The hottest Research Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Health Politics Topics

✅ Monday briefing: WaddsCon replay, newsroom targets, trust in news declines, interview technique, dirty rosters, board operator, pricing dispute, brand backlash, BledCom report, and more...

Wadds Inc. newsletter • 59 implied HN points • 04 Jul 22
📰 News Research
  1. Trust in news is falling, especially for major UK outlets like The Times and the BBC. This change shows people are becoming more skeptical of the news they read.
  2. Brands need to stand by their values and be clear about who they support. Companies like Halifax are taking a bold stance, making it clear what they stand for.
  3. Getting media attention requires new skills like knowing how to navigate interviews. Interviewees should understand that everything said can be quoted, and they shouldn't try to control the quotes.

(Ad-free Video) Origins Podcast: The War on Science Interviews: Day 1, Richard Dawkins

Critical Mass • 7 implied HN points • 23 Jul 25
🔬 Science Research
  1. A series of 20 interviews will be released, featuring various authors discussing their perspectives on the challenges facing science today. This is to promote understanding of how current issues affect scientific progress.
  2. The discussions will cover a range of topics like academic free speech, the impact of social justice on research, and the need for sound scientific principles in universities. The goal is to spark important conversations about these challenges.
  3. The project aims to unify voices in academia to combat what is seen as an attack on science and scholarship. This effort is crucial for restoring trust and integrity in scientific inquiry.

An Interview about the Origins Project Foundation

Critical Mass • 9 implied HN points • 17 Jun 25
🔬 Science Research
  1. The Origins Project Foundation is focused on science and education, aiming to inspire curiosity and understanding. It's important for our society to engage with scientific ideas.
  2. The Science Book Club is supporting the foundation through fundraising efforts, which can help promote more educational initiatives. Supporting such causes helps spread knowledge to a wider audience.
  3. Interviews and discussions about science can shed light on complex topics. Conversations like the one from the Science Book Club help make science more accessible.

Nanoplastics in water - surprisingly large amounts discovered and its not looking good

Molecular Spectacular • 55 HN points • 14 Feb 24
🔬 Science Research
  1. Nanoplastics are smaller than microplastics and more dangerous to human health as they can cross biological barriers and carry toxic materials.
  2. Recent research has discovered large quantities of nanoplastics in bottled drinking water, with detection remaining a challenge for real-world applications.
  3. The composition of nanoplastics found in bottled water is surprising, with some potentially originating from water processing or sources, indicating a wider issue beyond just bottled water.

On the Ohio State study showing vaccinated Covid patients had a HIGHER risk of death than the unvaccinated

Unreported Truths • 54 implied HN points • 27 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Research
  1. Vaccinated Covid patients in the Ohio State study had a higher risk of death compared to the unvaccinated, even after matching by age and comorbidities.
  2. Studies have shown that vaccinated Covid patients may not have a survival advantage once they are hospitalized. Other research supports the finding that vaccinated patients had higher mortality rates.
  3. The mRNA vaccines may not provide significant protection against severe disease or death in Covid-hospitalized patients according to multiple studies, contradicting previous claims about the effectiveness of the vaccines.
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✅ Monday briefing: WaddsCon, trusted news, censoring archive content, banned Bristol reporters, Google news, union vs media, research diaries, voice usage, and more…

Wadds Inc. newsletter • 59 implied HN points • 27 Jun 22
📰 News Research
  1. WaddsCon is happening soon, focusing on how to effectively use newsjacking in media relations. It’s a great chance for PR professionals to learn new strategies.
  2. Google News is now giving more attention to local news outlets, which can help regional stories gain visibility. This change aims to make local news as prominent as national stories.
  3. People are more comfortable using voice technology after the pandemic, trusting devices like Alexa and Siri for daily tasks. This trend is shaping how consumers interact with technology.

Accessible Computational Chemistry

The Polymerist • 99 implied HN points • 11 Apr 23
🔬 Science Research
  1. Developing custom polymer products can be a complex and resource-intensive process.
  2. Utilizing computational chemistry tools like Molydyn can streamline modeling and experimentation processes.
  3. The future of polymer chemistry may involve integrating machine learning and AI with experimental data for optimization.

