Philip Ball
@philipcball.bsky.social
Science writer and author of books including Bright Earth, The Music Instinct, Beyond Weird, How Life Works.
Reposted by Philip Ball
Lovely review of CRICK by Peter Lawrence - who knew Francis well and took the photograoh below - in @currentbiology.bsky.social. “Scintillating… a biography to savour.”
Francis Crick: A thoughtful biography to savour
“His aim was not just to make discoveries about two of the major riddles of science,
he was also driven (…) to understand our true place in the Universe, shorn of superstition
and religion.”
www.cell.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Lovely review of CRICK by Peter Lawrence - who knew Francis well and took the photograoh below - in @currentbiology.bsky.social. “Scintillating… a biography to savour.”
Antidepressants are all over the world, but mass shootings are not. If only we could identify some other factor that's correlated.
RFK Jr. Wants to Link Antidepressants Like SSRIs to Mass Shootings. Experts Aren’t Buying It gizmodo.com/rfk-jr-wants...
RFK Jr. Wants to Link Antidepressants Like SSRIs to Mass Shootings. Experts Aren’t Buying It
Studies show that people who commit mass shootings aren't more likely to be taking antidepressants. But is RFK Jr. paying any attention?
gizmodo.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Antidepressants are all over the world, but mass shootings are not. If only we could identify some other factor that's correlated.
Wow, that Vanity Fair piece is the gift that keeps on giving. It actually has a kind of magnificence. But can it be real? Really?
It needs to be emphasized that this paragraph is about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
November 17, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Wow, that Vanity Fair piece is the gift that keeps on giving. It actually has a kind of magnificence. But can it be real? Really?
This is a good but depressing piece by the excellent Isabel Hilton. How sad and cynical that some Chinese-made green tech comes with hidden software that could allow these systems to be hacked. And just when China is doing amazing things with green tech.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
China and the risks of renewables
Beijing’s dominance of clean energy technology offers an escape from dependence on fossil fuels—and a new kind of danger
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 7:47 PM
This is a good but depressing piece by the excellent Isabel Hilton. How sad and cynical that some Chinese-made green tech comes with hidden software that could allow these systems to be hacked. And just when China is doing amazing things with green tech.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
Some might consider this Freudian interpretation of That AI Video from Trump to be over-egging it. I don't. Say what you like about Freud, but there's a lot here that rings true to me.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/united...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/united...
The politics of the potty
Trump’s defecating fighter jet is an emblem of a man in revolt against civilisation
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Some might consider this Freudian interpretation of That AI Video from Trump to be over-egging it. I don't. Say what you like about Freud, but there's a lot here that rings true to me.
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/united...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/united...
I fully endorse this. Political leaders are falling prey to AI hype, and seem to lack any kind of help from reputable sources who could counter the false claims of tech CEOs. Where are their science advisers???
In a short piece for @techpolicypress.bsky.social, @abeba.bsky.social and I write #AIHype Is Steering EU Policy Off Course.
Stop peddling in unscientific discourse about “AGI” and “superintelligence.” Serve citizens. Don't cater to the whims of tech CEOs.
www.techpolicy.press/ai-hype-is-s...
Stop peddling in unscientific discourse about “AGI” and “superintelligence.” Serve citizens. Don't cater to the whims of tech CEOs.
www.techpolicy.press/ai-hype-is-s...
AI Hype Is Steering EU Policy Off Course | TechPolicy.Press
Kris Shrishak and Abeba Birhane say policymakers should stop peddling in unscientific discourse about "AGI" and "superintelligence."
www.techpolicy.press
November 17, 2025 at 7:37 PM
I fully endorse this. Political leaders are falling prey to AI hype, and seem to lack any kind of help from reputable sources who could counter the false claims of tech CEOs. Where are their science advisers???
This is rather wonderful (written up by the ever reliable Mark Buchanan). We can imagine making quantum clocks that arefully reversible and generate no entropy. But the entropic cost of extracting a classical tick is, in relative terms, huge.
physics.aps.org/articles/v18...
physics.aps.org/articles/v18...
physics.aps.org
November 17, 2025 at 7:26 PM
This is rather wonderful (written up by the ever reliable Mark Buchanan). We can imagine making quantum clocks that arefully reversible and generate no entropy. But the entropic cost of extracting a classical tick is, in relative terms, huge.
physics.aps.org/articles/v18...
physics.aps.org/articles/v18...
