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Melinda Baldwin

@mbaldwin.bsky.social
871 followers 161 following 169 posts

#histSTM studying scientific publishing, funding, and peer review. Associate prof @ UMD College Park. All opinions mine!

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Reposted by Melinda Baldwin
Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Congratulations to my colleague Rebecca Charbonneau @rebeccacharbon.bsky.social on winning the 2027 Osterbrock Prize from the American Astronomical Society's Historical Astronomy Division! aas.org/posts/news/2...
Author photo of Rebecca Charbonneau and the cover of her book Mixed Signals: Alien Communication across the Iron Curtain.
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Sjang ten Hagen @sjangtenhagen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Wanted to share my excitement about a small workshop on the history of scholarly evaluation that we hosted in Leuven over the last couple of days. The atmosphere was great and it was very productive! Here's a photo of the participants brainstorming. 1/3
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Physics Today @physicstoday.aip.org · 17/09/2026
Navigating the academic job market is always stressful, and doing so as a couple raises the stakes. Toni Feder spoke to couples about their strategies and experiences, what help institutions provide, and what sorts of solutions they’ve found—including when it’s time to walk away. #careersissue
physicstoday.aip.org
Navigating academia as a dual-career couple
Myriad solutions emerge in the stressful process of balancing professional ambition and personal happiness.
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The 51st @51st.news · 17/09/2026
A carryout on 12 St. NE in Brookland has recently blown up on social media for its innovative menu and snappy videos. @ecwilliams.bsky.social tried Today's Pizza's viral oxtail pie:
51st.news
Behind the scenes at DC's viral oxtail pizza carryout
For the team at Today's Pizza, it's always been bigger than the pies.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
OK I lied about 2 posts, going up to 3. I won't say more to avoid spoilers but it would certainly qualify for your fantasy reading goal, + it explores real-world problems of poverty/environmental justice/historical wrongs, so it might feel more compelling than elves/orcs/etc. Also, it has footnotes.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
and takes a job cleaning at a haunted (?) house owned by the sole surviving heir of the Starling family. The Starlings are famous because in the 1800s Eleanor Starling wrote a famously creepy children's book, her only work of literature. (2/2)
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I have a new recommendation! I finished "Starling House" by Alix Harrow in a doctor's waiting room today and it's a lot of fun. Set in present-day Kentucky. The protagonist Opal is trying to raise her younger brother after her mother's death (1/2)
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The American Institute of Physics history program now has a reorganized website. Whether you know nothing, a little, or a lot about our work, take a look around and see if you find anything new to you! www.aip.org/history
Screenshot of the top portion of the AIP history website, showing a feature of a history guide on Bell Labs, introductory text, and the most recent weekly/monthly email newsletters.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
If you want to cheat and read something in the HistSci realm you could also count Charles Kingsley's "The Water Babies" 😆
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"The Killing Moon" has strong elements of horror and mystery, and no dwarves/orcs/elves etc. If you want to check off your fantasy goal without reading something that feels too twee or too Renaissance Festival, that would be the one I'd suggest.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
OK, Scholomance might not be your book then (it's a dark take on a dangerous school for students who have magical abilities -- it's a lot about privilege and social class and resource use, but there's also a lot of worldbuilding to follow).
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
If you're not looking for a light read, NK Jemisin's "The Killing Moon" is an all-time favorite.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I read a fair amount of fantasy and so if you know things you'd like to seek out or avoid I can probably suggest other things too!
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
For romance I'd suggest "Book Lovers" by Emily Henry (her others are hit or miss for me but I really enjoyed that one). For fantasy, you might consider the first Scholomance book by Naomi Novik.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Hey @sadbeige.bsky.social I hope you're getting royalties on this since they've clearly mistaken your satire for recommendations.