Open-source LLMs' harmlessness gap

Democratizing Automation • 90 implied HN points • 07 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Research
  1. Closing the gap between helpfulness and harmlessness in open-source LLMs is crucial for the sustainability of products and businesses.
  2. Community interest in red-teaming can help assess harmfulness in models and prevent negative impacts.
  3. Sequential engineering workflows and strong community norms are needed to create harmless AI chatbots in the open-source landscape.

UX Roundup: AI Research Window | AI Skill Substitution | World Economic Forum Predicts More UX Jobs | AI-UX Consultant | Bad Bird Lip-Synch

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 19 implied HN points • 20 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Research
  1. There is a limited time to study how people use AI since soon everyone will have experience with it. Right now, researchers can still compare results between people who use AI and those who don't.
  2. The introduction of AI is changing job markets significantly. Some jobs, like translation, are declining, while others, like web development, are booming because AI helps workers be more productive.
  3. The World Economic Forum predicts that UX jobs will grow by 50% in the next five years. While there's some skepticism about job predictions, there is a general agreement that UX roles will keep increasing as AI continues to evolve.

Changing retraction criteria for Science family

Science Forever • 19 implied HN points • 06 Jan 23
🔬 Science Research
  1. Extensive corrections in scientific papers may lead to a retraction if confidence is lacking
  2. Retracting a paper could be considered if there is an accumulation of errors, causing editors to lose confidence in the data integrity
  3. Transparently correcting errors in scientific research is crucial to maintain the integrity of the self-correcting process of science

Meta Motivo behavioral foundation model, Multimodal AI Agents, Gemini 2.0 Flash, Real-time Video and screen-sharing in the Multimodal Live API and ChatGPT, Phi-4, Sora, TRELLIS, Deep Research & more

AI Brews • 22 implied HN points • 13 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Research
  1. New AI tools and models are being constantly developed by major companies like Microsoft, Google, and Meta. These include models that improve reasoning and create high-quality 3D assets.
  2. There are exciting features like real-time video and screen-sharing for AI applications. These advancements help make interactions more dynamic and engaging.
  3. Various new products aim to simplify tasks and enhance creativity. This includes tools for preserving stories, creating AI characters, and comparing AI performance easily.

How much does AI impact development speed?

Engineering Enablement • 8 implied HN points • 25 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Research
  1. AI coding tools can help developers work about 21% faster. This means with AI, tasks that took longer can be done in less time.
  2. Developers who code more each day see bigger benefits from using AI. This might be because they are better at fixing mistakes the AI makes.
  3. Factors like how senior a developer is or how much they’ve used AI before don’t really change how much faster they work with AI tools.

Some Atto-532 In A MiSeq

ASeq Newsletter • 51 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
🔬 Science Research
  1. The post discusses experimenting with Atto-532 in a MiSeq for epi-fluorescent microscopy, highlighting the process of preparing and imaging on a microscope slide.
  2. Images taken show varying brightness in different color channels, with Atto-532 matching well with the green LED used in MiSeq technology.
  3. There's an anticipation of potential dye crosstalk, with the expectation of leakage from the G dye into the T channel, suggesting Atto-532 as a good match for the G dye.

Hexagonal knot mosaics

A Piece of the Pi: mathematics explained • 24 implied HN points • 03 Nov 24
🔬 Science Research
  1. Hexagonal knot mosaics are a way to represent knots on a hexagonal board. You can use different types of tiles to create them.
  2. There are three categories of hexagonal mosaics: standard, semi-enhanced, and enhanced. Each type has different rules about how crossings can occur.
  3. Research has shown the maximum number of crossings you can achieve in these mosaics. Enhanced mosaics can have the most crossings, while standard ones allow the least.

AI Roundup 050: Synthetic Geometry

Artificial Ignorance • 54 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Research
  1. A new Google Deepmind model named AlphaGeometry can solve International Math Olympiad problems at a near-gold medalist level.
  2. OpenAI is addressing concerns about AI in worldwide elections by focusing on preventing abuse, transparency of AI content, and improving access to voting information.
  3. Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event introduced new AI features for Samsung phones, including live translation and AI-powered note organization.