This wins the internet today, though it might be slightly lost on audiences beyond the UK.
How delightfully quaint some of these old Devon village names are, their etymologies lost in the mists of time.
November 17, 2025 at 4:22 PM
This wins the internet today, though it might be slightly lost on audiences beyond the UK.
This is, of course excellent.
November 16, 2025 at 5:10 PM
This is, of course excellent.
I was shocked to hear about Rachel Cooke. I never knew her, but always admired her writing. Had no idea she was ill.
November 15, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I was shocked to hear about Rachel Cooke. I never knew her, but always admired her writing. Had no idea she was ill.
In my column for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social I talk about the emerging disciplne of generative biology. There's a whole other direction to it that tries to work from the genome up, and I have something on that in the works too.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
Why a new discipline of biology is generating interest
Generative biology will be inspired more by embryology than by genetic engineering
www.thenewworld.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 1:53 PM
In my column for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social I talk about the emerging disciplne of generative biology. There's a whole other direction to it that tries to work from the genome up, and I have something on that in the works too.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
This is good. It is also chilling.
Deezer ran a study with 9,000 listeners and found that only 3 percent could tell the difference between a fully AI-generated song and a human-made one.
I dig into the implications here:
medium.com/the-riff/dee...
I dig into the implications here:
medium.com/the-riff/dee...
Deezer Reports Only 3% of Users Can Accurately Identify AI-Generated Tracks
130 days' worth of AI “music” floods the platform every day
medium.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:34 PM
This is good. It is also chilling.
Is "compute power" different from "computing power"? Other than being 2 letters shorter and ten times uglier?
November 14, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Is "compute power" different from "computing power"? Other than being 2 letters shorter and ten times uglier?
Reposted by Philip Ball
New paper with @statsepi.bsky.social and @deevybee.bsky.social in which we show there's really no evidence for a link between the gut microbiome and autism www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Conceptual and methodological flaws undermine claims of a link between the gut microbiome and autism
Claims that the gut microbiome causally contributes to autism regularly appear in
the scientific literature and popular press. Mitchell et al. critically examine influential
studies underpinning these...
www.cell.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:10 PM
New paper with @statsepi.bsky.social and @deevybee.bsky.social in which we show there's really no evidence for a link between the gut microbiome and autism www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Philip Ball
ICYMI: An excellent overview of Jeffrey Epstein's ties to scientists (including some with ties to this magazine), by @danvergano.bsky.social: www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeff...
Jeffrey Epstein E-mails Reveal Depth of Ties to High-Profile Scientists
A trove of e-mails from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released by a congressional committee on Wednesday
www.scientificamerican.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:36 PM
ICYMI: An excellent overview of Jeffrey Epstein's ties to scientists (including some with ties to this magazine), by @danvergano.bsky.social: www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeff...
Reposted by Philip Ball
Matin Durrani looks back at a full week of quantum-themed events organised last week by Physics World and the Institute of Physics, including a panel debate with four future leaders of quantum science and technology at the Royal Institution in central London. ⚛️🧪
physicsworld.com/a/the-future...
physicsworld.com/a/the-future...
The future of quantum physics and technology debated at the Royal Institution – Physics World
Matin Durrani looks back at a week-long series of events in the UK to mark Quantum Year
physicsworld.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Matin Durrani looks back at a full week of quantum-themed events organised last week by Physics World and the Institute of Physics, including a panel debate with four future leaders of quantum science and technology at the Royal Institution in central London. ⚛️🧪
physicsworld.com/a/the-future...
physicsworld.com/a/the-future...
Off the top of my head, I imagine this exclusion would apply to about 80-90 percent of US scientists.
"Prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship & advising a foreign graduate student or postdoc. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding."
Dictators despise science.
Dictators despise science.
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Off the top of my head, I imagine this exclusion would apply to about 80-90 percent of US scientists.
Reposted by Philip Ball
This is lunacy. The Chinese scholars I know are among the hardest working, most selfless people I've ever encountered. They want to contribute to our intellectual endeavors, and they make our research teams better.
