samuel mehr
@mehr.nz
i am a cognitive scientist working on auditory perception at the University of Auckland and the Yale Child Study Center 🇳🇿🇺🇸🇫🇷🇨🇦
lab: themusiclab.org
personal: mehr.nz
intro to my research: youtu.be/-vJ7Jygr1eg
lab: themusiclab.org
personal: mehr.nz
intro to my research: youtu.be/-vJ7Jygr1eg
power outage began just as I reached for the coffee beans. Shit
January 9, 2026 at 3:11 PM
power outage began just as I reached for the coffee beans. Shit
my strongest tech view is that all device chargers should be manufactured in randomly assigned bright colours
Which charger is which? Mine's magenta, hers is radioactive green
Which charger is which? Mine's magenta, hers is radioactive green
January 9, 2026 at 2:46 PM
my strongest tech view is that all device chargers should be manufactured in randomly assigned bright colours
Which charger is which? Mine's magenta, hers is radioactive green
Which charger is which? Mine's magenta, hers is radioactive green
leaving aside the very serious "how should science be funded" question, I just hope the people who get these chairs are really silly about it on bsky
"ok I'm hiring a bunch of postdocs. not sure how many, but it's a lot of them. so much goddamn money that I can't remember"
"ok I'm hiring a bunch of postdocs. not sure how many, but it's a lot of them. so much goddamn money that I can't remember"
As this ramps up and we are asked to cheerlead for it, I remain genuinely shocked that Canada, once again, under the banner of a **nation-building**, has created a funding program that excludes Canadian students and researchers based on presence in Canada. /1
universityaffairs.ca/news/feds-la...
universityaffairs.ca/news/feds-la...
Feds launch $1.7 billion international talent attraction program - University Affairs
The program will provide funding to bring 100 top-tier international research chairs and their teams to Canada.
universityaffairs.ca
January 9, 2026 at 3:01 AM
leaving aside the very serious "how should science be funded" question, I just hope the people who get these chairs are really silly about it on bsky
"ok I'm hiring a bunch of postdocs. not sure how many, but it's a lot of them. so much goddamn money that I can't remember"
"ok I'm hiring a bunch of postdocs. not sure how many, but it's a lot of them. so much goddamn money that I can't remember"
may your reviews in 2026 be as straightforward as my first two were. nothing wild, just bog-standard science that was interesting and normal. revise, resubmit, and don't ask me to re-review. thank u next
January 8, 2026 at 9:48 PM
may your reviews in 2026 be as straightforward as my first two were. nothing wild, just bog-standard science that was interesting and normal. revise, resubmit, and don't ask me to re-review. thank u next
Reposted by samuel mehr
It’s called “retirement”, g.
A reverse K99 would be interesting...
2 or 3 years of R01 type funding to wind down followed by 2-3 years of funding for supplies as you are hosted as an emeritus professor - and ineligible for future grants as a PI
2 or 3 years of R01 type funding to wind down followed by 2-3 years of funding for supplies as you are hosted as an emeritus professor - and ineligible for future grants as a PI
My postdoc advisor is an advocate for the “post faculty fellow” positions and in theory it sounds like a super cool idea.
That being said if anyone is wanting to do one in my lab, Please email me a CV and cover letter.
That being said if anyone is wanting to do one in my lab, Please email me a CV and cover letter.
January 7, 2026 at 5:36 PM
It’s called “retirement”, g.
There are many Canadian aspects of québec in winter but 'dad skating while pushing baby stroller' is a particularly Canadian one
January 7, 2026 at 7:45 PM
There are many Canadian aspects of québec in winter but 'dad skating while pushing baby stroller' is a particularly Canadian one
I have a friend who does not have a smartphone. She doesn't care about the stuff phones do, doesn't need one, lives a happy life without. Sometimes it causes problems, like a bank who wanted 2FA web login, but they sorted it out. This is fine because autonomy and freedom are important values.
January 7, 2026 at 1:37 PM
I have a friend who does not have a smartphone. She doesn't care about the stuff phones do, doesn't need one, lives a happy life without. Sometimes it causes problems, like a bank who wanted 2FA web login, but they sorted it out. This is fine because autonomy and freedom are important values.
