nora
@nora.bsky.social
Engineer and Applied Cryptographer working in the ASML at Harvard’s BKC.
Led cryptography R&D at Juicebox and privacy projects at Signal.
Passionate about fostering inclusive communities, mentoring women in tech, and building third spaces for creatives.
Led cryptography R&D at Juicebox and privacy projects at Signal.
Passionate about fostering inclusive communities, mentoring women in tech, and building third spaces for creatives.
Reposted by nora
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by nora
"Tzefardea Tzedek" (Frog of Righteousness)
As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)
As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)
October 25, 2025 at 11:29 PM
"Tzefardea Tzedek" (Frog of Righteousness)
As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)
As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)
Reposted by nora
NASA scheduled a major workshop for early career researchers during the most important week of the Jewish calendar, during two of the most important days of that week and expects me to accept that this was “difficult scheduling conflicts”
That’s what casual antisemitism sounds like
That’s what casual antisemitism sounds like
September 2, 2025 at 10:52 AM
NASA scheduled a major workshop for early career researchers during the most important week of the Jewish calendar, during two of the most important days of that week and expects me to accept that this was “difficult scheduling conflicts”
That’s what casual antisemitism sounds like
That’s what casual antisemitism sounds like
Reposted by nora
I really dislike how science has started calling almost any fancy computational technique AI. 🧪
The framing of this entire article makes it sound like a benevolent AI independently made these drugs.
That is *pure fantasy*.
Instead: a team of scientists made a machine learning model for a study.
The framing of this entire article makes it sound like a benevolent AI independently made these drugs.
That is *pure fantasy*.
Instead: a team of scientists made a machine learning model for a study.
August 15, 2025 at 6:14 AM
I really dislike how science has started calling almost any fancy computational technique AI. 🧪
The framing of this entire article makes it sound like a benevolent AI independently made these drugs.
That is *pure fantasy*.
Instead: a team of scientists made a machine learning model for a study.
The framing of this entire article makes it sound like a benevolent AI independently made these drugs.
That is *pure fantasy*.
Instead: a team of scientists made a machine learning model for a study.
Reposted by nora
When I die, please do not write an AI obituary of me *or* code an AI replica, however well-intentioned, but feel free to build a shockingly realistic rotini sculpture & then eat it at my shiva
August 5, 2025 at 5:28 PM
When I die, please do not write an AI obituary of me *or* code an AI replica, however well-intentioned, but feel free to build a shockingly realistic rotini sculpture & then eat it at my shiva
Reposted by nora
The fate of ordinary Gazans trapped by Israel in a war zone and ordinary Israelis held hostage by Hamas in a war zone will be one and the same.
They are starving.
They are buried beside one another.
They are cast aside by those with power to save them.
For this we weep.
They are starving.
They are buried beside one another.
They are cast aside by those with power to save them.
For this we weep.
August 3, 2025 at 3:16 PM
The fate of ordinary Gazans trapped by Israel in a war zone and ordinary Israelis held hostage by Hamas in a war zone will be one and the same.
They are starving.
They are buried beside one another.
They are cast aside by those with power to save them.
For this we weep.
They are starving.
They are buried beside one another.
They are cast aside by those with power to save them.
For this we weep.
Reposted by nora
Read this in full.
I'm short: The ADL has fully given up on its mission to fight real antisemitism.
Instead, they are focused on unconditional support towards Israel, including justification of antisemitism if it serves that goal. Plus, working with fascists & antisemitic groups and people.
I'm short: The ADL has fully given up on its mission to fight real antisemitism.
Instead, they are focused on unconditional support towards Israel, including justification of antisemitism if it serves that goal. Plus, working with fascists & antisemitic groups and people.
I spoke with 40+ sources for a look inside the Anti-Defamation League. Here’s some of what I found.
ADL’s gentle response to Elon Musk’s infamous salute was partially driven by his support of Israel. To ADL, that indicated he didn’t have “antisemitic tendencies.” (1/x)
nymag.com/intelligence...
ADL’s gentle response to Elon Musk’s infamous salute was partially driven by his support of Israel. To ADL, that indicated he didn’t have “antisemitic tendencies.” (1/x)
nymag.com/intelligence...
August 3, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Read this in full.
I'm short: The ADL has fully given up on its mission to fight real antisemitism.
