We're so relieved to see Germany reaffirm its opposition to the dangerous Chat Control proposal--the one that would mandate mass scanning of communications. Germany's long been a solid champion of privacy, and the news that it was considering backing mass surveillance was alarming. 1/

Scientists revive old Bulgarian recipe to make yogurt with ants. Ants carry lactic and acetic acid bacteria that help coagulate milk, as well as formic acid to acidify it. They even partnered with Danish chefs to create three recipes using ant yogurt. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Trump has done the same damage to our health, environment and security as to our markets, it's just that there isn't a stock ticker that measures the impact so clearly

1. @alisongopnik.bsky.social, Cosma Shalizi, James Evans and myself have a new piece in Science on "AI" Large Models, pushing back against much of the collective wisdom about what they can and can't do. Official below, unpaywalled at henryfarrell.net/large-ai-mod... . So why this now?

“Slava Ukraini! Long live Europe!”.

Zelensky displayed superior emotional intelligence on Fox News after the debacle today. He continued advocating for his country's security and defence. His empathetic, calm, self-aware reactions to what was an utterly unfair attack/vile condescension need to go into textbooks.

Here I react to the shameful encounter between American leaders and media and the Ukrainian president. No doubt there were more, but I saw five failures on our side: of hospitality, decency, democracy, strategy, and independence. Please watch and share.
snyder.substack.com/p/five-failu...

603,628 KM² 🇺🇦🇪🇺

Remember that new talk I was working on? I gave it last week at JFokus, it was the closing keynote. I got it down to 80ish slides and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's about how play can help you learn, and how to apply it at work. Video and slides here

trishagee.com/presentation...

This is what should be on every front page right now. What's happening in the US right now is an illegal power grab by a private citizen. IT'S A COUP.

It's a digital coup. It's Musk who's leading it. The consequences are terrifying. And it's coming for us next.
1/

open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

Of course it’s a coup. Miss the obvious, lose your republic.
open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

Stop saying nobody understands quantum physics. It's lazy and unhelpful at best.

This is Myth 1 in my 100% free book on what you SHOULDN'T know about quantum.

medium.com/@csferrie/my...

This is an excellent primer on some of the privacy dangers posed by large scale AI, from a cybersecurity perspective. Written in clear language, it's the most accessible rundown I've seen yet on these topics!

desfontain.es/blog/privacy...

Unexpectedly positive responses to this episode, even though I don't think I worked as hard as I could have to explain some tricky quantum technicalities in plain language. People are sometimes pleasantly surprising!

Congratulations to all who contributed to the advances in quantum error correction recognized by the Physics World Breakthrough of the Year.

physicsworld.com/a/two-advanc...

A fun and informative story on the discovery of the electron (by J.J. Thompson) and its true nature (by his son, George Thompson).

Went back and read Kirchhoff and Planck. Fascinating history.

Who else is excited about 2025 being the Year of Quantum?!

csferrie.medium.com/this-is-wher...