Sign in

Hannah Waters

@hanner.bsky.social
3.8K followers 737 following 224 posts

senior editor @quantamagazine.org covering biology | former climate editor at Audubon | send story tips and pitches: hwaters@quantamagazine.org | quantamagazine.org/biology work portfolio: hanjeanwat.com/about

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 18h
New post on Transformation: Deluge of 377 OpenAI proofs bewilders the math world www.quantamagazine.org/updates/tran...
quantamagazine.org
Transformation | Quanta Magazine
A weekly dispatch exploring the latest news in math and AI…
0267
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Ryan Stauffer @ryanswx.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Haha, this fucking sucks.
261197397
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Ken Schwencke @schwanksta.com · 06/10/2026
A year ago, @propublica.org told you immigration agents had detained more than 170 U.S. citizens. We’ve updated our count, and we’ve got all the receipts. The tally: At least 506 citizens detained. Sometimes held at gunpoint, handcuffed, or even deported. projects.propublica.org/american-cit...
projects.propublica.org
More Than 500 U.S. Citizens Have Been Detained, Including Handcuffed or Held at Gunpoint, in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown — ProPublica
The government doesn’t track how often immigration officers detain U.S. citizens. So ProPublica did. We’ve found more than 500 Americans who were held against their will during this Trump administrati...
261569924
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 05/10/2026
For columnist Jordana Cepelewicz, the core of math lies in its beauty, intuition, and depth. What happens if AI takes all of that away? Read the latest Qualia: www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-the-en…
quantamagazine.org
Is AI the End of Math As We Know It? | Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians are facing the sudden shift with grief, anger, and a desperate search for fresh ideas: “If we don’t adapt, there’s just no more math in 50 years.”
1125
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
can’t stop watching this documentary about one of the ai architects talking about making art with his boys and then maybe destroying what they all love www.newyorker.com/video/watch/...
newyorker.com
An OpenAI Engineer and His Friends Debate the Future | The New Yorker Documentary
020
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Nathaniel Comfort @nccomfort.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Most histories take the double helix as the obvious goal of xrc on DNA fibers. If we want to honor Franklin, we need to stop trying to explain her work as almost getting the double helix. We need to understand her on her own terms. The Sponsel and Sutton paper takes us a good step in that direction
15516
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Talking to our math editor @jordanacep.bsky.social the past weeks has helped me understand the AI crisis in math — and what mathematics is, and what mathematicians do, more fundamentally. Now you can read her brilliant thoughts in her Qualia essay: www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-the-en...
quantamagazine.org
Is AI the End of Math As We Know It? | Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians are facing the sudden shift with grief, anger, and a desperate search for fresh ideas: “If we don’t adapt, there’s just no more math in 50 years.”
050
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Thomas Lin @7homaslin.com · 05/10/2026
Unsurprisingly, one of the smartest and most thoughtful essays synthesizing what’s happening in math right now comes from @quantamagazine.org’s math editor @jordanacep.bsky.social. Worth reading every word: www.quantamagazine.org/is-ai-the-en...
quantamagazine.org
Is AI the End of Math As We Know It? | Quanta Magazine
Mathematicians are facing the sudden shift with grief, anger, and a desperate search for fresh ideas: “If we don’t adapt, there’s just no more math in 50 years.”
131
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Science Magazine @science.org · 05/10/2026
Exclusive: A new analysis refutes James Watson’s claim that he was the first to recognize the significance of the famed photograph 51. scim.ag/4rTKck8
scim.ag
How did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’t
New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51
412161770
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
there's a lot of them! and hopefully some of them come through via contrast in yasemin's article
000
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Still jazzed on this @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social feature that uses the endless AI/brain comparisons to explore how much weirder and wilder the real human brain is than any neural network.... 101 reading imo! Appreciate your evolved unengineered organ! www.quantamagazine.org/ai-is-nothin...
quantamagazine.org
AI Is Nothing Like a Brain, and That’s OK | Quanta Magazine
The brain’s astounding cellular diversity and networked complexity could show how to make AI better.
1102
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Stephen C. Rea @stevierea.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The “ceasefire” will be one year old next week. Since then, Israeli strikes have killed more than 1400 Gazans
71228557
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Anthony Edwards @edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Breaking news: The Earth is getting rounder agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
INBOX:
Earth’s poles are rising by 0.5 to 1 millimeters per year, slowly un-squashing our planet’s slightly flattened, jelly-donut-like shape, according to a new study. Linking satellite measurements of changing altitude across Earth’s surface from 1997 to 2015 to the planet’s shape, researchers found that the rounding effect also seems to be accelerating over time, with the poles rising an extra 0.4 millimeters per year faster every decade. Though our planet seems solid, the Earth’s interior acts more like an extremely slow-flowing liquid, warping over time under forces like the weight of ice sheets and oceans. Currently, our planet bulges out a little around the equator. But as ice sheets melt and reduce the force acting on the Earth at the poles, the equator is gradually cinching in as the poles push upwards, molding our planet into a more spherical shape. [JGR Solid Earth study]

