The hottest Science Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Science Topics

A Climate Science Textbook

David Friedman’s Substack • 251 implied HN points • 14 Mar 23
🔬 Science Climate Effects Consensus Consequences
  1. The book highlights the uncertainty and differing opinions around the net effects of climate change.
  2. An example of potential error in climate science education is presented through conflicting claims of heat-related mortality.
  3. The importance of considering both positive and negative impacts of climate change is emphasized, pointing out potential misconceptions from only focusing on negative effects.

Summer Soundscape

Dada Drummer Almanach • 163 implied HN points • 08 Aug 23
🔬 Science Environment Birds Climate change
  1. The soundscape in many neighborhoods has changed due to human activities like construction and climate change.
  2. Scientists have observed a significant decline in the number of insects and birds in certain environments over the years.
  3. The decline in insects has led to a decrease in bird populations as well, affecting ecosystems.

From Ore to Core

Doomberg • 115 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
🔬 Science Nuclear Energy Physics Technology
  1. This post discusses the importance of nuclear energy as a baseload power source.
  2. The session with physicist James Krellenstein provides insights into the technology and its value chain.
  3. The content is exclusively available for subscribers in the Doomberg Pro plan.

The Censorious Society for Personality and Social Psychology

Unsafe Science • 76 implied HN points • 14 Feb 24
🔬 Science Social Psychology Academic standards Censorship
  1. At the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, a poster was removed for discussing Muslim support for terrorism, sparking censorship accusations.
  2. The removal of the poster led to debates on the justification for retraction, with criticisms on lack of scientific grounds and biases.
  3. While there were complaints about the removed poster, another poster lacking scientific content faced no consequences, raising questions about inconsistent standards.
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The State of 'the Gaps' 2022-23

Cremieux Recueil • 96 implied HN points • 31 Dec 23
🔬 Science Psychometrics Data Analysis
  1. The observed Black-White intelligence gap in standardized test performance has shown some variations over the years.
  2. Errors were found in a study that claimed a significant closure in the intelligence gap between Black and White individuals.
  3. Recent data and analyses suggest that the racial intelligence gap in the U.S. has not significantly closed and remains consistent with historical observations.

Baitballs

Street Smart Naturalist: Explorations of the Urban Kind • 99 implied HN points • 08 Jun 23
🔬 Science Biology Ecology Marine Biology Wildlife Conservation
  1. Baitballs are when schools of fish, like herring and sand lance, gather together as a defense against predators. This helps reduce the chance of any single fish being eaten.
  2. When birds like gulls dive into the water, it often signals the presence of baitballs. Their activity gives hints about the underwater life that we usually can't see.
  3. Baitballs are important for the ecosystem because they provide food for many animals, including seals and birds. Observing these events can give insights into the health of marine life.

What is nuclear's should-cost?

Gordian Knot News • 212 implied HN points • 04 May 23
🔬 Science Nuclear Energy Regulation Cost Analysis Risk Assessment
  1. Nuclear power can be more cost-effective than traditional sources like coal plants.
  2. Naive LCOE may not accurately represent the true cost of nuclear energy due to fluctuations in demand and the need for backup.
  3. Key challenges for nuclear power include regulatory risk, construction risk, and ensuring liability for unplanned outages and radiation releases.

Unlock Causal Inference: 3 Obstacles, 8 Insights & 1 Resource

Mindful Modeler • 159 implied HN points • 29 Nov 22
🔬 Science Causal Inference Statistics Models Education Resources
  1. Causal inference can be challenging to start due to various obstacles like diverse approaches and neglected education on the topic.
  2. Understanding causal inference involves adjusting your modeling mindset to view it as a unique approach rather than just adding a new model.
  3. Key insights for causal inference include the importance of directed acyclic graphs, starting from a causal model, and the challenges of estimating causal effects from observational data.

Biases Against Risky Research

New Things Under the Sun • 224 implied HN points • 31 Mar 23
🔬 Science Research Bias Funding Academic
  1. Scientific institutions may be risk-averse and favor safe and incremental projects over transformative ones.
  2. Individual reviewers and averaging peer review scores may bias against high-risk, high-reward research proposals.
  3. In grant review processes, negative feedback tends to be more influential than positive feedback, leading to potential bias against novel research.

Science, Interrupted.

Heterodox STEM • 78 implied HN points • 04 Feb 24
🔬 Science History Persecution
  1. The Lost Scientists of World War II by Sir David Clary recounts stories of scholars from various fields who faced tragedy and miraculous survival during the war.
  2. The stories include Jewish scholars and exceptions like physicist Alfred Lustig, highlighting the fragility of individual fates and the difficulties faced by scholars at risk.
  3. Organizing help for scientists facing war and persecution is crucial, as seen in initiatives like RASA's mentorship program for displaced scientists.

Climate Change API

Open-Meteo • 281 implied HN points • 13 Apr 23
🔬 Science Climate change Climate models
  1. The Climate API provides high-resolution climate data from the IPCC 6th assessment report, showcasing effects like temperature increases, extreme temperatures, and melting of Arctic sea ice.
  2. High-resolution climate models allow for more accurate regional climate change predictions, aiding in studies on the impacts of climate change on a smaller scale.
  3. The Climate API offers daily climate data from 1950 to 2050, enabling users to calculate climate indices and make projections like crop yield, pest infestation, and more.

Extremely Open Science

Rabbit Thoughts • 39 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🔬 Science Open Science Research Experiment Data Tool
  1. The author will work on a scientific project completely in the open in 2024, streaming and recording sessions for an hour per week.
  2. The project aims to show the process from scratch to help junior researchers understand and learn from the experience of dealing with minor issues.
  3. The author is choosing a question for the project that can be followed along at home with just a personal laptop or desktop computer.

Humanity: Collective Information Overload?

The Digital Anthropologist • 59 implied HN points • 08 Nov 23
🔬 Science Information Overload Evolution Technology Social Impact Research
  1. Humans are facing unprecedented global information flows, possibly leading to collective cognitive overload.
  2. Technology has drastically increased our connectivity and information exchange, contributing to the feeling of being overwhelmed.
  3. As a species, we are navigating through a new era where the constant influx of information requires us to find ways to manage and offload the overload.

Scientists Censoring Science

Unsafe Science • 97 implied HN points • 07 Dec 23
🔬 Science Censorship Academic Freedom Peer Review Research Ethics
  1. Censorship isn't just government-based, but also exists in various forms like corporate agreements and book bans.
  2. Rejection in science for not meeting standards isn't censorship - it's a common part of the scientific process.
  3. There is a rising trend of scientists facing punishment for their speech, leading to self-censorship and threats to academic freedom.

Paradox of the Horse

The Heart Attack Diet • 59 implied HN points • 07 Nov 23
🔬 Science Evolutionary biology Animal Behavior
  1. Paradoxically, horses need high-calorie foods like oats to survive even though they're known for being unable to properly self-regulate their food intake.
  2. Horses, as we know them today, are not naturally evolved animals but products of long-term selective breeding by humans.
  3. The existence of wild horse herds in North America raises intriguing questions about their history and the role of humans in their evolution.

Live Critical Mass Interactive Zoom Q&A: January 6th @ 4 PM Pacific Time

Critical Mass • 2 implied HN points • 05 Jan 25
🔬 Science Physics Astronomy Math Technology Education
  1. There will be a live Zoom Q&A session on January 6th at 4 PM Pacific Time for paid subscribers. It's a chance to connect and ask any questions you have.
  2. These events are exclusively for paid subscribers, and your support helps continue important programs like the Origins Podcast.
  3. The goal of the Origins Project is to give people a better understanding of their place in the universe and share ideas that shape our world.