Instead, they are focused on unconditional support towards Israel, including justification of antisemitism if it serves that goal. Plus, working with fascists & antisemitic groups and people.
I'm short: The ADL has fully given up on its mission to fight real antisemitism.
Instead, they are focused on unconditional support towards Israel, including justification of antisemitism if it serves that goal. Plus, working with fascists & antisemitic groups and people.
Reposted by nora
Slowly rolling out the new suite of Blacksky tools... ⏳
- @blackskyweb.xyz People's Assembly: We'll use this tool to gather feedback and collectively govern Blacksky, democratically
- Login using your atproto account (bsky.social, blacksky.app, w.e.)
- Serves as both poll and forum for the community
- @blackskyweb.xyz People's Assembly: We'll use this tool to gather feedback and collectively govern Blacksky, democratically
- Login using your atproto account (bsky.social, blacksky.app, w.e.)
- Serves as both poll and forum for the community
August 2, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Slowly rolling out the new suite of Blacksky tools... ⏳
- @blackskyweb.xyz People's Assembly: We'll use this tool to gather feedback and collectively govern Blacksky, democratically
- Login using your atproto account (bsky.social, blacksky.app, w.e.)
- Serves as both poll and forum for the community
- @blackskyweb.xyz People's Assembly: We'll use this tool to gather feedback and collectively govern Blacksky, democratically
- Login using your atproto account (bsky.social, blacksky.app, w.e.)
- Serves as both poll and forum for the community
Reposted by nora
🤖 Always on the lookout for potential net positive uses of “AI”, esp for elderly…but the claims here pissed me right off:
“There was no way that we could have found enough songwriters out there to be able to create those tracks in an authentic way”
🚫 No. MANY musicians [wc]ould do this. And, 🧵
“There was no way that we could have found enough songwriters out there to be able to create those tracks in an authentic way”
🚫 No. MANY musicians [wc]ould do this. And, 🧵
For nearly 30 years, the nonprofit Songs of Love Foundation has created custom songs for kids with terminal illnesses. Now it has harnessed AI to expand its services to older adults with memory loss.
Songs of Love writes personalized music for kids — but can AI carry the tune?
For nearly 30 years, the nonprofit Songs of Love Foundation has created custom songs for kids with terminal illnesses. Now it has harnessed AI to expand its services to older adults with memory loss.
n.pr
August 1, 2025 at 4:24 PM
🤖 Always on the lookout for potential net positive uses of “AI”, esp for elderly…but the claims here pissed me right off:
“There was no way that we could have found enough songwriters out there to be able to create those tracks in an authentic way”
🚫 No. MANY musicians [wc]ould do this. And, 🧵
“There was no way that we could have found enough songwriters out there to be able to create those tracks in an authentic way”
🚫 No. MANY musicians [wc]ould do this. And, 🧵
Reposted by nora
As a Jewish person who worked at Harvard for 7 years, including much of the period covered by the Department of Ed. investigation, I object deeply to this retaliatory bullshit being laundered as on my behalf. www.ed.gov/about/news/p...
June 30, 2025 at 3:23 PM
As a Jewish person who worked at Harvard for 7 years, including much of the period covered by the Department of Ed. investigation, I object deeply to this retaliatory bullshit being laundered as on my behalf. www.ed.gov/about/news/p...
Reposted by nora
I have been using the em dash for about 10 years (I only learned English 13 years ago, for context). I even got a whole book I published before ChatGPT to prove it.
I am not stopping—too useful!
I am not stopping—too useful!
How the hell did we let AI take away the em dash from us. it's a useful punctuation mark but now people are so stupid that society thinks it's exclusively used by chatgpt
June 22, 2025 at 8:08 PM
I have been using the em dash for about 10 years (I only learned English 13 years ago, for context). I even got a whole book I published before ChatGPT to prove it.
I am not stopping—too useful!
I am not stopping—too useful!
Reposted by nora
I wrote a bit more about X’s new encrypted DMs and the Juicebox protocol. blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2025/06/09/a...
A bit more on Twitter/X’s new encrypted messaging
Matthew Garrett has a nice post about Twitter (uh, X)’s new end-to-end encryption messaging protocol, which is now called XChat. The TL;DR of Matthew’s post is that from a cryptographic…
blog.cryptographyengineering.com
June 9, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I wrote a bit more about X’s new encrypted DMs and the Juicebox protocol. blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2025/06/09/a...
Reposted by nora
This is just a flat out lie and everyone involved is either malicious or incompetent
June 6, 2025 at 8:01 PM
This is just a flat out lie and everyone involved is either malicious or incompetent
I'd argue it's less than not great, it's bad. Since they're not using HSMs for Juicebox, and they control all the realms, they have the ability to easily brute force anyone's 4-digit PIN and get their stored secret. It's basically just backdoored.
Good discussion on Twitter’s new encrypted DMs. TL;DR the cryptography doesn’t seem bad, but it isn’t great. mjg59.dreamwidth.org/71646.html
June 6, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I'd argue it's less than not great, it's bad. Since they're not using HSMs for Juicebox, and they control all the realms, they have the ability to easily brute force anyone's 4-digit PIN and get their stored secret. It's basically just backdoored.
If your DMs are “encrypted” but one org holds all the keys, you haven’t distributed trust – you’ve built a backdoor.
Juicebox only works when boundaries are real. Separation isn’t optional.
Replication != distribution.
Juicebox only works when boundaries are real. Separation isn’t optional.
Replication != distribution.
Don’t Put All Your Juice in One Box
At Juicebox, we believe key recovery should be secure, user friendly, and actually… work. That means it has to be more than cryptographic theater. It has to reflect the real world, where systems get h...
juicebox.xyz
June 6, 2025 at 1:43 PM
If your DMs are “encrypted” but one org holds all the keys, you haven’t distributed trust – you’ve built a backdoor.
Juicebox only works when boundaries are real. Separation isn’t optional.
Replication != distribution.
Juicebox only works when boundaries are real. Separation isn’t optional.
Replication != distribution.
We are truly living in the worst world. Who asked to have AI monitor every aspect of their digital lives, by default?
These features should be opt-in, not out. If you can even justify their existence at all.
These features should be opt-in, not out. If you can even justify their existence at all.
Thanks. I had no idea. This setting is wiiiiiild. Can't believe this is a default.
May 2, 2025 at 12:08 PM
We are truly living in the worst world. Who asked to have AI monitor every aspect of their digital lives, by default?
These features should be opt-in, not out. If you can even justify their existence at all.
These features should be opt-in, not out. If you can even justify their existence at all.
Reposted by nora
A dragon emerges from an egg, within a nest among others waiting to hatch atop a majestic castle. The dragon is embedded with a DragonRNA, a DNA strand covalently extended with an RNA tail. Variants of precursor DNAs are backlit by a glowing polymerase within each egg,
April 28, 2025 at 9:18 PM
A dragon emerges from an egg, within a nest among others waiting to hatch atop a majestic castle. The dragon is embedded with a DragonRNA, a DNA strand covalently extended with an RNA tail. Variants of precursor DNAs are backlit by a glowing polymerase within each egg,
Incredibly proud of the brilliant work Emily has done – these little monsters have so much potential in RNA therapeutics! So glad it’s finally in the world. It was a privilege to help with some figures and artistic renderings (spot the dragon flying through the abstract!). Mazel tov to all involved!
I’m excited to share our paper in @narjournal.bsky.social on DragonRNA: DNA-primed RNA extension! We developed a fluorescence gel shift assay to detect DragonRNA activity by enzymes, & characterized this activity using gel assays, sequencing, & bioinformatics.
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
DragonRNA: Generality of DNA-primed RNA-extension activities by DNA-directed RNA polymerases
Abstract. RNA polymerases (RNAPs) transcribe DNA into RNA. Several RNAPs, including from bacteriophages Sp6 and T7, Escherichia coli, and wheat germ, had b
academic.oup.com
April 24, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Incredibly proud of the brilliant work Emily has done – these little monsters have so much potential in RNA therapeutics! So glad it’s finally in the world. It was a privilege to help with some figures and artistic renderings (spot the dragon flying through the abstract!). Mazel tov to all involved!
Reposted by nora
let’s be clear that personalisation amounts to determining a person’s future based on recurring patterns of the past. if you belong to a groups that society has not been kind to in the past (black & brown, LGBTQI, poor, disabled, etc), AI personalisation ensures your future encodes past injustice
April 23, 2025 at 12:11 PM
let’s be clear that personalisation amounts to determining a person’s future based on recurring patterns of the past. if you belong to a groups that society has not been kind to in the past (black & brown, LGBTQI, poor, disabled, etc), AI personalisation ensures your future encodes past injustice
Reposted by nora
Ok, look people: Signal as a *protocol* is excellent. As a service it’s excellent. But as an application running on your phone, it’s… an application running on your consumer-grade phone. The targeted attacks people use on those devices are well known.
