Reposted by Sage
The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality.
And trans lives are grounded in reality.
We see y'all. No matter what.
www.popsci.com/science/tran...
And trans lives are grounded in reality.
We see y'all. No matter what.
www.popsci.com/science/tran...
First-of-a-kind study shows encouraging data for trans kids who socially transition
Ninety-four percent of participants in a new study stood firm in their trans identity after five years, and "detransitioning" is rare.
www.popsci.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:16 PM
The name "Popular Science" doesn't mean we shift our coverage depending on public opinion. It means we cover relevant subjects that are rigorously researched, reliable, and grounded in reality.
And trans lives are grounded in reality.
We see y'all. No matter what.
www.popsci.com/science/tran...
And trans lives are grounded in reality.
We see y'all. No matter what.
www.popsci.com/science/tran...
Reposted by Sage
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
December 15, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
Reposted by Sage
In May, Human Rights Watch released a report showing how gig platforms use opaque algorithms to erode workers' wages.
Now a new investigation finds Instacart is running AI price experiments: charging different people different prices for the *same* groceries, sometimes by more than 23%.
Read this:
Now a new investigation finds Instacart is running AI price experiments: charging different people different prices for the *same* groceries, sometimes by more than 23%.
Read this:
Same Cart, Different Price: Instacart’s Price Experiments Cost Families at Checkout - Groundwork Collaborative
groundworkcollaborative.org
December 9, 2025 at 2:59 PM
In May, Human Rights Watch released a report showing how gig platforms use opaque algorithms to erode workers' wages.
Now a new investigation finds Instacart is running AI price experiments: charging different people different prices for the *same* groceries, sometimes by more than 23%.
Read this:
Now a new investigation finds Instacart is running AI price experiments: charging different people different prices for the *same* groceries, sometimes by more than 23%.
Read this:
Reposted by Sage
Book bans are still happening across the country.
In some ways and places, they continue to worsen.
They can be unconstitutional.
They continue to be incredibly unpopular.
Getting involved locally can help.
Donating to groups fighting them if you can is essential.
In some ways and places, they continue to worsen.
They can be unconstitutional.
They continue to be incredibly unpopular.
Getting involved locally can help.
Donating to groups fighting them if you can is essential.
Tennessee public libraries close for Trump-inspired book purge
One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes or...
popular.info
November 25, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Book bans are still happening across the country.
In some ways and places, they continue to worsen.
They can be unconstitutional.
They continue to be incredibly unpopular.
Getting involved locally can help.
Donating to groups fighting them if you can is essential.
In some ways and places, they continue to worsen.
They can be unconstitutional.
They continue to be incredibly unpopular.
Getting involved locally can help.
Donating to groups fighting them if you can is essential.
Reposted by Sage
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
The UW Center for an Informed Public is looking for postdocs (for 2026-2028) from across diverse disciplines whose research sheds light on the challenges of our modern information environment, promotes civic health, and/or helps people/communities navigate online spaces: apply.interfolio.com/177901
Reposted by Sage
It is genuinely incredible to me how much evidence there is to support investing in the public good and how much animus there is to do this simple, effective thing.
November 18, 2025 at 3:00 AM
It is genuinely incredible to me how much evidence there is to support investing in the public good and how much animus there is to do this simple, effective thing.
Reposted by Sage
I wrote about public libraries as spaces of civic solidarity, common knowledge, and public infrastructure — all endangered by commercial and federal saboteurs
Extralibrary Loan: Making the Civic Infrastructure We Need
Amid a war on public knowledge, libraries are pushing outward, enlarging the commons through new configurations of civic and creative life.
placesjournal.org
October 28, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I wrote about public libraries as spaces of civic solidarity, common knowledge, and public infrastructure — all endangered by commercial and federal saboteurs
Reposted by Sage
Musk effectively copied over all of Wikipedia and had Grok go over it to give it a far right bias in its framing in articles to turn it into a propaganda tool. It's conservapedia 2.0 backed by the world's richest man.
www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
Elon Musk's Grokipedia Pushes Far-Right Talking Points
The new AI-powered Wikipedia competitor falsely claims that pornography worsened the AIDS epidemic and that social media may be fueling a rise in transgender people.
www.wired.com
October 28, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Musk effectively copied over all of Wikipedia and had Grok go over it to give it a far right bias in its framing in articles to turn it into a propaganda tool. It's conservapedia 2.0 backed by the world's richest man.
www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
Reposted by Sage
This is how many conspiracy theories work, by exploiting real anger from legitimate grievances (often downstream from complex,
unjust systems) and redirecting it onto scapegoats through simplified “conspiracy” narratives.
unjust systems) and redirecting it onto scapegoats through simplified “conspiracy” narratives.
