Reposted by Stephen LuntzNick (derogatory) 🎃 @slothropsmap.bsky.social · 11/10/2026In my mind the defining feature of Trump II is that is ✨actually✨ a kakistocracy. RFK Jr and Russ Vought have very little in common politically, but they do share one essential quality: they are absolutely the worst person alive for the jobs they have. 181377231
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 12/10/2026I always wonder if this is slackness by the authors not checking up, or if the communications department just shot the release out without giving them a chance to see it. 010
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 12/10/2026The number of times I have interviewed the author of a paper and said; "The media release says X" [often followed by "that seems to contradict the paper" and the authors have said; "Oh did they say that, I didn't tell them that and it's not really true". 220
Reposted by Stephen LuntzStewart Prest @stewartprest.ca · 06/10/2026I know the main headline here is PQ back in power and possibly a referendum to follow, but the 1a headline is absolutely that first past the post is not a great fit for politics in Quebec (and other provinces) at the moment. 812434
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Yes, that is definitely the sort of idea I'm looking for to contribute to. 110
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 03/10/2026One evolution's great dividing points was between the reptiles and the amphibians, with the reptiles eventually giving rise to mammals and birds. Fossils around this point are much in demand, but we've reading this one wrong based just on encasing rocks' surfaces www.iflscience.com/fossil-long-...iflscience.comFossil Long Hailed As The "World’s Oldest Reptile" Turns Out Isn’t Actually Reptilian At AllWhat do you do when your entire identity is snatched away from you? Probably not much when you’ve been dead for 345 million years. 010
Reposted by Stephen LuntzEric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Still kind of inconceivable how many people died or will die because of the death of USAID. And the world’s richest man did it almost as a joke 641975390
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Mind boggling they say 2 million when the graph indicates 12 million drop from Canada alone. 010
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 01/10/2026That graph seems to indicate a 12 million drop from Canada alone. So how is it only 2 million total? Is that a typo, or is there some other country or category making up the gap? Article paywalled, so it's not that I can't be bothered checking. 020
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026The pilot added; "BTW, you might be interested to know that we nearly hit Mach 1". The lecturer told us that as his heart rate calmed he felt a bit smug and wanted to shout "Yeah, and the wings were bending". 070
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026They leveled off at a low altitude and the pilot came on and said; "Sorry to scare you like that, but the windscreen cracked. I knew it would be alright as long as we got below X feet very quickly." I thought better to concentrate on flying than make an announcement. 150
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026He calculated at that speed there should be a noticable bend to the wings, and looked out and could see it. 150
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 30/09/2026One of my phyiscs lecturer had a story about how he was in a commercial flight that suddenly went into a steep dive. Everyone was panicing so to try to keep himself calm he did physics calculations, and worked out they must be getting very close to Mach 1. 161
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Elephants not only self-medicate using plants favored in traditional medicine, but apply them to their calves, including a remarkably sophisticated recipe for an immune-boosting smoothie www.iflscience.com/wild-african...iflscience.comWild African Elephants Found To Self-Medicate And Feed Their Calves Immunization SmoothiesThose famous memories come in useful when a member of the herd is sick. 020
Reposted by Stephen LuntzRichard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Do you have a painting or drawing by Lawrence Bragg? The Nobel Prize-winning scientist appears in the 1927 Solvay photo alongside Einstein and Marie Curie; he was also a keen painter. I’m planning an exhibition about his life and times in 2027, the centenary of this picture. 26321
Reposted by Stephen LuntzTim Hollo @timhollo.bsky.social · 24/09/2026“Should we worry?”aljazeera.comScientists warn super El Nino could cause 450,000 deaths: Should we worry?Global South countries will be worst affected by the phenomenon sweeping the planet from June to February. 6237
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026I mean some people *say* its light was hidden, but they're probably just making excuses. 120
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026While I share Alfredo's frustrations, I think he has the wrong beef here. Rather than being angry with people who got to see the last two Milky Way supernovae, he should direct his rage at the galaxy for not giving us another show for 400 years, like the rest of us do. One a century? hmph. 231
Reposted by Stephen LuntzIFLScience @iflscience.com · 21/09/2026Long theorized, it's finally been created. www.iflscience.com/birth-of-the... 042
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 18/09/2026George W Bush was a very bad president, who did one good thing, and that good thing was big. It was not big enough to compensate for all the bad things he did, but it was bigger than quite a lot of them. 0190
Reposted by Stephen LuntzCameron 🇺🇸🗽🦅 @cameroncorduroy.bsky.social · 17/09/2026if we're gonna do stupid utilitarian math then USAID saved more lives than every war-related death since WWII combined 1648069
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026If you're not aware, check out the work of Australian cricketers, at the instigation of the men's team captain. www.thecooldown.com.authecooldown.com.auThe Cool Down 010
Reposted by Stephen LuntzIFLScience @iflscience.com · 15/09/2026In trying to allow people with disabilities to say everything they want, the team have learned that verbal and non-verbal communication aren’t always simple complements for each other. www.iflscience.com/brain-implan... 075
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Saying there is a hurricane on the way without evidence there is sounds awfully like yelling fire in a crowded theatre, and I seem to recall the US supreme court had something to say about that. 000
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Well they wouldn't want One Nation voters to know if they actually are qualified, it'd be embarrassing. 041
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 01/09/2026But the fact is that few if any of the people rushing to his defence know whether he has committed fraud. They're assuming that if he's a racist he *must* be being persecuted for his views, not investigated for incompetence or fraud, which may well be what is happening. 000