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Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
As both an academic and a writer, I am repelled by the "this looks like a long document. Would you like me to summarize it for you?" that seems to appear at the top of every pdf viewer now. NO. The *entire point* of good writing (either books or journal papers) is that every sentence has a purpose.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Yes, it's a bit of a mystery to me why there's an ebook for sale when the book will be open access and there will be a digital version free to download! I suspect this sort of thing is auto-generated somewhere in the distributor's system.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"In Referees We Trust" will be open access and available October 13 -- but for those who prefer physical books, Barnes and Noble is running its preorder deal again! Members can get 25% off all preorders with code PREORDER25 through September 11. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-referee...
A graphic with white text on a green background, advertising a forthcoming book. Image text reads: "In Referees We Trust? How Peer Review Became a Mark of Scientific Legitimacy, by Melinda Baldwin." The book cover appears at the right of the image.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
On October 13, my book will officially be out into the world! Available open access from MIT Press, made possible in part by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. mitpress.mit.edu/978026205474...
A graphic with white text on a green background, advertising a forthcoming book. Image text reads: "In Referees We Trust? How Peer Review Became a Mark of Scientific Legitimacy, by Melinda Baldwin." The book cover appears at the right of the image.
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ertruitt.bsky.social @ertruitt.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
🚨🚨🚨JOB ALERT: The HSS Department at Penn is hiring a tenure-track or tenured professor in the history of data/info science, computing, or AI. Please share widely! apply.interfolio.com/192132
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Pope to Catholic Legislators: “Sadly, we are presented with a subtle form of domination when algorithms decide who is seen, who remains invisible, when digital platforms shape public discourse without accountability, and when the dignity of workers is subordinated to the optimization of systems.”
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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Everyone is wondering, so: yes, Bernard Derrida, awarded this year’s Dirac Medal for his work on statistical mechanics, is the cousin of Jacques Derrida, famous problematizer of binary oppositions. www.ictp.it/news/2026/8/...
ictp.it
ICTP Announces 2026 Dirac Medal Recipients | ICTP
ICTP has awarded its 2026 Dirac Medal to four physicists who have made important contributions to statistical mechanics, a framework used by physicists to describe the collective behaviour of systems ...
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DreamingAgainstTheMachine @dreamingagainstthemachine.com · 16/08/2026
@alondra.bsky.social mentions her work on manifestos meaning @adambecker.bsky.social gets to trash on one of his most hated manifestos from the tech world! #ai #datmpodcast #future #aiethics #science #marcandreessen @multitudeshows.com
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Oh nooooooo
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Wait you can do this?!
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Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Great reading for the weekend! Kate Salen Tekinbas writes in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social about how we can manage online spaces for children. In well-designed play environments, safety is not achieved by eliminating risk but by designing for it. sciencepolitics.org/2026/07/17/o...
sciencepolitics.org
Online Spaces for Children Don’t Have to Be Outlawed. They Just Have to Be Safe Enough. - Science Politics
In well-designed play environments, safety is not achieved by eliminating risk but by designing for it.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
I'm so glad you found the podcast valuable! I hope you enjoy the book!
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
The AI-written emails telling me that my book is already a failure 3+ months before publication are something else. (Don't worry, if I pay the emailer a hundred bazillion dollars they can un-fail my book.)
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
We need merch @nickseaver.website
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
My book is coming out in October and will be available open access! However, for those who prefer physical copies, Barnes & Noble is currently running a preorder sale for members. Use code PREORDER25 to get 25% off the paperback! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-referee...
barnesandnoble.com
In Referees We Trust?: How Peer Review Became a Mark of Scientific Legitimacy
Barnes & Noble’s online bookstore for books, NOOK ebooks & magazines. Shop music, movies, toys & games, too. Receive free shipping with your Barnes & Noble Membership.
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Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
We are hiring for a science policy news editorial director here at AIP. This position will coordinate coverage across our renowned FYI science policy news service and Physics Today. This is a new and exciting thing, and if this is your wheelhouse, take a look! workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/defau...
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Michael Okun @michael-okun.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
If human editors can’t control who reviews science, it’s no longer peer review — it’s a rubber-stamp machine designed for volume and profit, not quality. I have no intention of attaching my name to it. So I’m out.