Been thinking about how MAHA in its current articulation is a movement that allows them to harness people's real and justified anger at things like the betrayals of healthcare and insurance and turn it on scientists as scapegoats, by using conspiracy theories
October 22, 2025 at 7:46 PM
This is how many conspiracy theories work, by exploiting real anger from legitimate grievances (often downstream from complex,
unjust systems) and redirecting it onto scapegoats through simplified “conspiracy” narratives.
unjust systems) and redirecting it onto scapegoats through simplified “conspiracy” narratives.
Reposted by Sage
Great stuff from some young readers in Iowa with lessons for us all! Start where you are, build your community, keep pushing on policy, & have fun! And for any grown-ups in the room, sometimes the best action you can take is supporting the action of the young people in your community
When books were being pulled from Iowa classrooms, these teens started an after-school club to read them
Three Iowa City West high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country's most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years...
www.iowapublicradio.org
October 20, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Great stuff from some young readers in Iowa with lessons for us all! Start where you are, build your community, keep pushing on policy, & have fun! And for any grown-ups in the room, sometimes the best action you can take is supporting the action of the young people in your community
Reposted by Sage
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:16 PM
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
Reposted by Sage
Whispers: this is why political scientists have to study civil society and social movements & take them seriously as *THE* bulwarks against authoritarianism.
“Win every election” is not a viable strategy for preventing authoritarianism
October 13, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Whispers: this is why political scientists have to study civil society and social movements & take them seriously as *THE* bulwarks against authoritarianism.
Reposted by Sage
for active military or if you know someone in the military:
“The Orders Project is a non-partisan program created by the National Institute for Military Justice to assist military personnel in understanding their options when faced with orders they believe may not be legal.”
www.nimj.org/top.html#/
“The Orders Project is a non-partisan program created by the National Institute for Military Justice to assist military personnel in understanding their options when faced with orders they believe may not be legal.”
www.nimj.org/top.html#/
Orders Project
The Orders Project is a non-partisan program created by the National Institute for Military Justice to assist military personnel in understanding their options when faced with orders they believe may....
www.nimj.org
October 12, 2025 at 2:46 PM
for active military or if you know someone in the military:
“The Orders Project is a non-partisan program created by the National Institute for Military Justice to assist military personnel in understanding their options when faced with orders they believe may not be legal.”
www.nimj.org/top.html#/
“The Orders Project is a non-partisan program created by the National Institute for Military Justice to assist military personnel in understanding their options when faced with orders they believe may not be legal.”
www.nimj.org/top.html#/
Reposted by Sage
Help us investigate book bans across the USA.
404 Media has gotten a grant to unearth public records about systematic censorship of books, schools, and libraries in the U.S.
🔗 www.404media.co/help-us-inve...
404 Media has gotten a grant to unearth public records about systematic censorship of books, schools, and libraries in the U.S.
🔗 www.404media.co/help-us-inve...
Help Us Investigate Book Bans and Educational Censorship Around America
404 Media has gotten a grant to unearth public records about systematic censorship of books, schools, and libraries in the U.S.
www.404media.co
October 9, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Help us investigate book bans across the USA.
404 Media has gotten a grant to unearth public records about systematic censorship of books, schools, and libraries in the U.S.
🔗 www.404media.co/help-us-inve...
404 Media has gotten a grant to unearth public records about systematic censorship of books, schools, and libraries in the U.S.
🔗 www.404media.co/help-us-inve...
Reposted by Sage
NEW: As Linda McMahon guts the Dept. of Education, she’s operated in what she calls “a parallel universe” to radically shift how future kids will learn -- seeking to dismantle the public school system in favor of private and Christian schools or homeschooling.
These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.
Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...
www.propublica.org
October 8, 2025 at 9:03 AM
NEW: As Linda McMahon guts the Dept. of Education, she’s operated in what she calls “a parallel universe” to radically shift how future kids will learn -- seeking to dismantle the public school system in favor of private and Christian schools or homeschooling.
Reposted by Sage
**NEW**
Today, the ACLU of South Carolina filed a lawsuit on behalf of public school students and school librarians. They're challenging the constitutionality of the state's book banning law and a memo outlining the state's content censorship policy.
bookriot.com/aclu-sc-laws...
Today, the ACLU of South Carolina filed a lawsuit on behalf of public school students and school librarians. They're challenging the constitutionality of the state's book banning law and a memo outlining the state's content censorship policy.
bookriot.com/aclu-sc-laws...
October 7, 2025 at 6:18 PM
**NEW**
Today, the ACLU of South Carolina filed a lawsuit on behalf of public school students and school librarians. They're challenging the constitutionality of the state's book banning law and a memo outlining the state's content censorship policy.
bookriot.com/aclu-sc-laws...
Today, the ACLU of South Carolina filed a lawsuit on behalf of public school students and school librarians. They're challenging the constitutionality of the state's book banning law and a memo outlining the state's content censorship policy.
bookriot.com/aclu-sc-laws...