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026JB034224
3932271
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Jews For Racial & Economic Justice Action @jfrejnyc.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Mazal tov to our partners at @nyclu.org and @maketheroadny.bsky.social for making official what has been clear to courtwatch volunteers all along: it is illegal for ICE to arrest people for showing up for their mandated hearings at immigration court. www.nyclu.org/press-releas...
nyclu.org
Federal Court Strikes Down ICE’s Courthouse Arrest Policy Nationwide - NYCLU
1239
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
dude thanks for posting this. Love deafheaven and had never heard Alcest, I have been enjoying greatly!
120
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 23/09/2026
“Jumping genes” can cut and paste themselves into new locations in the genome. But they’re more than parasites or genetic junk. www.quantamagazine.org/how-virus-li…
04620
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
omg i love them so much
000
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Rachel Holliday Smith @rachelholliday.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
chat is this good www.axios.com/newsletters/...

1 big thing: Ø Link economy breaks
Total U.S. web traffic for top news sites
Visits to approximately 100 top sites;

Traffic to news sites is plummeting in the
U.S. as tech giants steer people away from search and toward AI.
41815219
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 21/09/2026
The DNA in your cells has a much more complicated backstory than you might think. To convey this, our art department gave stop-motion a try:
1283
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Or: how to make peace with the parasitic half of your genome by @jakebuehler.bsky.social www.quantamagazine.org/how-virus-li...
quantamagazine.org
How Virus-like ‘Jumping Genes’ Became Our Partners in Evolution | Quanta Magazine
Half of our genome is made of transposons — snips of DNA that can move and copy themselves. But they’re more than parasites or genetic junk.
052
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Nicole Chung @nicolechung.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Periplus, a mentorship collective serving US-based early-career writers of color, is now accepting applications for our 2027 class of fellows! Apply by Oct. 11: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... You can learn more about Periplus (including fellowship eligibility requirements) at bit.ly/periplusfaq
docs.google.com
1181192
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Duuude I cannot wait to buy this for all the kiddos in my life. Congratulations
111
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Seriously - Colin taught me to be a better writer and editor - original ideas - hard working - edits astoundingly short and to word count - great personality - a certain reserved wisdom - I still quote him to writers struggling to find a story. Someone hire this man!
030
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Nooo how could they be so stupid!!!
120
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Colin Schultz @colinschultz.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I'm really not sure how to say this, so I'm just going to say it: My contract at @biographic.bsky.social is not being renewed. As management let me know not long ago, the latest funding crisis--really, the latest in a string of funding crises--was just too much to handle.
174015
Reposted by Hannah Waters
ve, the ghost of info past @vortexegg.com · 13/09/2026
Fwiw it's straightforward right now why this is happening; and it's the same reason why the global far right supremacist eliminationist movement is happening, the christian extremist apocalyptic immenantization is happening, etc. People are bug fuck out of their minds in denial of the climate crisis
437269
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Holly Bik @hollybik.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Never thought I’d wake up and see @echinoblog.bsky.social @noaa.gov on the front page of the celebrity gossip subreddit. But I guess we have two new #deepsea celebrities! www.reddit.com/r/popculture...
0519
Reposted by Hannah Waters
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is super interesting, at least to me.
quantamagazine.org
Why Do These Fossil Shells Flip Their Spirals Every Few Millennia? | Quanta Magazine
The mystery of the flipping foraminifera may conceal a rarely observed evolutionary process playing out across the planet.
38414
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 11/09/2026
For millions of years, marine plankton built their spiral shells in one direction. Then, suddenly, their spiral direction changed at the same time. And then, they switched back again. What is causing these peculiar shifts? www.quantamagazine.org/why-do-these...
quantamagazine.org
Why Do These Fossil Shells Flip Their Spirals Every Few Millennia? | Quanta Magazine
The mystery of the flipping foraminifera may conceal a rarely observed evolutionary process playing out across the planet.
13413
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
“Polyploidy is the most important process on the planet that hardly anybody knows anything about.” www.quantamagazine.org/genome-dupli...
quantamagazine.org
