Conor Owens-Walton
@cowenswal.bsky.social
Brain imaging postdoc @ USC
Working on ENIGMA-PD: https://enigma.ini.usc.edu/ongoing/enigma-parkinsons/
Working on ENIGMA-PD: https://enigma.ini.usc.edu/ongoing/enigma-parkinsons/
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
On the event of James Watson's death, I highly recommend this 2023 commentary from @matthewcobb.bsky.social and Nathaniel Comfort with crucial new insights into the discovery of the double helix. (And also check out Cobb's brand new biography of Francis Crick) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:25 PM
On the event of James Watson's death, I highly recommend this 2023 commentary from @matthewcobb.bsky.social and Nathaniel Comfort with crucial new insights into the discovery of the double helix. (And also check out Cobb's brand new biography of Francis Crick) www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
For children and teens, heart and blood vessel complications of Covid overshadow the very rare and short-term risk of vaccinations, a new report from nearly 14 million kids
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
November 5, 2025 at 12:48 AM
For children and teens, heart and blood vessel complications of Covid overshadow the very rare and short-term risk of vaccinations, a new report from nearly 14 million kids
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
australian street style, 1973
October 1, 2025 at 7:27 PM
australian street style, 1973
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
Andrew Ng: "AI is the new electricity!"
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
September 30, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Andrew Ng: "AI is the new electricity!"
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
Cory Doctorow: "AI is the asbestos we are shoveling into the walls of our society and our descendants will be digging it out for generations."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...)
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
It's a day that ends in Y which means it's time to post this again.
August 28, 2025 at 3:55 PM
It's a day that ends in Y which means it's time to post this again.
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Authors celebrate “historic” settlement coming soon in Anthropic class action
Advocates fear such settlements will “financially ruin” the AI industry.
arstechnica.com
August 27, 2025 at 3:53 PM
AI advocates have warned that if every author in the class action filed a claim, it would "financially ruin" the entire industry.
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
just checking in with one of the most influential philosophers alive today
August 19, 2025 at 2:46 PM
just checking in with one of the most influential philosophers alive today
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
The sycophantic tone of ChatGPT always sounded familiar, and then I recognized where I'd heard it before: author response letters to reviewer comments.
"You're exactly right, that's a great point!"
"Thank you so much for this insight!"
Also how it always agrees even when it contradicts itself.
"You're exactly right, that's a great point!"
"Thank you so much for this insight!"
Also how it always agrees even when it contradicts itself.
July 9, 2025 at 9:24 AM
The sycophantic tone of ChatGPT always sounded familiar, and then I recognized where I'd heard it before: author response letters to reviewer comments.
"You're exactly right, that's a great point!"
"Thank you so much for this insight!"
Also how it always agrees even when it contradicts itself.
"You're exactly right, that's a great point!"
"Thank you so much for this insight!"
Also how it always agrees even when it contradicts itself.
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
My husband’s cell was getting calls from people thinking they were phoning a certain city’s police number. He was puzzled—his number doesn’t appear on any web page. Then he learned that if you Google “[city name] non-emergency police”, the AI overview hallucinates his number. Thanks, Google!
June 8, 2025 at 6:19 PM
My husband’s cell was getting calls from people thinking they were phoning a certain city’s police number. He was puzzled—his number doesn’t appear on any web page. Then he learned that if you Google “[city name] non-emergency police”, the AI overview hallucinates his number. Thanks, Google!
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
🔥 Just out! Our new massive global ENIGMA-CNV study led by Ana Silva + David Linden (+90 authors!) reveals how rare copy number variants (CNVs) in the human genome disrupt brain structure. Landmark in human genetics
🧨 Basically
🧨 Basically
May 29, 2025 at 6:17 AM
🔥 Just out! Our new massive global ENIGMA-CNV study led by Ana Silva + David Linden (+90 authors!) reveals how rare copy number variants (CNVs) in the human genome disrupt brain structure. Landmark in human genetics
🧨 Basically
🧨 Basically
An absolute masterclass from @ndrewvo.bsky.social and @alaindagher.bsky.social along their wonderful colleagues at McGill. Our latest ENIGMA-PD Consortium project
New preprint. @ndrewvo.bsky.social and @enigmabrains.bsky.social analyzed MRI of > 3,000 people with Parkinson’s disease. W-score method to compare PD to matched controls confirmed extensive loss of cortical thickness, surface area and subcortical volumes in PD, even in early stages
May 29, 2025 at 3:24 AM
An absolute masterclass from @ndrewvo.bsky.social and @alaindagher.bsky.social along their wonderful colleagues at McGill. Our latest ENIGMA-PD Consortium project
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
Stimulants rescue cognition and brain functional architecture if you didn’t sleep enough … short term: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Is it possible that this is a true rescue, or is it just a temporary cover up and there will be a price to pay … maybe decades later? Asking for a friend.
