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Uma Karmarkar

@umakarma.bsky.social
3.2K followers 2.2K following 1.1K posts

Decision (neuro)scientist. Joint faculty between business and policy at UCSD. Neuroeconomics, psych, marketing, policy, snark, etc.

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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 10h
I love the idea of a song to mark sending out a manuscript but how do you choose? Anyway, we had an eleventh hour submission tonight, and this is next on the playlist, so: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FS1...
youtube.com
Dub Pistols Official Chemical
YouTube video by TheDubPistols
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 17h
Charles has been stealing pages from my diary.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 23h
In our house, sunglasses are just part of daily gear. We've had a drawer of Knockarounds for years (frequently refilled as family, guests, and the ocean waves steal pairs for themselves.) Delighted to learn we're also supporting the home team 😎 today.ucsd.edu/story/inspir...
today.ucsd.edu
Inspired by SoCal, UC San Diego Alumnus Makes Shades for Everyone
Sometimes, it only takes a pair of broken sunglasses on a bright summer day to change your life. This is exactly what happened to Adam Moyer, MFA ’08.
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Marius Vollberg @mariusvollberg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Did you leave twitter? How much worse would it have been for everyone if you had stayed? New paper w/ Jörg Gross (out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com) shows that selfish *and* prosocial actors distort the social impact of their actions, with selfish-serving distortions showing greater contagion.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Tell me again about how AI firms should be trusted to self-regulate. www.advocate.com/news/meta-ro...
advocate.com
Meta appoints anti-DEI and anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck as AI bias advisor
<p>Robby Starbuck has been appointed as an AI bias advisor at Meta with the goal of making the company's chat bot less "woke."</p>
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Happy morning moment - citing a paper co-authored by someone from my college first-order-logic study group. (She is super famous, so easy to cite, but our fields don't often overlap.)
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allison steele, organic human person @trulyaliem.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
timeline cleanser
Tumblr screenshot

