Mary Elizabeth Sutherland
@meharpist.bsky.social
I'm Nature's Deputy Editor for ecology, evolution and social science and handle papers in cog neuro, psych, and a variety of behavioral and social sciences. When I'm not working, I'm a mom (and sometimes even try to find time to play my harp or ski).
Do you have a background in applied #AI and an interest in joining @nature.com's editorial team? If so, consider applying! www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Biological, Clinical, and Social Sciences - New York City, New York (US) job with Springer Nature Ltd | 12848260
Title: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Biological, Clinical, and Social Sciences Organization: Nature Portfolio Locations: New York, Jersey City...
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Do you have a background in applied #AI and an interest in joining @nature.com's editorial team? If so, consider applying! www.nature.com/naturecareer...
How did rumors related to the peasant insurrections in revolutionary France (1789) spread? Researchers used epidemiological models to provide a quantitative answer, marking - to my knowledge - the first quantitative history paper that @nature.com has published www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Epidemiology models explain rumour spreading during France’s Great Fear of 1789 - Nature
Epidemiological methods are used to show that the Great Fear of 1789, a series of peasant insurrections in rural revolutionary France, was driven by deliberate political action rather than spontaneous...
www.nature.com
October 27, 2025 at 6:40 PM
How did rumors related to the peasant insurrections in revolutionary France (1789) spread? Researchers used epidemiological models to provide a quantitative answer, marking - to my knowledge - the first quantitative history paper that @nature.com has published www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This is exciting: We just opened a position for a multimedia editor to broaden @nature.com 's presence on social media, including TikTok. If you're interested, consider applying springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/de-DE/Spring...
Associate Multimedia Editor or Senior Multimedia Editor
Job Title: Associate Multimedia Editor or Senior Multimedia Editor (12 Month Fixed Term Role) Organisation: Nature Portfolio Location: London – Hybrid Working Model Application Deadline: Sunday 9th No...
springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
October 24, 2025 at 3:46 PM
This is exciting: We just opened a position for a multimedia editor to broaden @nature.com 's presence on social media, including TikTok. If you're interested, consider applying springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/de-DE/Spring...
Did you know that AI can figure out its own way to learn, and that its way is better than one designed by humans? Read more in a @nature.com N&V (and the original paper is in the comment) 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
AI discovers learning algorithm that outperforms those designed by humans
An artificial-intelligence algorithm that discovers its own way to learn achieves state-of-the-art performance, including on some tasks it had never encountered before.
www.nature.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Did you know that AI can figure out its own way to learn, and that its way is better than one designed by humans? Read more in a @nature.com N&V (and the original paper is in the comment) 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How do stereotypes shape AI, and what does that mean for the future of hiring? Hear more in @nature.com 's podcast here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How stereotypes shape AI – and what that means for the future of hiring
Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 08 October 2025
www.nature.com
October 15, 2025 at 5:17 PM
How do stereotypes shape AI, and what does that mean for the future of hiring? Hear more in @nature.com 's podcast here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I really like my job because it allows me to contribute to important @nature.com papers like this one, which shows that online media and large language models (LLMs) distort age and gender in stereotypical ways. Learn more in this video 🧪 www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vdw...
Age and Gender Distortion in Online Media and Large Language Models
YouTube video by Douglas Guilbeault
www.youtube.com
October 9, 2025 at 12:56 PM
I really like my job because it allows me to contribute to important @nature.com papers like this one, which shows that online media and large language models (LLMs) distort age and gender in stereotypical ways. Learn more in this video 🧪 www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vdw...
I play the harp and have always loved music and being creative, so was very excited to see this paper in Nature Communications showing that creative hobbies may slow brain aging! 🧪 Read more in @nature.com's news coverage: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Creative hobbies could slow brain ageing at the molecular level
To keep the mind young, dance the tango.
www.nature.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:39 AM
I play the harp and have always loved music and being creative, so was very excited to see this paper in Nature Communications showing that creative hobbies may slow brain aging! 🧪 Read more in @nature.com's news coverage: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
One of "my" recent @nature.com papers showed how delegating tasks to AI/LLMs can increase dishonest behavior... and I'm delighted to say that it was picked up by @sciam.bsky.social. Read more in their story here: www.scientificamerican.com/article/peop...
People Are More Likely to Cheat When They Use AI
Participants in a new study were more likely to cheat when delegating to AI—especially if they could encourage machines to break rules without explicitly asking for it
www.scientificamerican.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:57 PM
One of "my" recent @nature.com papers showed how delegating tasks to AI/LLMs can increase dishonest behavior... and I'm delighted to say that it was picked up by @sciam.bsky.social. Read more in their story here: www.scientificamerican.com/article/peop...
