Dan Kleinman
dankleinman.bsky.social
Dan Kleinman
@dankleinman.bsky.social
Research scientist at Yale Child Study Center (formerly Haskins Labs). PhD. Interested in language, dyslexia, bilingualism, EEG, stats. Proponent of summary limericks. I probably drink more tea than you. Posts are ~50% science; opinions are 100% my own.
Pinned
I study language-related topics including dyslexia and bilingual language switching, and post mainly about science, wordplay, and tea. I follow academics, journalists, and anyone who knows a lot about a topic and isn’t afraid to show it (lawyers, music theorists). Always happy to learn new things!
Thrilled to see universal dyslexia screeners rolled out for CA kids in grades K-2. Early identification is so important.
October 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Me: It's nice not having a lot of meetings these days!
Zoom: You were saying...?
September 3, 2025 at 2:30 PM
This is a nice description of what I call “passing the smell test”. Fancy stats can be very useful (I occasionally rely on them!), but it’s critical to look for converging evidence that an effect is “real” rather than blindly trusting the results of a model (which could be misspecified).
August 15, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Read a paper the other day from the early 1990s which reported an in-depth analysis of reading/writing/spelling errors made by 6 students. The main focus of the paper was the detailed coding scheme used to classify the errors. But! – there was also a statistical analysis comparing their performance.
August 8, 2025 at 4:18 PM
In "news that will be very exciting to a small group of people", I discovered today that – a full decade after I first wished for this feature – it is now possible to read JMP files into R!
August 6, 2025 at 3:56 PM
@nytxworeo.bsky.social is going to have a very exciting day tomorrow
July 30, 2025 at 3:53 AM
On board my flight to #SSSR2025. The flight attendant gave instructions to the emergency exit row passengers in front of me and asked if they had any questions. One did: “How do I know when to open the door?”

Hopefully I make it to Calgary in one piece…!
July 16, 2025 at 6:38 PM
I started explicitly thinking about scientific research this way after seeing Jeff Rouder talk about it at Psychonomics. One of many benefits: It takes pressure off of RAs (who have heard me talk about this).
1/5 For upcoming work I lately read some articles on handling mistakes in science. They share an important consensus I think everyone should know:

Mistakes are a failure of systems, not people. In a working system, making a mistake is normal, but inconsequential. 🧵
July 14, 2025 at 10:06 PM
One of my favorite bands is crowdfunding to release a new double album. I kicked in to get a digital copy, but was gobsmacked by this singular perk, which awaits a very rich superfan. The FAQ includes this gem: "Q: Is the "Fateful Choice" incentive real? A: We dare you."
July 9, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I will not feel strangely compelled to come to the defense of a for-profit scientific publishing company. I will not feel strangely compelled to come to the defense of a for-profit scientific publishing company. I will not feel strangely compelled to come to the defense of a for-profit scientific pu
Sources: Trump administration terminated millions in subscriptions for Springer Nature, after earlier accusing it of acting as a partisan in scientific debates (Axios)

Main Link | Mediagazer Permalink
June 25, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Dan Kleinman
BREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored.
June 16, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Dan Kleinman
Check out our preprint (linked again here: osf.io/preprints/ps...) where we measured neural sensitivity to changes in semantic space while listening to a podcast. Not only do we look at word-to-word but larger chunks too (2-gram, 5-gram, 10-gram) to examine meaning construction at multiple levels.
June 13, 2025 at 8:33 PM
This sounds like a dystopian version of the classic Loftus & Palmer experiment: “How fast was Sen. Padilla moving when he {ran at, lunged at, bum-rushed, posed a question to} Secretary Noem?”
Fox hosts, parroting DHS, claimed Sen. Padilla "ran at,” "lunged at," and tried to “bum-rush” Kristi Noem. Video disproves their claims, showing Padilla standing calmly across the room asking his question as security grabs him.
June 13, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by Dan Kleinman
Very last minute - but check out this workshop happening this Thursday and Friday on how we might build theories that account for variability and universality in human minds and brains. Remote attendence is an option! cps-vo.org/group/cise-s...
2025 NSF-Jacobs Foundation workshop on Deconstructing the Universal Mind | Cyber-Physical Systems Virtual Organization
cps-vo.org
June 10, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Dan Kleinman
the nytimes doesn't get LA and never will
June 9, 2025 at 3:37 AM
It's one thing to look at my calendar and realize it's relatively meeting-free. It's another thing to discover that the microphone I use for Zoom meetings at home is the centerpiece of an elaborate cobweb built by an enterprising spider.
June 5, 2025 at 3:21 PM
“Data Thug” James Heathers and the center behind Retraction Watch have launched a project to root out fraudulent medical studies which bias meta-analyses and lead to flawed medical guidance and (thus) deaths. They have the expertise & the funding — can’t wait to see what horrible things they find!
June 4, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Dan Kleinman
A 23-Year-Old Crypto Bro Is Now Vetoing NSF Grants While Staring At His Water Bottle

Picture this: You're a researcher who has spent years developing a grant proposal, gone through layers of expert review, and received National Science Foundation (NSF) approval. Then some kid barely out of college…
A 23-Year-Old Crypto Bro Is Now Vetoing NSF Grants While Staring At His Water Bottle
Picture this: You're a researcher who has spent years developing a grant proposal, gone through layers of expert review, and received National Science Foundation (NSF) approval. Then some kid barely out of college — whose main qualification appears to be founding a company that puts ads on the blockchain — logs into a Zoom meeting, pays more attention to his fingernails than the discussion, and kills your grant with a disinterested thumbs down.
www.techdirt.com
June 2, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Dan Kleinman
The EO has to be interpreted in light of the (decades long) Republican attack on science.

This has nothing to do with improving science. They're using legitImate criticism from within science to (ironically) decrease the credibility of science. They then have no obligation to listen to scientists.
There is a new Executive Order that is closely related to many of the topics promoted in the science reform movement. It deserves a close read as it will surely have implications for how some promoted reforms are implemented in policy and practice. My hot take 🧵

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Restoring Gold Standard Science
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 7301 of title 5, United
www.whitehouse.gov
May 24, 2025 at 12:26 PM
I get a lot of spam from fake journals, but this one — which has a… unique subject line; has no journal title (only an acronym, here redacted); and for which the main argument seems to be that my submission within 24 hours would improve the sender’s (“my”) ranking — managed to set itself apart.
May 6, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Dan Kleinman
Reposted by Dan Kleinman
🚨 This MUST READ essay and call to action spells out, in very clear terms, how the Trump administration could get away with slashing the NIH budget. NIH scientists and Dems in congress need to read and understand it. This is where we win or lose the battle to save the NIH and US science. 🧪 🧠 🧬 🔊
The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster
An NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do
donmoynihan.substack.com
April 28, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Dan Kleinman
ATTENTION: NSF GRANT RECIPIENTS

We received a heads up from a trusted source that you should proactively download/print/screen shot any documentation on research.gov pertaining to your NSF awards, both those that are current and any that have closed in the last 5-6 years.

1/n
a cartoon of a man holding a frying pan and a spoon with red alert written above him
ALT: a cartoon of a man holding a frying pan and a spoon with red alert written above him
media.tenor.com
April 24, 2025 at 9:09 PM
This is far from the worst thing going on in the country right now, but it’s still bad. Historically, nothing good has ever come from a government making a list of Jews. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/n...
U.S. Texts Barnard Employees and Asks if They Are Jewish
A questionnaire from a federal commission also inquired about whether professors and other college staff members had been harassed.
www.nytimes.com
April 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM