Nuvan Rathnayaka
@nuvanrath.bsky.social
Brighton and Hove Albion fanatic. Statistician. Dog lover.
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
“Calling this a budget issue is a lie. It’s an abuse of power — unethical, unlawful, and profoundly dangerous,” a high-ranking CDC official told me.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...
www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...
‘It’s a massacre’: CDC battered by government shutdown firings
The White House’s mass firing of CDC staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease, according to four people familiar with t...
www.statnews.com
October 11, 2025 at 6:37 PM
“Calling this a budget issue is a lie. It’s an abuse of power — unethical, unlawful, and profoundly dangerous,” a high-ranking CDC official told me.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...
www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Everything is pretty bad. But tonight hundreds of people sold out an auditorium to hear a girl from eastern North Carolina read from her work.
It was such a great experience that I don’t have a single picture of any of it. I didn’t want to miss a thing.
It was such a great experience that I don’t have a single picture of any of it. I didn’t want to miss a thing.
October 1, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Everything is pretty bad. But tonight hundreds of people sold out an auditorium to hear a girl from eastern North Carolina read from her work.
It was such a great experience that I don’t have a single picture of any of it. I didn’t want to miss a thing.
It was such a great experience that I don’t have a single picture of any of it. I didn’t want to miss a thing.
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Anonymous Texas A&M faculty pens a letter to students. “Without an administration willing to defend academic integrity against political pressure, your education will change. If that is the outcome you want, do nothing – it is coming. If it is not, you must get involved.” thebatt.com/news/anonymo...
Anonymous Texas A&M professor calls on students to be ‘agent of change’
Editor's note: The following is an open letter to the Texas A&M student body written by a tenured professor at A&M and provided to The Battalion. The pr
thebatt.com
September 24, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Anonymous Texas A&M faculty pens a letter to students. “Without an administration willing to defend academic integrity against political pressure, your education will change. If that is the outcome you want, do nothing – it is coming. If it is not, you must get involved.” thebatt.com/news/anonymo...
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
When I was placed on the Professor Watchlist in 2021, people sent death threats about my children. I had security officers monitor my 8yo at school.
Where is all the outrage for those of us who have been targeted for years? Where is the outrage for our families?
My own colleagues are silent.
Where is all the outrage for those of us who have been targeted for years? Where is the outrage for our families?
My own colleagues are silent.
September 15, 2025 at 8:25 PM
When I was placed on the Professor Watchlist in 2021, people sent death threats about my children. I had security officers monitor my 8yo at school.
Where is all the outrage for those of us who have been targeted for years? Where is the outrage for our families?
My own colleagues are silent.
Where is all the outrage for those of us who have been targeted for years? Where is the outrage for our families?
My own colleagues are silent.
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
I said something last week that is more broadly applicable today:
Calling for empathy is not neutral or apolitical when only one group of people have been socialized and brutalized into having empathy.
Calling for empathy is not neutral or apolitical when only one group of people have been socialized and brutalized into having empathy.
September 11, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I said something last week that is more broadly applicable today:
Calling for empathy is not neutral or apolitical when only one group of people have been socialized and brutalized into having empathy.
Calling for empathy is not neutral or apolitical when only one group of people have been socialized and brutalized into having empathy.
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Frauke Kreuter giving a deeply informed and rousing defense of the U.S. federal statistical agencies and community at #user2025, with a clear-eyed view of its challenges user2025.r-project.org/program/in-p...
Frauke Kreuter LMU Munich / University of Maryland – useR! 2025
Government statistics—and the data behind them—are the backbone of scientific research and evidence-based policymaking. Yet chronic under-funding, fragmented systems, and the spread of low-cost synthe...
user2025.r-project.org
August 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Frauke Kreuter giving a deeply informed and rousing defense of the U.S. federal statistical agencies and community at #user2025, with a clear-eyed view of its challenges user2025.r-project.org/program/in-p...
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
do you ever stare at the ceiling and think about how the worldwide scientific establishment did the impossible and created a COVID vaccine in under a year and the response of the general public has been to go on an unstoppable rampage to destroy science and scientists
July 20, 2025 at 6:46 PM
do you ever stare at the ceiling and think about how the worldwide scientific establishment did the impossible and created a COVID vaccine in under a year and the response of the general public has been to go on an unstoppable rampage to destroy science and scientists
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
I don’t think there’s a single serious critic who says AI’s not useful? The concerns I see are about content rights, worker impacts, environmental effects, epistemological threats, or media manipulation. But that’s all predicated on the idea that it *does* work, often too well for people to manage…
The NYT Magazine asked me and @caseynewton.bsky.social to open their AI issue by talking about how we use AI, why it's not going away, and how you can't be a serious critic if you're in denial about how useful it is. Bluesky's gonna love this one!