Reposted by samuel mehr
I just reviewed an unbelievably cool grant proposal, like, to the point that I was practically reaching for my wallet and mailing them cash
next time you write a grant, consider making it unbelievably cool
next time you write a grant, consider making it unbelievably cool
October 9, 2023 at 2:09 AM
I just reviewed an unbelievably cool grant proposal, like, to the point that I was practically reaching for my wallet and mailing them cash
next time you write a grant, consider making it unbelievably cool
next time you write a grant, consider making it unbelievably cool
the editor rejected the paper, which is the correct move when scientists play bad faith peer review games
good morning to everybody except the super-senior PI whose paper I just reviewed, a new submission of a ms I reviewed in March that was rejected from the same Very Good journal, which ignored most of my original review and which changed all the stats to make the results look stronger than they are 🤡
January 7, 2026 at 4:24 AM
the editor rejected the paper, which is the correct move when scientists play bad faith peer review games
Reposted by samuel mehr
its not lost on me that its a lot of academic men defending that very poorly designed Chicago study
January 6, 2026 at 6:32 PM
its not lost on me that its a lot of academic men defending that very poorly designed Chicago study
Took me a few days to work this out, but the energy I'm going into 2026 with is my 5yo's, when she looked at a terrifying ski chair machine and went "fuck it, let's go"
5yo went skiing for the 3rd time in her life and was very brave and rode the chairlift without them even needing to slow it down so she could get on and i'm not crying you're crying
January 6, 2026 at 6:13 PM
Took me a few days to work this out, but the energy I'm going into 2026 with is my 5yo's, when she looked at a terrifying ski chair machine and went "fuck it, let's go"
Reposted by samuel mehr
introducing AskBeeves, a Chrome extension for Bluesky that displays how many people you're following are blocked or blocked by a user in their profile. 100% vibecoded with Claude Code, use at own risk and so forth.
github.com/PropterMalon...
github.com/PropterMalon...
January 6, 2026 at 4:51 PM
introducing AskBeeves, a Chrome extension for Bluesky that displays how many people you're following are blocked or blocked by a user in their profile. 100% vibecoded with Claude Code, use at own risk and so forth.
github.com/PropterMalon...
github.com/PropterMalon...
Reposted by samuel mehr
1. My new preprint has its own bluesky account. Why? The problems facing social media & scientific publishing are similar: both are dominated by powerful oligopolies. The @atproto.com tech underlying bluesky that aims to solve the social media prob might also help solve the scientific pub prob 🧪 🧵
1. Preprint: Menopause averted a midlife energetic crisis with help from older children and parents: A simulation study. zenodo.org/records/1814...
Menopause is rare, known to occur only in humans and toothed whales: 🧵
Menopause is rare, known to occur only in humans and toothed whales: 🧵
January 6, 2026 at 3:12 PM
1. My new preprint has its own bluesky account. Why? The problems facing social media & scientific publishing are similar: both are dominated by powerful oligopolies. The @atproto.com tech underlying bluesky that aims to solve the social media prob might also help solve the scientific pub prob 🧪 🧵
from my DMs: "every few weeks a researcher makes me go 'ok so maybe my overzealous IRB has a point'"
January 6, 2026 at 2:33 PM
from my DMs: "every few weeks a researcher makes me go 'ok so maybe my overzealous IRB has a point'"
Folks getting in the weeds about licensing agreements but this research study engaged me in research, by creating a bespoke dataset about me, before I agreed to participate. They already made the dataset before I was invited to participated. That's not how informed consent works
somebody at UChicago is feeding preprints to LLMs without authors' consent, in a research study
they have the gall to suggest to authors they've opted-in that they volunteer to evaluate the LLMs' suggestions regarding their own work.
lol, lmao even. here is the invite and my reply
they have the gall to suggest to authors they've opted-in that they volunteer to evaluate the LLMs' suggestions regarding their own work.
lol, lmao even. here is the invite and my reply
January 6, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Folks getting in the weeds about licensing agreements but this research study engaged me in research, by creating a bespoke dataset about me, before I agreed to participate. They already made the dataset before I was invited to participated. That's not how informed consent works
Reposted by samuel mehr
I love the cartoon by Sketchplanations
sketchplanations.com/sampling-bias
sketchplanations.com/sampling-bias
Sampling bias
If you wanted to know who would win an election, then the only reliable (most of the time) way to do that is to ask everyone to vote for real and count them all. Short of doing that, if you want to ge...
sketchplanations.com
January 6, 2026 at 6:00 AM
I love the cartoon by Sketchplanations
sketchplanations.com/sampling-bias
sketchplanations.com/sampling-bias
Reposted by samuel mehr
Has a court ruled on whether, under Section 230, a web site’s AI generating content based on a user prompt is treated as the web site’s speech? Seems to me it should be, just as if the site operator published speech answering someone’s question.
BWEPRA
BWEPRA
I am not a Section 230 expert but being that Twitter is creating and publishing these photos I wonder if they actually have any civil legal protection? @kenwhite.bsky.social ? @akivamcohen.bsky.social ?
What X is allowing Grok to do is unlawful or regulatory-illegal in multiple jurisdictions, creates clear DSA violations, and continues despite regulator scrutiny. The images do not need to be pornographic, non-consensual sexualised or intimate depictions are enough.
January 5, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Has a court ruled on whether, under Section 230, a web site’s AI generating content based on a user prompt is treated as the web site’s speech? Seems to me it should be, just as if the site operator published speech answering someone’s question.
BWEPRA
BWEPRA
a person who knows my tastes well gave me a box of excellent marrons glacés for christmas and after a day of running around in the frigid cold, it is involving substantial inhibitory control to refrain from powering thru the whole box
January 6, 2026 at 3:17 AM
a person who knows my tastes well gave me a box of excellent marrons glacés for christmas and after a day of running around in the frigid cold, it is involving substantial inhibitory control to refrain from powering thru the whole box
somebody at UChicago is feeding preprints to LLMs without authors' consent, in a research study
they have the gall to suggest to authors they've opted-in that they volunteer to evaluate the LLMs' suggestions regarding their own work.
lol, lmao even. here is the invite and my reply
they have the gall to suggest to authors they've opted-in that they volunteer to evaluate the LLMs' suggestions regarding their own work.
lol, lmao even. here is the invite and my reply
January 5, 2026 at 10:55 PM
somebody at UChicago is feeding preprints to LLMs without authors' consent, in a research study
they have the gall to suggest to authors they've opted-in that they volunteer to evaluate the LLMs' suggestions regarding their own work.
lol, lmao even. here is the invite and my reply
they have the gall to suggest to authors they've opted-in that they volunteer to evaluate the LLMs' suggestions regarding their own work.
lol, lmao even. here is the invite and my reply
5yo went skiing for the 3rd time in her life and was very brave and rode the chairlift without them even needing to slow it down so she could get on and i'm not crying you're crying
January 5, 2026 at 10:35 PM
5yo went skiing for the 3rd time in her life and was very brave and rode the chairlift without them even needing to slow it down so she could get on and i'm not crying you're crying
developmental psycholinguistics status check: do your children use 'inside-out' as a verb? as in 'i need to put on my jammies can you inside-out the pants'
January 5, 2026 at 1:26 AM
developmental psycholinguistics status check: do your children use 'inside-out' as a verb? as in 'i need to put on my jammies can you inside-out the pants'
starting a band called Guanciale Funk who's in
January 4, 2026 at 3:37 PM
starting a band called Guanciale Funk who's in
You never see the faces of the subjects of this excellent short film, the MTurk workers who annotate images for task-based pay on the internet
Many psychologists use 'worker' populations for their research studies, usually as paid participants (and often at very low rates), exactly like this
Many psychologists use 'worker' populations for their research studies, usually as paid participants (and often at very low rates), exactly like this
Opinion | Self-Driving Cars Can’t See Without Their Eyes
www.nytimes.com
January 4, 2026 at 2:13 PM
You never see the faces of the subjects of this excellent short film, the MTurk workers who annotate images for task-based pay on the internet
Many psychologists use 'worker' populations for their research studies, usually as paid participants (and often at very low rates), exactly like this
Many psychologists use 'worker' populations for their research studies, usually as paid participants (and often at very low rates), exactly like this
when it's very very cold the children can walk on water 🇨🇦
January 3, 2026 at 10:09 PM
when it's very very cold the children can walk on water 🇨🇦