Richard Van Noorden
@richvn.bsky.social
Features editor, Nature. E: r⟦dot⟧vannoorden⟦at⟧nature⟦dot⟧com or richardvannoorden⟦at⟧protonmail⟦dot⟧com. Signal: richvn.01 . (Currently on parental leave, to April 2026).
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 21, 2025 at 5:01 PM
About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
RFK Jr had committed to Bill Cassidy, as a condition to win his vote, that he would keep website language.
Cassidy in February: “If confirmed… CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
Note the language in second photo.
Cassidy in February: “If confirmed… CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
Note the language in second photo.
November 20, 2025 at 2:42 AM
RFK Jr had committed to Bill Cassidy, as a condition to win his vote, that he would keep website language.
Cassidy in February: “If confirmed… CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
Note the language in second photo.
Cassidy in February: “If confirmed… CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
Note the language in second photo.
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 19, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Google Scholar gets into "AI powered" space Assuming this can use all the full-text they have indexed this might be a game changer. The timing of this release maybe suggests Gemini 3 is being used? scholar.googleblog.com/2025/11/scho... . Apparently some hit a waitlist, I have access though (1)
Scholar Labs: An AI Powered Scholar Search
Research questions are often detailed. Answering them can require looking at a topic from multiple angles. Today, we are introducing Scholar...
scholar.googleblog.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Google Scholar gets into "AI powered" space Assuming this can use all the full-text they have indexed this might be a game changer. The timing of this release maybe suggests Gemini 3 is being used? scholar.googleblog.com/2025/11/scho... . Apparently some hit a waitlist, I have access though (1)
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Bad decision by a journal that knows better
AI slop gracing the cover of Royal Society B. Not only in AI yellow but scientifically nonsensical. Come on. I'm certain human photographs and artworks were ignored to platform ... this.
November 18, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Bad decision by a journal that knows better
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
"There are stupid fabricators and there are more competent ones.
Potentially, LLMs lower the bar and allow the stupid ones to do a better job"
~a chilling problem highlighted by Jack Wilkinson at the International Research Integrity Conference
Potentially, LLMs lower the bar and allow the stupid ones to do a better job"
~a chilling problem highlighted by Jack Wilkinson at the International Research Integrity Conference
November 17, 2025 at 11:38 PM
"There are stupid fabricators and there are more competent ones.
Potentially, LLMs lower the bar and allow the stupid ones to do a better job"
~a chilling problem highlighted by Jack Wilkinson at the International Research Integrity Conference
Potentially, LLMs lower the bar and allow the stupid ones to do a better job"
~a chilling problem highlighted by Jack Wilkinson at the International Research Integrity Conference
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
November 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Editors have a really hard job, and the good ones can make something unreadable readable, and the great ones can make something unreadable into something good. But they're basically invisible, until someone tries to write without one.
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Congratulations to the 2025 winners of the international AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards! Read the full list of this year's winners – including journalists from Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. bit.ly/4oCwZtq
November 13, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Congratulations to the 2025 winners of the international AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards! Read the full list of this year's winners – including journalists from Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. bit.ly/4oCwZtq
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Congratulations to the 2025 winners of the international @aaas.org Kavli Science Journalism Awards! Read the full list of this year's winners—including journalists from Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom: bit.ly/4oCwZtq
November 13, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Congratulations to the 2025 winners of the international @aaas.org Kavli Science Journalism Awards! Read the full list of this year's winners—including journalists from Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom: bit.ly/4oCwZtq
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Right. Hitler's DNA. Brace yourselves for a deluge of misinformation and bad science.
I'm in Australia, so do get in touch if you want some expert debunking.
I'm in Australia, so do get in touch if you want some expert debunking.
November 13, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Right. Hitler's DNA. Brace yourselves for a deluge of misinformation and bad science.
I'm in Australia, so do get in touch if you want some expert debunking.
I'm in Australia, so do get in touch if you want some expert debunking.
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
![Comic. Someone is claiming to predict the exact date of a future earthquake. Should you listen? [flowchart: start] → NO (There are big earthquakes constantly, so if anyone ever *does* figure this out, it will be immediately obvious that their method works and then the world’s seismologists will not shut up about it. You won’t need this flowchart.)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreic7wdqg4w6qfevbqzzq4esd6237pojsnpwsrbb7gaxsxobqaiwazm@jpeg)
November 10, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
"This country’s taste for self-harm seemed to reach its zenith with the Brexit referendum, but maybe not." A good wrap up by @pollytoynbee.bsky.social 👇
If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end | Polly Toynbee
Replacing the TV licence with a means-tested alternative may help disarm the right of one of its most effective weapons, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:39 PM
"This country’s taste for self-harm seemed to reach its zenith with the Brexit referendum, but maybe not." A good wrap up by @pollytoynbee.bsky.social 👇
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Now that the dust is settling, read this excellent thread - the opposite of a hot take - by Watson’s biographer (out in a year or so!) You’ll see how complicated a 97 year life can be.