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/m...
June 18, 2025 at 2:31 AM
I don’t think there’s a single serious critic who says AI’s not useful? The concerns I see are about content rights, worker impacts, environmental effects, epistemological threats, or media manipulation. But that’s all predicated on the idea that it *does* work, often too well for people to manage…
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
I was NOT expecting to win this award and I’m so so so honored. Grateful to the New Yorker, the Beard Foundation, and of course most of all Padma.
I wasn’t able to be at the awards ceremony in person — here’s my acceptance speech.
I wasn’t able to be at the awards ceremony in person — here’s my acceptance speech.
June 15, 2025 at 2:45 AM
I was NOT expecting to win this award and I’m so so so honored. Grateful to the New Yorker, the Beard Foundation, and of course most of all Padma.
I wasn’t able to be at the awards ceremony in person — here’s my acceptance speech.
I wasn’t able to be at the awards ceremony in person — here’s my acceptance speech.
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
🚨BREAKING: 300+ NIH employees call out the harm of censorship & politicized science in scathing email to Bhattacharya, demanding an end to political interference, a lift on funding freezes, & rehiring of fired staff whose work saves lives.
This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
June 9, 2025 at 12:03 PM
🚨BREAKING: 300+ NIH employees call out the harm of censorship & politicized science in scathing email to Bhattacharya, demanding an end to political interference, a lift on funding freezes, & rehiring of fired staff whose work saves lives.
This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
This is historic - insiders are blowing the whistle.
🧵(1/5)
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Hot take: academic paywalls should be abolished, in order to encourage academics to return to more traditional forms of gatekeeping like writing in Latin or using ciphers
May 22, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Hot take: academic paywalls should be abolished, in order to encourage academics to return to more traditional forms of gatekeeping like writing in Latin or using ciphers
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Shout out to the disabled community for always showing up, always being on the right side of history and justice, always willing to put their bodies on the line, all for the cause of making sure *everyone* has the basic dignity of health care.
BREAKING: The scene at the Rayburn Building is pure rebellion. Protesters are swarming in during live hearings on Medicaid cuts.
Security’s losing control. Because when the government wages war on the poor, the poor fight back.
Security’s losing control. Because when the government wages war on the poor, the poor fight back.
May 14, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Shout out to the disabled community for always showing up, always being on the right side of history and justice, always willing to put their bodies on the line, all for the cause of making sure *everyone* has the basic dignity of health care.
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Thanks to everybody who chimed in!
I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.
So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>
I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.
So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>
May 11, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Thanks to everybody who chimed in!
I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.
So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>
I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.
So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Today's new blog post on how the hype around each of Generative AI and Humanoid Robots is driven by similar pressures, with some slight differences in emphasis. rodneybrooks.com/parallels-be...
Parallels between Generative AI and Humanoid Robots – Rodney Brooks
rodneybrooks.com
May 5, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Today's new blog post on how the hype around each of Generative AI and Humanoid Robots is driven by similar pressures, with some slight differences in emphasis. rodneybrooks.com/parallels-be...
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Arresting a judge for something like this is dangerous and wrong. We know that ICE's presence in courthouses makes our communities less safe. 1/2
Breaking News: FBI Director Kash Patel said that agents arrested a Wisconsin county judge and accused her of obstructing immigration enforcement, a major escalation in the Trump administration’s battle with local authorities over deportations.
Wisconsin Judge Arrested, Accused of Shielding Immigrant From Federal Agents
Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested on suspicion that she “intentionally misdirected federal agents away from” an immigrant being pursued by the authorities, the F.B.I. director said in a social media pos...
www.nytimes.com
April 25, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Arresting a judge for something like this is dangerous and wrong. We know that ICE's presence in courthouses makes our communities less safe. 1/2
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Yall wanna hear something extremely embarrassing? Before Trump’s election, a bunch of academics who lumbered rightward after being criticized by the left (Pinker, Dawkins, Krauss) wrote essays for a book that is coming out in July about the threats to academia from the left.
YALL, THE TITLE!!
YALL, THE TITLE!!
April 20, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Yall wanna hear something extremely embarrassing? Before Trump’s election, a bunch of academics who lumbered rightward after being criticized by the left (Pinker, Dawkins, Krauss) wrote essays for a book that is coming out in July about the threats to academia from the left.
YALL, THE TITLE!!
YALL, THE TITLE!!
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
I can't emphasize enough that the most important thing journalists can do right now is publish exactly this kind of article
April 16, 2025 at 2:30 AM
I can't emphasize enough that the most important thing journalists can do right now is publish exactly this kind of article
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
January 15, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Welp. Apple snuck something dirty in our phones last night.
Settings > Apps > (pick an app) > Siri > Learn From this App
TOGGLE OFF.
