Ben Klemens
@b-k.bsky.social
I've stopped using "Economist" and have switched to "Computational Social Scientist". @[email protected] on Mastodon. He/him or they/them
Reposted by Ben Klemens
What does a modern particle experiment look like? Here are some pictures of one under construction: Mu2e at Fermilab. This year, I became a theory member of this experiment. I would like to thank Mu2e co-spokesperson, Robert Bernstein, for showing us the experiment and providing great explanations.🧪
December 24, 2025 at 12:46 AM
What does a modern particle experiment look like? Here are some pictures of one under construction: Mu2e at Fermilab. This year, I became a theory member of this experiment. I would like to thank Mu2e co-spokesperson, Robert Bernstein, for showing us the experiment and providing great explanations.🧪
To help you with the acronym soup, CISA is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Among other things, this is the agency tasked with helping states run secure elections.
Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.
Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.
At least six career staff were placed on leave after DHS opened an investigation into whether they misled the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, into taking the test.
dlvr.it
December 23, 2025 at 12:13 AM
To help you with the acronym soup, CISA is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Among other things, this is the agency tasked with helping states run secure elections.
Reposted by Ben Klemens
bird migration is powered by extra + extra powerful mitochondria - that are activated ONLY during migration season. @lizlandau.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/turbocharged...
‘Turbocharged’ Mitochondria Power Birds’ Epic Migratory Journeys | Quanta Magazine
Changes in the number, shape, efficiency and interconnectedness of organelles in the cells of flight muscles provide extra energy for birds’ continent-spanning feats.
www.quantamagazine.org
December 18, 2025 at 5:34 PM
bird migration is powered by extra + extra powerful mitochondria - that are activated ONLY during migration season. @lizlandau.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/turbocharged...
Reposted by Ben Klemens
The holidays are such a brutal war between people who have time to celebrate them and people who do not.
December 19, 2025 at 6:18 PM
The holidays are such a brutal war between people who have time to celebrate them and people who do not.
Reposted by Ben Klemens
So we recommend that states:
—Provide grants to localities to improve infrastructure around transit
—Right-size the relationship between affordability requirements with incentives (e.g., tax relief) for market conditions
—Support affordable housing through subsidies
Read our full report ⏬
—Provide grants to localities to improve infrastructure around transit
—Right-size the relationship between affordability requirements with incentives (e.g., tax relief) for market conditions
—Support affordable housing through subsidies
Read our full report ⏬
The Financial Feasibility of Transit-Oriented Development
Our stylized analysis illuminates challenges facing TOD, including inadequate market rents in some areas and high construction costs, issues that may be aggr…
www.urban.org
December 17, 2025 at 2:10 PM
So we recommend that states:
—Provide grants to localities to improve infrastructure around transit
—Right-size the relationship between affordability requirements with incentives (e.g., tax relief) for market conditions
—Support affordable housing through subsidies
Read our full report ⏬
—Provide grants to localities to improve infrastructure around transit
—Right-size the relationship between affordability requirements with incentives (e.g., tax relief) for market conditions
—Support affordable housing through subsidies
Read our full report ⏬
Party hosting tip: open up the graphic equalizer in your music app and turn down the bands from about 300 to 4k. That's the human voice range, and your guests will be able to hear each other with less strain.
December 13, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Party hosting tip: open up the graphic equalizer in your music app and turn down the bands from about 300 to 4k. That's the human voice range, and your guests will be able to hear each other with less strain.
Reposted by Ben Klemens
Did you know plants can heat themselves up? Even cooler, these beetles in the Amazon detect the changes infrared intensity to go pollinate those plants, representing one of the oldest forms of pollination. My latest for National Geographic:
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
These plants can heat themselves up—scientists finally know why
Since the time of the dinosaurs, cycad plants may have attracted insects using infrared light. It may be the world's oldest form of pollination.
www.nationalgeographic.com
December 12, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Did you know plants can heat themselves up? Even cooler, these beetles in the Amazon detect the changes infrared intensity to go pollinate those plants, representing one of the oldest forms of pollination. My latest for National Geographic:
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Ben Klemens
And! Your public library most likely offers access to the major newspapers. You can just login & check out the day's stories (or past ones) for free.
December 9, 2025 at 4:48 PM
And! Your public library most likely offers access to the major newspapers. You can just login & check out the day's stories (or past ones) for free.
Reposted by Ben Klemens
an important read for at least 2 reasons:
1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research
2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader
taranis.ie/datacenters-...
1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research
2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader
taranis.ie/datacenters-...
Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea.
There is a rush for AI companies to team up with space launch/satellite companies to build datacenters in space. TL;DR: It's not going to work.
taranis.ie
December 3, 2025 at 7:07 PM
an important read for at least 2 reasons:
1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research
2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader
taranis.ie/datacenters-...
1. shows how big tech operates on intuitions and vibes and not rigorous research
2. this is a masterpiece in how to breakdown complex scientific concepts in simple language and elegant pros that captivate the lay reader
taranis.ie/datacenters-...
Reposted by Ben Klemens
DDOT continues to publish before/after analyses of safety projects. The numbers for the 9th street NW bike lanes suggest that we should be doing these projects everywhere we can. Crashes plummeted, pedestrian and bike traffic skyrocketed, and vehicle travel times dropped.
December 2, 2025 at 2:39 PM
DDOT continues to publish before/after analyses of safety projects. The numbers for the 9th street NW bike lanes suggest that we should be doing these projects everywhere we can. Crashes plummeted, pedestrian and bike traffic skyrocketed, and vehicle travel times dropped.
This was the most joyful Tiny Desk ever I've ever witnessed, with the Chilean TV show 31 Minutos and all their puppets. If pressed for time, skip to 18:00, the show's theme song about how the narrator's life got better after they got rid of their TV.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEqT...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEqT...
31 Minutos: Tiny Desk Concert
YouTube video by NPR Music
www.youtube.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:15 AM
This was the most joyful Tiny Desk ever I've ever witnessed, with the Chilean TV show 31 Minutos and all their puppets. If pressed for time, skip to 18:00, the show's theme song about how the narrator's life got better after they got rid of their TV.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEqT...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEqT...
"Strong floor, no ceilings" reminds me of back when I moved into this house and the rear addition collapsed.
November 30, 2025 at 10:30 PM
"Strong floor, no ceilings" reminds me of back when I moved into this house and the rear addition collapsed.
I don't know how to reconcile that slop like this gets through, while a paper which I submitted to an Elsevier journal 17 months ago is still awaiting peer review.
Springer-Nature statement
“Whilst the details of peer review are confidential, we can confirm that the article underwent two rounds of review from two independent peer reviewers, supporting an accept decision.”
How am I now expected to believe that two people looked at the paper twice and DGAF?
“Whilst the details of peer review are confidential, we can confirm that the article underwent two rounds of review from two independent peer reviewers, supporting an accept decision.”
How am I now expected to believe that two people looked at the paper twice and DGAF?
Riding the Autism Bicycle to Retraction Town
Does anyone *really* know their Factor Fexcectorn?
nobreakthroughs.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I don't know how to reconcile that slop like this gets through, while a paper which I submitted to an Elsevier journal 17 months ago is still awaiting peer review.
Lawyers, is there any reason why I as an author shouldn't take the cash in the Anthropic settlement?
November 27, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Lawyers, is there any reason why I as an author shouldn't take the cash in the Anthropic settlement?
Good to know it's not just me. An Amtrak conductor once wouldn't let me board because I had a folding bike. I was prepared, and pulled out a printout of Amtrak's official policy. "That's just a piece of paper," he replied.
very funny to be scolded by a train conductor for having my bike in the wrong place, showing him the literal rule written on the amtrak website showing that i have my bike in the only place it is allowed to be, and being told that we’ll have to “agree to disagree”
November 20, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Good to know it's not just me. An Amtrak conductor once wouldn't let me board because I had a folding bike. I was prepared, and pulled out a printout of Amtrak's official policy. "That's just a piece of paper," he replied.
Reposted by Ben Klemens
Blog entry: The past-performance trap.
When government agencies need to have custom software built, as a matter of course they require that the bidding vendors have built that exact thing before. I understand why this seems like a good idea, but it’s a mistake.
When government agencies need to have custom software built, as a matter of course they require that the bidding vendors have built that exact thing before. I understand why this seems like a good idea, but it’s a mistake.
The past-performance trap.
When government agencies need to have custom software built, as a matter of course they require that the bidding vendors have built that exact thing before. This is a mistake.
waldo.jaquith.org
November 19, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Blog entry: The past-performance trap.
When government agencies need to have custom software built, as a matter of course they require that the bidding vendors have built that exact thing before. I understand why this seems like a good idea, but it’s a mistake.
When government agencies need to have custom software built, as a matter of course they require that the bidding vendors have built that exact thing before. I understand why this seems like a good idea, but it’s a mistake.
