Michael Greshko
@michaelgreshko.bsky.social
Associate online news editor @Science. Freelance contributor to NYT, SciAm, WaPo, etc., and author of the Deviations newsletter. Former staff writer at National Geographic. Signal: mgreshko.01 https://linktr.ee/michaelgreshko
🧪 ✏️ Apply for the 2026 Diverse Voices in Science Journalism Internship with @science.org! 🧪 ✏️
This could be for you if you're a student from a community historically underrepresented in #journalism who's interested in in covering science for general audiences: recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...
This could be for you if you're a student from a community historically underrepresented in #journalism who's interested in in covering science for general audiences: recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...
recruiting.ultipro.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
🧪 ✏️ Apply for the 2026 Diverse Voices in Science Journalism Internship with @science.org! 🧪 ✏️
This could be for you if you're a student from a community historically underrepresented in #journalism who's interested in in covering science for general audiences: recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...
This could be for you if you're a student from a community historically underrepresented in #journalism who's interested in in covering science for general audiences: recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...
Reposted by Michael Greshko
EXCLUSIVE: CDC to end all monkey studies. Decision handed down by recent college grad and former DOGE employee who is now deputy chief of staff at the agency. Animals were being used in studies of HIV prevention. Some may be euthanized. My latest for @science.org
Exclusive: CDC to end all monkey research
Studies related to HIV and other infectious diseases will be phased out, sources say; fate of the agency's animals remains unclear
www.science.org
November 21, 2025 at 2:16 PM
EXCLUSIVE: CDC to end all monkey studies. Decision handed down by recent college grad and former DOGE employee who is now deputy chief of staff at the agency. Animals were being used in studies of HIV prevention. Some may be euthanized. My latest for @science.org
Jeffrey Epstein funded and hobnobbed with elite scientists, and he fancied himself an inquiring scientific mind. These are two pieces of his "radical breakthrough":
- "nose test. telepathy."
- "music [...] can it be looked at to reengineer the brain. harmony FFT. symphonic learning."
- "nose test. telepathy."
- "music [...] can it be looked at to reengineer the brain. harmony FFT. symphonic learning."
🧪🧵 In the Epstein documents released today, there's a "radical breakthrough" email Epstein sent himself in 2018, containing musings such as the idea that beards "are meant to catch and hold smells."
Then he replied to himself with an unusual list of people including Donald Trump ("donalad trup").
Then he replied to himself with an unusual list of people including Donald Trump ("donalad trup").
November 13, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Jeffrey Epstein funded and hobnobbed with elite scientists, and he fancied himself an inquiring scientific mind. These are two pieces of his "radical breakthrough":
- "nose test. telepathy."
- "music [...] can it be looked at to reengineer the brain. harmony FFT. symphonic learning."
- "nose test. telepathy."
- "music [...] can it be looked at to reengineer the brain. harmony FFT. symphonic learning."
🧪🧵 In the Epstein documents released today, there's a "radical breakthrough" email Epstein sent himself in 2018, containing musings such as the idea that beards "are meant to catch and hold smells."
Then he replied to himself with an unusual list of people including Donald Trump ("donalad trup").
Then he replied to himself with an unusual list of people including Donald Trump ("donalad trup").
November 13, 2025 at 3:00 AM
🧪🧵 In the Epstein documents released today, there's a "radical breakthrough" email Epstein sent himself in 2018, containing musings such as the idea that beards "are meant to catch and hold smells."
Then he replied to himself with an unusual list of people including Donald Trump ("donalad trup").
Then he replied to himself with an unusual list of people including Donald Trump ("donalad trup").
Reposted by Michael Greshko
McGraths Flat is an incredible fossil site in New South Wales that reveals Australia’s rich tropical past.
In a new study, scientists discover what caused the area’s exceptional fossilization—and where similar fossil sites might be unearthed.
#Paleontology #Lagerstatte
🧪🏺
New for @science.org
In a new study, scientists discover what caused the area’s exceptional fossilization—and where similar fossil sites might be unearthed.
#Paleontology #Lagerstatte
🧪🏺
New for @science.org
Australia’s red rocks hold mysteriously detailed fossils. We finally know how they formed
Chemical analysis could help predict locations of other ancient sites with impeccable fossils
www.science.org
November 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM
McGraths Flat is an incredible fossil site in New South Wales that reveals Australia’s rich tropical past.