(poster name not shown): knock knock
dismembered-jackalope: who's there
justsomeguycore: deez 
dismembered-jackalope: sigh. deez who?
justsomeguycore: deez are the voyages of the starship enterprise
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Ira Hyman @irahyman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
My latest blog post. Based on some researchers who put googly eyes on a takeout food box to see if that would discourage seagulls from stealing your lunch. There's serious work on how animals track eyes and on trying to stop animals from taking food. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ment...
psychologytoday.com
Seagulls Versus Googly Eyes
Have you ever had your lunch stolen by a gull or some other bird? In the battle to save your lunch, scientists may have discovered a secret weapon: googly eyes.
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Jennifer Graham @jennrgraham.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Every intro to sociology class I teach gets this image.
A small digger trying its hardest to dig out the Ever Given ship that has run aground. It says, “Structural Problem” on the giant Ever Given and, “Making different personal choices” on the tiny digger.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Also, that sudden chill you felt was a reminder your knee cartilage sent from beyond the grave
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
art
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The Cat Righting Reflex is the official name of the process cats use to automatically correct themselves mid-fall and land on their feet. It develops between 3 - 9 weeks of age, and is responsible for the greatest wikipedia gif of all time.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I was unaware that the Lower Decks guy made an animated series of my 3rd favorite* early arcade game of all time?! Am I going to get to see a chicken-horse tailsweep a bad guy? AM I? *1=Centipede, 2=Street Fighter. I am equivalently terrible at all of them though.
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Institute for Replication @i4replication.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
1/ What is the prevalence of personally identifiable information (PII) in author-collected data publicly shared in the social sciences? We audited 327 replication packages from 11 leading journals in economics, political science, and psychology Answer: surprisingly high 🧵
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Shannon Burns, PhD @shannon47burns.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Are you studying human neuroscience broadly defined, and enjoy working with bright and motivated students? If so we'd love to see your application for this TT position at Pomona College! Review of applications begins on Oct 1.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Thank you, Playboy, for representing the female gaze. (Neuro people, help the social sciences out. What's the olfactory analog for gaze?!)
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Oh noooooooo. Fellas, that is NOT a place you want to have "spiced"
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I gave a little quote to the LA Times about blind boxes and FOMO, but the larger story here is bonkers, and worth a read! www.latimes.com/business/sto...
latimes.com
This L.A. shop was cute before cute was cool. It launched on TikTok, and things got ugly
JapanLA, a 20-year-old shop known for selling cute products, has survived the e-commerce disruption by peddling products on TikTok Shop. But after its Sonny Angel dolls exploded in popularity, the sto...
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I love the community science approach in this IgNobel winner: "we wondered whether nonscientists would be interested enough to participate. Then we had an idea: Cotton underpants with elastic “skeletons” would be both intriguing and practical!" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Assessing soil health with underpants
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Elle Cordova @ellecordova.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Rough Draft vs Final Draft
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Did you forget to register for the Society for Neuroeconomics conference in October? Earlybird rates are now extended to Sept 9th! neuroeconomics.org/registration/
neuroeconomics.org
Registration - Society For Neuroeconomics
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Boing Boing @boingboing.net · 27/08/2026
The chase behind Stoll's book The Cuckoo's Egg ran a full year across networks, modem banks, and international borders, tracing to German hackers who also worked for the East German Stasi.
boingboing.net
Cliff Stoll revisits the 75-cent glitch that caught KGB hackers, 40 years later
Every year since 1993, hackers, researchers, computer security specialists, and government intelligence employees have gathered in Las Vegas for the annual DEF CON. This year Clifford Stoll gave an energetic…
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
🎉 This would help so many! (Separately, IMHO this is also a climate science breakthrough. Resilience is going to need many and varied innovations.)
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
I found this pretty horrifying, particularly as an ex-wet-lab person. But what's possibly worse is the 🤷🏽‍♀️ responses from some of the scientists because they've been fighting garbage like this for years?
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Algorithmic visual poetry
the top half of the image is a picture posted by the account "Shiba Every Hour" that shows a shiba inu seemingly vocalizing loudly with its mouth open. The bottom half of the image is a post from the Edvard Munch account with a version of The Scream.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Hey, it's the marketing version of a recent academic post. Let me use that as a template. So [a company] used AI to write their [ad]. Not my thing, but these days, whatever. The 🤯 of it all happens for me because this implies NONE of the [team] then *read the [ad] that was written*?!
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 21/08/2026
According to the complaint: “Oura did not just claim to measure a heartbeat or a temperature, but the exact stage of sleep the wearer is in—which in reality requires electrodes in the scalp and sensors on the eyes, as only a hospital or other clinical setting can do.”
techcrunch.com
Oura faces lawsuit accusing it of misleading consumers about sleep-tracking accuracy | TechCrunch
The lawsuit alleges that Oura rings are unable to measure any of the physiological signals needed to assess sleep quality or determine sleep stages.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This is a searing graf: "Economics...Cultural anthropology...Sociology... Psychology ...Political science... By the 1980s, the disciplines distinguished themselves from one another mainly by what they refused to look at" Can't quote it all, but worth a read, even if you end up disagreeing.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
“The Emperor is a fan of Flock ....Because we all know that the Flock cameras are not only following the license plate readers...They are following children in parks and gymnasiums. And we need this. I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend”
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
In today's "quotes lifted entirely out of their original context" - this is also how I describe all my published papers:
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Pronto card FTW! Let me tell you in particular how much I love the SD trolley. I love it for every ballgame, concert and other fun event that my traffic/parking anxiety would otherwise cause me to miss. And I extra extra love it for SfN.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Here, you too can have your morning brightened by a lovely story to read.
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John Gallagher @johnrgallagher.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
To be extra clear: all that LLM typing speed? Interface design. We published on it. And the speed has a minor but significant effect.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A colleague recently worried that we've exhausted the "easy" marginal benefits of messaging. This finding might be consistent: "there were no significant differences between the two groups in rates of primary care visits, ER visits, or inpatient hospitalizations"
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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
“X’s algorithm learns what you hate and shows you more of it, according to a new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” www.404media.co/xs-algorithm...
404media.co
X's Algorithm Feeds Off Ragebait and Impacts Democrats More, Study Finds
X is driving engagement by making users fight in the replies.
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Sami Yousif @samiyousif.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
There's been discussion about Prolific's dynamic pricing model here on bluesky. To learn more about this (and to make loads of cash, apparently!) I decided to become an actual Prolific participant. See thread below, but TLDR: What's happening on Prolific is not what I expected!👇
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
We're hiring a a lab manager for the Rady School's Atkinson Behavioral Lab here at UCSD. This is a full time gig, and the faculty director is my wonderful colleague @chrisoveis.bsky.social. Applications are due by Aug 19th - please apply and/or share! employment.ucsd.edu/behavioral-l...
employment.ucsd.edu
Behavioral Lab Coordinator - 140378
Behavioral Lab Coordinator - 140378 | Careers at UC San Diego
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
As someone who has millions of files named manuscript_FINAL_v35_final2.submitR4: So an academic used AI to write their paper. Not my thing, but these days, whatever. The 🤯 of it all happens for me because this implies NONE of the authors then *read the paper that was written*?!
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William Gibson @greatdismal.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The idea of AI “hallucinating” is one I wish I’d had!
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Popular Science @popsci.com · 12/08/2026
Chris Cornell tried to tell y'all
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Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
On the off chance you're relying on OSF to store your data; put copies of it somewhere safe ASAP. I like to think they've got the runway to keep storing things like they suggest, but it wouldn't be the first time something like this went dark on the internet. www.cos.io/osf-changes
cos.io
OSF Changes | Center for Open Science
We are preparing substantial changes to OSF that will reduce its functionality, focus OSF on its unique strengths, and move toward an integrated model with complementary services. As part of that shif...
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
It would be nice if this wasn't true, but in most cases it is. And it's the cause of so much anguish when the institution betrays the trust and loyalty that scholars gift to it.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Well that post was a very specific, very accurate description of my college dorm contract: ATTEMPTING SLEEK LIGHTING DESIGN WILL KILL YOU WITH FIRE
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Andy Luttrell @andyluttrell.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
From episode 119 of Opinion Science, featuring Dr. Demi Oba. His research highlights how people express various kinds of uncertainty, and some of it can be persuasive--even more persuasive than expressing certainty.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The mayor of New York is posting about consumer/UI dark patterns (and addressing them with policy).
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Today is heartwarming bluesky day 🥰
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
It's not weird that reading this made me tear up a little, right?
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Elle @elleisanisland.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
New baby hippo born at Berlin Zoo. Named Brötchen. Which means "little bread roll." You're welcome
A very cute baby hippo swimming in a pond, with algae on him
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Hyperallergic @hyperallergic.com · 01/08/2026
A new series at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid places “Guernica” in dialogue with other artworks. "History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Does Rhyme," aims to revisit the universal political impulses behind the anti-war painting and also exposes race as an urgent issue for contemporary art.
hyperallergic.com
Madrid Museum Puts Picasso in Dialogue With "African Guernica"
Dumile Feni’s monumental drawing is part of the Museo Reina Sofía's new program "History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Does Rhyme."
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Do you have some cool summer findings on decision-making? Tell everyone about it! The late-breaking abstract deadline for October's Society for Neuroeconomics conference is August 4th: neuroeconomics.org/abstract/
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