Reposted by Sage
🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶
🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈
#FollowTheRainbow
🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈
#FollowTheRainbow
September 29, 2025 at 3:06 PM
🎶 Take a look, it's in a book 🎶
🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈
#FollowTheRainbow
🥹 After nearly 20 years... Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course... new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow 📚🌈
#FollowTheRainbow
Reposted by Sage
@rachelegoodman.bsky.social spoke with @wbur.org's Meghna Chakrabarti to discuss attacks on independent sources of fact-based info, like Wikipedia. “The authoritarian playbook is straightforward here. Neutralize any institution that might contradict your version of reality.”
The right wing is coming for Wikipedia
The Heritage Foundation says it will "identify and target" Wikipedia editors over alleged bias. What does that mean for Wikipedia’s future?
www.wbur.org
September 19, 2025 at 9:00 PM
@rachelegoodman.bsky.social spoke with @wbur.org's Meghna Chakrabarti to discuss attacks on independent sources of fact-based info, like Wikipedia. “The authoritarian playbook is straightforward here. Neutralize any institution that might contradict your version of reality.”
Reposted by Sage
We need to call it what it is: a president using government coercion to silence voices he doesn't agree with is authoritarianism, plain and simple.
It's the Orbán playbook, the Putin playbook, and now the Trump playbook. And it should alarm every American.
It's the Orbán playbook, the Putin playbook, and now the Trump playbook. And it should alarm every American.
September 18, 2025 at 5:55 PM
We need to call it what it is: a president using government coercion to silence voices he doesn't agree with is authoritarianism, plain and simple.
It's the Orbán playbook, the Putin playbook, and now the Trump playbook. And it should alarm every American.
It's the Orbán playbook, the Putin playbook, and now the Trump playbook. And it should alarm every American.
Reposted by Sage
Parents *shouldn't have to* lead the way in helping kids navigate AI risks and opportunities. Parents should be able to trust that developers and regulators are working to ensure that AI is safe and ethical, and that educators are trained to help kids navigate these tools responsibly. 1/
Many teens are using artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT for everything from homework to relationship advice. Experts say parents must lead the way in helping them understand the technology.
Why parents need to talk to their teens about AI — and how to start the conversation
Many teens are using artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT for everything from homework to relationship advice. Experts say parents must lead the way in helping them understand the technology.
n.pr
September 15, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Parents *shouldn't have to* lead the way in helping kids navigate AI risks and opportunities. Parents should be able to trust that developers and regulators are working to ensure that AI is safe and ethical, and that educators are trained to help kids navigate these tools responsibly. 1/
Reposted by Sage
Some personal news:
I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Thread incoming.
substack.com/@karenattiah...
I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Thread incoming.
substack.com/@karenattiah...
The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced.
I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.
substack.com
September 15, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Some personal news:
I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Thread incoming.
substack.com/@karenattiah...
I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.
Thread incoming.
substack.com/@karenattiah...
Reposted by Sage
Yesterday's piece from @jamellebouie.net is the only high-profile piece I've seen that specifically discusses the watchlist, its effect on academics, and its effect on public attitudes toward academia as a whole. (gift link)
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/o...
September 14, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Yesterday's piece from @jamellebouie.net is the only high-profile piece I've seen that specifically discusses the watchlist, its effect on academics, and its effect on public attitudes toward academia as a whole. (gift link)
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/o...
Reposted by Sage
What a bizarre spectacle it is to watch Democratic politicians and prominent opinionists on the center/center-left attempt to valorize Charlie Kirk.
It is not just utterly detached from the reality of who Kirk was/what he did – it also misunderstands why political violence is bad.
It is not just utterly detached from the reality of who Kirk was/what he did – it also misunderstands why political violence is bad.
Sunday reading: The Right Wants a Reichstag Fire
I wrote about the murder of Charlie Kirk, political violence in the United States, and the Trumpists’ desire to find a pretext for purges and mass arrests.
This week’s piece:
I wrote about the murder of Charlie Kirk, political violence in the United States, and the Trumpists’ desire to find a pretext for purges and mass arrests.
This week’s piece:
The Right Wants a Reichstag Fire
The military patrolling in the streets, an assassination, and a movement longing for escalation. America is teetering on the brink
thomaszimmer.substack.com
September 14, 2025 at 3:51 PM
What a bizarre spectacle it is to watch Democratic politicians and prominent opinionists on the center/center-left attempt to valorize Charlie Kirk.
It is not just utterly detached from the reality of who Kirk was/what he did – it also misunderstands why political violence is bad.
It is not just utterly detached from the reality of who Kirk was/what he did – it also misunderstands why political violence is bad.
Reposted by Sage
It does feel meaningful to be teaching history right now. We do what we can.
September 12, 2025 at 11:10 PM
It does feel meaningful to be teaching history right now. We do what we can.
Reposted by Sage
Each alleged mass shooter is even more On the Computer All the Time than the previous one. Probably nothing to worry about there
September 12, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Each alleged mass shooter is even more On the Computer All the Time than the previous one. Probably nothing to worry about there