In a new study, scientists discover what caused the area’s exceptional fossilization—and where similar fossil sites might be unearthed.
#Paleontology #Lagerstatte
🧪🏺
New for @science.org
In a new study, scientists discover what caused the area’s exceptional fossilization—and where similar fossil sites might be unearthed.
#Paleontology #Lagerstatte
🧪🏺
New for @science.org
Thank you @spinfocl.bsky.social for the kind words about my research on the Voynich Manuscript, which I’m pleased to announce has been accepted for publication in Cryptologia following peer review. Read more about my work and the previous research that motivated it in Hermes’s blog post:
Das hat Zeit gekostet, aber ich denke, gewichtige Neuigkeiten müssen auch adäquat behandelt werden: "#Voynich Manuskript: Frische Fährte in den Kaninchenbau" texperimentales.hypotheses.org/5898 #VoynichMS feat. @michaelgreshko.bsky.social
Voynich Manuskript: Frische Fährte in den Kaninchenbau
Ist das Voynich-Manuskript endlich gelöst, so wie das in den letzten Jahren immer mal wieder verkündet wurde? Wenn das so ist, weiß ich davon nichts. Was ich aber weiß, ist, dass der US-amerikanische Wissenschaftsautor Michael Greshko auf der Voynich Manuskript Day 2025 Conference einen Ansatz zur Entstehung des Textes vorgestellt hat, den ich für vielversprechend […]
texperimentales.hypotheses.org
September 21, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Thank you @spinfocl.bsky.social for the kind words about my research on the Voynich Manuscript, which I’m pleased to announce has been accepted for publication in Cryptologia following peer review. Read more about my work and the previous research that motivated it in Hermes’s blog post:
Not to put too fine a point on it, but this company's AI podcast on the Gilded Age has a thumbnail misspelling it "Guilded Age." Somewhat ironic. www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...
5,000 Podcasts. 3,000 Episodes a Week. $1 Cost Per Episode — Behind an AI Start Up’s Plan
Former Wondery exec Jeanine Wright is leading a new firm, Inception Point AI, that's betting on flooding the zone with audio content: “I think that people who are still referring to all AI-generated c...
www.hollywoodreporter.com
September 10, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Not to put too fine a point on it, but this company's AI podcast on the Gilded Age has a thumbnail misspelling it "Guilded Age." Somewhat ironic. www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/dig...
Personal news: I wrote ~3/8 of a book, and that book is out today! If you want a visually rich, historically grounded look at magic though the millennia, this book's for you. The National Geographic Book of Magic and the Occult is available wherever books are sold:
bookshop.org/p/books/nati...
bookshop.org/p/books/nati...
National Geographic Book of Magic and the Occult: A Visual History
A Visual History
bookshop.org
September 2, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Personal news: I wrote ~3/8 of a book, and that book is out today! If you want a visually rich, historically grounded look at magic though the millennia, this book's for you. The National Geographic Book of Magic and the Occult is available wherever books are sold:
bookshop.org/p/books/nati...
bookshop.org/p/books/nati...
Personal news: As an unusual hobby, I study the weird 15th-century text known as the Voynich Manuscript. I am giving a talk on some of my research on August 3: www.voynich.ninja/thread-4827....
I haven’t cracked it. Rather, I have devised a reference model for how the text may have been generated.
I haven’t cracked it. Rather, I have devised a reference model for how the text may have been generated.
Voynich Manuscript Day 2025 Schedule
www.voynich.ninja
July 27, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Personal news: As an unusual hobby, I study the weird 15th-century text known as the Voynich Manuscript. I am giving a talk on some of my research on August 3: www.voynich.ninja/thread-4827....
I haven’t cracked it. Rather, I have devised a reference model for how the text may have been generated.
I haven’t cracked it. Rather, I have devised a reference model for how the text may have been generated.
Reposted by Michael Greshko
Well, this makes it real: I'm retiring in September and this is the just-posted job listing for my replacement. @Science.org is a fabulous place to work, so @sciencewriters.org, apply here! recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...
recruiting.ultipro.com
July 15, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Well, this makes it real: I'm retiring in September and this is the just-posted job listing for my replacement. @Science.org is a fabulous place to work, so @sciencewriters.org, apply here! recruiting.ultipro.com/AME1123ASEM/...
