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Stephen Turner

@stephenturner.us
9.4K followers 485 following 4.3K posts

Field guide. Quartermaster. Associate Professor and Research Dean at UVA School of Data Science. Views my own. Web: datascience.virginia.edu/people/ste… Newsletter: blog.stephenturner.us

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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 22h
Academic life & discourse, biosecurity, AIxBio, creativity, peer review, Thomas Jefferson blog.stephenturner.us/p/september-...
blog.stephenturner.us
September 2026 links
Thomas Jefferson, biosecurity, AI, creativity, peer review, academic life & discourse
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 28/09/2026
The human genome is part virus. And here's a virus that's part human, having picked up a human gene about 100,000 years ago. My story here: nyti.ms/4hRKNPC
nyti.ms
This Virus Stole a Human Gene and Won’t Let Go of It (Gift Article)
Scientists have found a human gene lurking in a virus that causes skin infections. It may be using our own DNA to infect us.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 28/09/2026
First time using ChatGPT/Claude + Chrome to control a browser. Filling out an incredibly annoying form using answers I compiled in a separate word doc. And doing so flawlessly. Old news I suppose, but seems like game over for the integrity of online training platforms, LMS/Canvas-based testing, etc.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 26/09/2026
Personal essay, weekend edition. My relationship with AI is changing. 1.8k words, 8 min reading time. doi.org/10.59350/bh7...
doi.org
My relationship with AI is changing
When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 27/09/2026
I had a lovely (cold!) ride through Shenandoah this morning with a friend. But I had to renew my National Park pass and I’m truly appalled that I have to carry this around in my wallet for the next year.
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Kinga Kamieniarz-Gdula @stoplab.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A thoughtful essay on AI use in science. Found it a good read.
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Alexey Veraksa @veraksa.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
“Even flawless prose wouldn’t make me less reluctant to spend an hour reading something that its author spent less than 10 minutes “writing.””
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BF Francis Ouellette @bffo.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"I love that blogs are making a comeback." Yes, me too!
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Damien C-C @dccc-phd.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"Part of the reason I read the things I read is to understand how another person thinks."
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Damien C-C @dccc-phd.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"every time I delegated the writing I missed out on much of the *thinking* that I would have done while trying to think through or explain an idea"
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Timothée Lionnet @successprocess.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
great piece, along with giorgio.gilest.ro/the-weimar-o... I'm feeling somewhat protected because I evolve in an experimental data-driven field, but definitely feeling the flood coming, and the need for new incentives
giorgio.gilest.ro
The Weimar of knowledge – la bottega
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Michael D. Green, PhD @michaeldgreen.phd · 26/09/2026
imo debates around AI use are often not nuanced. Usually 2 diametrically opposed views in a standoff as we all navigate our slop filled world. I also find myself reading less because of the sheer volume of nonsense I come across. Incentives and culture around this need to change. @stephenturner.us
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Tan G. @tangandhara.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The section on reading was very relatable, especially this line: “Part of the reason I read the things I read is to understand how another person thinks.”
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 26/09/2026
Come set up shop here. #Charlottesville is a hidden gem for incubating biotech, and we're pumping out tons of talent at UVA. www.wvtf.org/news/2026-09...
wvtf.org
How Charlottesville became home to more than 250 life science companies
Universities train many students in biotech and life sciences. Some have promising ideas for improving human health, but they need help to start a company that can turn those ideas into products or se...
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 26/09/2026
Personal essay, weekend edition. My relationship with AI is changing. 1.8k words, 8 min reading time. doi.org/10.59350/bh7...
doi.org
My relationship with AI is changing
When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?
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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Thoughts and prayers for research data managers everywhere. You are not alone. We will get through this together techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/excelbl...
techcommunity.microsoft.com
Excel now supports multiple values in a single cell | Microsoft Community Hub
Lists, arrays in cells, and nested arrays introduce new ways to store and organize related information, helping you keep data together without sacrificing...
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 24/09/2026
Graduating into Disruption: Labor Market Outcomes for AI-Exposed College Majors www2.census.gov/library/work...
www2.census.gov
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 24/09/2026
Hear me out. New overlay journal. No APCs, but submitters pay a fee to submit. E.g. $1200. $400 goes to each of 2 reviewers. If accepted, $400 goes to journal admins, editors, hosting fees, etc. If rejected, $400 returned to authors. Cuts down on slop. Reviewers get paid. What am I missing?
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 24/09/2026
$100 in Claude Code cloud credits claude.ai/code/claim-c...
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 23/09/2026
How to fix AI in higher ed: a thread 🧵 1/999:
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 23/09/2026
Book rec. Old, but fantastic intro to cryptography for people like me who know nothing about cryptography. Intertwines historical narrative with technical explainers, from Mary Queen of Scots through a deep dive on Turing's attack on the German Enigma machine cipher. www.amazon.com/dp/038549532...
amazon.com
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography: Singh, Simon: 9780385495325: Amazon.com: Books
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography [Singh, Simon] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient ...
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 23/09/2026
Anthropic is a biotech firm now www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdCE...
youtube.com
Inside Anthropic's molecular biology lab
YouTube video by Anthropic
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 23/09/2026
Google research: ScientistTwo: Pioneering the Human Knowledge Frontier with Autonomous AI arxiv.org/abs/2609.19644
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 23/09/2026
new productivity bar for P&T www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