I feel very proud to be part of @nature.com, and to have colleagues who handled this excellent #DeepSeek paper that describes DeepSeek-R1, because it's the first widely used commercial LLM that has been published in a peer-reviewed journal 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
DeepSeek-R1 incentivizes reasoning in LLMs through reinforcement learning - Nature
A new artificial intelligence model, DeepSeek-R1, is introduced, demonstrating that the reasoning abilities of large language models can be incentivized through pure reinforcement learning, removing t...
www.nature.com
September 22, 2025 at 6:12 PM
I feel very proud to be part of @nature.com, and to have colleagues who handled this excellent #DeepSeek paper that describes DeepSeek-R1, because it's the first widely used commercial LLM that has been published in a peer-reviewed journal 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I love taking trains so was so glad to see @nature.com's recent editorial advocating for sustainable rail travel www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Make trains great again — for the sake of people and the planet
As railways enter their third century of service, research must support their renaissance for more-sustainable travel that supports human development.
www.nature.com
September 22, 2025 at 1:51 PM
I love taking trains so was so glad to see @nature.com's recent editorial advocating for sustainable rail travel www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I feel like this should go without saying, but repeated hits to the head can only be bad: A recent @nature.com paper describes the neuron los and inflammation caused by repeated head trauma in young athletes 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Repeated head trauma causes neuron loss and inflammation in young athletes - Nature
Repetitive head impacts from contact sports are associated with brain inflammation, vascular damage and neuron loss that are independent of hyperphosphorylated tau pathology.
www.nature.com
September 21, 2025 at 2:21 PM
I feel like this should go without saying, but repeated hits to the head can only be bad: A recent @nature.com paper describes the neuron los and inflammation caused by repeated head trauma in young athletes 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Would you let AI (LLMs) cheat for you? New work out in @nature.com shows that people are indeed willing to instruct AI in ways that will benefit themselves, despite not being totally honest. Great work by @nckobis.bsky.social and @iyadrahwan.bsky.social et al 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Delegation to artificial intelligence can increase dishonest behaviour - Nature
People cheat more when they delegate tasks to artificial intelligence, and large language models are more likely than humans to comply with unethical instructions—a risk that can be minimized by ...
www.nature.com
September 18, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Would you let AI (LLMs) cheat for you? New work out in @nature.com shows that people are indeed willing to instruct AI in ways that will benefit themselves, despite not being totally honest. Great work by @nckobis.bsky.social and @iyadrahwan.bsky.social et al 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Did you know that people who move to more walkable cities in the US end up walking more? This seems obvious, but is quite solid evidence for the influence of the built environment on human activity and well-being. Read more in the @nature.com paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Countrywide natural experiment links built environment to physical activity - Nature
By analysing the smartphone data of 2,112,288 participants, in particular observing and comparing the activity of the same individual in two different environments, we find that increases in the walka...
www.nature.com
September 16, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Did you know that people who move to more walkable cities in the US end up walking more? This seems obvious, but is quite solid evidence for the influence of the built environment on human activity and well-being. Read more in the @nature.com paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Did you know that scientists have been able to link heatwaves to the carbon emissions from specific companies? Read more in @nature.com's recent new story 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Heatwaves linked to carbon emissions from specific companies
Nearly one-quarter of heatwaves would have been ‘virtually impossible’ without global warming — and can be attributed to the emissions of individual energy producers.
www.nature.com
September 15, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Did you know that scientists have been able to link heatwaves to the carbon emissions from specific companies? Read more in @nature.com's recent new story 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
How did rumors spread in revolutionary France? A recent @nature paper take an epidemiological approach to understand the spread of the "great fear" in France... and is an example of the type of social science work that we are now publishing www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Epidemiology models explain rumour spreading during France’s Great Fear of 1789 - Nature
Epidemiological methods are used to show that the Great Fear of 1789, a series of peasant insurrections in rural revolutionary France, was driven by deliberate political action rather than spontaneous...
