Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Elise Cutts

@elisecutts.bsky.social

1.1K followers 1.3K following 1.6K posts

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 👽🌀🦋

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2h

I don't know how we could ever transcend story or what a "simple reality" would look like without one, honestly. Arguably scientific theories are stories that that explain data. Collecting observations without theorizing wouldn't be very helpful for predicting things about the universe.

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 11h

I've come around to thinking it's preferable to provide a least-wrong story than to provide no story at all. Because if you don't tell a story, someone else will.

1 2

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 11h

Given the storytelling instinct, I actually think there's a danger in ~avoiding~ storytelling language in science communication. Scientists can't just present facts and expect people to receive them neutrally. Narrative abhors a vacuum.

1 2

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 13h

The internet isn't dead yet

Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 1d

oh hell yeah youtu.be/nGZOFyLrCwk?...

Slug Eating Spaghetti Time Lapse (With Stopwatch Timer)

YouTube video by Nature's Fantastic

youtu.be

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 13h

If you walk on the beach, there's clearly no perfect boundary separating land and sea.

But if you want to draw a map of the beach for someone else, you'll need to draw a line somewhere — preferably somewhere reasonable.

Even if we have to write fictions, we can do our best to write true ones.

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 13h

The frontier of science — especially in speculative fields — is a beach, not a cliff. There's no fine line between the known and unknown. Are you in the ocean once you're standing on wet sand? Does it only count once you're up to your ankles in the surf? Up to your knees?

1 1

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 13h

More specifically, this post argues that our drive to turn everything into a story essentially guarantees that we'll fall for illusions of consensus — false impressions that scientists agree, even if they don't.

I think this is sort of inevitable, even if care is taken to communicate nuance.

1 1

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 13h

This week's newletter is out. And as a science journalist, I maybe... hate it? It's always fun to convince yourself of something you don't want to be true.

It's all about the storytelling instinct and how it has some uncomfortable implications for science communication.

Take a read:

True Fictions

The storytelling instinct conjures illusions of consensus in science

www.reviewertoo.com

2 1 4

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 19h

What are your favorite portrayals of the origin of life in popular media?

Mine is probably this one from Star Trek: TNG, but only because it involves Q. He's so great he can overwhelm my usual distaste for primordial soup.

Earth, 3.5 Billion Years Ago

YouTube video by April 5, 2063

www.youtube.com

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

If Google Scholar could just... you know, create RSS feeds for following researchers instead of needing to use their clunky email alerts, that'd sure be swell...

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin!

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

While it still makes me nervous sometimes, I'm starting to like writing without the security blanket of a copywriter on my blog because at least it's obvious I'm not a computer. There are too many stupid typos and clunky phrases for that lol

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

I feel like I need an xkcd comic to teach me the proper terminology or something

1 3

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

Splotch is the word I didn't know I needed for describing astronomy things, thank you haha

1 5

Reposted by Elise Cutts

Artemy Kolchinsky @artemyte.bsky.social · 2d

After a long time in the making, my paper on nonequilibrium thermodynamics of Darwinian evolution has been published in Philosophical Transactions B. Updated version: arxiv.org/abs/2112.02809

3 17 56

Reposted by Elise Cutts

Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 2d

After stretching a bit last year, this year the Nobel committee was determined to give the prize to the physicsiest physics that ever physicsed.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2d

Breaking News: The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for their work in quantum mechanics.

Nobel Prize in Physics Is Awarded for Work in Quantum Physics

The prize was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis.

nyti.ms

4 20 150

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

Now I'm never going to be able to un-see this as a kind of karma for the AI Nobel lol.

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

I'm uh, just going to leave this here...

(I think this time it's a magnitude 6.2, btw)

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

Oh wow. It's even with the same 2 spots psychologist he's been co-authoring the Loeb Scale etc. papers with.

Thanks.

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

What is this about him heading an international directorate?

Reposted by Elise Cutts

Nature @nature.com · 2d

BREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis "for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit"

Stay tuned for more.

3 50 120

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 2d

"They were still in the wild and there are plenty of grizzly bears there, so he was quite worried when she let out a yell," Perlmann told Reuters.

"Fortunately, it was the Nobel Prize."

What a plot twist. 🐻🧪

www.reuters.com/world/call-w...

www.reuters.com

3 6

Reposted by Elise Cutts

Linguistic Discovery @linguisticdiscovery.com · 4d

The Tsimane language only has basic color terms for blackish, whitish, and reddish.

However, Spanish-Tsimane bilinguals are starting to rework the Tsimane color system.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/bili...

@elisecutts.bsky.social

Bilingualism Is Reworking This Language's Rainbow

The Tsimane’ language divides the rainbow into blackish, reddish and whitish. But bilingual Spanish and Tsimane’ speakers are changing that

www.scientificamerican.com

1 2 8

Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 4d

I think I could eat chicken tikka masala every day, for every meal lol. It's one of those dishes I just never get tired of. Perfection.

Reposted by Elise Cutts

Dr Delyth Badder @folklorewales.com · 4d

Six weeks ago, I picked up a year-old tawny owl with a broken leg off the main road near our home and dropped him off at our nearest vet.

After a few days, I received one of the most bizarre phone calls I’ve ever had, asking “So when are you coming to pick up your owl?” 🧵

240 2.1K 8.9K