Brigitte Nerlich
LightNews LightNews
banner
bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich
@bnerlich.bsky.social
2.2K followers 490 following 7.9K posts

Metaphor hunter, linguist, social scientist, blogger

blog: https://makingsciencepublic.com/
also sorted into categories at https://wakelet.com/@bnerlich
ORCID: 0000-0001-6617-7827

Videos
Psychology 23%
Communication & Media Studies 23%
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · Nov 17
So, I have created a starter pack for people interested in #metaphor. I bet I left a lot of people out. Please let me know if you want to be added. go.bsky.app/DvxejFX

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 57m
In the olden days you needed an education to acquire knowledge, now you need an education to recognise knowledge....

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 1h
What about metaphors that map meanings between cognitive domains, for example, your example of "Meg breezed through security before arriving at her gate…" (in this case a rather stable and conventional mapping between a breeze and ease, so to speak)

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 2h
I can't find anything, but this was quite interesting lexiconia.art?page_id=362
AI Slop – LEXICONIA
lexiconia.art

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 2h
Ah in German it is, I think, "KI-Müll", "KI-Mist", or "KI-Schrott" (junk, scrap...) - this loses the sloppiness a bit but still

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 13h
So cool!

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Brigitte Nerlich, Steven Schmidt , and 2 more

killgrove.bsky.social
Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · 13h
NEW from me - NSF cancels grant scheme for social science research.

Seems the NSF quietly archived ALL calls for DDRIG grants in the SBE directorate. This is a massive blow for PhD students wanting to do cutting-edge social science research. 🏺🧪
Today's biggest science news: Doomed comet explodes | Comet 3I/ATLAS course alteration | Dark matter detected?
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.
www.livescience.com

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 15h
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflati... - when they first talked about it under Biden I was VERY confused
Inflation Reduction Act - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 16h
I wrote this about 'red and blue AI' in 2023.... the questions I ask are still worth asking now and with more urgency makingsciencepublic.com/2023/08/25/r...
Red and blue AI?
This is another post about artificial intelligence or AI, but it’s what one may call a bit ‘experimental’. I happened to think about an analogy and ran with it, but it might be a completely inappro…
makingsciencepublic.com

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich, Dean Eckles, Richard Pettigrew

scientificdiscovery.dev
Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 17h
Imagine you lived in the 18th century.

Smallpox kills 1 in 3 cases. Yet you can’t culture pathogens, don’t know germ theory, and have no idea what a virus is. How would you invent a vaccine?

In a new episode of HARD DRUGS, we trace the history of vaccines!
The history of vaccines
open.spotify.com

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 1d
Ah, my first student research assistant job was working through file-cards for Peter Wunderli who was working on Saussure and that was one reason why I became interested in the history of linguistics

Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, Brigitte Nerlich, Jonathan Wolff

sheencr.bsky.social
Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 1d
RFKJr has cut ALL mRNA vax research in the USA where all the work discussed in this thread was developed. Other countries can step in. But the rhetoric about mRNA vax from the likes of him are HUGELY harming the trust in mRNA vaccine technology. We address common questions n myths here
independentsage.org

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich

stemcells.bsky.social
Paul Knoepfler @stemcells.bsky.social · 1d
Nucleus Genomics faces criticism as it and other firms promise embryo optimization despite unresolved scientific, ethical questions ipscell.com/2025/11/nucl... elective IVF #stemcells
Nucleus Genomics faces criticism as it and other firms promise embryo optimization despite unresolved scientific, ethical questions - The Niche
Stem cell biologist discusses how elective IVF firm Nucleus Genomics faces serious accusations including of plagiarism.
ipscell.com

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 1d
I really enjoyed that and learned a lot!

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich

the-goddess-speaks.bsky.social
✨ A Goddess has NO KING ✨ @the-goddess-speaks.bsky.social · 1d
Historian Rutger Bregman is a well-respected proponent of a universal basic income. The Guardian has called him “the Dutch wunderkind of new ideas.”

The BBC invited Bregman to give this year’s Reith Lecture series.

Before airing, the BBC removed one sentence from his lecture, “A Time of Monsters.”