✅ Research management: keeping track of literature and building knowledge

Wadds Inc. newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 15 Jun 23
🚌 Education Research
  1. Research management software needs to improve. Many current options just store information but don't help in building knowledge.
  2. Using tools like Notion can improve how you track and review research materials. You can create a system that organizes and summarizes papers effectively.
  3. It's important to find smarter tools and methods for research management instead of just using what's popular. Breaking tasks down can help you work better and more efficiently.

Smarter Multimodal Models, RPG Benchmarks, and Surprising Scaling Insights

HackerPulse Dispatch • 5 implied HN points • 22 Aug 25
🕹 Technology Research
  1. Ovis2.5 is a new language model that processes images in high quality and has a special mode for tough tasks. It's designed to be both quick and accurate.
  2. HeroBench tests how well models can plan in complex virtual games, showing that some models struggle with smart decision-making and organization.
  3. A study on GPT-OSS models found that smaller models can sometimes perform better than larger ones, proving bigger isn't always better in AI.

Post Replications!

Cremieux Recueil • 72 implied HN points • 25 Aug 23
🔬 Science Research
  1. Public support for gene therapies and embryo selection is increasing, especially among educated individuals and those who would benefit from these technologies.
  2. There is a debate about whether knowledge is empowering or dangerous, with some advocating for caution in sharing scientific findings to avoid offense or harm.
  3. A study on attitudes towards gene therapy in infertility patients showed a high acceptance rate for various genetic editing purposes, with varying levels of acceptance based on political, religious, and educational backgrounds.

Will Oxford Nanopore Sue Roche?

ASeq Newsletter • 14 implied HN points • 25 Feb 25
🔬 Science Research
  1. Oxford Nanopore has been actively suing companies like BGI without concrete claims of intellectual property infringement. This raises questions about their legal strategy.
  2. Roche might also face issues if they used Oxford's sequencers, especially since there are user agreements involved that they might have overlooked.
  3. Oxford Nanopore has a history of using the hairpin duplex approach, which led to legal disputes in the past. It will be interesting to see if their current patents hold up against previous art from competitors.

The Fauci Paradox

A Biologist's Guide to Life • 63 implied HN points • 30 Sep 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Research
  1. The Fermi Paradox suggests that the lack of contact with extraterrestrial life may be due to specific probabilities hindering civilizations' advancement.
  2. Nuclear weapons and diseases are identified as vulnerabilities to human civilization, posing potential threats to societal stability.
  3. The Fauci Paradox highlights the need for closer regulation and oversight in scientific research to prevent catastrophic risks that could endanger humanity.

Covert racism in LLMs

Marcus on AI • 44 HN points • 05 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Research
  1. A new paper highlights the presence of covert racism in Language Models (LLMs) like AI systems.
  2. The study shows how LLMs display alarming bias when using prompts from African American English.
  3. The implications of covert racism in widely-used LLMs are significant and concerning, prompting calls for investigation and corrective actions.

The Roche Nanopore Chip

ASeq Newsletter • 14 implied HN points • 21 Feb 25
🔬 Science Research
  1. The Roche Nanopore Chip provides a lot of information that needs careful examination. It's important to figure out its size and costs.
  2. The sensor module of the chip can be reused over 10 times, which could be cost-effective.
  3. There is a lot of potential in the technology, and understanding it fully will take some time.

Welcome to UX Psychology

UX Psychology • 59 implied HN points • 04 Oct 21
🕹 Technology Research
  1. UX Psychology newsletter covers a range of UX topics from the perspective of a UX Researcher/Cognitive Psychologist, including essays on cognition in user experience and practical research guides.
  2. The author is a UX Researcher with a PhD in Cognitive Psychology, sharing their expertise and insights after transitioning from academia to full-time UX work.
  3. Using Substack allows the author to repost previous work from other platforms and share inspiring content without the constraints they faced on Medium.

Graphene: New Comprehensive Study, Degradation, and Industry Trends

Tessa Fights Robots • 43 implied HN points • 06 Mar 24
🔬 Science Research
  1. A recent study highlighted the toxicity and degradation of graphene, raising concerns about its broad applications and potential hazards on the environment and human health.
  2. Further research is needed on the degradation of graphene-based nanomaterials to understand their environmental impact and health risks. Some compounds like humic acid and specific enzymes play a role in the biodegradation process.
  3. Graphene is a trending material in various industries, but there are growing concerns about its safety, likening it to the new asbestos or Glyphosate 2.0. Monitoring industry trends and applications of graphene is important for understanding its impact.

