Kathryn Weber-Boer
@kowb.bsky.social
Enjoys digging into data about science, a good principled argument, and human dignity. Super annoyed by disinformation and anything that hurts researchers or knowledge. Sometime archaeologist (I like animal bones...)
Horrifying
The EPA is starting to allow the use of pesticides containing PFAS on food.
The move is part of an effort to roll back the regulation of what are called "forever chemicals" because they don't break down easily in the environment.
November 25, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Horrifying
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
How are people establishing and dealing with different attitudes to LLMs with their collaborators and co-authors?
Two colleagues have told me they now have an explicit conversation at the beginning of every new project to establish a clear agreement on what is/not acceptable to all partners.
Two colleagues have told me they now have an explicit conversation at the beginning of every new project to establish a clear agreement on what is/not acceptable to all partners.
Look, LLM use in academia isn't just students. You need to be speaking clearly with your collaborators about your writing standards from the beginning. Make people say out loud that they don't write their own articles anymore.
November 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM
How are people establishing and dealing with different attitudes to LLMs with their collaborators and co-authors?
Two colleagues have told me they now have an explicit conversation at the beginning of every new project to establish a clear agreement on what is/not acceptable to all partners.
Two colleagues have told me they now have an explicit conversation at the beginning of every new project to establish a clear agreement on what is/not acceptable to all partners.
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
📣 A keynote not to be missed: "Crimeless Whispers: The Forensics of Deceit in Modern Science," by our VP of #ResearchIntegrity & Security, Dr Leslie McIntosh.
🗓️ Wednesday 26 November 2025
📍 Leicester, UK - or attend virtually
🔗 More details: https://ow.ly/mkaQ50Xxqcx
🗓️ Wednesday 26 November 2025
📍 Leicester, UK - or attend virtually
🔗 More details: https://ow.ly/mkaQ50Xxqcx
November 25, 2025 at 12:46 PM
📣 A keynote not to be missed: "Crimeless Whispers: The Forensics of Deceit in Modern Science," by our VP of #ResearchIntegrity & Security, Dr Leslie McIntosh.
🗓️ Wednesday 26 November 2025
📍 Leicester, UK - or attend virtually
🔗 More details: https://ow.ly/mkaQ50Xxqcx
🗓️ Wednesday 26 November 2025
📍 Leicester, UK - or attend virtually
🔗 More details: https://ow.ly/mkaQ50Xxqcx
Every time I'm at the airport this month, I'm reminded how much I hate Brexit. Also because it pushes the train into no advantage. Ugh.
November 25, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Every time I'm at the airport this month, I'm reminded how much I hate Brexit. Also because it pushes the train into no advantage. Ugh.
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
I interviewed 108 ML researchers. They had a lot to say about this!
Lessons learned from machine learning researchers about the terms “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning.”
compstudiesjournal.com/wp-content/u...
Lessons learned from machine learning researchers about the terms “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning.”
compstudiesjournal.com/wp-content/u...
compstudiesjournal.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
We tried to tell y'all to stop calling everything "AI" many years ago and you just wouldn't listen and now the poor machine learners must also suffer alongside the statisticians 😜
so I can explain this: it's not generative AI: it's usually deep learning models trained on meteorology tasks and it can be quite effective
I know It would only annoy me, but if you are using weather balloons for data, where does the AI come in?
Because it sounds like they’re just doing meteorology and complicating it with AI.
Because it sounds like they’re just doing meteorology and complicating it with AI.
October 24, 2025 at 4:23 PM
We tried to tell y'all to stop calling everything "AI" many years ago and you just wouldn't listen and now the poor machine learners must also suffer alongside the statisticians 😜
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
Warning for North Carolina: Scams are increasing, and the confusion is being made worse by ICE agents failing to properly identify themselves and wearing masks. As a result, residents are becoming targets of immigration fraud.
November 23, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Warning for North Carolina: Scams are increasing, and the confusion is being made worse by ICE agents failing to properly identify themselves and wearing masks. As a result, residents are becoming targets of immigration fraud.
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
I have found so many MDPI papers from the same authors that seem to include near carbon copies of data from their other papers that are in other journals, sometimes MDPI!
November 22, 2025 at 1:38 PM
I have found so many MDPI papers from the same authors that seem to include near carbon copies of data from their other papers that are in other journals, sometimes MDPI!
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
November 18, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
if anyone remembers anything from the biden experience, it should be that electing blue no matter who isn't going to be enough to cut it in the fight against fascism. you need politicians suited for this moment. primarying them all is the most straightforward way to send that message
Primary Every Democrat
It’s exhausting to watch poll-tested, donor-beholden congressional Democrats continue to be too old, too cloistered, and too bumbling to do anything as the government burns.
newrepublic.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:55 PM
if anyone remembers anything from the biden experience, it should be that electing blue no matter who isn't going to be enough to cut it in the fight against fascism. you need politicians suited for this moment. primarying them all is the most straightforward way to send that message
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
MoveOn, Indivisible, Our Revolution, and 6 Democrats have called on Chuck Schumer to step aside as leader.