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 2d
Not too bad. Still have my part-time cat Cleo that comes to visit which is nice 🐈

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich

humanists.uk
Humanists UK @humanists.uk · 2d
Some of the most important words ever written: 'Endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.' – Charles Darwin, 'On the Origin of Species'. It was published #OnThisDay 1859.
‘Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.’ Charles Darwin Naturalist and humanist

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 3d
Sean Trott, over at The Counterfactual, explores the metaphor 'ChatGPT is grown not made' - great post, also quotes a nice metaphor "attention heads are a “matchmaking service for words”);" #AI #metaphors
seantrott.substack.com/p/is-chatgpt...
Is ChatGPT "grown, not made"?
What we do and don't know about large language models.
seantrott.substack.com

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich

stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social
STCmicrobeblog @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · 3d
The Cost of Forgetting

by Chelsi — Vaccines have made a world that is safer and healthier. But, vaccines have made us comfortable enough to forget.
The Cost of Forgetting
by Chelsi — Vaccines have made a world that is safer and healthier. But, vaccines have made us comfortable enough to forget.
smallthingsconsidered.blog

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 3d
Wow, that is absolutely fantastic!!! Will have to watch that episode!!

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich

elareadebroca.bsky.social
El área de Broca 🧠 ✒️ @elareadebroca.bsky.social · 3d
Las metáforas se usan comúnmente en la literatura o el teatro con el fin de crear imágenes alegóricas, retóricas o analogías varias. Pero otras veces las usamos en nuestra vida diaria para simplificarnos la vida.

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 4d
climate chaos and political entropy - what a combination

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 4d
This guest post by my colleague Andrew Maynard is a bit of a palate cleanser between all my explorations of metaphors for AI. It is about Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year: #parasocial. makingsciencepublic.com/2025/11/23/p...
Parasocial Relationships: Problematic Practice or Public Promise?
This year’s Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year is “parasocial”—spurred on by growing concerns over our love affair with AI chatbots. ••• This is a guest post/repost by Andrew M…
makingsciencepublic.com

Reposted by Christian Odendahl, Joe R. Feagin, Brigitte Nerlich , and 12 more

shoshana.bsky.social
Shoshana 🏳️‍⚧️ @shoshana.bsky.social · 4d
Boston's Mayor Wu playing with Yo-Yo Ma at Symphony Hall

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich

rnzrss.bsky.social
RNZ News Feeds @rnzrss.bsky.social · 4d
The secret mission to save Gaza's historical artefacts
Palestinians scramble to save centuries-old books and manuscripts before they are lost
With a ceasefire in effect in Gaza, a restoration team is painstakingly retrieving historical manuscripts, rare volumes, and archival documents from beneath the rubble of a destroyed mosque.
www.rnz.co.nz

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 4d
This framing of science really sets my teeth on edge

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 4d
I fell for it! Grrr.

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich, Christina Pagel

helenbranswell.bsky.social
Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 4d
A person in Washington State who kept backyard poultry has died from #H5N5 #flu. The person was the first known infection with this subtype of flu globally & the second recorded death in the US from an #H5 flu virus. Health authorities say there's no evidence the person spread the virus to others.

Reposted by Brigitte Nerlich, Lesley A. Hall, Michael H. Whitworth , and 1 more

martinasalvante.bsky.social
Martina Salvante @martinasalvante.bsky.social · 4d
This is on the X account of the UK Home Office. A Labour government.
Where is this country going?

I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.

#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 4d
Designer babies.... here we go again www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/ge...
Tech bros want to make gene-edited babies, but scientists are sounding the alarm
As tech titans back startups looking to create genetically modified babies, Claudia Cockerell asks: is it about stopping disease, or something darker?
www.standard.co.uk

bnerlich.bsky.social
Brigitte Nerlich @bnerlich.bsky.social · 5d
For weekend readers, my second instalment of posts trying to get to grips with growing research into how we try to understand 'AI' through metaphors in recent times #metaphor #AI #LLMs makingsciencepublic.com/2025/11/21/a...
Metaphors for AI: An overview of recent studies
In my previous post (part 1 of a trilogy) I called for an AI metaphor observatory to watch how people make sense (and sometimes nonsense) of generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, through me…
makingsciencepublic.com