peter smith
@peterandreysmith.com
reporter and researcher. senior contributor @undark.org. my work has appeared in the nyt, wired, stat, businessweeek, wnyc radiolab, and elsewhere
peterandreysmith.com
peterandreysmith.com
Pinned
peter smith
@peterandreysmith.com
· Mar 5
In Digital Genetic Data, An Uncertainty Over Ownership
Digital sequence information has radically changed the way researchers look at the world’s genetic resources.
undark.org
we interrupt this broadcast to bring you an important message about a cow named D and the so-called border walls in biology. my latest for undark
seeking book reccomendation: is there a barbarian days of bicycling?
October 31, 2025 at 8:45 PM
seeking book reccomendation: is there a barbarian days of bicycling?
![1967 SMALLWOOD The Book of Nild., iv, 235
In the autumn the fish had to be shipped, gardens taken up, wood brought down from the bay and at "squarin-up time" groceries procured to last till spring. [Life in the Outports]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:eezcomlzb62boxwylbl4fzi2/bafkreidpntwoamcbnlhncssr676yqtcsafaebda7phf5ttwpgshqziyjwu@jpeg)
in case you were wondering the origins of the phrase “keep maine green” (from Ten Million Acres of Timber)
October 6, 2025 at 12:17 PM
in case you were wondering the origins of the phrase “keep maine green” (from Ten Million Acres of Timber)
“Our spirits are corroded by living in an atmosphere of unrelenting contention—an argument culture.” –Deborah Tannen (1999)
October 1, 2025 at 2:15 PM
“Our spirits are corroded by living in an atmosphere of unrelenting contention—an argument culture.” –Deborah Tannen (1999)
in 2023, a judge overseeing lawsuits claiming tylenol caused autism excluded each and every one of the plaintiff's scientific experts storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
September 22, 2025 at 9:53 PM
in 2023, a judge overseeing lawsuits claiming tylenol caused autism excluded each and every one of the plaintiff's scientific experts storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
“Paula Soldner, who leads the food inspectors union at the Department of Agriculture, says she now tries to get her meat butchered by people she knows personally, because the agency’s oversight of meatpacking plants has been compromised by this year’s buyouts.”
How Trump Broke Corporate America’s Most Valuable Consultant
Businesses are begging the White House and RFK Jr. to rethink their massive cuts to Niosh, a workplace research agency that saves the US billions of dollars a year.
bloomberg.com
September 19, 2025 at 2:35 PM
“Paula Soldner, who leads the food inspectors union at the Department of Agriculture, says she now tries to get her meat butchered by people she knows personally, because the agency’s oversight of meatpacking plants has been compromised by this year’s buyouts.”
“firearms identification has not been shown to reach reliable results linking a particular unknown bullet to a particular known firearm” www.mdcourts.gov/data/opinion...
September 11, 2025 at 7:25 PM
“firearms identification has not been shown to reach reliable results linking a particular unknown bullet to a particular known firearm” www.mdcourts.gov/data/opinion...
Reposted by peter smith
Delicious story about jerks who (allegedly) kill their neighbors' trees to score better views. Come for the shade hate, stay for the zingers
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...
Did a Brooklyn Couple Kill a Neighbor’s Trees for a Better View in Maine?
www.nytimes.com
September 11, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Delicious story about jerks who (allegedly) kill their neighbors' trees to score better views. Come for the shade hate, stay for the zingers
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/u...
“researchers suspect that rising prescription drug use may be behind the trend”
Why Are More Older People Dying After Falls?
www.nytimes.com
September 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
“researchers suspect that rising prescription drug use may be behind the trend”
“The real thrill is in having a license to ask, as directly as possible, about the thing you really want to know.”
The History of The New Yorker’s Vaunted Fact-Checking Department
Reporters engage in charm and betrayal; checkers are in the harm-reduction business.
www.newyorker.com
September 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
“The real thrill is in having a license to ask, as directly as possible, about the thing you really want to know.”
still one of the most incredible stories worth a listen if you have never heard it before (and even if you have!)
Criminal Investigation
A famous dog-handler who helps with missing person investigations nationwide has been accused of planting evidence at crime scenes. Peter Payette from Interlochen Public Radio reports.
www.npr.org
August 1, 2025 at 8:05 PM
still one of the most incredible stories worth a listen if you have never heard it before (and even if you have!)
who here would like me to investigate, by bicycle, how the intensity of rainfall floods towns, topples trees, and messes with the maintenance of public rights of way on 8,534 miles of dirt roads in vermont?