So we asked all 40 Democratic senators who didn’t cave to Republicans if they still think Schumer is the right leader.
Here's what they said.
@andrewperez.bsky.social @swin24.bsky.social
So we asked all 40 Democratic senators who didn’t cave to Republicans if they still think Schumer is the right leader.
Here's what they said.
@andrewperez.bsky.social @swin24.bsky.social
Furious Liberals Call for Schumer to Step Aside, Senate Dems Mostly Quiet
After their shutdown surrender, liberal lawmakers are begging their base to unite behind them anyway – as Trumpland celebrates that their opposition is a bunch of 'p*ssies.'
zeteo.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:00 AM
MoveOn, Indivisible, Our Revolution, and 6 Democrats have called on Chuck Schumer to step aside as leader.
So we asked all 40 Democratic senators who didn’t cave to Republicans if they still think Schumer is the right leader.
Here's what they said.
@andrewperez.bsky.social @swin24.bsky.social
So we asked all 40 Democratic senators who didn’t cave to Republicans if they still think Schumer is the right leader.
Here's what they said.
@andrewperez.bsky.social @swin24.bsky.social
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
BREAKING: At Pope Leo XIV’s urging, U.S. Catholic bishops just delivered the strongest rebuke of a sitting president in Church history — condemning Trump-Vance raids as “inhumane” and “dehumanizing” in a 216–5 vote.
NEW: At Pope Leo’s Urging, Bishops Issue Historic Rebuke of Trump’s Raids
Nearly all U.S. Catholic bishops united in Baltimore to denounce the Trump administration’s “inhumane” deportation campaign — a near-unanimous, unprecedented moral stand against a sitting president.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:21 AM
BREAKING: At Pope Leo XIV’s urging, U.S. Catholic bishops just delivered the strongest rebuke of a sitting president in Church history — condemning Trump-Vance raids as “inhumane” and “dehumanizing” in a 216–5 vote.
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
A staggering statistic: "North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year." What are we doing?
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
a 🧵 1/n
Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
November 12, 2025 at 1:58 PM
A staggering statistic: "North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year." What are we doing?
I am *so* protected 😅
Study of 86,000 participants across 27 European counties suggests that speaking multiple languages may halve the risk of accelerated brain ageing and help protect against cognitive decline.
Want a younger brain? Learn another language
A vast study suggests that being multilingual can slow down cognitive ageing.
www.nature.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:17 PM
I am *so* protected 😅
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
Still my favourite "What is GIS" video explainer. 60 seconds long, great animation and interesting narrative. Perfect as a class starter or refresher #geographyteacher #GIS
November 11, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Still my favourite "What is GIS" video explainer. 60 seconds long, great animation and interesting narrative. Perfect as a class starter or refresher #geographyteacher #GIS
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
Haha yesss. Japanese copyright law doesn't fuck around.
Since I get challenged on this a lot: U.S. and Japan are both Berne Convention signatories, meaning the copyright is recognized between countries. They CAN go after American companies. And they are. And I love it.
variety.com/2025/digital...
Since I get challenged on this a lot: U.S. and Japan are both Berne Convention signatories, meaning the copyright is recognized between countries. They CAN go after American companies. And they are. And I love it.
variety.com/2025/digital...
Trade Group Representing Studio Ghibli, Other Japanese Companies Tells OpenAI to Stop Using Their Content to Train Sora 2 Video Generator
Japanese content trade group CODA, whose members include Studio Ghibli, issued a letter to OpenAI demanding the AI company stop using their content to train Sora 2.
variety.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Haha yesss. Japanese copyright law doesn't fuck around.
Since I get challenged on this a lot: U.S. and Japan are both Berne Convention signatories, meaning the copyright is recognized between countries. They CAN go after American companies. And they are. And I love it.
variety.com/2025/digital...
Since I get challenged on this a lot: U.S. and Japan are both Berne Convention signatories, meaning the copyright is recognized between countries. They CAN go after American companies. And they are. And I love it.
variety.com/2025/digital...
In "why I don't buy in-house estimates of energy expenditure". It's like trusting tobacco companies to report on lung cancer.
Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres’ full water use secret, leaked document shows
Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres’ full water use secret, leaked document shows
Executives at world’s biggest datacenter owner grappled with disclosing information about water used to help power facilities
Amazon strategised about keeping the public in the dark over the true extent of its datacentres’ water use, a leaked internal document reveals.