You have to go through each app. My garage app, my BANKING APPS, others had that turned on automatically. 😡
Settings > Apps > (pick an app) > Siri > Learn From this App
TOGGLE OFF.
You have to go through each app. My garage app, my BANKING APPS, others had that turned on automatically. 😡
January 14, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Welp. Apple snuck something dirty in our phones last night.
Settings > Apps > (pick an app) > Siri > Learn From this App
TOGGLE OFF.
You have to go through each app. My garage app, my BANKING APPS, others had that turned on automatically. 😡
Settings > Apps > (pick an app) > Siri > Learn From this App
TOGGLE OFF.
You have to go through each app. My garage app, my BANKING APPS, others had that turned on automatically. 😡
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
1. Hundreds of companies who pledged to stop donating to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election on 1/6/21 have broken their promise over the last 4 years
But we've identified 10 promise keepers:
Farmers
Airbnb
Expedia
Nike
Clorox
General Mills
Holland & Hart
Qurate
Whirlpool
Lyft
But we've identified 10 promise keepers:
Farmers
Airbnb
Expedia
Nike
Clorox
General Mills
Holland & Hart
Qurate
Whirlpool
Lyft
10 corporations that kept their promises after January 6, 2021
After a violent mob stormed the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, hundreds of corporations took action to communicate to the public that democracy itself was more important than maximizing their po...
popular.info
January 7, 2025 at 3:12 PM
1. Hundreds of companies who pledged to stop donating to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election on 1/6/21 have broken their promise over the last 4 years
But we've identified 10 promise keepers:
Farmers
Airbnb
Expedia
Nike
Clorox
General Mills
Holland & Hart
Qurate
Whirlpool
Lyft
But we've identified 10 promise keepers:
Farmers
Airbnb
Expedia
Nike
Clorox
General Mills
Holland & Hart
Qurate
Whirlpool
Lyft
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
I wrote an essay about our bottomless thirst for diversion and how avoiding boredom is the engine of modern life. It’s based on the research I did for my book.
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/o...
Opinion | Chris Hayes: I Want Your Attention. I Need Your Attention. Here is How I Mastered My Own.
The problem we face is existential and spiritual, not situational.
www.nytimes.com
January 3, 2025 at 1:11 PM
I wrote an essay about our bottomless thirst for diversion and how avoiding boredom is the engine of modern life. It’s based on the research I did for my book.
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/o...
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
Utterly gripping. Gigerenzer’s very personal history of the debate on rationality puts the Cold War front and centre. Also central is his own ethical unease with the heuristics and biases program. BTW what’s the latest on replicability of framing effects? Is Gerd unfairly skeptical?
New paper on rationality by Gerd Gigerernzer. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
November 23, 2024 at 8:53 AM
Utterly gripping. Gigerenzer’s very personal history of the debate on rationality puts the Cold War front and centre. Also central is his own ethical unease with the heuristics and biases program. BTW what’s the latest on replicability of framing effects? Is Gerd unfairly skeptical?
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
A thread about being wrong:
5 years ago, we wrote a paper about how how newly enfranchised 16-year-olds vote in Austria. But we were wrong.
This year, @elisabethgraf.bsky.social, @schnizzl.bsky.social, Sylvia Kritzinger and I are setting the record straight: authors.elsevier.com/c/1juT5xRaZk...
5 years ago, we wrote a paper about how how newly enfranchised 16-year-olds vote in Austria. But we were wrong.
This year, @elisabethgraf.bsky.social, @schnizzl.bsky.social, Sylvia Kritzinger and I are setting the record straight: authors.elsevier.com/c/1juT5xRaZk...
November 21, 2024 at 6:01 PM
A thread about being wrong:
5 years ago, we wrote a paper about how how newly enfranchised 16-year-olds vote in Austria. But we were wrong.
This year, @elisabethgraf.bsky.social, @schnizzl.bsky.social, Sylvia Kritzinger and I are setting the record straight: authors.elsevier.com/c/1juT5xRaZk...
5 years ago, we wrote a paper about how how newly enfranchised 16-year-olds vote in Austria. But we were wrong.
This year, @elisabethgraf.bsky.social, @schnizzl.bsky.social, Sylvia Kritzinger and I are setting the record straight: authors.elsevier.com/c/1juT5xRaZk...
Reposted by Nuvan Rathnayaka
This place has now become big enough to do what Muskland used to do — give me a sense of what smart people are thinking and, importantly, what they don't know. For example, it turns out that many aren't aware that it's well established that most people don't connect wage growth with inflation 1/
November 15, 2024 at 5:15 PM
This place has now become big enough to do what Muskland used to do — give me a sense of what smart people are thinking and, importantly, what they don't know. For example, it turns out that many aren't aware that it's well established that most people don't connect wage growth with inflation 1/