peter smith
@peterandreysmith.com
reporter and researcher. senior contributor @undark.org. my work has appeared in the nyt, wired, stat, businessweeek, wnyc radiolab, and elsewhere
peterandreysmith.com
peterandreysmith.com
Pinned
peter smith
@peterandreysmith.com
· Mar 5
In Digital Genetic Data, An Uncertainty Over Ownership
Digital sequence information has radically changed the way researchers look at the world’s genetic resources.
undark.org
we interrupt this broadcast to bring you an important message about a cow named D and the so-called border walls in biology. my latest for undark
“Improbable as it might sound, few people in the last century have done more to shape the way science is conducted today than Maxwell.”
Is the staggeringly profitable business of scientific publishing bad for science?
The long read: It is an industry like no other, with profit margins to rival Google – and it was created by one of Britain’s most notorious tycoons: Robert Maxwell
theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 1:06 PM
“Improbable as it might sound, few people in the last century have done more to shape the way science is conducted today than Maxwell.”
Reposted by peter smith
Incredible piece on Oliver Sacks. If you were ever awed at his supposedly true stories (I remember being stunned by the account of the autistic twins who rattled off large prime numbers), read this. He told wonderful stories, but they were in large part fiction.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Oliver Sacks Put Himself Into His Case Studies. What Was the Cost?
The scientist was famous for linking healing with storytelling. Sometimes that meant reshaping patients’ reality.
www.newyorker.com
December 12, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Incredible piece on Oliver Sacks. If you were ever awed at his supposedly true stories (I remember being stunned by the account of the autistic twins who rattled off large prime numbers), read this. He told wonderful stories, but they were in large part fiction.
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
genuine question: what are emerging frontiers and did they escape reported cuts to the NIH budget
December 2, 2025 at 3:39 PM
genuine question: what are emerging frontiers and did they escape reported cuts to the NIH budget
I miss the standalone CS4 version of adobe acrobat that would reliably OCR files locally and probably could not have recognized a single cloud in the sky
November 21, 2025 at 9:41 PM
I miss the standalone CS4 version of adobe acrobat that would reliably OCR files locally and probably could not have recognized a single cloud in the sky
who published rfk jr and gave him a cover line in 1974
November 21, 2025 at 8:28 PM
who published rfk jr and gave him a cover line in 1974
Reposted by peter smith
AP finds a secretive Border Patrol intelligence program detains Americans for “suspicious” travel. Critics call it mass surveillance.
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.
bit.ly
November 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
AP finds a secretive Border Patrol intelligence program detains Americans for “suspicious” travel. Critics call it mass surveillance.
all politics aside I do wonder would the questioned document examination in question pass the scientific standards for admissibility
Justice Department quietly replaced 'identical' Trump signatures on recent pardons
The Justice Department posted pardons online bearing identical copies of President Donald Trump’s signature before quietly correcting them this week after what the agency called a “technical error.”
www.pbs.org
November 18, 2025 at 4:17 PM
all politics aside I do wonder would the questioned document examination in question pass the scientific standards for admissibility
seeking book reccomendation: is there a barbarian days of bicycling?
October 31, 2025 at 8:45 PM
seeking book reccomendation: is there a barbarian days of bicycling?
![1967 SMALLWOOD The Book of Nild., iv, 235
In the autumn the fish had to be shipped, gardens taken up, wood brought down from the bay and at "squarin-up time" groceries procured to last till spring. [Life in the Outports]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:eezcomlzb62boxwylbl4fzi2/bafkreidpntwoamcbnlhncssr676yqtcsafaebda7phf5ttwpgshqziyjwu@jpeg)
in case you were wondering the origins of the phrase “keep maine green” (from Ten Million Acres of Timber)
October 6, 2025 at 12:17 PM
in case you were wondering the origins of the phrase “keep maine green” (from Ten Million Acres of Timber)
“Our spirits are corroded by living in an atmosphere of unrelenting contention—an argument culture.” –Deborah Tannen (1999)
October 1, 2025 at 2:15 PM
“Our spirits are corroded by living in an atmosphere of unrelenting contention—an argument culture.” –Deborah Tannen (1999)
in 2023, a judge overseeing lawsuits claiming tylenol caused autism excluded each and every one of the plaintiff's scientific experts storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
September 22, 2025 at 9:53 PM
in 2023, a judge overseeing lawsuits claiming tylenol caused autism excluded each and every one of the plaintiff's scientific experts storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
“Paula Soldner, who leads the food inspectors union at the Department of Agriculture, says she now tries to get her meat butchered by people she knows personally, because the agency’s oversight of meatpacking plants has been compromised by this year’s buyouts.”