Exploring Social Loafing in Human-Computer Teams

UX Psychology • 59 implied HN points • 03 Nov 23
🔬 Science Human-computer interaction Psychology Artificial Intelligence Research Methods Technology
  1. Social loafing in human-computer teams can lead to reduced human effort over time, even if participants report consistent effort and engagement.
  2. Humans may rely excessively on dependable robotic or AI teammates, potentially impairing human attentiveness and performance.
  3. Mitigating the effects of social loafing in human-computer teams can involve strategies such as establishing individual accountability, validating robot or AI performance, and designing robots/AI to provide motivation to human teammates.

Bioeconomy Basics

The Polymerist • 265 implied HN points • 18 Apr 23
🔬 Science Chemicals
  1. Crude oil is essentially old biomass with reduced oxygen, yielding aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons.
  2. Abundant alternative feedstocks include cellulose, chitin, and lignin, offering potential for bioeconomy.
  3. Challenges in utilizing cellulose and lignin involve cost-effective isolation of sugars and efficient depolymerization for various applications.

Improve Post-Hoc Interpretation By Leveraging Background Data

Mindful Modeler • 99 implied HN points • 21 Mar 23
🔬 Science Data interpretation
  1. Utilize background data creatively in analysis by considering it as more than just a nuisance for estimation
  2. Leverage background data to explore different scenarios like distribution shifts, feature effects in various data groups, and stability of model predictions
  3. Background data plays a crucial role in model-agnostic interpretation methods like Shapley values and permutation feature importance, providing opportunities to enhance analysis by smart selection

Thinking through Linear With Threshold

Gordian Knot News • 65 implied HN points • 02 Mar 24
🔬 Science Radiation Models Repair
  1. Linear No Threshold (LNT) is criticized for over-predicting harm in low dose rate situations like nuclear power plant releases.
  2. Linear With Threshold (LWT) models have variations where the threshold is on dose or dose rate.
  3. LWT models, although an improvement, still have flaws in considering the repair period after radiation exposure.

105 trillion digits of pi

A Piece of the Pi: mathematics explained • 60 implied HN points • 15 Mar 24
🔬 Science Mathematics Algorithms
  1. The number pi has now been calculated to 105 trillion decimal places using the Chudnovsky algorithm over 75 days.
  2. Ramanujan's formula for pi has been expanded and improved upon over the years, with the Chudnovsky brothers developing a formula that computes pi to 13 decimal places.
  3. Bellard's formula and the BBP formula provide ways to compute specific digits of pi without having to calculate all earlier digits, making validations faster and more efficient.

The Last Great Naturalist

Holodoxa • 99 implied HN points • 23 Mar 23
🔬 Science Biology Evolution Behavior Genetics Conservation
  1. Life science research was pioneered by naturalists who explored and documented nature, influencing key scientific paradigms like evolution and genetics.
  2. E.O. Wilson, a revered naturalist and scientist, contributed significantly to fields such as myrmecology, sociobiology, and conservation.
  3. Wilson's work sparked debate in the scientific community, particularly around sociobiology, which explores the genetic basis of social behavior in animals, including humans.

Uploading Our Brains. A Reality Check.

The Digital Anthropologist • 59 implied HN points • 23 Oct 23
🔬 Science Technology Consciousness Culture Intelligence Evolution
  1. Uploading our brains is a concept being explored, but its feasibility is uncertain. The journey may lead to advancements in treating brain-related diseases like dementia.
  2. Culture heavily influences the acceptance of new technologies like brain uploading. It challenges fundamental beliefs about human identity and the soul.
  3. The evolution towards technologies like brain uploading and AI reflects a shift towards augmenting cognitive abilities, marking an era of the Cognitive Age.

Too much information

Logging the World • 99 implied HN points • 21 Nov 22
🔬 Science Information Theory Entropy Mathematics Communication Technology
  1. Information Theory studies how randomness and predictability affect the transmission and compression of data.
  2. Entropy measures the information gained from a source, highlighting the balance between predictability and unpredictability.
  3. Redundancy can protect messages against noise in communication channels, showing the importance in modern data transmission scenarios.