Reposted by Michael Greshko
Do you ever stop and think about how there used to be pterosaurs? A fun new study shows that pterosaurs used to eat plants (they'd been expected to be carnivores) & like modern birds, they had stones in their gullets called gastroliths that help break down plants 🧪 @science.org
Pterosaur died with belly full of plants—a fossil first
New discovery confirms the long-debated hypothesis that the ancient winged reptiles ate plants
www.science.org
July 10, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Do you ever stop and think about how there used to be pterosaurs? A fun new study shows that pterosaurs used to eat plants (they'd been expected to be carnivores) & like modern birds, they had stones in their gullets called gastroliths that help break down plants 🧪 @science.org
It has been so gratifying to see this issue—much of which is my October 2020 feature for Nat Geo Magazine—still have legs, nearly 5 years on.
I picked up the current Re-issue of 'Reimagining #Dinosaurs' in @ National Geographic - just in time for #JurassicWorldRebirth!
Our research is still as exciting as it was 4 years ago, but my lab is now proudly based @jhuartssciences.bsky.social [with co-featured Fabbri, Balanoff, & Bever labs].
Our research is still as exciting as it was 4 years ago, but my lab is now proudly based @jhuartssciences.bsky.social [with co-featured Fabbri, Balanoff, & Bever labs].
July 3, 2025 at 9:10 PM
It has been so gratifying to see this issue—much of which is my October 2020 feature for Nat Geo Magazine—still have legs, nearly 5 years on.
This is exactly representative of my experiments with ChatGPT as a research tool (to be clear, I don't use any generative AI in my work). One time I gave it a web-searching task, it said it was performing the task, it wasn't performing the task, and then BS'd at length when I called it out.
This is a hell of a thing to read.
Diabolus Ex Machina
This Is Not An Essay
open.substack.com
June 4, 2025 at 12:37 AM
This is exactly representative of my experiments with ChatGPT as a research tool (to be clear, I don't use any generative AI in my work). One time I gave it a web-searching task, it said it was performing the task, it wasn't performing the task, and then BS'd at length when I called it out.
🧪🚨 BREAKING @science.org exclusive, courtesy of @policyhound.bsky.social: In a letter to NSF staff obtained by Science, NSF director Sethuraman Panchanathan says he is resigning 16 months early, amid mass firings and grant terminations/freezes. www.science.org/content/arti...
Exclusive: NSF director to resign amid grant terminations, job cuts, and controversy
“I have done all I can,” says Sethuraman Panchanathan, a Trump appointee who has led agency since 2020
www.science.org
April 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
🧪🚨 BREAKING @science.org exclusive, courtesy of @policyhound.bsky.social: In a letter to NSF staff obtained by Science, NSF director Sethuraman Panchanathan says he is resigning 16 months early, amid mass firings and grant terminations/freezes. www.science.org/content/arti...
It was a pleasure to work with @joshuasokol.bsky.social on this piece! Check it out:
New study claims humanity's oldest star catalog was made in China, a debate with historical stakes + clear political subtext. Fun that my 1st story in a while also illustrates how ppl might be discussing what govt-funded science was or wasn't done MILLENNIA later. www.science.org/content/arti...
China lays claim to the world’s oldest surviving star catalog
Novel computer analysis of records ascribed to legendary Chinese astrologer dates them to nearly 2400 years ago
www.science.org
April 18, 2025 at 8:37 PM
It was a pleasure to work with @joshuasokol.bsky.social on this piece! Check it out:
Reposted by Michael Greshko
BREAKING from @science.org: The Trump admin is seeking to kill nearly all climate research at NOAA, its climate science agency.
Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Trump seeks to end climate research at premier U.S. climate agency
White House aims to end NOAA’s research office; NASA also targeted
www.science.org
April 11, 2025 at 3:20 PM
BREAKING from @science.org: The Trump admin is seeking to kill nearly all climate research at NOAA, its climate science agency.
Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Its near-final budget proposal would end all NOAA research labs, academic institutes, and regional climate centers. And it wants to fully end the NOAA Research division.
Reposted by Michael Greshko
One high level HHS official shown the door told @science.org, “I couldn’t have worked with these asshats anyway.”
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump administration purges U.S. health agency leaders
Reassignment letters come as reductions in force begin at NIH, FDA, and CDC
www.science.org
April 1, 2025 at 8:38 PM
One high level HHS official shown the door told @science.org, “I couldn’t have worked with these asshats anyway.”
