Dr Moira Nicolson
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moiranics.bsky.social
Dr Moira Nicolson
@moiranics.bsky.social
3.2K followers 810 following 130 posts
#SocialScientist and Public #Climate Comms and Engagement

Honorary Research Fellow @UCL

*Sharing research and views in a personal capacity*
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
jayvanbavel.bsky.social
A tiny minority of highly active users produce the majority of online political content, while most users consume content passively and remain largely silent.

Toxic comments are more likely to be expressed, even though most people disagree with them, creating false norms.
osf.io/preprints/so...
November 23, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
projectdrawdown.bsky.social
The Explorer is live. It’s free. And it’s built to help anyone — from investors to practitioners to community leaders — focus on the solutions that matter most.

👉 Explore today: www.drawdown.org/explorer

@globalecoguy.bsky.social

#DrawdownExplorer #ClimateSolutions #ProjectDrawdown
November 21, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
profjohndrury.bsky.social
Re-reading this review of wellbeing effects of music events for something I'm working on, and it's a key reading for my project student and crowd behaviour students this term

journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
journals.sagepub.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:32 AM
moiranics.bsky.social
Free webinar led by myself & Holly Marquez on how organisations can mitigate the “hidden” risks of AI: the risks you don’t spot until it’s too late.

Join us on Monday 24th November 10am here:
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Thanks to our hosts @susanmichie.bsky.social @behaviourresuk.bsky.social
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Surfacing and Mitigating the “Hidden Risks” of AI. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Current AI safety discourse disproportionately centres on highly salient technical risks such as algorithm bias and hallucinations. While these concerns merit attention, they overlook a fundamental tr...
us02web.zoom.us
November 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
jayvanbavel.bsky.social
Beware the Funhouse Mirror: How Social Media Misleads Us about Public Opinion

I gave a talk to the @nationalacademies.org last week about how social media fuels misperceptions and false polarization.

You can watch it for free here:
www.nationalacademies.org/event/45948_...
November 20, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
moiranics.bsky.social
Full paper by @mmosleh.bsky.social and colleagues here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
November 17, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
moiranics.bsky.social
Amazing new paper analysed 10 million news posts on 7 social media platforms in January 2024 - they found that most content posted is high quality and politically moderate, including on Twitter/X. The problem is that engagement is much higher for the relatively small portion of low quality content.
Frequency distribution of political lean of news domains shared on BlueSkye, Gab, Gettr, LinkedIn, Mastodon, TruthSocial, x/twitter. The most common type of content on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Twitter and Mastodon is politically moderate. For TruthSocial, the most common content is right wing. Gettr and Gab is varied. Frequency distribution of quality of news shared on each platform. Most content on Bluesky, X/Twitter, Mastodon and LinkedIn is of medium to high quality. Gab, Gettr and Truth Social is of varying quality. Line graphs showing the proportion of posts that are among the 10% highest engagement posts on each platform by news quality (binned by rounding quality to nearest 0.25). Shows that for all platforms, except BlueSky, engagement declines as quality increases, especially for LinkedIn. BlueSky sees the highest engagement for posts of average quality.
November 17, 2025 at 9:17 PM
moiranics.bsky.social
Amazing new paper analysed 10 million news posts on 7 social media platforms in January 2024 - they found that most content posted is high quality and politically moderate, including on Twitter/X. The problem is that engagement is much higher for the relatively small portion of low quality content.
Frequency distribution of political lean of news domains shared on BlueSkye, Gab, Gettr, LinkedIn, Mastodon, TruthSocial, x/twitter. The most common type of content on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Twitter and Mastodon is politically moderate. For TruthSocial, the most common content is right wing. Gettr and Gab is varied. Frequency distribution of quality of news shared on each platform. Most content on Bluesky, X/Twitter, Mastodon and LinkedIn is of medium to high quality. Gab, Gettr and Truth Social is of varying quality. Line graphs showing the proportion of posts that are among the 10% highest engagement posts on each platform by news quality (binned by rounding quality to nearest 0.25). Shows that for all platforms, except BlueSky, engagement declines as quality increases, especially for LinkedIn. BlueSky sees the highest engagement for posts of average quality.
November 17, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
scientificdiscovery.dev
Write for us!

