Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Doomsday is little more than a month away. At least according to a paper @science.org published in 1960. (No, really). So of course I spent the last few days delving into the paper and its history 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...science.orgWill the world end next month? Science said so, in 1960Researchers concluded that doomsday will fall on 13 November—but not for the reasons we might expect today 87429
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 07/10/2026"Information from Russia has been incomplete, confusing, and contradictory." My colleague @martinenserink.bsky.social on what we know so far about the possible plague death in Russia and the implications. 🧪science.orgPossible plague death at a Siberian lab baffles scientistsMuch is unclear about the tragedy, but plague researchers say there is “zero” chance of an epidemic 28043
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Well, this one landed right on my doorstep… www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2026... 36911
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtUlrich Schwarz @ulrichschwarz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Our summer academy on "Science and Histories of Fever" is in full swing at the Marsilius Kolleg, with great talks from e.g. @kakape.bsky.social, @feverprojecthd.bsky.social and @lendertgelens.bsky.social. If you are around, join us for "Marsilius Kontrovers" tonight at 7 pm: tinyurl.com/y8dkkxw4 0249
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtOn the Media @onthemedia.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Back in 2022, before ChatGPT was released, researchers were already trying to test how good LLMS could be at persuading humans. @kakape.bsky.social explains why those studies now present a new realm of questions about how people interact with machines. lnk.to/onthemedia/b...lnk.toOn the MediaThe Peabody Award-winning On the Media podcast is your guide to examining how the media sausage is made. Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger examine threats to free speech and government transparency, cast a skeptical eye on media coverage of the week’s big stories and unravel hidden political narratives in everything we read, watch and hear. 2206
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtPandemia @pandemia.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Wenn ihr uns bei der Arbeit an der neuen Serie unterstützen wollt: Wir können das alles nur machen dank eurer Spenden und Abos. 🙏🙏🙏 Abos am besten hier: steady.page/de/pandemia/... Oder einfach einmalig unterstützen hier: www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/...steady.pagePandemia +Ein Podcast von Laura Salm-Reifferscheidt und Kai Kupferschmidt. 094
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtPandemia @pandemia.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Bei uns ist gerade sehr viel los, darum machen wir eine klitzekleine Pause und sind dann im Oktober wieder da mit dem Anfang einer spannenden Serie zu einer Infektion, mit der wir uns schon länger beschäftigen wollten... 171
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtPandemia @pandemia.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Wir hatten es ja schon länger versprochen, aber jetzt ist die Folge auch für alle da: Franzi und Karl vom Podcast "AstroGeo" waren bei uns zu Besuch für ein Gespräch über Keime, Katastrophen und den Kosmos. Die Folge gibts z.B. hier: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p... 1131
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtOn the Media @onthemedia.bsky.social · 19/09/2026📻 Show’s up! Featuring Joshua Rothman, @jasonkoebler.bsky.social, @kakape.bsky.social: lnk.to/onthemedia/b... 2148
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtAnne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 15/09/2026The Kennedy Center was a beloved Washington institution, enjoyed by millions of people. It has been destroyed for no real reason. Just vanity, carelessness, indifference. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...theatlantic.comTrump’s Kennedy Center ShakedownThe only appropriate response is to refuse to accede to his demands. 1462429849
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtNieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard @niemanfoundation.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Apple Reference Image will let iPhone photos be saved with metadata showing they came from a real iPhone camera, @joshuabenton.com writes for @niemanlab.org. niemanlab.orgApple launches a new way to prove a photo was shot with an iPhone (not generated by AI)At its annual iPhonepalooza today, Apple announced a new feature aimed at making it easier to know where an image came from or whether it's been edited — the sort of provenance data that could be useful in detecting images altered by AI. First rumored last month, Apple Reference Image will wor… 157
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Great 🧵 There’s been a willingness from the beginning to try and find the handful sane MAHA policy positions instead of concentrating on the overwhelming agenda of rolling back science, evidence and public health. But when someone offers you a shit sandwich you don’t concentrate on the bread part. 24312
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtDavid Gorski, MD, PhD @gorskon.bsky.social · 07/09/2026This! MAHA is a movement largely made up of the affluent and privileged. These are people who are attracted to the idea that the individual is almost solely responsible for and has near complete control over his/her health, hence the hostility to public health in general, not just vaccines. 429447
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 07/09/2026“mainstream politicians need to go beyond crime and immigration and focus also on such things as increasing housing provision and public spending, limiting economic and income inequality, fighting the climate crisis and strengthening European integration” 1206
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 07/09/2026This by @casmudde.bsky.social. 100% “If democratic parties do not develop inspiring manifestos for what they want to achieve in government, liberal democrats will refuse to come out to vote and the far right will win a majority of votes – even if they represent only a minority of the population.”theguardian.comThe AfD’s win in Germany is a dark day for Europe. Time is running out to stop the far right | Cas MuddeThis party is among the most extreme in Europe. To protect our democracies, liberal parties must urgently change their tactics, says Cas Mudde, author of The Far Right Today 44616
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 07/09/2026So the Far Right deftly uses the levers of the modern information ecosystem while feeding off the very alienation and discontent the surveillance capitalism is producing. Meanwhile the democratic parties’ only version of “Nie Wieder” seems to be “Weiter so”… 2319
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtCas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 06/09/2026I don’t know how much longer I can take these dramatic election results. Year in year out, across countries, for decades now, the same mistakes, the same passivity, the same frustrating debates. 623129