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
This is lunacy. The Chinese scholars I know are among the hardest working, most selfless people I've ever encountered. They want to contribute to our intellectual endeavors, and they make our research teams better.
The fact that OpenAI even tried to frame their defence in this absurd manner betrays how morally bankrupt they are. But perhaps also how desperate.
We didn't plagiarize, you made us plagiarize by asking questions to which we stole the answers.
"Because its output is generated by users of the chatbot via their prompts, OpenAI said, they were the ones who should be held legally liable for it – an argument rejected by the court."
"Because its output is generated by users of the chatbot via their prompts, OpenAI said, they were the ones who should be held legally liable for it – an argument rejected by the court."
ChatGPT violated copyright law by ‘learning’ from song lyrics, German court rules
OpenAI ordered to pay undisclosed damages for training its language models on artists’ work without permission
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:12 PM
The fact that OpenAI even tried to frame their defence in this absurd manner betrays how morally bankrupt they are. But perhaps also how desperate.
Reposted by Philip Ball
With sequencing of Hitler's DNA making headlines, time for a reminder: analysing a polygenic score from a dead historically-significant figure won't give new insights into that person's behaviour. In a brief paper last year, we used Beethoven's genome to directly illustrate the fallacies involved.🧪👇
Notes from Beethoven’s genome
Wesseldijk et al. compare the genomic information collected from Ludwig van Beethoven
with population-based datasets used to quantify musical achievement.
www.cell.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:26 AM
With sequencing of Hitler's DNA making headlines, time for a reminder: analysing a polygenic score from a dead historically-significant figure won't give new insights into that person's behaviour. In a brief paper last year, we used Beethoven's genome to directly illustrate the fallacies involved.🧪👇
I'm kind of fascinated with Oct4. That's the gene generally seen as a maintainer of pluripotency in stem cells. Crudely, as long as there's Oct4, the cells can stay pluripotent. It's one of the Yamanaka factors for reprogramming cells to iPSCs. So, a simple story? Get real: this is biology. 1/n
November 11, 2025 at 5:01 PM
I'm kind of fascinated with Oct4. That's the gene generally seen as a maintainer of pluripotency in stem cells. Crudely, as long as there's Oct4, the cells can stay pluripotent. It's one of the Yamanaka factors for reprogramming cells to iPSCs. So, a simple story? Get real: this is biology. 1/n
Hank is right, of course. "Says it can predict". Yeah, those companies will predict, if you pay them, sure they will. (And if I know the height of the parents and their socioeconomic status, I could probably make pretty good height and "IQ" predictions too.) Enough of this voodoo science.
"I can call spirits from the vasty deed."
"Why and so can I, or so can any man, but will they come when you do call for them?"
Prediction is easy; being right is hard!
; )
"Why and so can I, or so can any man, but will they come when you do call for them?"
Prediction is easy; being right is hard!
; )
New embryo testing company says it can predict lifespan, height and IQ of potential children www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvVM... - grifters gonna grift... 🤑💰💵
November 10, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Hank is right, of course. "Says it can predict". Yeah, those companies will predict, if you pay them, sure they will. (And if I know the height of the parents and their socioeconomic status, I could probably make pretty good height and "IQ" predictions too.) Enough of this voodoo science.
Reposted by Philip Ball
“When I was [at the BBC], at the height of Boris Johnson’s strength, that fear was ubiquitous. Scripts were sometimes written with a view not solely to their impartiality or truth, but the management of perception of impartiality from one side of the spectrum.“ @lewisgoodall.com
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
goodallandgoodluck.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:21 PM
“When I was [at the BBC], at the height of Boris Johnson’s strength, that fear was ubiquitous. Scripts were sometimes written with a view not solely to their impartiality or truth, but the management of perception of impartiality from one side of the spectrum.“ @lewisgoodall.com
I'm here on a mission, and the mission is to finish writing my bloody book. Fortunately, much rain is forecast.
November 10, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I'm here on a mission, and the mission is to finish writing my bloody book. Fortunately, much rain is forecast.
Reposted by Philip Ball
“Immigration status becomes significant when you’re a monster but not when you’re a hero.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Violent crime is at a low, yet people’s experiences tell a different story | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
“Immigration status becomes significant when you’re a monster but not when you’re a hero.” My @theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/columni...