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Zen Faulkes

@doctorzen.net

2.2K followers 310 following 3.1K posts

Home page: http://DoctorZen.net. Biologist. Author of Better Posters book and blog. Collector of academic hoaxes.

Videos

Environmental science 49%

Geography 13%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 51m

Dr. Manhattan meme of people who have repeatedly predicted the demise of stupid brick-and-mortar university learning because of:

• Books printed cheaply, information widely available

• Radio, making information widely available

• MOOCs, making information widely available

And so on.

Vlad 🐸 Țepeș @porcupunk.bsky.social · 1h

Wow. Just wow.

"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."

When Knowledge is Free, What are Professors For?

Higher Education Must Stop Competing with AI on Information and Start Teaching What Machines Can’t Do

www.forbes.com

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Reposted by Julia Lynch, Zen Faulkes

Vlad 🐸 Țepeș @porcupunk.bsky.social · 1h

When Knowledge is Free, What are Professors For?

Higher Education Must Stop Competing with AI on Information and Start Teaching What Machines Can’t Do

www.forbes.com

2 1 5

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1h

Dock of the Bay.

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2h

Are you suggesting AI systems have no biases?

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 4h

Not much. It’s just… par for the course. Increasingly so, alas.

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 4h

Today is the 85th anniversary of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gre...

a man in a military uniform is standing next to a large globe .

Alt: Charlie Chaplin playing with an inflatable glove in a scene from The Great Dictator.

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Zen Faulkes

Dr. Jey McCreight 🧬🏳️‍⚧️ @jeymccreight.bsky.social · 4h

Hurts seeing so many of these notices during #ASHG25, but even sadder to see one with a Reviewer's Choice Award

Paper on a poster board that reads "Due to the ongoing government closure, this poster could not be presented as planned. ASHG remains committed to sharing this important work through alternative channels at the earliest opportunity." Next to it is pinned a blue ribbon that says "Reviewer's choice"

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 4h

Fellow science blogosphere veterans, check out what our colleague DNLee has been up to!

Danielle's Website

Danielle. N Lee Deck

dnlee5.com

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 5h

That you have a more nuanced view does not surprise me. Just checking. 😉

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 6h

🤔

Warning: "We'd have found it by now" is the kind of phrase that likes to come back and bite you in the butt.

I've now seen enough stuff that I thought I would not see in my lifetime now a trivial, routinely used technology to be wary.

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Reposted by Zen Faulkes

Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 8h

This was driving me bananas -- on the iOS app, Firefox removed the "Reader" button that allows you to actually read a website in plain simple text, with a bullshit AI "summary" button. But you can restore Reader! andycarter.dev/blog/how-to-...

How to re-enable Firefox's Reader Mode

andycarter.dev

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Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, Daniel S. Goldberg, Zen Faulkes

Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 11h

Award-winning pain researcher here. This is not something that can be done. Hope this helps.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 12h

“In nursing homes, neonatal units, and ICU wards, researchers are racing to turn pain—medicine’s most subjective vital sign—into something a camera or sensor can score as reliably as blood pressure.”

AI is changing how we quantify pain

Artificial intelligence is helping health-care providers better assess their patients’ discomfort.

www.technologyreview.com

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 11h

Ironically...

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Reposted by Zen Faulkes

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 12h

AI is changing how we quantify pain

Artificial intelligence is helping health-care providers better assess their patients’ discomfort.

www.technologyreview.com

33 19 110

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 13h

A trend I’m noticing: Social media is encouraging those text heavy slides again, because they make sharing pictures from talks easier.

Bad for the audience in the room, but creates a bigger audience. Not sure what answer here is.

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 14h

Virginia sky update.

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 14h

You’ve probably looked it up, but for anyone else curious:

My understanding is “doozy” originally referred to the Duesenberg car line, known for size and luxury.

neurodojo.blogspot.com/2005/07/scie...

