John Timmer
@jtimmer.bsky.social
Ars Technica's science editor. Various other things that are far less interesting.
Check my author profile on Ars for my email. jtimmer.95 on Signal.
Check my author profile on Ars for my email. jtimmer.95 on Signal.
Having looked through the Genesis Mission launch materials (a US gov program to apply AI in the sciences), this has the feel of Google adding AI to the search. It's being done without understanding whether the people who would purportedly be its users want or would benefit from it.
November 25, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Having looked through the Genesis Mission launch materials (a US gov program to apply AI in the sciences), this has the feel of Google adding AI to the search. It's being done without understanding whether the people who would purportedly be its users want or would benefit from it.
Reposted by John Timmer
Journalism is not simply regurgitating facts. It is *certainly* not simply repeating what someone else said -- even if that person is famous. Rather, journalism should offer the reader a service. It should not only share information, but place that information in context.
November 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Journalism is not simply regurgitating facts. It is *certainly* not simply repeating what someone else said -- even if that person is famous. Rather, journalism should offer the reader a service. It should not only share information, but place that information in context.
Despite LinkedIn's repeated assertions, I rarely feel like I'm on a roll.
November 25, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Despite LinkedIn's repeated assertions, I rarely feel like I'm on a roll.
Just typoed "outre Solar System" instead of outer and, while it doesn't work for this story in particular, it does work in general.
November 24, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Just typoed "outre Solar System" instead of outer and, while it doesn't work for this story in particular, it does work in general.
Regardless of how you feel about the politicization of scientific issues, the environment we're in makes it hard to escape. Scientists certainly didn't choose this fight, but it's happening and they should be prepared to act accordingly.
Republicans increasingly oppose requiring healthy kids to get MMR vaccines to attend public schools
2016 19%
2019 20%
2023 42%
2025 47%
www.pewresearch.org/science/2025... 🧪
2016 19%
2019 20%
2023 42%
2025 47%
www.pewresearch.org/science/2025... 🧪
November 24, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Regardless of how you feel about the politicization of scientific issues, the environment we're in makes it hard to escape. Scientists certainly didn't choose this fight, but it's happening and they should be prepared to act accordingly.
We had a whole bunch of politicians in advance of the No Kings rally claiming they were going to be "hate America" and "pro-Hamas". Obviously didn't happen. Maybe I missed it, but were any of them asked on camera how they got things so badly wrong?
If not, why not?
If not, why not?
November 24, 2025 at 2:11 PM
We had a whole bunch of politicians in advance of the No Kings rally claiming they were going to be "hate America" and "pro-Hamas". Obviously didn't happen. Maybe I missed it, but were any of them asked on camera how they got things so badly wrong?
If not, why not?
If not, why not?
I was searching for a video of one of my favorite scenes in Buckaroo Banzail, and Google's AI decided to get all sorts of hurt about my tone.
November 24, 2025 at 3:16 AM
I was searching for a video of one of my favorite scenes in Buckaroo Banzail, and Google's AI decided to get all sorts of hurt about my tone.
I'd just like to point out that, when it's suggested that groups like coal miners move to areas with more/better job opportunities, the MAGA crowd has a conniption.
Bessent: "You know the best way to bring your inflation rate down? Move from a blue state to a red state. Blue state inflation is half a percent higher."
November 23, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I'd just like to point out that, when it's suggested that groups like coal miners move to areas with more/better job opportunities, the MAGA crowd has a conniption.
One interesting thing to me about this Politico piece is that there's two phrasings. Most are "Person X declined to comment for this piece." But on occasion, you get "Person X declined to comment on their role in event Y". I can't tell whether that difference is...
Inside the DOGE Succession Drama Elon Musk Left Behind
What really happened when he logged out of Washington.
www.politico.com
November 23, 2025 at 3:37 AM
One interesting thing to me about this Politico piece is that there's two phrasings. Most are "Person X declined to comment for this piece." But on occasion, you get "Person X declined to comment on their role in event Y". I can't tell whether that difference is...
Reposted by John Timmer
With all my heart, fuck this guy.
November 20, 2025 at 9:32 PM
With all my heart, fuck this guy.
Some of the reader feedback we get is, shall we say, less than helpful.
November 22, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Some of the reader feedback we get is, shall we say, less than helpful.
This is what all the firings and resignations at the CDC were meant to accomplish: clear the way for RFK to push unsubstantiated beliefs into the agency's public statements.