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
@hannah-richter.bsky.social did a phenomenal job reporting this story out:
“It’s work that’s not going to get done, it’s bills that aren’t going to get paid, it’s students that aren’t going to get trained.” scim.ag/4256P8v
Confusion and worry as DOGE cuts hit NASA
Terminated grants include efforts to get students and underrepresented groups involved in science
scim.ag
March 28, 2025 at 7:09 PM
@hannah-richter.bsky.social did a phenomenal job reporting this story out:
Reposted by Michael Greshko
Exclusive: Science has learned that grant termination letters went out last night to principal investigators of 29 awards made by NIAID, including nine grants that were part of a program hoping to deliver antiviral drugs to prevent future pandemics. scim.ag/4iVm7mY
Saying ‘pandemic is over,’ NIH institute starts cutting COVID-19 research
Grant terminations halt research on improving vaccinations and preventing future pandemics
scim.ag
March 25, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Exclusive: Science has learned that grant termination letters went out last night to principal investigators of 29 awards made by NIAID, including nine grants that were part of a program hoping to deliver antiviral drugs to prevent future pandemics. scim.ag/4iVm7mY
I have been combing through similar datasets and have come across some of the same grants/contracts. I can also confirm that these datasets are messy.
Using public data, I've found 40 NASA contracts totaling $42M canceled in the past few days, impacting climate science, DEI, education, and administration activities. $25.2M was already paid out, so resulting savings is $17 million. Running list of cancelations here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
March 25, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I have been combing through similar datasets and have come across some of the same grants/contracts. I can also confirm that these datasets are messy.
🧪 Flagging for the science feed: A big @science.org exclusive just went out the door on fears that NIH will slash grants to health researchers working in South Africa.
A big @science.org exclusive: Health researchers who work in South Africa are hearing that NIH could soon axe all grants in the country—apparently in response to a Trump executive order alleging discrimination against white South Africans. www.science.org/content/arti...
Fear spreads that NIH will terminate grants involving South Africa
Trump has promised to cut off funding, claiming nation discriminates against white citizens
www.science.org
March 14, 2025 at 10:07 PM
🧪 Flagging for the science feed: A big @science.org exclusive just went out the door on fears that NIH will slash grants to health researchers working in South Africa.
Reposted by Michael Greshko
A big @science.org exclusive: Health researchers who work in South Africa are hearing that NIH could soon axe all grants in the country—apparently in response to a Trump executive order alleging discrimination against white South Africans. www.science.org/content/arti...
Fear spreads that NIH will terminate grants involving South Africa
Trump has promised to cut off funding, claiming nation discriminates against white citizens
www.science.org
March 14, 2025 at 9:57 PM
A big @science.org exclusive: Health researchers who work in South Africa are hearing that NIH could soon axe all grants in the country—apparently in response to a Trump executive order alleging discrimination against white South Africans. www.science.org/content/arti...
ICYMI, @rpocisv.bsky.social had a terrific story for @science.org earlier this week about our furry forebears: In a first, we know the fur colors of Jurassic mammals! They most likely came out at night dressed in a uniform dark brown. www.science.org/content/arti...
Dinosaur-era mammals’ fur color revealed for first time
Preserved pigments suggest Jurassic mammals had dark fur, consistent with a nocturnal lifestyle
www.science.org
March 14, 2025 at 10:00 PM
ICYMI, @rpocisv.bsky.social had a terrific story for @science.org earlier this week about our furry forebears: In a first, we know the fur colors of Jurassic mammals! They most likely came out at night dressed in a uniform dark brown. www.science.org/content/arti...
A big @science.org exclusive: Health researchers who work in South Africa are hearing that NIH could soon axe all grants in the country—apparently in response to a Trump executive order alleging discrimination against white South Africans. www.science.org/content/arti...
Fear spreads that NIH will terminate grants involving South Africa
Trump has promised to cut off funding, claiming nation discriminates against white citizens
www.science.org
March 14, 2025 at 9:57 PM
A big @science.org exclusive: Health researchers who work in South Africa are hearing that NIH could soon axe all grants in the country—apparently in response to a Trump executive order alleging discrimination against white South Africans. www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Michael Greshko
There are a lot of staffers in the Senate with kids in DC public schools.
A lot of reporters, too.
A lot of reporters, too.
March 13, 2025 at 11:51 PM
There are a lot of staffers in the Senate with kids in DC public schools.
A lot of reporters, too.
A lot of reporters, too.