washingtonpost.com
Using AI, a professor wrote 200 papers this year. Researchers are alarmed.
An online platform removed 257 papers written or co-written by the University of Chicago’s Nicholas Polson after other academics raised questions.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 23/09/2026
"Because Opus 5.5 is comparable to Claude Mythos 5.1 in biology and cybersecurity, we’re deploying it with safeguards similar to those on Claude Fable 5.1." www.anthropic.com/claude-opus-...
anthropic.com
Introducing Claude Opus 5.5
Claude Opus 5.5 leads in agentic coding and knowledge work, and costs 40% less to run than Opus 5 on typical workloads.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 23/09/2026
Pacing the frontier
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 22/09/2026
Read this, and really everything they're writing and doing at @securebio.org 👇
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 22/09/2026
It's a silly measure (papers^0.75 / h-index), but happy to see I'm low on the slop index percentile 🙃 slop-index.com/researcher/3...
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BF Francis Ouellette @bffo.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
From @stephenturner.us on #PairedEnds | AI + Biosecurity in 4 minutes | #OpenScience #Education #Bioinformatics #Genomics #Biosecurity #AI #StephenOnTV #ScienceInTheNews #Great4Minutes | 🧬🖥️🧪🔓 ⬇️ blog.stephenturner.us/p/ai-biosecu...
blog.stephenturner.us
AI + Biosecurity in 4 minutes
I got four minutes on live TV news to take on an important but nuanced topic.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 22/09/2026
Went on live TV news last night talking about AI safety and #biosecurity
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 21/09/2026
VAISI, the student-organized Virginia AI Security Initiative, has a great event lineup www.vaisi.org/events
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 20/09/2026
Sunday relief: Ctenophores Aren’t Just Beautiful. They’re Biological Wonders www.quantamagazine.org/ctenophores-...
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 20/09/2026
Rumor has it ICLR has over 50k submissions. Can anyone in the know verify? seems like this could really break the conference paper review system.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 19/09/2026
Wahoowa
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
www.reuters.com/world/anthro...
reuters.com
EXCLUSIVE: Anthropic quietly sets up biology lab as it ramps AI drug program
At a time when fears of AI are gripping the public, the startup has built a wet lab — or ​place for physical experiments — in the San Francisco Bay Area, two people familiar with the matter said.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
interesting ep on the effective altruism and rationalist communities' ties with the current AI doomer/accelerationist debate www.nytimes.com/2026/09/18/p...
nytimes.com
The Techno-Religion at the Center of the A.I. Debate (Gift Article)
Are those calling to slow down the development of artificial intelligence in a “doomsday cult,” as some critics say? Our reporter explains.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
well that's a thing. AI produced false intelligence about a chinese ship in the middle east transporting nukes. the report made its way through the military as credible intelligence. armed personnel were preparing to board before SOCOM caught the error. lite.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...
lite.cnn.com
Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
Join us here in the University of Virginia School of Data Science @uvadatascience.bsky.social! We're hiring a tenure track / tenured prof in LLMs (/NLP) apply.interfolio.com/191213 and data & society (social sciences, policy, humanities, law, business, etc) apply.interfolio.com/191214
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
And the reason the likelihood can stay low is because of really talented people and orgs working on making sure it stays low with layered defense: pre-release testing, limits and monitoring for high-risk AI use, safeguards at physical chokepoints like DNA synthesis... www.wired.com/story/why-ai...
wired.com
Why AI Isn’t Likely to Wipe Out Humanity With Bioweapons
Of all the threats presented by uncontrollable artificial intelligence, scientists say death by plague ranks low.
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Michal Monselise @michalmonselise.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
And 29% are lying...
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
i tell my students every class it seems like these frontier labs are becoming biotech companies www.anthropic.com/research/cla...
anthropic.com
How Claude is uplifting biomolecular modeling
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
i could not stop thinking about the S̶o̶u̶t̶h̶ ̶P̶a̶r̶k̶ South America episode while e-biking into work today
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
Seems low. Numerator off a bit. gizmodo.com/71-of-americ...
gizmodo.com
71% of Americans Say They're Completely Exhausted
A CDC report shows that people are not feeling relaxed and restful in the United States.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
S'all good, man openai.com/index/astra-...
openai.com
Introducing Astra for Law
OpenAI for Law brings frontier intelligence for law, custom firm workflows, connected legal data sources, and legal-grade controls for confidential client work.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 18/09/2026
The Virtual Biotech: A multi-agent AI framework for therapeutic discovery and development www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 17/09/2026
I wrote about what came before CRISPR 4 billion years ago: a war among viruses. Gift link: nyti.ms/3TBq4q0
nyti.ms
The Next Gene-Editing Technology May Also Be the Oldest (Gift Article)
Scientists have discovered a powerful gene-targeting system in viruses. Billions of years old, VIPR seems to predate CRISPR and may be even more powerful.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 17/09/2026
When I got DOOM to run on a digital pregnancy test I thought we'd reached peak DOOM now these folks at Google have a fruit fly brain slaying demons www.nytimes.com/2026/09/15/t...
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 17/09/2026
Three biological data bills, with OpenAI support doi.org/10.59350/2a5... #biosecurity
doi.org
Three biological data bills, with OpenAI support
Standardizing federal biological data to maintain US competitiveness in AI and biotechnology
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Politico @politico.com · 15/09/2026
OpenAI backs bipartisan push to address AI biothreats
dlvr.it
OpenAI backs bipartisan push to address AI biothreats
The company is endorsing three bills to standardize biological data and defend against threats amplified by advanced artificial intelligence.
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Stephen Turner @stephenturner.us · 17/09/2026
I missed the publication of the Woolly Mouse paper from Colossal last month www.cell.com/cell-reports...
cell.com
A multiplex genome editing pipeline for rapid combinatorial trait engineering
Chen and Coquelin et al. present a multiplex genome editing workflow capable of generating highly modified mice with complex traits within a single generation. By combining editing modalities, this ap...
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