Elise Cutts
@elisecutts.bsky.social
Science journalist is just a fancy way of saying "professional nerd." USian in Austria, language geek, collector of fine yellow zigzagged sweaters and etymology fun facts. Get my newsletter about big questions in science: www.reviewertoo.com 👽🌀🦋
Who is the best animated character and why is it Entrapta?
a cartoon of a girl with purple hair and the words imperfection is beautiful
ALT: a cartoon of a girl with purple hair and the words imperfection is beautiful
media.tenor.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Who is the best animated character and why is it Entrapta?
Are there any firmly established widely accepted causal arrows pointing from the gut microbiome to literally anything other than gut issues?
November 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Are there any firmly established widely accepted causal arrows pointing from the gut microbiome to literally anything other than gut issues?
Finally the science communication blog that some aching empty part of my soul was longing for but couldn't put into the right words for a search engine to identify.
November 28, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Finally the science communication blog that some aching empty part of my soul was longing for but couldn't put into the right words for a search engine to identify.
Reposted by Elise Cutts
Very useful analysis of how the metaphors have changed over time.
This is my last post in the 'metaphors for AI' trilogy. I never thought there was so much to say about it all. But this is it for now! Comments welcome. #AI #metaphor makingsciencepublic.com/2025/11/28/o...
Observing shifts in metaphors for AI: What changed and why it matters
In my previous two posts I have made the case for an AI metaphor observatory and surveyed the recent academic landscape of studies dealing with metaphors for AI in the sense of GenAI and LLMs. In t…
makingsciencepublic.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Very useful analysis of how the metaphors have changed over time.
Beep? Boop. 🧪
They used an automated tool to detect AI papers after human readers got suspicious. Peer reviews were the worst, at 21% flagged as totally-AI generated. 1% of papers were flagged as fully AI, 9% more than 50%.
By @miryamnaddaf.bsky.social:
They used an automated tool to detect AI papers after human readers got suspicious. Peer reviews were the worst, at 21% flagged as totally-AI generated. 1% of papers were flagged as fully AI, 9% more than 50%.
By @miryamnaddaf.bsky.social:
Major AI conference flooded with peer reviews written fully by AI
Controversy has erupted after 21% of manuscript reviews for an international AI conference were found to be generated by artificial intelligence.
www.nature.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Beep? Boop. 🧪
They used an automated tool to detect AI papers after human readers got suspicious. Peer reviews were the worst, at 21% flagged as totally-AI generated. 1% of papers were flagged as fully AI, 9% more than 50%.
By @miryamnaddaf.bsky.social:
They used an automated tool to detect AI papers after human readers got suspicious. Peer reviews were the worst, at 21% flagged as totally-AI generated. 1% of papers were flagged as fully AI, 9% more than 50%.
By @miryamnaddaf.bsky.social:
Tag yourself, I’m “Autism Bicycle Score 0.93”
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 27, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Tag yourself, I’m “Autism Bicycle Score 0.93”
It's late but it's here: this month's paper roundup!
-puts on newsboy hat-
papers get your papers papers here extra extra read all about it
-puts on newsboy hat-
papers get your papers papers here extra extra read all about it
Paper Roundup November 2025: Mars lightning, language processing, and autism microbiome
This month's curated list of interesting new papers
www.reviewertoo.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:24 PM
It's late but it's here: this month's paper roundup!
-puts on newsboy hat-
papers get your papers papers here extra extra read all about it
-puts on newsboy hat-
papers get your papers papers here extra extra read all about it
My personal "holding something unbelievable" highlight was a meteorite from Mars.
and today I got to hold a stone tool made before our species even existed 🫠
today I got to hold a book that was published in the same year that Napoleon abdicated 🥲
November 27, 2025 at 3:58 PM
My personal "holding something unbelievable" highlight was a meteorite from Mars.
Reposted by Elise Cutts
Annual Thanksgiving blog post! This year we are giving thanks for "information."
www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2025/11...
www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2025/11...
November 27, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Annual Thanksgiving blog post! This year we are giving thanks for "information."
www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2025/11...
www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2025/11...
I really need people to realize that the amount of $$ you pay someone for their time is a sign of how much you respect and value that time — and to think carefully about what the rate you propose tells the other person.
Crappy pay is not just crappy. It is disrespectful. It erodes self-esteem.
Crappy pay is not just crappy. It is disrespectful. It erodes self-esteem.
November 27, 2025 at 3:51 PM
I really need people to realize that the amount of $$ you pay someone for their time is a sign of how much you respect and value that time — and to think carefully about what the rate you propose tells the other person.
Crappy pay is not just crappy. It is disrespectful. It erodes self-esteem.
Crappy pay is not just crappy. It is disrespectful. It erodes self-esteem.
So you're telling me that working on my life goal of learning all the major languages spoken by Austria's neighbor countries might help me live long enough to actually accomplish it?
Nice
Nice
Multilingualism protects against accelerated aging in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of 27 European countries - Nature Aging
In cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of 86,149 participants across 27 European countries, Amoruso, Hernandez and colleagues identify multilingualism as a protective factor against accelerated ...
www.nature.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:14 PM
So you're telling me that working on my life goal of learning all the major languages spoken by Austria's neighbor countries might help me live long enough to actually accomplish it?
Nice
Nice
Programs that refuse to cover the fixed costs of participants (i.e., rent on apartments they're leaving behind for a few months to live somewhere else, health insurance, etc.) are ~not~ accessible.
Stipends cannot assume that participants exist in a vacuum without running costs.
Stipends cannot assume that participants exist in a vacuum without running costs.
November 27, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Programs that refuse to cover the fixed costs of participants (i.e., rent on apartments they're leaving behind for a few months to live somewhere else, health insurance, etc.) are ~not~ accessible.
Stipends cannot assume that participants exist in a vacuum without running costs.
Stipends cannot assume that participants exist in a vacuum without running costs.
Fascinating article by @heidiledford.bsky.social: single cells from one 74 year-old man were a truly chaotic mosaic of mutation: some cells had a missing Y chromosome, chromosomes with extra arms, and more.
We are all mosaics: vast genetic diversity found between cells in a single person
Technical advances allow researchers to trace the genetic changes that occur over time.
www.nature.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Fascinating article by @heidiledford.bsky.social: single cells from one 74 year-old man were a truly chaotic mosaic of mutation: some cells had a missing Y chromosome, chromosomes with extra arms, and more.
Reposted by Elise Cutts
Scientists: have you been the target of an online harassment campaign, doxxing, or weaponized FOIA requests? I'd like to talk to you about steps you had to take to protect your digital security for an upcoming Nature story. (You can be anonymous if necessary.)
RTs appreciated.
RTs appreciated.
November 26, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Scientists: have you been the target of an online harassment campaign, doxxing, or weaponized FOIA requests? I'd like to talk to you about steps you had to take to protect your digital security for an upcoming Nature story. (You can be anonymous if necessary.)
RTs appreciated.
RTs appreciated.
pfft why see when you can be sexy instead
Love practically makes these birds go blind
Unusually obstructive plumage compromises the vision of two types of pheasants—a first in birds
www.science.org
November 26, 2025 at 9:46 AM
pfft why see when you can be sexy instead
Finally, an objective measure of how wimpy your friend who can't handle tabasco sauce is.
Aside: I wonder though if the human tasters are happy to be spared. Being able to discern fine differences in spiciness seems like a skill one would only develop because of genuine passion.
Aside: I wonder though if the human tasters are happy to be spared. Being able to discern fine differences in spiciness seems like a skill one would only develop because of genuine passion.
Synthetic tongue rates chillies’ heat — and spares human tasters
Gel-based device inspired by the cooling powers of milk assesses peppers whose burn ranges from mild to dangerous.
www.nature.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Finally, an objective measure of how wimpy your friend who can't handle tabasco sauce is.
Aside: I wonder though if the human tasters are happy to be spared. Being able to discern fine differences in spiciness seems like a skill one would only develop because of genuine passion.
Aside: I wonder though if the human tasters are happy to be spared. Being able to discern fine differences in spiciness seems like a skill one would only develop because of genuine passion.
I feel like we need to stop saying "AI slop is overrunning the web" and instead say "people are flooding the web with AI slop."
PEOPLE use AI tools to do this crap. AI is not some unstoppable force of nature. It's a tool that makes it way too easy for people to indulge their worst impulses.
PEOPLE use AI tools to do this crap. AI is not some unstoppable force of nature. It's a tool that makes it way too easy for people to indulge their worst impulses.
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I feel like we need to stop saying "AI slop is overrunning the web" and instead say "people are flooding the web with AI slop."
PEOPLE use AI tools to do this crap. AI is not some unstoppable force of nature. It's a tool that makes it way too easy for people to indulge their worst impulses.
PEOPLE use AI tools to do this crap. AI is not some unstoppable force of nature. It's a tool that makes it way too easy for people to indulge their worst impulses.
AI has put a fire under me to actually start financially supporting creators I've long enjoyed.
TBH it should not have taken robots flooding the internet with slop for me to start valuing human beings investing time in producing amazing things enough to throw some money their way. But here we are.
TBH it should not have taken robots flooding the internet with slop for me to start valuing human beings investing time in producing amazing things enough to throw some money their way. But here we are.
November 25, 2025 at 6:04 PM
AI has put a fire under me to actually start financially supporting creators I've long enjoyed.
TBH it should not have taken robots flooding the internet with slop for me to start valuing human beings investing time in producing amazing things enough to throw some money their way. But here we are.
TBH it should not have taken robots flooding the internet with slop for me to start valuing human beings investing time in producing amazing things enough to throw some money their way. But here we are.
Who's a historical scientist who should be a household name but isn't?