How Trump Broke Corporate America’s Most Valuable Consultant
Businesses are begging the White House and RFK Jr. to rethink their massive cuts to Niosh, a workplace research agency that saves the US billions of dollars a year.
bloomberg.com
September 19, 2025 at 2:35 PM
“Paula Soldner, who leads the food inspectors union at the Department of Agriculture, says she now tries to get her meat butchered by people she knows personally, because the agency’s oversight of meatpacking plants has been compromised by this year’s buyouts.”
“firearms identification has not been shown to reach reliable results linking a particular unknown bullet to a particular known firearm” www.mdcourts.gov/data/opinion...
September 11, 2025 at 7:25 PM
“firearms identification has not been shown to reach reliable results linking a particular unknown bullet to a particular known firearm” www.mdcourts.gov/data/opinion...
Reposted by peter smith
Delicious story about jerks who (allegedly) kill their neighbors' trees to score better views. Come for the shade hate, stay for the zingers
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...
Did a Brooklyn Couple Kill a Neighbor’s Trees for a Better View in Maine?
www.nytimes.com
September 11, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Delicious story about jerks who (allegedly) kill their neighbors' trees to score better views. Come for the shade hate, stay for the zingers
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...
“researchers suspect that rising prescription drug use may be behind the trend”
Why Are More Older People Dying After Falls?
www.nytimes.com
September 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
“researchers suspect that rising prescription drug use may be behind the trend”
“The real thrill is in having a license to ask, as directly as possible, about the thing you really want to know.”
The History of The New Yorker’s Vaunted Fact-Checking Department
Reporters engage in charm and betrayal; checkers are in the harm-reduction business.
www.newyorker.com
September 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
“The real thrill is in having a license to ask, as directly as possible, about the thing you really want to know.”
still one of the most incredible stories worth a listen if you have never heard it before (and even if you have!)
Criminal Investigation
A famous dog-handler who helps with missing person investigations nationwide has been accused of planting evidence at crime scenes. Peter Payette from Interlochen Public Radio reports.
www.npr.org
August 1, 2025 at 8:05 PM
still one of the most incredible stories worth a listen if you have never heard it before (and even if you have!)
who here would like me to investigate, by bicycle, how the intensity of rainfall floods towns, topples trees, and messes with the maintenance of public rights of way on 8,534 miles of dirt roads in vermont?
July 22, 2025 at 12:59 PM
who here would like me to investigate, by bicycle, how the intensity of rainfall floods towns, topples trees, and messes with the maintenance of public rights of way on 8,534 miles of dirt roads in vermont?
“favorable plea deals that sidestep terrible facts—especially when it comes to crimes involving sexual abuse—are the rule, not the exception” –Carissa Byrne Hessick
July 18, 2025 at 1:03 PM
“favorable plea deals that sidestep terrible facts—especially when it comes to crimes involving sexual abuse—are the rule, not the exception” –Carissa Byrne Hessick
'tis wobbling season in newfoundland
July 17, 2025 at 6:09 PM
'tis wobbling season in newfoundland
“I don’t know how you build infrastructure for rain events like this.” bostonglobe.com/2025/07/10/m...
July 11, 2025 at 11:29 AM
“I don’t know how you build infrastructure for rain events like this.” bostonglobe.com/2025/07/10/m...
this came out almost exactly one year ago today podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Alford Plea
Podcast Episode · Radiolab · 06/28/2024 · 54m
podcasts.apple.com
June 27, 2025 at 6:16 PM
this came out almost exactly one year ago today podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
“Nobody ever learned how to ride a bike by reading a manual”
Monday 22 June, 2025 | Memex 1.1
memex.naughtons.org
June 25, 2025 at 6:05 PM
“Nobody ever learned how to ride a bike by reading a manual”