Genome Duplication Is a Radical Evolutionary Gamble | Quanta Magazine
By doubling their entire genome, organisms can evolve extremely rapidly — or they can lose it all. New studies reveal how to survive the high-risk, high-reward evolutionary event.
022
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 11/09/2026
Introducing Transformation, Quanta Magazine’s weekly bulletin chronicling the latest news in math and AI — and what it means for mathematics as a whole, written by @kkakaes.bsky.social. Read our first post: www.quantamagazine.org/updates/tran...
quantamagazine.org
Transformation | Quanta Magazine
A weekly dispatch exploring the latest news in math and AI…
1204
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Congrats to my colleagues on the launch of a weekly dispatch on how AI is transforming research mathematics - which, a year ago, felt far away and now seems to be happening all at once... www.quantamagazine.org/updates/tran...
quantamagazine.org
Transformation | Quanta Magazine
A weekly dispatch exploring the latest news in math and AI…
000
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 03/09/2026
Most of the produce aisle exists thanks to genome duplication events. www.quantamagazine.org/genome-dupli…
0276
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
once in a while, a mistake of cell division results in an organism having double chromosomes. genomic data is revealing just how often genome duplication has led to major evolutionary innovation - www.quantamagazine.org/genome-dupli...
001
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Lennon @lennon-s.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
When i was homeless the thing that moved the needle for me (and got me from homeless to homeowner) wasn’t sweeps or drug education or “outreach” programs It was having a safe place to shower, use the restroom and store my stuff. A place to catch my breath. House the homeless.
330151
Reposted by Hannah Waters
PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Each Year Worldwide @tkovach.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
"At the time the game was paused, the temperature in Topeka, Kan., was 99 degrees with a heat index of 108... By rule, the game could not resume until the wet-bulb thermometer temperature dropped below 92.1 degrees...After a lengthy delay, the game was called."
nytimes.com
College football game ends in tie after 108-degree heat index makes OT untenable
043
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Stax records museum!
010
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This is pretty fucking wild. I had assumed in a worst case scenario he would target blue zip codes and toss ballots based on technicalities but this is even worse than I imagined.
Not only is this system astonishingly untested, USPS has simultaneously implemented an
impracticable zero percent failure rate.
13 When ballots are submitted to USPS in large-volume
batches, if any one ballot in the batch cannot be verified against the Portal, all ballots in that
batch will be rejected. For example, if a state election official brings a batch of 10,000 ballots to
USPS and USPS is unable to match just one of those ballots against the Portal – because, for
example, someone has recently changed their name after marriage or they’ve moved – then
USPS would refuse to mail the remaining 9,999 ballots as well. As the whistleblower notes,
34895824675
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
awesome. we have to meet up for a coffee! will be in touch. congrats again 🏆
010
Hannah Waters @hanner.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Woohoo! Congratulations, Elise, so well deserved. Will I see you at NASW next month then??
100
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Virginia Gewin @virginiagewin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The @sciencewriters.org meeting is just over a month away at @oregonstate.edu! #SciWri26 Check out this amazing Pitch Slam panel: @blkahn.bsky.social @wired.com @rachelcourtland.com @technologyreview.com @hanner.bsky.social @quantamagazine.org Chuck Squatriglia @grist.org Polish those pitches!
Advertisement for the Pitch Slam at the NASW conference in Corvallis, Oregon on Sept 27 at 11:15. Chuck Squatriglia (Grist), Rachel Courtland (MIT Tech Review), Brian Kahn (Wired) and Hannah Waters (Quanta) are the editors who will provide feedback on 1 minute story pitches.
088
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Michel Nivard @michelnivard.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
A mother of a 16 year old, green card holder, a psychology and statistics professor at Los Angeles Pierce College, very much “someone like me”, has been in ICE detention since April. She and her family have even been blocked from self deprorting to Turkey. Bone chilling read.
thenation.com
One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention
03219
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Robin Berghaus @robinberghaus.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Writers, bring your pitches for feedback on Sept 27 @11:15am at Pitch Slam! @sciencewriters.org #NASW #SciWri26 Panelists: Chuck Squatriglia @grist.org @rachelcourtland.com @technologyreview.com Brian Kahn @wired.com @hanner.bsky.social @quantamagazine.org 🔗 Register sciencewriters2026.org
ScienceWriters2026
Corvallis, OR