Kennedy Says He Told C.D.C. to Change Website’s Language on Autism and Vaccines
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:50 PM
This is what all the firings and resignations at the CDC were meant to accomplish: clear the way for RFK to push unsubstantiated beliefs into the agency's public statements.
Very much this. Science advocates need to recognize that it has become politically advantageous for one party to undercut trust in science, to the extent that they're willing to put their own voters' lives at risk to do so.
You're not rebuilding trust; you're overcoming propaganda.
You're not rebuilding trust; you're overcoming propaganda.
I really hate it when scientists keep saying that “we need to rebuild trust in science,” because it implies that scientists are to blame for the mistrust rather than the millions of dollars of dark money that have funded political attacks on science in order to advance a far right agenda.
November 19, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Very much this. Science advocates need to recognize that it has become politically advantageous for one party to undercut trust in science, to the extent that they're willing to put their own voters' lives at risk to do so.
You're not rebuilding trust; you're overcoming propaganda.
You're not rebuilding trust; you're overcoming propaganda.
It's "make the fucking leaf blowers stop already" season here.
November 19, 2025 at 3:01 PM
It's "make the fucking leaf blowers stop already" season here.
Thinking once again about how anybody who's acting surprised by anything that Trump's done since retaking office either didn't watch the debate he had with Harris, or is willfully forgetting it.
November 18, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Thinking once again about how anybody who's acting surprised by anything that Trump's done since retaking office either didn't watch the debate he had with Harris, or is willfully forgetting it.
Reposted by John Timmer
as a reporter, the part of this that i’ve simply never understood is how the next person to ask a question when he does something like this doesn’t simply repeat the question that set him off. it’s not just solidarity with your colleague, it’s an important question that remains worth asking
I’m not going to pretend it’s easy to say something in the moment when you witness the president do this and you’re aboard Air Force One with all the uniformed officers and secret service and fancy wood accents, but this is really an instance where you should. people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:10 AM
as a reporter, the part of this that i’ve simply never understood is how the next person to ask a question when he does something like this doesn’t simply repeat the question that set him off. it’s not just solidarity with your colleague, it’s an important question that remains worth asking
Reposted by John Timmer
Here is Summers literally saying that his "best shot" at sleeping with a younger colleague is to leverage his status as an influential figure in the field. These people know exactly what they are doing.
November 17, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Here is Summers literally saying that his "best shot" at sleeping with a younger colleague is to leverage his status as an influential figure in the field. These people know exactly what they are doing.
If only the media that these people will be graduating into was willing to be this blunt about facts.
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: Jeffrey E. Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender…
www.thecrimson.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:37 PM
If only the media that these people will be graduating into was willing to be this blunt about facts.
The thing that strikes me as odd about Tom Nichols policing the use of the F word is that, as far as I can tell, fascist governance wasn't his area of expertise, and he wrote an entire book about how it's a problem we don't defer to experts anymore.
November 16, 2025 at 5:53 PM
The thing that strikes me as odd about Tom Nichols policing the use of the F word is that, as far as I can tell, fascist governance wasn't his area of expertise, and he wrote an entire book about how it's a problem we don't defer to experts anymore.
Someone had to have assigned this story. Unreal editorial decision.
November 16, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Someone had to have assigned this story. Unreal editorial decision.
Reposted by John Timmer
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
There should be a term for the feeling of uncertainty you get as you stand naked next to an unfamiliar shower and wonder whether the hot water is still making its way through the pipes, or if you've badly misinterpreted the controls.
November 14, 2025 at 6:01 PM
There should be a term for the feeling of uncertainty you get as you stand naked next to an unfamiliar shower and wonder whether the hot water is still making its way through the pipes, or if you've badly misinterpreted the controls.
Reposted by John Timmer
People fail to grasp that the Republican response to climate change worked so well it has been adopted for pretty much everything else now.
When I call MAGA/GOP post-truth, this is what I mean. It’s hard for people who value truth to fully grasp.
“But don’t they care about underlying facts? Don’t they worry it’ll come out?”
No, they really don’t. They reject that factual reality matters. Words are just things you say to get something.
“But don’t they care about underlying facts? Don’t they worry it’ll come out?”
No, they really don’t. They reject that factual reality matters. Words are just things you say to get something.
November 12, 2025 at 6:03 PM
People fail to grasp that the Republican response to climate change worked so well it has been adopted for pretty much everything else now.
Taking time out from a vacation day to handle one of my essential work functions.
November 11, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Taking time out from a vacation day to handle one of my essential work functions.