Imagine the awful shock of only seriously failing at something at, say, 18 years old?

Spot on, failing is much like vaccination, best done when you are young

Hallucinated citations are polluting the scientific literature. What can be done? Tens of thousands of publications from 2025 might include invalid references generated by AI, a Nature analysis suggests.

That's tens of thousands of authors whose submissions can be desk-rejected from here on out, leaving some more room for the rest of us.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This is art

Anthropic disabled my Claude Pro account last week, saying I needed to go through age verification. I did so, and it restored my account..but on the Free plan. No refund on usage I had paid for. My only way of requesting one is a *Google form*. No response. This is a company apparently worth $380bn

ChatGPT: you’re right you’re so much smarter than him. He’s so schlubby and you’re so suave. Columbo will never catch you.

Subscribe to The Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything assorted nerdery from a man who should probably be doing something else. Click to read The Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

Sun's out, I just got some good news, have 25% off.

Also tomorrow i am finally, after over five years, putting prices up for new subscribers (but ONLY new subscribers, it won't affect you if you're already subscribed). So really this is a good deal, TWICE

My long term strategy of not changing any of the clocks back finally is paying off.

Nothing as good as tap water with a real taste to it :)

Many thanks to @jonnelledge.bsky.social for talking about all things boarders at the University of Portsmouth tonight. A fascinating talk!

A history of the world in 47 borders | Lecture Jonn Elledge shares the stories of borders that explore how political identities are shaped, why the world looks the way it does.

Final, ish, reminder that I am going to Portsmouth tonight to give a lecture about borders to the Royal Geographical Society, a fact I find funny in at least three different ways

www.rgs.org/events/upcom...

IGS Global Seminar: Harold Lovell | March 25 Topic: Glacier surges and surge hazards in a changing climate Speaker: Harold Lovell Institution: University of Portsmouth Zoom link to join.

I'll be talking about glacier surges online tomorrow (25th March) at 8pm (London time) as part of the @igsoc.bsky.social Global Seminar Series. Please do come along!

www.igsoc.org/event/igs-gl...

The perfect tote bag doesn’t exis—

Reaching net zero by 2050 ‘cheaper for UK than one fossil fuel crisis’ Climate change committee finds move to renewable energy would also bring health, economic and security benefits

The UK could reach net zero by 2050 for about £4bn a year (~£100bn over 25 years).

That’s less than the damage from a single fossil-fuel crisis.

So remember: the real question isn’t “Can we afford net zero?”

It’s: Can we afford another fossil-fuel shock?

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

My rough timeline:
If the Strait reopens in the coming week, we have weeks of energy market disruption ahead but things have settled by the Autumn.
If the Strait is closed for another 3/4 weeks we have months of disruption.
If the Strait is closed for longer things get very bad, very quickly.

A small book with limbs made of rolled-up paper held between the covers and a crudely drawn face sticking out from the top

I don't have kids so I dressed up my book as a child for world book day

The UCL Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic (PaPa) MSc programme is a pioneering course in human origins delivered by a world-leading university. It will bring you a deep and expert understanding of the record of human evolution combining opportunities for the study of palaeolithic archaeology, palaeoanthropology and wider scientific approaches to the early human story. Coordinated by UCL’s Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology departments and drawing on expertise from across the University and other institutions, it will provide you with training in the specialisms of your choice. Having run now for over 15 years, we have PaPa alumni actively leading a new generation of human origins research across the world. Our programme is a proven springboard to PhD programmes, careers in academia, archaeological science, specialist archaeological fieldwork, science media and much more.

Applications are now open to join our 2026 UCL Master's programme in human evolution. Covering the Palaeolithic, Palaeoanthropology & other key disciplines, the course is designed to equip you for a career in the deep human past. #PaPa 🦣📷https://tinyurl.com/5duy6twh

Would summarise this as: treat voters like adult stakeholders and not children who need to be managed.

We hear way too much about angry Britain, blue-red Britain. What about the Britain of Save the Children, Oxfam, the RSPCA, the RNLI, popular environmentalism, the Britain of London's absolute triumph since its 80s nadir, its civic universities, the Britain of volunteering, giving, hoping?

When people talk about the idea that some universities must go under, there’s a certain tendency to behave as if these smaller local campuses are negligible- regrettable casualties perhaps but not ‘real’ universities. This report does a great job of illustrating why that’s wrong.

The Age of Academic Slop is Upon Us what happens when AI automates "normal science"?

I just finished a three-year term as an editor at an international relations journal. I began at the start of the LLM era but ended right in the middle of it. Our volume of submissions tripled and our desk reject rate rose to 75%. I have some thoughts.
open.substack.com/pub/hegemon/...

How to AI-proof your job The data suggests soft skills more than quantitative competency equal success in a rapidly changing labour market

‘Contra the narrow focus of policymakers on Stem subjects or coding, now more than ever our economy rewards broad skillsets: team players, problem solvers, good communicators and creative thinkers.’ @jburnmurdoch.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/5e25...

#QRA2026ADM is go!

Looking forward to it! :)

‘Keeps your mind alert’: older Swedes reap the benefits of learning for pleasure Retirees with ‘fantastic hunger for education’ taking part in university organised events in record numbers

'Record numbers of Swedish retirees are enrolling in a university run “by pensioners for pensioners” amid increased loneliness and a growing appetite for learning and in-person interactions.' 1/2

Breakthrough of the year? Renewable energy www.science.org/content/arti...

Seconded >>

cardboard Christmas tree decoration depicting Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley.

The true spirit of Christmas

Love to have my entire working life being real wage stagnation. It’s so great.

Extract from Rob Reiner's Wikipedia Filmography 1986 - Stand By zme 1987 - The Princess Bride 1989 - When Harry Met Sally 1990 - Misery 1992 - A Few Good Men

Rob Reiner: I'm going to make a coming of age drama, a fantasy adventure story, a romantic comedy, a psychological horror and then a courtroom drama.

Us: Across your entire career?

Reiner: In a 6 year period.

Us: That sounds-

Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.