Here are 26 ideas of articles we'd like to commission.
www.worksinprogress.news/p/more-artic...
Drugs that last for months. A new generation of long-acting drugs like lenacapavir points to a different approach to prevention: take one dose, stay protected for half a year (and possibly more). What are the different ways scientists are designing medicines that last so long in the body, and what trade-offs come with durability? Crafting a universal flu vaccine. Each year, scientists study the strains circulating in the population, predict which will dominate, and reformulate the vaccine to match. When those predictions miss, protection drops, and updating the formulation takes time. Could we create a single vaccine that protects against all forms of influenza? The mosquito we should just get rid of. One mosquito species is responsible for most cases of dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and chikungunya: Aedes aegypti. It thrives in cities, breeding in bottle caps and flower pots, and has adapted perfectly to human life. But now scientists have tools, like gene drives and Wolbachia bacteria, to suppress or even eliminate it. What makes this one mosquito species so harmful to us? How might we eliminate it? Successful pension reforms in recent history. Australia successfully moved its population to a retirement savings plan (‘Superannuation’) in the early 1990s. Silvio Berlusconi’s governments in Italy drove reforms that moved much of the population from ‘defined benefit’ pensions to savings-focused ‘defined contribution’ pensions. What can other states learn from these experiences to reduce their own future retirees’ dependence on working age populations? Heathrow’s surprising efficiency. Europe’s busiest airport desperately needs more physical infrastructure, especially runways. But it is remarkable how well it has done with just the two runways that it has. What has it done to engineer around this constraint? Everyday progress in cosmetic technology. Plastic surgery was once a byword for wealth but many interventions are now commonplace. The frontier seems to be pushing out as well: consider the latest Kardashian facelift or the improvement of hair systems. We want to read a piece on the lack of stagnation in appearance-enhancement, either a case study on a specific procedure or an article on the field overall. Blockers to AI automation. We recently ran a piece on why AI hasn’t replaced radiologists. What are similar stories in other fields? The type of piece we will consider is a detailed case study of capability that already (plausibly) exists, but that has been less impactful than people hoped. We’re not that interested in speculation based on abilities that models may have in the future. Inversely, if there are areas which haven’t been covered well elsewhere where models have been surprisingly effective at displacing humans, feel free to pitch us as well. The land that lived with malaria for millennia. For thousands of years, malaria haunted the Italian peninsula, from the Pontine marshes near Rome to its southern coasts. Then, within a few decades in the mid-20th century, it was eliminated. How did a disease so deeply rooted in Italy’s history disappear so quickly, and what does the story tell us about public health and environmental change? Why does Asia have higher density than Africa? Across MENA, South Asia, and South-East Asia, many cities are made up mostly of mid-rise apartment buildings, often clustered together at densities equal to or greater than those of nineteenth century Europe. In Sub-Saharan Africa, by contrast, urban densities tend to be low, with single-story buildings making up most of the urban area. This pattern holds even in cases of African countries with higher incomes than many Asian countries (e.g. Botswana, South Africa, Gabon, Rwanda). What is the cause of this? What does it teach us about the drivers of urban density?
November 8, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
jayvanbavel.bsky.social
Social media is a funhouse mirror.
I gave a talk yesterday at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine about how social media distorts our perceptions.
It's not a mirror, it’s a false polarization machine where the most extreme voices on any issue dominate the conversation.
November 14, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
profjohndrury.bsky.social
People talk to strangers and make friends in football crowds

www.theguardian.com/football/202...
‘We could be winning or losing – it doesn’t matter as long as we’re together’: the friendships forged on football terraces
It starts with singing, banter or enthusiastic goal celebrations – and leads to so much more. Six groups of fan friends share how they met
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
profjohndrury.bsky.social
'Human nature' is the capacity to categorize others as part of self. Extending the boundaries of concern, people often help strangers in emergencies.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
‘Heroic actions are a natural tendency’: why bystander apathy is a myth
Modern research shows the public work together selflessly in an emergency, motivated by a strong impulse to help
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
luketryl.bsky.social
We are recruiting a few different new roles @Moreincommon_ UK, if you're interested in any of them and think you'd enjoy our work do take a look. www.moreincommon.org.uk/about-us/jobs/
Current Opportunities
Check here for current job opportunities.
www.moreincommon.org.uk
November 7, 2025 at 3:23 PM
moiranics.bsky.social
Controversial opinion but why is everyone so obsessed with AI evaluation? Surely it would be better to do our best to make sure we roll it out right the first time, rather than doing a bad job and finding out once it’s too late.
November 5, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
thierryaaron.bsky.social
Want to apply your skills to help tackle the #climate crisis?

Unsure where to start?