May 22, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Stimulants rescue cognition and brain functional architecture if you didn’t sleep enough … short term: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Is it possible that this is a true rescue, or is it just a temporary cover up and there will be a price to pay … maybe decades later? Asking for a friend.
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
i dont want to be a killjoy but we desperately need to make it socially unacceptable to talk about asking chatgpt things in regular conversation
May 18, 2025 at 9:40 PM
i dont want to be a killjoy but we desperately need to make it socially unacceptable to talk about asking chatgpt things in regular conversation
Very interesting - but also exhausting.
May 8, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Very interesting - but also exhausting.
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
posted some of my thoughts on using LLMs for basic tasks on tiktok and i’m getting cooked by people who insist that it is actually good to offload your critical thinking skills to a bullshit machine
May 8, 2025 at 2:54 PM
posted some of my thoughts on using LLMs for basic tasks on tiktok and i’m getting cooked by people who insist that it is actually good to offload your critical thinking skills to a bullshit machine
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
I got the best teaching evals of my career for a large course last semester— along with three teaching awards— after rebuilding my intro class around in-class handwritten essays. I simply do not believe that this is unsolvable or that students don't care about actually learning to do their work.
In only two years, ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project.
James D. Walsh writes for @intelligencer.com: nymag.com/intelligence....
James D. Walsh writes for @intelligencer.com: nymag.com/intelligence....
May 7, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I got the best teaching evals of my career for a large course last semester— along with three teaching awards— after rebuilding my intro class around in-class handwritten essays. I simply do not believe that this is unsolvable or that students don't care about actually learning to do their work.
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
BREAKING: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in 21 years.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wins a second three-year term
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in 21 years.
bit.ly
May 3, 2025 at 11:51 AM
BREAKING: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has become the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in 21 years.
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
“ChatGPT will reify the problems that it purports to solve, and thus make itself essential: encouraging users to rely less and less on inner resources and personal capacity … with which we handle the task of being alive.” — 🙏🏼Jia Tolentino www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
My Brain Finally Broke
Much of what we see now is fake, and the reality we face is full of horrors. More and more of the world is slipping beyond my comprehension.
www.newyorker.com
May 3, 2025 at 7:47 PM
“ChatGPT will reify the problems that it purports to solve, and thus make itself essential: encouraging users to rely less and less on inner resources and personal capacity … with which we handle the task of being alive.” — 🙏🏼Jia Tolentino www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
The real "one and done." Remarkable new data supporting the HPV vaccine prevention of cancer.
www.statnews.com/2025/04/28/h... by @matthewherper.bsky.social @statnews.com
www.statnews.com/2025/04/28/h... by @matthewherper.bsky.social @statnews.com
U.S. government researchers present 'phenomenal' new data on HPV vaccines
A new study seems to confirm that a single dose of the vaccine used to prevent HPV infection is just as effective as two — and, therefore, also helps to prevent cancer.
www.statnews.com
April 29, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The real "one and done." Remarkable new data supporting the HPV vaccine prevention of cancer.
www.statnews.com/2025/04/28/h... by @matthewherper.bsky.social @statnews.com
www.statnews.com/2025/04/28/h... by @matthewherper.bsky.social @statnews.com
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
Deaths from heart disease down 75%, that’s NIH.
Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH.
HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH.
99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH.
Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.
Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH.
HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH.
99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH.
Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.
April 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Deaths from heart disease down 75%, that’s NIH.
Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH.
HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH.
99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH.
Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.
Deaths from stroke down 75%, that’s NIH.
HIV/AIDS no longer a death sentence, that’s NIH.
99% of FDA approved drugs in the last decade, that’s NIH.
Please show this video to anyone who doesn’t understand why the NIH is so important.
Reposted by Conor Owens-Walton
Meta deemed my books of "of no economic value" and used them to train their AI. Perhaps they are of no value to someone of Zuck's stature but they pay annual royalties that allowed my first child to attend college and will, I hope, allow my second to do the same.
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/m...
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/m...
This Is How Meta AI Staffers Deemed More Than 7 Million Books to Have No “Economic Value”
As more than a dozen lawsuits churn ahead, newly unsealed case files reveal the company’s stance: The pirated books Meta used to train its AI, including ones by Beverly Cleary, Jacqueline Woodson, and...
www.vanityfair.com
April 18, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Meta deemed my books of "of no economic value" and used them to train their AI. Perhaps they are of no value to someone of Zuck's stature but they pay annual royalties that allowed my first child to attend college and will, I hope, allow my second to do the same.
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/m...
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/m...