Laura Helmuth
@laurahelmuth.bsky.social
Freelance writer, editor, columnist & consultant. Formerly at Scientific American, Washington Post, National Geographic, Slate, Smithsonian & Science. Past president of National Association of Science Writers. Birder.
Sorry to get all earnest for a minute, but here are some ideas about how to say thank you more often and more meaningfully. lastwordonnothing.com/2025/11/24/h...
The Last Word On Nothing | How to Say Thank You
lastwordonnothing.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Sorry to get all earnest for a minute, but here are some ideas about how to say thank you more often and more meaningfully. lastwordonnothing.com/2025/11/24/h...
Reposted by Laura Helmuth
America putting most of its eggs in the generative AI basket, China going hard into green tech. When history looks back on this period, someone is going to look awfully stupid.
November 22, 2025 at 7:18 PM
America putting most of its eggs in the generative AI basket, China going hard into green tech. When history looks back on this period, someone is going to look awfully stupid.
Smart analysis of rising heat in football stadiums.
One of the biggest challenges for anybody who covers climate change is finding fresh stories that can get people in denial to pay attention. insideclimatenews.org/news/1611202...
One of the biggest challenges for anybody who covers climate change is finding fresh stories that can get people in denial to pay attention. insideclimatenews.org/news/1611202...
Scorching Saturdays: The Rising Heat Threat Inside Football Stadiums - Inside Climate News
Excessive heat and more frequent medical incidents in Southern college football stadiums could be a warning sign for universities across the country.
insideclimatenews.org
November 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Smart analysis of rising heat in football stadiums.
One of the biggest challenges for anybody who covers climate change is finding fresh stories that can get people in denial to pay attention. insideclimatenews.org/news/1611202...
One of the biggest challenges for anybody who covers climate change is finding fresh stories that can get people in denial to pay attention. insideclimatenews.org/news/1611202...
Reposted by Laura Helmuth
i know we've all laughed about the worm and the affair but this is a profoundly dangerous person who should be expelled from the government.
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 7:43 PM
i know we've all laughed about the worm and the affair but this is a profoundly dangerous person who should be expelled from the government.
It's somehow comforting that most tech problems can still be solved by turning it off and on again
November 21, 2025 at 10:54 PM
It's somehow comforting that most tech problems can still be solved by turning it off and on again
Yes, sure, the U.S. should use the metric system...but not for climate reporting! Warnings about the dangers of "2 degrees" (meaning C) sound much less ominous than 4 degrees F.
There's a big problem with the "two degrees" of warming message in the climate conversation. I wrote about it for @slate.com:
slate.com/technology/2...
slate.com/technology/2...
Americans Don’t Take Climate Change Seriously. Might I Suggest One Simple Fix?
It's time to retire the old catchphrase.
slate.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Yes, sure, the U.S. should use the metric system...but not for climate reporting! Warnings about the dangers of "2 degrees" (meaning C) sound much less ominous than 4 degrees F.
I hope Jeff Bezos reads the paper he bought and is trying to destroy. This survey shows that people think billionaires are bad for society, skew elections, and are greedy & selfish & hoard wealth
Hey, another Post byline from your girl! This was a fun project.
We asked 2,500 Americans how they really feel about billionaires
Campaign donations from the country’s richest are soaring. But only 12 percent of respondents say billionaires have a positive impact on society.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:21 PM
I hope Jeff Bezos reads the paper he bought and is trying to destroy. This survey shows that people think billionaires are bad for society, skew elections, and are greedy & selfish & hoard wealth
The most important thing an editor does is invisible: good editors stop bad things* from happening.
*fraud and rushed-reporting mistakes
*embarrassing memoirs
*AI slop (although even good editors can get fooled)
*biased language or assumptions (ableism, racism, sexism)
*so much more
*fraud and rushed-reporting mistakes
*embarrassing memoirs
*AI slop (although even good editors can get fooled)
*biased language or assumptions (ableism, racism, sexism)
*so much more
November 21, 2025 at 3:01 PM
The most important thing an editor does is invisible: good editors stop bad things* from happening.