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
November 9, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Now that the dust is settling, read this excellent thread - the opposite of a hot take - by Watson’s biographer (out in a year or so!) You’ll see how complicated a 97 year life can be.
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Somewhat surprising news: the total number of international students in the US has stayed relatively flat, year-over-year.
I dug into the data and threats on the horizon which could lead to precipitous declines next year.
I dug into the data and threats on the horizon which could lead to precipitous declines next year.
International PhD student numbers in US hold steady — for now
Trend flies in face of Trump-administration policies, but could yet see a rapid decrease, especially in science fields.
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Somewhat surprising news: the total number of international students in the US has stayed relatively flat, year-over-year.
I dug into the data and threats on the horizon which could lead to precipitous declines next year.
I dug into the data and threats on the horizon which could lead to precipitous declines next year.
echoes of the way the research datasets for facial recognition took off
My generous interpretation of this situation is that Common Crawl made a research dataset a decade ago and never expected it to be a big deal, and then totally botched the transition to that same dataset fuelling the modern AI bubble
NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.
November 5, 2025 at 6:55 PM
echoes of the way the research datasets for facial recognition took off
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
My generous interpretation of this situation is that Common Crawl made a research dataset a decade ago and never expected it to be a big deal, and then totally botched the transition to that same dataset fuelling the modern AI bubble
NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.
The Nonprofit Feeding the Entire Internet to AI Companies
Common Crawl claims to provide a public benefit, but it lies to publishers about its activities.
www.theatlantic.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:34 PM
My generous interpretation of this situation is that Common Crawl made a research dataset a decade ago and never expected it to be a big deal, and then totally botched the transition to that same dataset fuelling the modern AI bubble
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.
The Nonprofit Feeding the Entire Internet to AI Companies
Common Crawl claims to provide a public benefit, but it lies to publishers about its activities.
www.theatlantic.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:15 PM
NEW: Common Crawl, the massive archiver of the web, has gotten cozy with AI companies and is providing paywalled articles for training data. They’re also lying to publishers who have asked for material to be removed. “The robots are people too,” CC’s exec director told us when we asked about this.
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
This is good, by the great team at @nature.com
How to fight climate change without the US: a guide to global action
With the US government absent from the COP30 global climate summit, it will be up to others to avert catastrophe.
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This is good, by the great team at @nature.com
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
"The work of these individuals – let’s call them “public-good curators” – benefits all of us. The People’s Case for Curators makes that case."
senseaboutscience.org/championing-...
senseaboutscience.org/championing-...
Championing good information curation - Sense about Science
The People’s Case for Curators advocates the role of information curators as they help people navigate today's complex information landscape.
senseaboutscience.org
November 1, 2025 at 11:10 AM
"The work of these individuals – let’s call them “public-good curators” – benefits all of us. The People’s Case for Curators makes that case."
senseaboutscience.org/championing-...
senseaboutscience.org/championing-...
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
I've read this story five times and I literally do not know what it is trying to say.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Britain one of least ‘nature-connected’ nations in world – with Nepal the most
Others languishing near bottom of 61-country study include Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan and Spain
www.theguardian.com
November 1, 2025 at 9:58 AM
I've read this story five times and I literally do not know what it is trying to say.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Does riffing on the title of the transformer paper boost citations? Somebody should look into it, and if the answer is yes, write a paper called "'All you need' is all you need"
Anti-concentration is (almost) all you need
Until very recently, it was generally believed that the (approximate) 2-design property is strictly stronger than anti-concentration of random quantum circuits, mainly because it was shown that the la...
arxiv.org
October 30, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Does riffing on the title of the transformer paper boost citations? Somebody should look into it, and if the answer is yes, write a paper called "'All you need' is all you need"
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
New for @nature.com:
Here are seven examples of curiosity-driven research that had massive impacts on society.
This is what Donald Trump's gutting of the US science budget will destroy - and what Republicans in Congress could still save.
https://loom.ly/hmD43LU
Here are seven examples of curiosity-driven research that had massive impacts on society.
This is what Donald Trump's gutting of the US science budget will destroy - and what Republicans in Congress could still save.
https://loom.ly/hmD43LU
October 29, 2025 at 6:15 PM
New for @nature.com:
Here are seven examples of curiosity-driven research that had massive impacts on society.
This is what Donald Trump's gutting of the US science budget will destroy - and what Republicans in Congress could still save.
https://loom.ly/hmD43LU
Here are seven examples of curiosity-driven research that had massive impacts on society.
This is what Donald Trump's gutting of the US science budget will destroy - and what Republicans in Congress could still save.
https://loom.ly/hmD43LU
Reposted by Richard Van Noorden
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
7 basic science discoveries that changed the world
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government.
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Ozempic, MRI machines and flat screen televisions all emerged out of fundamental research decades earlier — the very types of study being slashed by the US government
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...