iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Countless development economics and public health interventions are delivered all the time in locations around the world. Our research indicates that these interventions may be inadvertently inducing changes in who is connected to whom, in ways that might either harm or benefit local populations. 2/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 13h

With gratitude for primary funding by NIH & The Gates Foundation, and for additional support via the NOMIS Foundation, The Pershing Square Foundation, Paul Graham, NSF, and the Office of Naval Research. 12/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 17h

Thanks for the kind words, Colin. Looking forward to our paths crossing in person before too long. :-)

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

In aggregate, the introduction of a new information regime acted as a kind of social institution, rewiring individuals’ connections even though the overall degree distribution of village-wide networks remained relatively stable. 11/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Moreover, although the intervention delivered health information, it reshaped friendship and financial ties within the village social networks, not just health-advice connections. Network multiplexity strikes again. 10/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

The social network rewiring even lasted for three years after the intervention had ceased, suggesting the exogenous development “institution” may have induced long-term social changes. 9/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

These average changes are explained mainly by tie dynamics; that is, treated–treated pairs of villagers persist and form new links, whereas treated–untreated ties dissolve. 8/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Conversely, in high-dosage villages (with 50–100% of households treated with the educational intervention), treated individuals increased their social ties. 7/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

In ‘low-dosage’ villages (in which 5–30% of households received the 22-month educational intervention), people who received the intervention tended to sever ties with also-untreated individuals to whom they previously went for health advice. 6/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

In 8,331 people in 110 remote Honduran villages, we evaluated the secondary effects of a 22-month maternal & child health intervention on pre-existing social network structure. We used a design in which a varying fraction of village households received the intervention. 5/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

We used data from a prior paper of ours that experimentally established the role social contagion (to two degrees of separation) in inducing village-wide behavior change in isolated, rural Honduras (published in @science.org in 2024): www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 4/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

We investigated the possible transformative effects of exogenous education interventions on social interactions in traditional village settings using an RCT, examining the connections that individuals keep, drop, or form, as well as the overall structure of village-wide networks that might arise. 3/

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Dartmouth Arts and Sciences @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Computer science professor @nikhilsinghmus.bsky.social explains while AI agents are not new, the growing accessibility and adoption of new AI agents from Meta and OpenAI could lead to significant social changes. He recommends testing their reasoning abilities to better understand their limitations.

scientificamerican.com

Meet Mark and Sam, the AI agents that ran my errands for a week

Meta’s and OpenAI’s new agents can streamline your life. Artificial intelligence researchers helped me test how far to trust them

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Jason Rasgon @vectorgen.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

This is a new one. Just resubmitted a manuscript & it got kicked back for having an "iThenticate score higher than the acceptable limit". i.e. accusing us of plagiarism. Want to know what it flagged? The fucking bioRxiv preprint. Do humans not review this bullshit before it's sent out? I hate AI

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Unprecedented corruption

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I hope you like it. I read the audiobook myself. ;-) Five days in a booth.

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Curiosity caught an extraordinary panorama at dawn on Mars: the yardangs — wind-sculpted cliffs on Mount Sharp — lit by morning light. Shot 11 Aug 2026 at 8:30 local, no white balancing so the blue early-morning tones stay visible. The most detailed view ever. www.nasa.gov/missions/mar... 🔭 ⚛️🧪

nasa.gov

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Catches Stunning Martian Dawn - NASA

A newly released panorama captured by NASA’s Curiosity rover offers the most detailed view yet of distant, wind-carved Martian cliffs, highlighting features

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Steven Strogatz @stevenstrogatz.com · 13/10/2026

I spoke with The Daily about what’s happening to mathematics in the age of AI—and what it feels like to be a mathematician right now. The conversation went places I hadn’t expected. Thank you to Rachel Abrams, Annie Minoff, and their team. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/p...

nytimes.com

Mathematicians’ Latest Problem: What if A.I. Can Do Our Job?

In the span of just a few months, A.I. systems have solved some of the biggest outstanding problems in math — adding mathematicians to the list of those terrified of losing their job to the technology...

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Neuroskeptic @neuroskeptic.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Sex Differences in Human Subcortical Anatomy are Robust and Replicable in Adulthood, Already Evident Prepubertally, and Aligned with Sex Chromosomal and Gonadal Influences www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Dr Robin George Andrews @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

NEW: The US wants to put a base on the Moon. So does China. Both could develop into small cities. One problem: the Moon is a comically lethal place. It will do its best to try to kill you. So can it be done? Should it be? A deep dive: @technologyreview.com www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/12/1...

technologyreview.com

Mars may be a hellhole, but the moon is not far behind

We’re still imagining building cities on the moon. There are just a few obstacles in the way.