Science is a doozy

I was channel surfing a couple of nights ago, and came across a show about Jay Leno’s discovery of a rare, vintage Duesenberg car (descri...

neurodojo.blogspot.com

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Reposted by Peter Thorne, Jonathan Birch, Zen Faulkes , and 1 more Peter Thorne, Jonathan Birch, Zen Faulkes, Hugh Davies

Luke Plunkett @lukeplunkett.com · 18h

kids teacher just sent this home as part of an assignment he's doing and i want to smash every computer at the school

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

The new Microsoft Office icons are hard to recognize and pick out of a crowd at a glance. 🥱

New icons for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Both are shapes with some tinted colors and gradients.

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

Maybe these are a start?

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

The lure of rationality: Why does the deficit model persist in science communication? - Molly J. Simis, Haley Madden, Michael A. Cacciatore, Sara K. Yeo, 2016

Science communication has been historically predicated on the knowledge deficit model. Yet, empirical research has shown that public communication of science is...

journals.sagepub.com

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

So. Many. GIFs. To choose from.

a man is asking what could possibly go wrong while wearing a leather jacket .

Alt: A man asking, “What could possibly go wrong?”

media.tenor.com

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

Neuroscientists might be forgiven for thinking that they can suction their way back to trust. They have rarely faced opposition to their science. But they should look harder at histories of (say) evolutionary biology vs creationism, climate science vs fossil fuels, vaccines vs hesitancy.

1 1 5

Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

Looks like these authors are assuming a deficit model of communication.

“If we just communicate better, everyone will agree with us!”

The deficit model of Science Communication has been tested many times, and rarely delivers the results scientists are expecting.

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Reposted by Juan Cole, Smith, Alan Richardson , and 2 more Juan Cole, Smith, Alan Richardson, Zen Faulkes, David L. Anderson

Kate Clancy @kateclancy.bsky.social · 1d

I am being asked to tell my department which pieces of lab equipment should be supported with backup power because they expect rolling blackouts and brownouts in 2026 due to increased energy demands from AI. In case you're wondering how my day is going.

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Reposted by Jane E. Fountain, Zen Faulkes, David Spurrett

Aubrey Hirsch @aubreyhirsch.bsky.social · 1d

Did you know that if you buy my book on Amazon, Jeff Bezos makes 5 times as much as I do on each copy sold? Sharing some behind-the-scenes book math on why buying directly from presses is best for EVERYONE (except Bezos) in my newsletter today! aubreyhirsch.substack.com/p/book-math

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Reposted by Richard Waite, Zen Faulkes

Stuart Jones @owenthesignal.bsky.social · 1d

‘Which fonts do you want for the sale poster?’

‘Yes’

#fonts #typography #museum #allthefonts
@fontsinuse.com @themerl.bsky.social

All the fonts, including a surprisingly modern 1960s style italic font, advertising the sale of Ashton Farm by auction at the Crown Hotel Bishops Waltham in 1908.
Photo from Bishops Waltham Museum, from the Austin & Wyatt archive

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 1d

I never advertised, because I was in a place with a Master’s program, which rarely interests external candidates, and there were never positions available with guaranteed full funding.

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Reposted by Zen Faulkes

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

(and i think it is a demand that stems from fear more than a rational assessment of the threat environment)

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Reposted by Anna O. Law, American Library Association, David R. Miller , and 6 more Anna O. Law, American Library Association, David R. Miller, Margot C. Finn, Scott A. Imberman, Anne Norton, Zen Faulkes, Mark Rice, Kate Jackson

Julie Greene @greeneland.bsky.social · 2d

I just learned, Thomas Alter, tenured professor, has been terminated effective immediately. Shame on Texas State! We mst build support for Tom. spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-tex...

Texas State upholds the firing of associate history professor Thomas Alter

Alter’s termination occurred on Sept. 10, stemming from his remarks at the Revolutionary Socialism Conference on Sept. 7.

spectrumlocalnews.com

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Zen Faulkes @doctorzen.net · 2d

What is MidSci? I’d search but don’t want to give them a single web visit after seeing this atrocity.