The problem with how we evaluate LLMs

Conrado Miranda • 2 HN points • 28 May 24
🕹 Technology Research
  1. Evaluating Large Language Models (LLMs) can be challenging, especially with traditional off-the-shelf metrics not always being suitable for broader LLM applications.
  2. Using an LLM-as-a-judge method for evaluation can provide insights, but there's a risk of over-reliance on the black-box model, leading to potential lack of understanding on improvements.
  3. Creating clear, specific evaluation criteria and considering use cases are crucial. Auto-criteria, like auto-prompting, may be future tools to enhance LLM evaluations.

Roundup: OpenAI's Sora

philsiarri • 44 implied HN points • 24 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Research
  1. OpenAI's Sora is a text-to-video model that can create videos in response to prompts, extend existing videos, and generate videos from images, but it remains unreleased as of February 2024.
  2. While Sora has potential in marketing, content creation, training, and education sectors, filmmakers believe it won't replace Hollywood due to issues like temporal consistency and artifacts.
  3. Concerns exist around the release, access, cost, and potential negative impacts of Sora, as Tyler Perry even halted studio expansion due to the tool.

All The DNA Sequencing Companies

ASeq Newsletter • 14 implied HN points • 17 Feb 25
🔬 Science Research
  1. There are many active DNA sequencing companies, and the list is always changing. Some companies that were once popular are now gone.
  2. Significantly, more DNA sequencing companies are now based in China than before. The landscape has shifted with around 15 out of 40 companies being Chinese.
  3. It's essential to stay updated about these companies as new ones emerge and old ones disappear. Sharing information can help keep track of these changes.

Three weeks to go in Vesuvius Challenge 2024!

Vesuvius Challenge • 18 implied HN points • 10 Dec 24
📚 Literature Research
  1. There are three weeks left to enter the Vesuvius Challenge 2024. Make sure to submit your entries before the deadline!
  2. The challenge offers over $500,000 in prizes for various achievements in reading ancient scrolls. It's a great chance to win while exploring history!
  3. They are hiring for their Segmentation Team, giving you a unique opportunity to work with ancient writings that nobody has seen for thousands of years.

Another Nanopore: PolySeq

ASeq Newsletter • 14 implied HN points • 16 Feb 25
🔬 Science Research
  1. PolySeq is creating a new DNA/RNA sequencing tool similar to the Oxford Nanopore. It aims to improve how we sequence genetic materials.
  2. The device weighs 1.5 kilograms and can handle 2560 wells or pores. This design helps it generate a lot of data in a short time.
  3. PolySeq plans to produce 15 to 20 gigabytes of data in just 48 hours, making sequencing faster and more efficient.

The PacBio Vega - More Tech Details

ASeq Newsletter • 21 implied HN points • 07 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Research
  1. The PacBio Vega is designed for small labs and minimizes downtime between runs. Users can load new samples while a run is ongoing, making it efficient.
  2. The technology in the Vega seems to be similar to the Revio but aims to reduce costs, likely making high-quality sequencing more accessible to small research centers.
  3. There's curiosity about how PacBio has managed to incorporate advanced computing power into a compact design, which is crucial for producing quality data without needing expensive equipment.

The Hunt for the Origin of SARS-CoV-2

A Biologist's Guide to Life • 47 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🔬 Science Research
  1. Tracking animals can lead to expanded intuition and understanding of the natural world
  2. Hunting for SARS-CoV-2 origins involves analyzing genetic traces and research methods
  3. Finding evidence of a potential lab origin for SARS-CoV-2 highlights the importance of transparency and accountability in scientific research

URGENT: Giving mRNA Covid vaccines to pregnant rats caused brain changes and autism-like behavior in their young, a new study shows

Unreported Truths • 48 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🏥 Health Politics Research
  1. A study showed that giving mRNA Covid vaccines to pregnant rats caused brain changes and autism-like behaviors in their offspring.
  2. Pregnant women were excluded from the initial vaccine trials, but they have been strongly encouraged to get the shots due to Covid risks associated with pregnancy.
  3. Understanding the potential impact of vaccines on autism and brain changes in offspring would require extensive and costly research.