www.nature.com
September 11, 2025 at 12:50 PM
How did rumors spread in revolutionary France? A recent @nature paper take an epidemiological approach to understand the spread of the "great fear" in France... and is an example of the type of social science work that we are now publishing www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I've always felt that @bsky.app is better for research-related information, an opinion supported by @nature.com 's survey and a recent arXiv preprint: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com
September 5, 2025 at 8:50 PM
I've always felt that @bsky.app is better for research-related information, an opinion supported by @nature.com 's survey and a recent arXiv preprint: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
People explore unfamiliar options more when deciding how to avoid losses than when seeking gains, shows a recent paper published in @nature.com 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Rate and noise in human amygdala drive increased exploration in aversive learning - Nature
Human exploration is driven by two distinct neural mechanisms, a valence-independent rate signal and a valence-dependent global noise signal.
www.nature.com
September 5, 2025 at 8:09 PM
People explore unfamiliar options more when deciding how to avoid losses than when seeking gains, shows a recent paper published in @nature.com 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Why does chocolate taste so good? One answer is the microbes www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Why chocolate tastes so good: microbes that fine-tune its flavour
Manipulating the microbial communities involved in cocoa-bean fermentation could make chocolate even more delicious.
www.nature.com
August 25, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Why does chocolate taste so good? One answer is the microbes www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The content produced by genAI is based on others' ideas... does this count as plagiarism? Read more in this fascinating @nature.com news feature: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What counts as plagiarism? AI-generated papers pose new risks
Researchers argue over whether ‘novel’ AI-generated works use others’ ideas without credit.
www.nature.com
August 21, 2025 at 12:16 PM
The content produced by genAI is based on others' ideas... does this count as plagiarism? Read more in this fascinating @nature.com news feature: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
It seems that concepts that used to be science fiction are rapidly becoming reality. How can we make sure this happens in the most responsible way possible? A Perspective in @nature.com by Iyad Rahwan et al outlines a method for researching "science fiction" science 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The science fiction science method - Nature
The ‘science fiction science’ method simulates future technologies and collects quantitative data on the attitudes and behaviours of participants in various future scenarios, with the aim of predictin...
www.nature.com
August 11, 2025 at 6:01 PM
It seems that concepts that used to be science fiction are rapidly becoming reality. How can we make sure this happens in the most responsible way possible? A Perspective in @nature.com by Iyad Rahwan et al outlines a method for researching "science fiction" science 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Did you know that the same gene can have the opposite effect on a child, depending on whether it came from the mother or father? I definitely didn't until I read this @nature.com paper 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Parent-of-origin effects on complex traits in up to 236,781 individuals - Nature
A novel multistep strategy reveals how parent-of-origin effects shape complex traits in large-scale biobanks.
www.nature.com
August 8, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Did you know that the same gene can have the opposite effect on a child, depending on whether it came from the mother or father? I definitely didn't until I read this @nature.com paper 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Why is it that immigrants tend to make less money than natives? a recent @nature.com paper shows it's primarily due to immigrants' lack of access to high-paying jobs 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Immigrant–native pay gap driven by lack of access to high-paying jobs - Nature
Data from nine European and North American countries reveal that the disparity in earnings between immigrants and natives is largely a result of segregation of immigrant workers into lower-paying jobs...
www.nature.com
August 1, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Why is it that immigrants tend to make less money than natives? a recent @nature.com paper shows it's primarily due to immigrants' lack of access to high-paying jobs 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Did you know that seeing virtual avatars with coughs or rashes can trigger your brain's immune response? Read more in this fascinating Nature Neuroscience paper @natureportfolio.nature.com 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Neural anticipation of virtual infection triggers an immune response - Nature Neuroscience
Serino et al. show that seeing an infectious avatar approach the body in virtual reality triggers an immune response, indicating that the brain prepares the body to fight infections even for perceived...
www.nature.com
July 31, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Did you know that seeing virtual avatars with coughs or rashes can trigger your brain's immune response? Read more in this fascinating Nature Neuroscience paper @natureportfolio.nature.com 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I find this so cool: you can control a computer via a wristband, and performance actually generalizes across people. Read more in this recent @nature.com paper 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A generic non-invasive neuromotor interface for human-computer interaction - Nature
A high-bandwidth neuromotor interface offers performant out-of-the-box generalization across people.
www.nature.com
July 31, 2025 at 2:18 PM
I find this so cool: you can control a computer via a wristband, and performance actually generalizes across people. Read more in this recent @nature.com paper 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Did you know that most of the research done on computer vision ends up powering surveillance? If not, read the @nature.com paper 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Computer-vision research powers surveillance technology - Nature
An analysis of research papers and citing patents indicates the extensive ties between computer-vision research and surveillance.
www.nature.com
July 18, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Did you know that most of the research done on computer vision ends up powering surveillance? If not, read the @nature.com paper 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...