Check out workonclimate.org

"Our experts help you navigate your path toward contributing to regeneration — and offer a way for you to do the same for others."
Work on Climate | Mobilizing Professionals to Build a Regenerative World
Join a global community of professionals turning every field into a force for regeneration. Discover your power in the climate work movement.
workonclimate.org
November 5, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
thierryaaron.bsky.social
I've finally got around to curating a selection of films about the #climate crisis 🎥

There's lot of mediocre climate films out there, but for me these stand out head & shoulders above the rest 🎞️

They make excellent resources for classrooms, lecture halls, or community cinema's 🎬

Thread:🧵Plz RT
November 1, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
moiranics.bsky.social
Amazing record of where people meet their partners! It often feels that romantic relationships aren’t taken seriously as a legitimate subject of scientific enquiry even though it’s a major driver of wellbeing and life outcomes (eg who you live with affects how much exercise you do, diet etc).
jayvanbavel.bsky.social Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 26d
Technology is radically restructuring so many elements of social life, from development and education to dating and politics.

Watch what happens to dating around 2007...
October 31, 2025 at 7:44 AM
moiranics.bsky.social
Amazing record of where people meet their partners! It often feels that romantic relationships aren’t taken seriously as a legitimate subject of scientific enquiry even though it’s a major driver of wellbeing and life outcomes (eg who you live with affects how much exercise you do, diet etc).
jayvanbavel.bsky.social Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 26d
Technology is radically restructuring so many elements of social life, from development and education to dating and politics.

Watch what happens to dating around 2007...
October 31, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
jayvanbavel.bsky.social
Technology is radically restructuring so many elements of social life, from development and education to dating and politics.

Watch what happens to dating around 2007...
October 30, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
eroston.bsky.social
If you’re like many people, you live somewhere and may work somewhere, too

2 questions:

1 How might climate change affect these places?
2 Why might different data providers give you wildly different answers?

🧵: Bloomberg @bloomberg.com Green investigation (🎁🔗)
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
The Risky Business of Predicting Where Climate Disaster Will Hit
Climate tech companies can calculate the chances that a flood or wildfire will ravage your home. But what if their odds are all different?
www.bloomberg.com
August 12, 2024 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
resolutionfoundation.org
Unemployment remains the most common reason for being NEET, but a growing share also cite sickness or disability.

The proportion of NEETs inactive due to sickness or disability rose from 11 per cent in 2005 to 28 per cent in 2025 - almost one third of the total.

More➡️ buff.ly/kIei4lG
Chart showing proportion of 16-24 year-olds who are not in education, employment or training for various reasons: UK Since 2005, the share of NEETs who are inactive due to family or home care reasons has more than halved, as th chary shows. In 2005, 29% of NEET young people were inactive for these reasons, but by 2025, this has fallen to 10%. In turn,the chart shows that the proportions of NEETs inactive due to sickness or disability and ‘other’ reasons (which includes a range of circumstances, from those feeling discouraged about job prospects to those choosing not to seek work) rose substantially. Most notably, the former increased by 17 percentage points since 2005, rising from 11% to reach almost one third (28%) of young people who are NEET in 2025. Over the same period, NEETs inactive due to ‘other’ reasons increased by 9 percentage points, also reaching almost one quarter (23%) of young people who are NEET.
October 23, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
profjohndrury.bsky.social
1/2 Attending this very large anti-racism rally and march in Brighton today, I was reminded of this excellent article by Betsy Paluck on the inferences we might draw from public demonstrations or their absence...

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
October 18, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
projectdrawdown.bsky.social
We have launched the Drawdown Explorer — the most comprehensive climate solutions platform ever created! It gives decision-makers the tools they need to act faster & more effectively than ever — & your support today can make this revolutionary tool even more powerful. https://drawdown.org/donate
Ways to Give
Your donation to Project Drawdown supports our core climate solutions work, allowing our team to be responsive to the rapidly changing climate landscape.
drawdown.org
October 10, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
manoelhortaribeiro.bsky.social
Social media feeds today are optimized for engagement, often leading to misalignment between users' intentions and technology use.

In a new paper, we introduce Bonsai, a tool to create feeds based on stated preferences, rather than predicted engagement.

arxiv.org/abs/2509.10776
September 16, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Reposted by Dr Moira Nicolson
profjohndrury.bsky.social
Before the professional first responders arrive, there are 'zero responders', including amongst the survivors themselves, who respond to each others' needs

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Manchester synagogue: PM praises rabbi and security staff who blocked attacker
Two killed and four remain in hospital after a man, shot dead by police, carried out the attack.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 3, 2025 at 10:18 AM