*fraud and rushed-reporting mistakes
*embarrassing memoirs
*AI slop (although even good editors can get fooled)
*biased language or assumptions (ableism, racism, sexism)
*so much more
*fraud and rushed-reporting mistakes
*embarrassing memoirs
*AI slop (although even good editors can get fooled)
*biased language or assumptions (ableism, racism, sexism)
*so much more
For @slate.com Plus: A new hire drank too much at their first work party and is ashamed and anxious about the upcoming holiday party. My advice: Forgive yourself, and do not go to the party full of shame and anxiety, because shame and anxiety would love another drink, please, and make it a double
My First Work Party at My New Job Couldn’t Have Gone Worse. I’m Worried About My Lingering Reputation.
Everyone will be watching me at the holiday party.
slate.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:19 PM
For @slate.com Plus: A new hire drank too much at their first work party and is ashamed and anxious about the upcoming holiday party. My advice: Forgive yourself, and do not go to the party full of shame and anxiety, because shame and anxiety would love another drink, please, and make it a double
Thanks to staff of the Harvard Crimson for demonstrating the importance of local, community journalism (and for running a wiser, more informative, and more righteous editorial department than the Washington Post's). www.thecrimson.com/thread/2025/...
Amid Epstein Fallout, Summers Retreats | News | The Harvard Crimson
www.thecrimson.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Thanks to staff of the Harvard Crimson for demonstrating the importance of local, community journalism (and for running a wiser, more informative, and more righteous editorial department than the Washington Post's). www.thecrimson.com/thread/2025/...
Few things are more frustrating at work than a boss who plays "guess what I'm thinking." In the second question in my advice column, someone gets vague assignments & critical, vague feedback. Here's what they can try (while looking for another job): slate.com/advice/2025/... on @slate.com
Every Year, I’ve Donated a Major Prize for My Company’s Holiday Raffle. That Stops Now.
I don’t even want to show up after what my former colleagues did.
slate.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Few things are more frustrating at work than a boss who plays "guess what I'm thinking." In the second question in my advice column, someone gets vague assignments & critical, vague feedback. Here's what they can try (while looking for another job): slate.com/advice/2025/... on @slate.com
Reposted by Laura Helmuth
Could argue the misogyny Summers expressed both publicly while president of Harvard and in emails to Epstein says more about the culture at our most elite institutions than any of the frontpage freakouts over academia in the past few years but hey
November 17, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Could argue the misogyny Summers expressed both publicly while president of Harvard and in emails to Epstein says more about the culture at our most elite institutions than any of the frontpage freakouts over academia in the past few years but hey
The absolute misogynistic delusion of claiming women don't succeed in academia because they aren't that smart is bad enough, but Larry Summers was also asking Epstein for advice on harassing a woman under the guise of mentorship. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
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 Jef...
www.thecrimson.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:26 PM
The absolute misogynistic delusion of claiming women don't succeed in academia because they aren't that smart is bad enough, but Larry Summers was also asking Epstein for advice on harassing a woman under the guise of mentorship. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
A friend came up with a nice metaphor for a message you would have replied to but somehow missed: "It disappeared over the event horizon of my inbox."
November 17, 2025 at 2:14 PM
A friend came up with a nice metaphor for a message you would have replied to but somehow missed: "It disappeared over the event horizon of my inbox."
Reposted by Laura Helmuth
There is a Nuremberg, PA, and if we start building infrastructure now...
"Nuremberg defendants were surprisingly normal, opportunists who, as he put it in a 1946 lecture, 'exist in every country of the world, who would willingly climb over the corpses of half of the … public if they could gain control of the other half.'”
What's real & not in the new Nuremberg movie:
What's real & not in the new Nuremberg movie:
The Psychiatrist Who Studied Nazi Officials After the War Found Something Shocking. It Didn’t Earn Him Any Fans.
Understanding the minds of monsters is no easy task.
slate.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM
There is a Nuremberg, PA, and if we start building infrastructure now...
Nuzzi's fawning coverage of the sociopathic conspiracy crank she was having an affair with aided his rise to political power, which he is using to perpetrate the worst intentional public health catastrophe of our unnecessarily shortened lifetimes, and THAT is the STORY.