Reposted by Ben Klemens
I left CNN in 2014 but my interview with James Watson was still referenced in his obit (along with a shout-out to Rosalind Franklin)
www.cnn.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/07/u...
James Watson, famous geneticist and Nobel Prize co-winner in the structure of DNA, dies at 97 | CNN
James Watson, a renowned molecular biologist and one of the Nobel Prize winners for discovering the structure of DNA, died Thursday after a brief illness, according to a statement from his former empl...
www.cnn.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:55 AM
I left CNN in 2014 but my interview with James Watson was still referenced in his obit (along with a shout-out to Rosalind Franklin)
www.cnn.com/2025/11/07/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/07/u...
Academic article pro tip: passing peer review means two reviewers thought the work was OK and the editor didn't say no. A stronger signal is the thanks on the front page: how many people did the authors circulate the draft to, who were in a position to comment, call out, and improve the work?
November 8, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Academic article pro tip: passing peer review means two reviewers thought the work was OK and the editor didn't say no. A stronger signal is the thanks on the front page: how many people did the authors circulate the draft to, who were in a position to comment, call out, and improve the work?
Reposted by Ben Klemens
For @techpolicypress.bsky.social I laid out a tech agenda for Mayor-elect zohrankmamdani.bsky.social that resists surveillance and extraction while advancing his goals for affordability, dignity, and justice.
Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social)
Mayor-Elect of New York City
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 7:01 PM
For @techpolicypress.bsky.social I laid out a tech agenda for Mayor-elect zohrankmamdani.bsky.social that resists surveillance and extraction while advancing his goals for affordability, dignity, and justice.
Haven't mentioned it in a while, but I wrote a Greasemonkey script for Firefox which will remove opinion pieces from the front page, leaving a calm, blank space. github.com/b-k/tweets-a...
The Washington Post opinion section is a thing to behold today. (Don't worry, I canceled my subscription, but old habits die hard, and I tend to still navigate to their front page during my news reading in the morning.)
October 26, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Haven't mentioned it in a while, but I wrote a Greasemonkey script for Firefox which will remove opinion pieces from the front page, leaving a calm, blank space. github.com/b-k/tweets-a...
Reposted by Ben Klemens
My 14yr old is learning blender.
He already has a space capsule, rocket, and launch sequence. But this detail made my morning.
He already has a space capsule, rocket, and launch sequence. But this detail made my morning.
October 26, 2025 at 4:32 PM
My 14yr old is learning blender.
He already has a space capsule, rocket, and launch sequence. But this detail made my morning.
He already has a space capsule, rocket, and launch sequence. But this detail made my morning.
Reposted by Ben Klemens
If you are a federal scientist in the US and have a been served a RIF notice during the shutdown, experts say this is illegal. you can contact Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) confidentially via the Science Committee Democrats’ Whistleblower form democrats-science.house.gov/contact/whis... 🧪.
Science & Tech Whistleblower | House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
democrats-science.house.gov
October 20, 2025 at 9:59 PM
If you are a federal scientist in the US and have a been served a RIF notice during the shutdown, experts say this is illegal. you can contact Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) confidentially via the Science Committee Democrats’ Whistleblower form democrats-science.house.gov/contact/whis... 🧪.
Alvaro Bedoya, former FTC commissioner, has a lot to say, and he's worth listening to. "Maybe we punch up instead of punching the neighbor." newrepublic.com/article/2011...
How I Became a Populist
My time at the Federal Trade Commission—before Donald Trump fired me—totally changed the way I see our political divide.
newrepublic.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Alvaro Bedoya, former FTC commissioner, has a lot to say, and he's worth listening to. "Maybe we punch up instead of punching the neighbor." newrepublic.com/article/2011...
It's Bandcamp Friday, so here are some recommendations.
★ Oddissee, whom I will continue to refer to as "DC's own" even though he moved to Brooklyn.
oddiseemmg.bandcamp.com/album/en-route
★ Oddissee, whom I will continue to refer to as "DC's own" even though he moved to Brooklyn.
oddiseemmg.bandcamp.com/album/en-route
En Route, by Oddisee
4 track album
oddiseemmg.bandcamp.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:19 PM
It's Bandcamp Friday, so here are some recommendations.
★ Oddissee, whom I will continue to refer to as "DC's own" even though he moved to Brooklyn.
oddiseemmg.bandcamp.com/album/en-route
★ Oddissee, whom I will continue to refer to as "DC's own" even though he moved to Brooklyn.
oddiseemmg.bandcamp.com/album/en-route