March 27, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Ok, look people: Signal as a *protocol* is excellent. As a service it’s excellent. But as an application running on your phone, it’s… an application running on your consumer-grade phone. The targeted attacks people use on those devices are well known.
Reposted by nora
Niche adorableness (if you get this you’re my people):
Teaching 6th graders at Hebrew school. A passage has the word “mitzvah.”
6th grader interrupts lesson to excitedly yell “wait the commandments are GIRLS.”
After a beat they continue: “the Torah is a GIRL! Who run the world?! Girls!”
Teaching 6th graders at Hebrew school. A passage has the word “mitzvah.”
6th grader interrupts lesson to excitedly yell “wait the commandments are GIRLS.”
After a beat they continue: “the Torah is a GIRL! Who run the world?! Girls!”
March 25, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Niche adorableness (if you get this you’re my people):
Teaching 6th graders at Hebrew school. A passage has the word “mitzvah.”
6th grader interrupts lesson to excitedly yell “wait the commandments are GIRLS.”
After a beat they continue: “the Torah is a GIRL! Who run the world?! Girls!”
Teaching 6th graders at Hebrew school. A passage has the word “mitzvah.”
6th grader interrupts lesson to excitedly yell “wait the commandments are GIRLS.”
After a beat they continue: “the Torah is a GIRL! Who run the world?! Girls!”
Having been on the inside, I can say: the Signal Foundation is in a tough spot. It’s an unstable balancing act – and I’m not sure they’re prepared for what’s coming.
I don’t mean to be doom and gloom about things. I guess my takeaway (1) is: no matter what people tell you, actual privacy in communications is one of the most important services in the entire world, yet (2) it is a totally unstable balancing act for for-profit companies to provide this, long term.
March 25, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Having been on the inside, I can say: the Signal Foundation is in a tough spot. It’s an unstable balancing act – and I’m not sure they’re prepared for what’s coming.
Reposted by nora
Signal was designed to be a consumer-grade messaging app. It’s really, really good for that purpose. And obviously “excellent consumer grade” has a lot of intersection with military-grade cryptography just because that’s how the world works. But it is being asked to do a lot!
March 25, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Signal was designed to be a consumer-grade messaging app. It’s really, really good for that purpose. And obviously “excellent consumer grade” has a lot of intersection with military-grade cryptography just because that’s how the world works. But it is being asked to do a lot!
Before you travel, minimize risk:
• Encrypt your devices (FileVault, BitLocker, etc)
• Backup + sanitize data (assume others may access it)
• Power OFF your devices to ensure full disk encryption is active
This gives you the best chance of keeping your data safe, even if your devices are seized.
• Encrypt your devices (FileVault, BitLocker, etc)
• Backup + sanitize data (assume others may access it)
• Power OFF your devices to ensure full disk encryption is active
This gives you the best chance of keeping your data safe, even if your devices are seized.
“France’s research minister said a French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration.” He had been traveling to a conference near Houston, TX. 3/19/25
French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found
France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched
www.theguardian.com
March 23, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Before you travel, minimize risk:
• Encrypt your devices (FileVault, BitLocker, etc)
• Backup + sanitize data (assume others may access it)
• Power OFF your devices to ensure full disk encryption is active
This gives you the best chance of keeping your data safe, even if your devices are seized.
• Encrypt your devices (FileVault, BitLocker, etc)
• Backup + sanitize data (assume others may access it)
• Power OFF your devices to ensure full disk encryption is active
This gives you the best chance of keeping your data safe, even if your devices are seized.
Reposted by nora
anyway, this is Curtis Yarvin talking expressly about the motivation underlying the Trump Pentagon's shift to drone-centric warfare: they want a cryptographically verifiable thousand-year reich which excludes the possibility of popular revolt or democracy forever.
March 22, 2025 at 1:01 AM
anyway, this is Curtis Yarvin talking expressly about the motivation underlying the Trump Pentagon's shift to drone-centric warfare: they want a cryptographically verifiable thousand-year reich which excludes the possibility of popular revolt or democracy forever.