www.science.org/content/arti...

If you're a vegan it is okay to eat a comet but not so much an asteroid because they're a little meteor

The brain after blindness: How newly-sighted people build a visual world When people born blind gain sight, the hardest part isn’t opening their eyes — it’s teaching the brain how to see.

Seeing doesn’t come naturally the moment a person is cured of blindness.

✍🏼🧪 For my latest in @bigthink.com, I wrote about how the newly sighted must learn to see. bigthink.com/mind-behavio...

Ocean sentinels Autonomous floats in the world’s oceans combine optical and other sensor data with satellite imaging to provide new insight on marine nutrient cycles and, ultimately, our changing climate.

The oceans sink large amounts of carbon. Will they be able to do so in the future? Carbon flux is closely linked to ocean nutrient cycles, but data on marine nutrients are sparse. 🌊🧪

✍🏽 For Photonics Focus, I write about autonomous floats mapping these nutrients. spie.org/news/photoni...

A shocking explanation for tape’s distinctive screech High-speed video reveals how fast-moving cracks in tape’s adhesive layer produce shock waves that make the stuff sing as it unrolls

Do you find the sound of peeling tape annoying? Or oddly satisfying? 📦🧪

✍🏽 For @science.org, I wrote about a new study where scientists have figured out why it makes that distinctive screechy sound. www.science.org/content/arti...

New paper shows social scientists are sidelining null results. Analysing 100,000 articles across 150 political science journals, it finds 2% of abstracts report null-only findings; >90% highlight significant results.
Researchers 10–100x less likely to spotlight nulls: driver of publication bias.

Earth’s Climate May Go from Greenhouse to Hothouse - Eos Uncertainty in climate models could mean Earth systems are perilously close to their tipping points, scientists warn.

Uncertainty is not your friend: In a new paper published in One Earth, scientists argue that uncertainties in climate projections mean Earth system components could be at a higher risk than we think of reaching crucial tipping points. 🌊
eos.org/articles/ear...

Buried in this piece is a throwaway line about how actually her real hustle is selling online courses to aspiring AI hacks, marking an extraordinary symbiosis of my two most hated internet poisons

Snakes on a train? Deadly reptiles may be hopping railcars in India Trains may be transporting cobras and other venomous snakes to new parts of the country

Indian railways: transporting people and king cobras 🚆 www.science.org/content/arti...

In Memory of Katherine Wright | Physics Magazine We pay tribute to our friend and colleague, whose journalistic talent and commitment to inclusivity left an indelible mark on Physics Magazine.  

Katherine was an intellectually intrepid writer and editor. She had great ambitions for what physics journalism could be and she pushed those around her to meet that mark, as this eulogy attests. It is just devastating to lose her.

Thanks to @dirkbwalther.bsky.social and @mickbonner.bsky.social for their time and insights.

Easy on the eyes is also easy on the brain A new study finds that the brain spends less energy processing scenes that people find aesthetically pleasing.

Why do we find some scenes more aesthetic than others?

For my first in @sciencenews.bsky.social, I wrote about a new study that suggests that our aesthetic preferences could have evolved as cognitive shortcuts. 🧠🧪

www.sciencenews.org/article/brai...

2025 Roundup: Bats, squid, and icebergs Five stories that I had the most fun researching and writing in 2025.

🧪 Last year, I learned about how squid get their spots and why icebergs flip while writing two of the five stories on this list. Rwww.sachinxr.com/2025-roundup-bats-squid-...

Have a look through this gallery to see one of the coolest examples of role specialisation in the insect world 🐜

They live inside twigs with small circular entrances & these workers have evolved heads the perfect shape to block those entrances - effectively, they are living doors!

Spotted on LinkedIn... a bad AI summary of our new paper on risks of AI in research.

Please make it stop.

Recreating Iceberg Flips in a Lab Experiments with small, floating slabs of ice have revealed melting-induced shape changes that may explain why icebergs sometimes flip over.

🧊 Icebergs can sometimes suddenly flip over. But why does that happen?

✍🏽 New for @physicsmagazine.bsky.social: A new experiment recreating iceberg flips in the lab suggests that changes in shape due to melting determine if and how an iceberg tips over. 🧪 physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

Thanks to @noctivagans.bsky.social and @jackhooker.bsky.social for sharing their time and insights.

Bats may mistake wind turbines for open sky, causing deadly collisions Study may help explain why giant blades kill millions of the animals every year

Wind turbines kill a massive number of bats. These animals seem to be unusually attracted to turbines, and researchers have long puzzled over why. 🦇🧪

For @science.org, I wrote about a new study that suggests they might be responding to a visual cue. www.science.org/content/arti...

Are you a materials scientist or engineer working on optical material sensors? Have some ideas on how they could power the sports wearable of the future?

If so, I'm looking to speak with you for an article in Photonics Focus. #JournoRequest

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.

Cicadas Decide to Sing with a Little Help from Their Friends The daily start of a cicada’s mating call is triggered by the amount of light in the sky and also by the behavior of nearby insects.

Researchers studied recordings of cicadas to discover that the insects’ singing is synchronized with the Sun's position in the sky. The rapid rise in volume suggests that each cicada starts singing in response to both the light level and its neighbors' behavior.

Thanks to De-Ming Liu (one of the study authors) and @robjohnnoble.bsky.social for the comments.

Game-Theory Paradox Inspires Cancer Therapy Simulations suggest that the combination of two cancer-therapy strategies, which individually deliver poor outcomes, might produce optimal results.

🧪 Often, in a counterintuitive phenomenon called Parrondo’s paradox, two losing strategies can be combined into a winning one.

✍🏽 For @physicsmagazine.bsky.social, I wrote about a new study on harnessing this paradox for cancer treatment. physics.aps.org/articles/v18... #MathOnco

A do-or-die moment for the scientific enterprise Reflecting on our paper “The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly”

Today, our article "The entities enabling scientific fraud at scale are large, resilient, and growing rapidly" is finally published in PNAS. I hope that it proves to be a wake-up-call for the whole scientific community.

reeserichardson.blog/2025/08/04/a...

Brokers of scientific fraud growing rapidly, study finds Publishers are not keeping up with paper mills and other purveyors of shoddy academic papers

Companies that broker and facilitate scientific fraud are large, resilient, and growing rapidly, according to a new study. cen.acs.org/policy/publi... #chemsky 🧪

We have reams of evidence - including this new paper - that obesity is much more about food than exercise.

Calories in matters way more than calories out.
www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

Thanks to @simonepigolotti.bsky.social and @davidbrueckner.bsky.social for their time and insights.