The biggest owner of datacentres in the world, Amazon dwarfs competitors Microsoft and Google and is planning a huge increase in capacity as part of a push into artificial intelligence. The Seattle firm operates hundreds of active facilities, with many more in development despite concerns over how much water is being used to cool their vast arrays of circuitry. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 25, 2025 at 11:48 AM
In "why I don't buy in-house estimates of energy expenditure". It's like trusting tobacco companies to report on lung cancer.
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
I recently reflected on the Royal Society Conference on the Future of Scientific Publishing and summarized my thoughts in an ISSP blog post: www.uottawa.ca/research-inn...
#OpenAccess #ScientificPublishing #AcademicSky
#OpenAccess #ScientificPublishing #AcademicSky
Why the Economics of Scientific Publishing Need Urgent Reform | Research and innovation
www.uottawa.ca
October 22, 2025 at 7:57 PM
I recently reflected on the Royal Society Conference on the Future of Scientific Publishing and summarized my thoughts in an ISSP blog post: www.uottawa.ca/research-inn...
#OpenAccess #ScientificPublishing #AcademicSky
#OpenAccess #ScientificPublishing #AcademicSky
I did say that! 😁
Kathryn Weber-Boer @kowb.bsky.social:
“It shows how varied the quality of discussion around research can be, and how important it is to dig into the details when studying public attention to science.”
6/8
“It shows how varied the quality of discussion around research can be, and how important it is to dig into the details when studying public attention to science.”
6/8
October 22, 2025 at 3:04 PM
I did say that! 😁
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
Altmetric data in action: A new public dashboard highlights misinformation in #SocialMedia about #COVID19 & scientific research.
Using @altmetric.com data for 400 million+ X/Twitter posts, the UnMiSSeD dashboard has assigned a “misinformation score” to various elements in the X posts.
1/8
Using @altmetric.com data for 400 million+ X/Twitter posts, the UnMiSSeD dashboard has assigned a “misinformation score” to various elements in the X posts.
1/8
October 22, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Altmetric data in action: A new public dashboard highlights misinformation in #SocialMedia about #COVID19 & scientific research.
Using @altmetric.com data for 400 million+ X/Twitter posts, the UnMiSSeD dashboard has assigned a “misinformation score” to various elements in the X posts.
1/8
Using @altmetric.com data for 400 million+ X/Twitter posts, the UnMiSSeD dashboard has assigned a “misinformation score” to various elements in the X posts.
1/8
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
PODCASTS
Altmetric now tracks podcasts mentioning research
In 2018 there were roughly 500,000 podcasts in existence. Just 3 years later that number was 2 million. Today it's around 4 million.
Amid all the Squarespace ads there's citations to research.
Let's go
1/7
Altmetric now tracks podcasts mentioning research
In 2018 there were roughly 500,000 podcasts in existence. Just 3 years later that number was 2 million. Today it's around 4 million.
Amid all the Squarespace ads there's citations to research.
Let's go
1/7
October 15, 2025 at 9:36 AM
PODCASTS
Altmetric now tracks podcasts mentioning research
In 2018 there were roughly 500,000 podcasts in existence. Just 3 years later that number was 2 million. Today it's around 4 million.
Amid all the Squarespace ads there's citations to research.
Let's go
1/7
Altmetric now tracks podcasts mentioning research
In 2018 there were roughly 500,000 podcasts in existence. Just 3 years later that number was 2 million. Today it's around 4 million.
Amid all the Squarespace ads there's citations to research.
Let's go
1/7
Reposted by Kathryn Weber-Boer
It's good to see the @altmetric.com Podcast tracking working well. I just searched for a podcast I hosted & recorded with my ex-Sheffield colleague Diana Papaioannou on a paper she lead on recording harms in randomised controlled trials, and hey presto! It's in the🍩
bmj.altmetric.com/details/1688...
bmj.altmetric.com/details/1688...
Report for: Recommendations on recording harms in randomised controlled trials of behaviour change interventions
In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
bmj.altmetric.com
October 15, 2025 at 4:11 PM
It's good to see the @altmetric.com Podcast tracking working well. I just searched for a podcast I hosted & recorded with my ex-Sheffield colleague Diana Papaioannou on a paper she lead on recording harms in randomised controlled trials, and hey presto! It's in the🍩
bmj.altmetric.com/details/1688...
bmj.altmetric.com/details/1688...
So basically this is how the rest of the world figures out the visceral reaction data scientists have to "garbage in/garbage out"
"even if it's AI, it's at least true" hard to overstate the damage this stuff is doing to people's brains. we're gonna be cleaning the slop out of archives for decades
October 11, 2025 at 2:04 PM
So basically this is how the rest of the world figures out the visceral reaction data scientists have to "garbage in/garbage out"