Pitch Slam 
September 27 at 11:15am

Photos of panelists include:
Chuck Squatriglia | Senior Editor, Grist
Rachel Courtland | Commissioning Editor, MIT Technology Review
Brian Kahn | Senior Science Editor, WIRED
Hannah Waters | Senior Editor, Biology, Quanta Magazine

Moderator and organizers
Sarah Scoles, Virginia Gewin, and Robin Berghaus

LIVE in Corvallis, writers will pitch one-minute story ideas and receive immediate feedback from editors!
145
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
A new editorial by @utafrith.bsky.social on whether the term "autism" has been broadened so much that it's lost its meaning www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Autism spectrum disorder: has it lost its meaning and is it leading to misdiagnosis? | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core
Autism spectrum disorder: has it lost its meaning and is it leading to misdiagnosis? - Volume 56
22212
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Zeke Hausfather @zekehausfather.com · 02/08/2026
I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.
9035111732
Reposted by Hannah Waters
EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
No professional accomplishment has ever made me happier than this. theonion.com/translator-o...
theonion.com
Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation
PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...
257239344577
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Terrific finds, great article
nature.com
40,000-year-old bird carvings provide clues to how ice age humans flourished
Newly discovered figurines point to skills that might have helped shape early humans’ expansion across Europe.
34514
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 28/07/2026
Shayan Oveis Gharan has trouble staying still — so it’s fitting that he’s known for his work on the traveling salesperson problem, a notoriously difficult computational problem about roaming from place to place. And now he’s won the IMU Abacus Medal.
quantamagazine.org
Shayan Oveis Gharan Wins 2026 IMU Abacus Medal | Quanta Magazine
Shayan Oveis Gharan has won the Abacus Medal for using tools from across mathematics to boost the power of algorithms.
0124
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 28/07/2026
65,765 people were in ICE detention as of July 11, in ICE's first data since April. Arrests hit a record 1,474 a day, and the largest group in custody has no criminal history at all. Full edition: austinkocher.substack.com/p/this-week-...
8258193
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 27/07/2026
Cows can eat up to 100lbs daily, thanks to the bustling microbiome in their gut pouch. All that digestion results in a whole lot of cow burps. And all those cow burps are warming our planet. Scientists are exploring new ways to squelch the belch. www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-way-th...
quantamagazine.org
A New Way That a Cow’s Inner World Shapes Earth’s Atmosphere | Quanta Magazine
An organelle discovered inside a microbe inside a cow’s gut helps explain how livestock burps contribute to warming our planet.
2173