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Claes Holtzmann @claeshs.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Court holds Google liable for false claims in AI Overviews. Seems significant. "A regular search engine just points to outside websites. But AI overviews generate 'independent, new, and substantive statements' by evaluating and combining content from various third-party sites" the-decoder
the-decoder.com
Landmark German ruling declares Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words and makes it liable for false answers
A German regional court has ruled that Google is directly liable for the content of its AI search overviews. According to the court, previous limited liability protections for search engine operators don't apply to AI overviews. In this case, Google's AI had falsely linked two publishers to fraud and made claims that didn't appear in any of the linked sources. The ruling could set a precedent for AI-generated content liability worldwide.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Physics Today is hiring! They're looking for a Senior Editor with a graduate degree in physics (PhD preferred) and 8+ years of science writing and editing experience. www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/44...
linkedin.com
American Institute of Physics hiring Senior Editor, Physics Today in College Park, MD | LinkedIn
Posted 12:49:14 PM. Position Title:Senior Editor, Physics TodayWHO WE ARE: Scientific discovery shapes our lives every…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
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Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences @hsnatsci.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
🚨New Issue Alert🚨 Volume 56 Issue 3 is out now with essays by Karin Nickelsen and David Kaiser, as well as a book review by John DiMoia. online.ucpress.edu/hsns/issue/5...
online.ucpress.edu
Volume 56 Issue 3 | Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences | University of California Press
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
If your business requires me to download yet another app to use it, odds are pretty good at this point I am not going to use your business. It's like a part-time job at this point. Enough.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
We are closing this call on May 31, but would still very much like to see more proposals from periods pre-1800 and regions outside the US and Europe! Please don't hesitate to reach out with questions.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
I AM AT INBOX ZERO. I do not expect this situation to last more than 2 hours but I am going to enjoy it.
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
The whole AI-to-make-graduation- efficient is bizarre. The most efficient way to award diplomas is by mail; there’s no logical need for ceremonies. The whole reason they exist is for the human touch & so people can celebrate each other. AI for “efficiency” here is nonsensical (& doesn’t even work🫠)
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
How I’d put it is that early refereeing systems were often built around social bonds, and I think one of the reasons so many scientists believe that modern “peer review” is “failing” is that we now expect a social process to perform an epistemological task it wasn’t designed for.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
You might also look at an article by Anna Gielas and Aileen Fyfe that talks about the social underpinnings of early refereeing systems and their concept of “distributed editorship!” Also the excellent open access book on the history of RS journals.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Plus a cringe custom paint job that includes slogans, electric blue, and/or unironic flames down the sides.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
All well-functioning societies operate on the basis of trust between large software conglomerates and the criminal hackers who held their product for ransom.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Listen, if we can't believe the hackers who wrecked Canvas during finals week, who can we believe any more, Sarah.
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Ryan Dahn @ryandahn.com · 06/05/2026
Extremely proud to say that my new @physicstoday.aip.org feature article is live. In it, I explore the history and context of the rare interviews with J. Robert Oppenheimer recently made public by @aiphistory.bsky.social. physicstoday.aip.org/features/opp...
physicstoday.aip.org
Oppenheimer reflects on his early career
Interviews now available to the public bring the famed physicist’s lesser-known early years to life.
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Thank you so much Alona!!
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Melinda Baldwin @mbaldwin.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
My book is webpage official! Available open access in October 2026! mitpress.mit.edu/978026205474...
mitpress.mit.edu
In Referees We Trust?
n Referees We Trust? investigates the origins of the peer review system, a system that is often considered the essential mechanism that protects the trustwor...
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UMD Department of History @umdhistory.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Julie Taddeo spoke with WBAL about King Charles's address to Congress. Read more here: www.wbaltv.com/article/hist...
wbaltv.com
History professor discusses King Charles' address to Congress
Julie Taddeo, a research professor for the University of Maryland's Department of History, discussed King Charles' address to Congress.
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