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtCas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 06/09/2026No Sven Schulze, you do not need to congratulate an extreme right party when it wins elections! You have to accept the result, the reality and you should not normalize it! 215821
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtNed Richardson-Little @historyned.bsky.social · 07/09/2026The explicit plan of many intellectuals on the German far right is not to attack the constitution head on, but to culturally redefine key concepts of democracy, pluralism and rights so that its ethno-nationalist agenda is viewed as common sense. 519682
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtNaomi Klein @naomiaklein.bsky.social · 05/09/2026In our new essay for the @financialtimes.com (you read that right), @astra.bsky.social and I link the extreme weather events we have all been living through to the rise of a new iteration of futureless fascism, wherein the rich and powerful plan for their bunkered survival behind fortressed borders. 391764682
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtMaximilian Pichl @maxpichl.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Alle reden immer davon, man müsse die AfD inhaltlich stellen. In den Talkshows gestern konnten aber alle AfD-Leute mit den abstrakten Sprüchen davonkommen ala "Wir brauchen vernünftige Politik für unser Land" usw. Es wird gar nicht nachgefragt was das heißen soll. 834458
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtPandemia @pandemia.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Ein „verfluchter Sarg“, eine Goldgräberstadt und ein Ebola-Ausbruch, der offenbar viel früher begann als gedacht. Unsere neue Folge fragt: Was macht aus einem einzelnen Spillover eine Epidemie? Spoiler: Es ist nicht allein das Virus. 🎧 jetzt hier: podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/e... 2132
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 03/09/2026"When Captain Cook first landed in the Hawaiian islands his seamen left behind, well, semen, and along with it what is believed to have been syphilis." Definitely one of the more memorable first sentences of an academic paper... #IDsky 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...sciencedirect.com 44413
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Kinda hilarious to hear @michaelhobbes.bsky.social and @notalawyer.bsky.social discussing right-wing trope of gender differences in how direct feedback is handled. Having experienced US and German workplaces I’m pretty sure any Berlin woman’s feedback is gonna make the average American man cry 😂 0193
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Thanks Nadia! Hope our paths cross again soon. So much to discuss! 110
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Thanks Tamar!! Any chance you’ll be in Oregon at ScienceWriters? 100
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Also very cool: This means that I will be at ScienceWriters2026 in Oregon in a few weeks. Love meeting long-time colleagues or making new connections, so if you see me there and feel like it, do say hi! 2334
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Thanks Carl! Story about you was my first foray into doing more in-depth reporting on misinformation. 1140
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Final point: I'm really happy that the judges highlighted my work on misinformation along with my reporting on infectious diseases. I still find it pretty frustrating (for many reasons) to report on what we are learning about the changes in our information ecosystem. But I also think it's crucial. 0482
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 31/08/2026I have also learnt a lot from (and at times leaned a lot on) amazing colleagues reporting on infectious diseases both at Science and elsewhere, especially @cohenjon.bsky.social and @helenbranswell.bsky.social. I've always loved that in science journalism we are all learning from each other as we go. 1372
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 31/08/2026I’m incredibly lucky to work with a bunch of amazing colleagues at @science.org, foremost my long-time editor @martinenserink.bsky.social. I can honestly say that every story I have written for him has ended up better because of his work on it. 1321
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Feeling very honored and grateful today. Some of the journalists whose work I admire most have received this prize in the past and at a time when journalism is under threat in so many ways it’s just really heartening to be recognized by people who care deeply about journalism. 4137952
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Hackenburg’s paper is the latest in a string of studies showing the power of AI to sway people. “It’s a whole new field that is emerging,” says @profsanderlinden.bsky.social. “People are very interested in the persuasive powers of AI, I think, both for ethical and unethical reasons”🧪 In @science.orgscience.orgAI chatbots are becoming experts at changing people's minds. What's their secret?ChatGPT and other AIs use a flood of facts, and the occasional lie, to persuade humans 611076
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtCharles Q. Choi @cqchoi.com · 21/08/2026I was a judge on the 2026 Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award, and am glad that @elisecutts.bsky.social won! I highly recommend her sparkling prose on a very wide range of scientific fields, some of which you can read by going to the award announcement page: casw.org/news/elise-c...casw.orgElise Cutts wins 2026 Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award - CASW 194
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Thanks for the kind words and more importantly: Congrats!! 🎉 120
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtElise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Amazing feature on LLM persuasion by @kakape.bsky.social in @science.orgscience.orgAI chatbots are becoming experts at changing people's minds. What's their secret?ChatGPT and other AIs use a flood of facts, and the occasional lie, to persuade humans 12811
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtStephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Appreciate the author's honesty but I think he's deluding himself and has set out on a pernicious path. I don't believe thinking and writing are as easily separated as he and his AI claim. 83610
Reposted by Kai KupferschmidtHelmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social · 17/08/2026Die #Vogelgrippe bedroht auch seltene Arten wie den bis zu vier Kilo schweren Kakapo. Der Podcast @pandemia.bsky.social berichtet über die Schutzmaßnahmen für den fast ausgestorbenen Papagei & wie man versucht ihn vor #H5N1 zu bewahren. open.spotify.com/episode/1GHx...open.spotify.comVogelgrippe | Das Virus und der fliegende BacksteinPandemia · Episode 13114
Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 13/08/2026It’s so important to have science journalists that have the time and resources to do these kinds of investigations. I feel very lucky to work in a place where that’s possible with amazing colleagues like @charlespiller.bsky.social and @jennieerinsmith.bsky.social, who reported this piece. 🧪 0434