November 15, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Nuzzi's fawning coverage of the sociopathic conspiracy crank she was having an affair with aided his rise to political power, which he is using to perpetrate the worst intentional public health catastrophe of our unnecessarily shortened lifetimes, and THAT is the STORY.
"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 3:58 PM
"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.
We get a lot of letters to the @slate.com work advice column about colleagues who like to stage drama. It’s hard to know what motivates them. Is life so dull? What are they so angry about? slate.com/advice/2025/...
When My Best Friend Told Me She Was Applying to My Company, I Secretly Hoped She Wouldn’t Get It. Now My Worst Fears Have Come True.
I suspected this would happen.
slate.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:28 PM
We get a lot of letters to the @slate.com work advice column about colleagues who like to stage drama. It’s hard to know what motivates them. Is life so dull? What are they so angry about? slate.com/advice/2025/...
Metaphor of the day
Big short guy shutting down shop, putting plywood on the windows while the rest of wall street is caught up in building condos on sandbars right next to Hurricane AI.
#AIPop
The pop is inevitable but what could be the precipitating event? Whatever it is, Burry smells it. It smells like shit.
#AIPop
The pop is inevitable but what could be the precipitating event? Whatever it is, Burry smells it. It smells like shit.
November 14, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Metaphor of the day
"Nuremberg defendants were surprisingly normal, opportunists who, as he put it in a 1946 lecture, 'exist in every country of the world, who would willingly climb over the corpses of half of the … public if they could gain control of the other half.'”
What's real & not in the new Nuremberg movie:
What's real & not in the new Nuremberg movie:
The Psychiatrist Who Studied Nazi Officials After the War Found Something Shocking. It Didn’t Earn Him Any Fans.
Understanding the minds of monsters is no easy task.
slate.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:55 PM
"Nuremberg defendants were surprisingly normal, opportunists who, as he put it in a 1946 lecture, 'exist in every country of the world, who would willingly climb over the corpses of half of the … public if they could gain control of the other half.'”
What's real & not in the new Nuremberg movie:
What's real & not in the new Nuremberg movie:
This is an insightful discussion about using LLM AI for science communication (please don't). Among the *many* problems, it can't distinguish correlation from causation. By @em-underwood.bsky.social with Abigail Eisenstadt
The Last Word On Nothing | Why AAAS won’t be using AI to write press releases anytime soon
www.lastwordonnothing.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This is an insightful discussion about using LLM AI for science communication (please don't). Among the *many* problems, it can't distinguish correlation from causation. By @em-underwood.bsky.social with Abigail Eisenstadt
Sometimes the best advice is to Get Out. Get out of that job, get out of that friendship, get out of that work relationship. slate.com/advice/2025/...
When My Best Friend Told Me She Was Applying to My Company, I Secretly Hoped She Wouldn’t Get It. Now My Worst Fears Have Come True.
I suspected this would happen.
slate.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Sometimes the best advice is to Get Out. Get out of that job, get out of that friendship, get out of that work relationship. slate.com/advice/2025/...
Reposted by Laura Helmuth
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
November 12, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Today is a good day to remember, and to say, that the #MeToo movement was right, and was righteous, and has been vindicated over and over again. There was no overreach. There was no excess. There was no they-went-too-far.
So much work remains to be done.
So much work remains to be done.
Trump is engaging in human sacrifice like any death-cult dictator in history knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
November 12, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Trump is engaging in human sacrifice like any death-cult dictator in history knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
Tucker Carlson just keeps getting worse. Now he's bought into the chemtrails conspiracy, which is (among every other problem with it) a climate-denial ploy slate.com/news-and-pol... by @mollyolmstead.bsky.social on @slate.com
Tucker Carlson’s Latest Conspiracy Theory Takes Things to a Whole New Level
The former Fox News host’s chemtrails era is upon us.
slate.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Tucker Carlson just keeps getting worse. Now he's bought into the chemtrails conspiracy, which is (among every other problem with it) a climate-denial ploy slate.com/news-and-pol... by @mollyolmstead.bsky.social on @slate.com