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 01/09/2026Part of how science works is getting people who commit scientific fraud fired. It's a fundamental part of the process. Whether Cofnas meets that standard, I'm not sure, and I do agree that calling names is unhelpful and refusing to engage with the claims is damaging. 100
Reposted by Stephen LuntzIFLScience @iflscience.com · 31/08/2026“We may have caught them mid-evolution with their pants down.” www.iflscience.com/vegan-dracul... 083
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 27/08/2026I wrote about how distinctive, and often puzzling, many of Saturn's moons are. Despite this, everything other than Titan and Enceladus gets little attention, with low prospects of a mission to explain the mystery any time soon, even though it could test for Enceladus life at the same time. 000
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 24/08/2026She's not saying "hmm, we've only reached 3si gma certainty and as a physicist I want 5", she's saying "don't listen to the experts because their conclusion is obviously crazy to me and I'm telling you they haven't bothered to do the research" (which they have). Almost definitional science populism. 020
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 24/08/2026But she says that the consensus of experts in the field (doesn't even deign to mention personal experiences) is absolutely crazy. She then drastically misrepresents one specific paper, and claims many others don't exist. 120
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 23/08/2026The moment in the video where she said "both sides are crazy", when one of the "sides" she had just presented is the position of pretty much every relevant medical organization in the world was a bit of a give away on where she stands outside physics. www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Ka...youtube.comPhysicist Sabine Hossenfelder Screws up on Trans Kids' CareYouTube video by Rebecca Watson (Skepchick) 160
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 23/08/2026These got way more views than her ones explaining actual science, and pretty soon she was deep in conspiracy theory territory. Among other weird things she thinks it is not scientific for theoreticians to postulate new particles and experimentalists to look for them. 3521
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 23/08/2026She used to just make interesting physics videos. Then she made one about how particle physics was corrupt because it didn't recognize her brilliant work. That went off, so she started making more and more videos about how physics was "broken", and therefore all science was "broken". 3611
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I get a bit speculative at the end here, but it's possible Australians only speak English because an optical illusion made James Cook feel like a failure. 000
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I just discovered astronomers have a program for calculating the interior of exoplanets' composition based on the data we can measure and it is known as MAGRATHEA and that makes me so happy. 010
Reposted by Stephen LuntzBy Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 19/08/2026Bernie Sanders needs to stop insisting that the US government should own 50% of the money-losingest corporations the world has ever seen and start talking about how they will *not* get a government bailout when their investment bubble bursts. 22/ 116341
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026The poster said something like, "With respect, she is a paediatrician, she probably knows more than you." Batterham: "And I am the president of the International Genetics Federation" 000
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026I so wish I had screenshotted the only rival I know to this: Someone shared a simplistic biology lecture clearly intended to promote transphobia. Philip Batterham pointed out how scientifically inaccurate it was. 100
Reposted by Stephen LuntzLarissa Waters @larissawaters.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Labor, the Liberals & One Nation will join forces to pass the biggest cut to a gov program this century. Labor’s legislation will rip $38 billion from the NDIS by decade’s end. 241,000 disabled people could lose access within five years. These aren’t numbers on a spreadsheet. 47943
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 16/08/2026Ok, having now seen the second episode I whole-heartedly concur with your assessement. 000
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 16/08/2026Even with all we have discovered, the universe has the capacity to amaze us. In this case it's the most distant example of something we only discovered last year, a black hole surrounded by dense hydrogen shining 100 billion times as bright as a typical star www.iflscience.com/object-brigh...iflscience.comWe’ve Just Discovered A Brand New Object At The End Of The Universe – Meet A “Black Hole Star”People raised their eyebrows at the physicist whose paper on stars with black hole cores was inspired by Soundgarden, but maybe he was onto something. 000
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 13/08/2026The figure is what he spent purely on ads on Meta, he probably spent 10 times this in total, but that data isn't available yet, and may never be. 020
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 13/08/2026This is Meta ads alone. You can probably double or triple the figure for online advertising, then there's printing, postage. I don't know if he hired a campaign officer, but probably a campaign manager and maybe several staff. I doubt the total is under 100,000. 140
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Also, the 10,000 is the tip of the iceberg. Very unlikely he would spend that much on Meta and nothing through Google or anywhere else. Not to mention the cost of postage, printing, signs etc. 010
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 13/08/2026It's what @kevinbonham.bsky.social calls a "pollshaped object". Sample size ridiculously small even for a single constituency, and as far as I can tell not much information about how it was conducted. 100
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Except that's probably not who the 15% are. If you want to vote for one of the 30-something other candidates, but have not decided which one, you probably get counted as "don't know". I don't think any of the others will do well, but I expect that cumulatively they will do a lot better than 5% 100
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 10/08/2026It absolutely makes sense in terms of hatred. Renewable energy is associated both with the nerds he hates for being smarter than him, and is also coded feminine (people used to call renewables "soft technology".) 010
Stephen Luntz @sluntz.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Had a chance to win some great publicity making it look like he's human, but decides to break the law instead in order to confirm he's incapable of empathy. 021