November 25, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Who's a historical scientist who should be a household name but isn't?
Is anyone else's language privately degenerating (or evolving, reaching its true potential?) through a series of ironic vowel shifts?
This one is running rampant in my own speech right now:
Bug --> Boog
Hug --> Hoog
Slug --> Sloog
Blood (/blʌd/) --> Blood (/blud/)
This one is running rampant in my own speech right now:
Bug --> Boog
Hug --> Hoog
Slug --> Sloog
Blood (/blʌd/) --> Blood (/blud/)
November 24, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Is anyone else's language privately degenerating (or evolving, reaching its true potential?) through a series of ironic vowel shifts?
This one is running rampant in my own speech right now:
Bug --> Boog
Hug --> Hoog
Slug --> Sloog
Blood (/blʌd/) --> Blood (/blud/)
This one is running rampant in my own speech right now:
Bug --> Boog
Hug --> Hoog
Slug --> Sloog
Blood (/blʌd/) --> Blood (/blud/)
Was so jazzed to see this profile of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin in an Austrian newspaper.
She's a scientist that definitely deserves to be better known. It still baffles me that she isn't a household name!!
She's a scientist that definitely deserves to be better known. It still baffles me that she isn't a household name!!
Cecilia Payne entdeckte vor 100 Jahren, woraus Sterne bestehen – und wurde übergangen
Die unkonventionelle Britin zeigte in ihrer brillanten Doktorarbeit, dass Sterne voller Wasserstoff sind. Sie stellte damit die Sicht auf das Universum auf den Kopf. Erst 1956 wurde sie die erste Prof...
www.derstandard.de
November 24, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Was so jazzed to see this profile of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin in an Austrian newspaper.
She's a scientist that definitely deserves to be better known. It still baffles me that she isn't a household name!!
She's a scientist that definitely deserves to be better known. It still baffles me that she isn't a household name!!
Being self employed has changed how I think about money in at least one important way: I‘ve started to see the hidden hourly rates behind the sticker prices of services and products.
Often, esp. for small businesses, this means I think prices are fair that my friends think are asking too much.
Often, esp. for small businesses, this means I think prices are fair that my friends think are asking too much.
November 23, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Being self employed has changed how I think about money in at least one important way: I‘ve started to see the hidden hourly rates behind the sticker prices of services and products.
Often, esp. for small businesses, this means I think prices are fair that my friends think are asking too much.
Often, esp. for small businesses, this means I think prices are fair that my friends think are asking too much.
Reposted by Elise Cutts
A snipped from this page that's nearly done. the first planet forming and as planets form, clearing their lanes... Really eager to have time to put this one to bed!
#Nostos #Unflattening 2
#Nostos #Unflattening 2
November 23, 2025 at 8:28 AM
A snipped from this page that's nearly done. the first planet forming and as planets form, clearing their lanes... Really eager to have time to put this one to bed!
#Nostos #Unflattening 2
#Nostos #Unflattening 2
Reposted by Elise Cutts
About a week ago I was interviewed by the Sharp and complex mind of @elisecutts.bsky.social, for Reviewer Too. Best interview experience you’ll ever get on complex subjects! Check it:
bsky.app/profile/elis...
Elise cuts (ha ha, pun intended) straight to the implications and interest. Very fun!
bsky.app/profile/elis...
Elise cuts (ha ha, pun intended) straight to the implications and interest. Very fun!
What changes when humans change: individuals with genes, or groups with culture?
In this month's Q&A, I talk with @twaring.bsky.social about his argument that humans are going through an evolutionary transition: groups are the new individual, and culture is the new genome. 🧪
In this month's Q&A, I talk with @twaring.bsky.social about his argument that humans are going through an evolutionary transition: groups are the new individual, and culture is the new genome. 🧪
The individual isn't what it used to be
Tim Waring thinks human evolution is shifting from genetic and individual to cultural and collective
www.reviewertoo.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:44 PM
About a week ago I was interviewed by the Sharp and complex mind of @elisecutts.bsky.social, for Reviewer Too. Best interview experience you’ll ever get on complex subjects! Check it:
bsky.app/profile/elis...
Elise cuts (ha ha, pun intended) straight to the implications and interest. Very fun!
bsky.app/profile/elis...
Elise cuts (ha ha, pun intended) straight to the implications and interest. Very fun!
Conspiracy brain says this a list of jobs dominated by women, with engineering and business thrown on to avoid suspicion
The DoE has reclassified numerous health professional and other degrees, limiting access to federal student loan programs eligible for the higher OBBBA loan caps from thousands to a few hundred.
As ALWAYS, this is about $$.
We're about to become REALLY "great"...
shorturl.fm/xs7gY
As ALWAYS, this is about $$.
We're about to become REALLY "great"...
shorturl.fm/xs7gY
November 21, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Conspiracy brain says this a list of jobs dominated by women, with engineering and business thrown on to avoid suspicion