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I was very impressed by all the terrific science by both established and early career researchers at the @csh.ac.at in Vienna. Also, they have quite a painting in their foyer.

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 12/10/2026

Hundreds of fortified hillforts, known as pukaras, dot the Andean highlands. A network analysis modeling defensive coordination among the pukaras supports the idea that defensive coalitions were important in the formation of polities. In PNAS: ow.ly/Gybk50ZWXjc

The study area of the south-central Andean highlands, showing hillforts identified in satellite surveys, along with photos of plains and valley landscapes.

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Dartmouth Arts and Sciences @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Using hundreds of satellite images from over 40 years, a new Dartmouth-led study provides the first regional analysis of greening trends in the northern Appalachian region, showing that 69% of the alpine zones studied have experienced significant increases in vegetation.

fas.dartmouth.edu

Study Finds Alpine Peaks Are Greening in Northeast U.S., Canada | Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Satellite imagery shows the impact of wind above the tree line.

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Looking forward to talking about "Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society" at Harvard Medical School @harvardmed.bsky.social on November 12. occe.hms.harvard.edu/event/bluepr...

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Colin Camerer @cfcamerer.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

#socforneuroecon Amrita Lamba et al MIT work showing social media use (esp TikTok) by 13-15yos is associated with lower striatal money reward sensitivity (using fMRI), as is true of pathological gamblers

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Surely American society can find a sensible middle ground between defunding the police and having public executions.

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

NBER @nber.org · 10/10/2026

Studying how El Salvador’s 2022 State of Exception, which ended two decades of gang territorial control, reshaped Salvadoran society, from Carlos Schmidt-Padilla, Nikita Melnikov, and María Micaela Sviatschi www.nber.org/papers/w35866

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Nick Kristof @nickkristof.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Thirty-two US states still allow child marriage. Two states have no minimum age limit, and kids as young as 10 are married in the US. Astonishingly, some progressive groups defend child marriage as "child rights." This is nuts. My @nytopinion.nytimes.com column: www.nytimes.com/2026/10/10/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | How Is Child Marriage Still Legal in the U.S.? (Gift Article)

Children are still allowed to marry here in the United States because of zealots on the left and right alike.

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Lars Chittka @larschittka.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Bumblebees prefer shorter over longer strings and connected over disconnected ones in string‐pulling tasks but prioritize connectivity over spatial proximity when the two are in conflict - Wen - 2026 - Insect Science - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Bumblebees prefer shorter over longer strings and connected over disconnected ones in string‐pulling tasks but prioritize connectivity over spatial proximity when the two are in conflict

We investigated how bumblebees balance efficiency and accessibility in string-pulling tasks. When given strings of different lengths attached to rewards, they consistently chose the shorter one. They...

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 09/10/2026

Ossoff: "I think Pete Hegseth is frankly a deeply unwell person who seems to relish this kind of brutality all the while he's running a department that is falling into chaos. The guy cannot run the military competently and is spending his time with this kind of obscene medieval spectacle."

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

You are having higher-quality dreams than I am.

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I’m so ashamed of our country right now. The brutality of the other botched execution… the venality and corruption and amorality of our “leaders,” all of it.

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Lisa @tuexplorer1.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

@noncompliantcyborg.bsky.social check out the amazing zooms on this Lobate Ctenophore! Epic flying, Pilots! @schmidtocean.bsky.social dive 969 #samplinggap #MarineLife

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

Ari Strandburg-Peshkin @arispeshkin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

We are offering 3 #PhD positions in our Ecology of Animal Societies Department @livingingroups.bsky.social at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior - check them out! imprs-qbee.mpg.de/66685/current

imprs-qbee.mpg.de

Current

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Reposted by Nicholas A. Christakis

MIT Technology Review @technologyreview.com · 09/10/2026

Casey Harrell, paralyzed by ALS, has logged over 3,800 hours using a brain-computer interface at home — far beyond what any previous user has achieved — communicating with 99% accuracy across a 125,000-word vocabulary.

trib.al

This man with ALS is “the first power user” of a brain implant that lets him speak

Casey Harrell uses his implants to talk to friends and family, read to his young daughter, and perform his job.

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Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Wonderful science! Documentation of 597 wooden imprints and charred wood remains from 62-40kya, identifying tools, weapons, domestic artifacts, and structural elements — including wooden spears, pointed sticks, trays/tripods. This shows the importance of wood in Neanderthal technology.

science.org

Neanderthal woodworking at Abric Romaní: Insights into the role of wood in a Middle Palaeolithic domestic context

Wood technology likely played a key role in human evolution, yet it remains poorly documented because organic materials rarely preserve in archaeological contexts. The Middle Palaeolithic site of Abri...

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