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Brian Hughes

@bmhughes.bsky.social

3.9K followers 1.4K following 710 posts

Prof Psych • Writer • Galway • he/him New book 'Psychology's Quiet Conservatism' coming soon: https://link.springer.com/book/9783032077233 Blog: https://thesciencebit.net/ Bio: https://brianmhughes.com/ 📷 https://www.photoblogism.net

link.springer.com

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Brian Hughes @bmhughes.bsky.social · Dec 5

Here is our Rapid Response to that hugely problematic BMJ review of treatments for #LongCovid

Delighted to have contributed with @ellecarnitine.bsky.social, @fvrhijn.bsky.social, @lauravictorine.bsky.social, and Xandra Westerhuis

We need to learn from the history of #MECFS

Long COVID needs real therapeutics: time to move past disproven approaches

www.bmj.com

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

Current mood

A cartoon depicts a man and a woman walking side by side on a street. The woman wears a stylish dress and holds a purse, while the man is in a suit. The caption reads, "My desire to be well-informed is currently at odds with my desire to remain sane.”

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Chris Ponting @cgatist.bsky.social · 1d

The research used to claim reliability of a ME/CFS blood test has important limitations, shown here.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Three possible confounders in a study proposing an ME/CFS blood test : sex/age, batch and inactivity/severity. Better designed studies by independent researchers are necessary.

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 1d

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

www.theguardian.com

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ME/CFS Science @mecfsskeptic.bsky.social · 4d

1) We’ve written an article about the DecodeME results: what the study measured, what the results show, and why its findings are important.

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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 8d

A lot of psych is already conducted with online convenience samples & ppl are probably excited about silicon samples bc it would allow them to crank out more studies for even less 💸

How about we reconsider the idea that sciencey science involves collecting own data.
www.science.org/content/arti...

AI-generated ‘participants’ can lead social science experiments astray, study finds

Data produced by “silicon samples” depends on researchers’ exact choice of models, prompts, and settings

www.science.org

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Astrid Meyer-Knutsen @astridmeyerknutsen.bsky.social · 7d

- The new research provides evidence that Covid reinfections can increase the risk of long-term health consequences.

Link to unlocked article:
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/h...

Long Covid Risk for Children Doubles After a Second Infection, Study Finds

www.nytimes.com

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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 12d

Mandatory ID cards are a terrible, terrible idea
iandunt.substack.com/p/id-cards-a...

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Amy Hoy @amyhoy.bsky.social · Apr 30

sartre knew about trolls.

Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.

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Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 16d

I have taken
the Tylenol
that was in
the medicine cabinet

and which
they think probably
is the reason
you like trains

forgive me
but that’s bullshit
you got autism
from your dad

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Prof Nisreen Alwan @nisreenalwan.bsky.social · 14d

The term “uncontrolled immigration” is in itself rhetoric.

Paul Brand @paulbrand.bsky.social · 14d

This is first time I’ve heard the govt making the Labour argument for controlling immigration.

Mahmood argues that controlling our borders is good for race relations, because uncontrolled immigration is feeding far right rhetoric and tensions.

Expect to hear a lot more of that.

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Daniel Malmer @malmer.com · 15d

Not a dunk on Peter, because he’s just reporting the news, but there’s a major problem with this survey question: they don’t explain what that phrase means.

They’re asking people if they like the slogan. It’s like a marketing focus group.

Peter Sterne @petersterne.com · 15d

More from the Suffolk University poll: www.suffolk.edu/-/media/suff...

Do you support or oppose "defund the police"?
Support - 21%
Oppose - 74%

Would you support or oppose cutting some of the police budget and using the money for social services?
Support - 54%
Oppose - 41%

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BostonJoan 🏳️‍🌈 🦫 @bostonjoan.bsky.social · 15d

The best article I’ve read on the medical misinformation about Tylenol and autism.

Fevers and sickness can be a risk factor, and left untreated, it could make matters worse. Tylenol is a red herring that could be reducing the damage caused by the fevers.

RFK is wrong. Congress should remove him.

Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 15d

Among the many, many risks of Trump’s anti-Tylenol tirade? According to experts who spoke to @wired.com, an increase in autism rates:

Trump’s Tylenol Directive Could Actually Increase Autism Rates, Researchers Warn

Experts fear that Donald Trump’s anti-painkiller tirade could lead to an increase in risk factors for autism, and don’t trust the administration to assess data as it continues to search for a cause.

www.wired.com

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Brian Hughes @bmhughes.bsky.social · 15d

Flooding the zone with bs and reinforcing pseudoquackery is all part of a strategy to defang logic itself, lest good ideas ever empower the powerless

These folks are intent on normalising whatever the opposite of critical thinking is

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16d

RFK Jr: I've never seen a case of full-blown autism in a 70-year-old man. You're only seeing it in the kids. It's an epidemic.

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Hanniba-LINA Lecter 💀 @agirlcalledlina.bsky.social · 15d

Labour MPs gleefully giving it the big I am whilst Palestinians are still being massacred and not a single sanction has been issues is wild

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 15d

Setting aside the bad science, the message here is that pregnant women should suffer--and risk harming their fetus with untreated fever--to reduce their chance of having a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Which makes clear his disdain for women *and* people with ASD.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Trump makes unproven claims linking autism to Tylenol use by pregnant women

Some studies have suggested an association between the two, but experts say there is no causal relationship.

www.bbc.com

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Brian Hughes @bmhughes.bsky.social · 15d

Trump comments over paracetamol 'more than worrisome'

www.rte.ie/news/us/2025...

Trump comments over paracetamol 'more than worrisome'

The president-elect of the Psychological Society of Ireland has said that comments made by Donald Trump on the use of paracetamol by pregnant women is "more than worrisome".

www.rte.ie

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Ali @vejadu.xyz · 17d

do not obey

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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 19d

Retsef Levi is now blaming LongCOVID on COVID19 vaccines.

He fails to explain why the rates of LongCOVID were highest before vaccines were available.

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Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 19d

After showing support for Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon mocks President's Trump's trip to the UK in a genuinely amusing way

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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 20d

I gave my heart and soul to that place. Built entire sections for journalists pushed out of their home countries.

When the writer I hired, Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi Arabia, they paraded me around as a symbol for press freedom.

I put MY LIFE on the line to defend journalism and WaPo.

bmazing.bsky.social @bmazing.bsky.social · 20d

weird that neither of these articles two main stories decrying censorship mention WaPo's firing of @karenattiah.bsky.social I guess democracy really does die in darkness