July 22, 2025 at 12:59 PM
who here would like me to investigate, by bicycle, how the intensity of rainfall floods towns, topples trees, and messes with the maintenance of public rights of way on 8,534 miles of dirt roads in vermont?
“favorable plea deals that sidestep terrible facts—especially when it comes to crimes involving sexual abuse—are the rule, not the exception” –Carissa Byrne Hessick
July 18, 2025 at 1:03 PM
“favorable plea deals that sidestep terrible facts—especially when it comes to crimes involving sexual abuse—are the rule, not the exception” –Carissa Byrne Hessick
'tis wobbling season in newfoundland
July 17, 2025 at 6:09 PM
'tis wobbling season in newfoundland
“I don’t know how you build infrastructure for rain events like this.” bostonglobe.com/2025/07/10/m...
July 11, 2025 at 11:29 AM
“I don’t know how you build infrastructure for rain events like this.” bostonglobe.com/2025/07/10/m...
this came out almost exactly one year ago today podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Alford Plea
Podcast Episode · Radiolab · 06/28/2024 · 54m
podcasts.apple.com
June 27, 2025 at 6:16 PM
this came out almost exactly one year ago today podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
“Nobody ever learned how to ride a bike by reading a manual”
Monday 22 June, 2025 | Memex 1.1
memex.naughtons.org
June 25, 2025 at 6:05 PM
“Nobody ever learned how to ride a bike by reading a manual”
Reposted by peter smith
Can anyone find a Berman MF et al. Neurotoxicology 2008; 29(5), 914–922 ?
This is a fake citation.
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...
This is a fake citation.
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...
www.sciencedirect.com
June 24, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Can anyone find a Berman MF et al. Neurotoxicology 2008; 29(5), 914–922 ?
This is a fake citation.
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...
This is a fake citation.
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/neur...
people have very strange conversations with dogs. it sends them into delusional spirals. one way I use dogs is for fact-checking.
June 17, 2025 at 1:23 PM
people have very strange conversations with dogs. it sends them into delusional spirals. one way I use dogs is for fact-checking.
who prevails on appeal, and then pleads guilty? the NYT obit does not mention the plea by name but I knew she must have taken an alford plea
Sunny Jacobs, a Celebrity After Freed From Death Row, Dies at 77
www.nytimes.com
June 9, 2025 at 4:59 PM
who prevails on appeal, and then pleads guilty? the NYT obit does not mention the plea by name but I knew she must have taken an alford plea
its an easy cool
laying on the quiet suburban lawn grass
“in tune with the universe”
[insert swirling gif of the smoky haze blanketing the northern hemisphere that is so much larger than 1MB and won't uploads to the skies]
laying on the quiet suburban lawn grass
“in tune with the universe”
[insert swirling gif of the smoky haze blanketing the northern hemisphere that is so much larger than 1MB and won't uploads to the skies]
June 5, 2025 at 9:54 PM
its an easy cool
laying on the quiet suburban lawn grass
“in tune with the universe”
[insert swirling gif of the smoky haze blanketing the northern hemisphere that is so much larger than 1MB and won't uploads to the skies]
laying on the quiet suburban lawn grass
“in tune with the universe”
[insert swirling gif of the smoky haze blanketing the northern hemisphere that is so much larger than 1MB and won't uploads to the skies]
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling so sanguine about massive surveillance efforts by the government these days, or ever, really”
DNA captured from the air could track wildlife, invasive species—and humans
Technology could be a boon for science, but raises ethical concerns
science.org
June 4, 2025 at 4:35 PM
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling so sanguine about massive surveillance efforts by the government these days, or ever, really”
gilded tombs do worms enfold 𓆑
June 3, 2025 at 7:37 PM
gilded tombs do worms enfold 𓆑
Reposted by peter smith
“I look at my reporter’s credentials as a passport to talk to anyone … Showing up, listening closely and finding the people burning with intensity to tell their story, those are the three most important qualities of the job.”
RIP to a journalism legend www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/b...
RIP to a journalism legend www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/b...
Tom Robbins, Versatile Muckraker for The Village Voice, Dies at 76
www.nytimes.com
May 29, 2025 at 12:26 AM
“I look at my reporter’s credentials as a passport to talk to anyone … Showing up, listening closely and finding the people burning with intensity to tell their story, those are the three most important qualities of the job.”
RIP to a journalism legend www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/b...
RIP to a journalism legend www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/b...