Brigitte Nerlich

So, I have created a starter pack for people interested in #metaphor. I bet I left a lot of people out. Please let me know if you want to be added. go.bsky.app/DvxejFX

📣 Language and Cognition is seeking General Editors to join its Editorial Board. The journal welcomes candidates with expertise in all areas of #linguistics research that investigate the intersection between language and cognition ⏳ Apply by 30 November 2026 https://cup.org/48ezdbJ

Director emerita Lorraine Daston in conversation with @histphilosophy.bsky.social​ on the first episode of “Pages of History.” They discuss the surprising parallels between #Philology & #Astronomy, & why philology is one of humanity’s oldest empirical sciences. 📜 🔗 https://bit.ly/4k4GP7K #HistSci

I’m sick of headlines treating these forays as something done independently. No. Anthropic created it. Anthropic did this. And they should be held to account, not some supposedly autonomous AI www.reuters.com/world/us/ant...

It's really important to pay attention to the fact that Lula beat the fascist candidate not by compromising and trying to meet fascist voters in the middle, but by sticking to his guns, promising prosecutions for election interference, and mobilising his own voters to turn out in greater numbers.

Wolves Descend on Finnish Villages After Google Hacked Down 1,300 Acres of Habitat to Make Room for AI Data Centers futurism.com/future-socie...

Talking about metaphors in this week's post, I conclude: "Metaphors invite us to see something as something else, but we should always ask what a metaphor makes easy to see and what it makes easy to miss!" #metaphors makingsciencepublic.com/2026/10/23/m...

This new electoral vídeo from Pedro Sánchez is quite something. Standing in front of Guernica defending the anti-war stance of his government, limiting military expenditure, denouncing the atrocity of Gaza. English subtitles.

We’re all going to die... But not from AI, argues science writer Philip Ball in our recent cover essay 🧵

Talking about metaphors in this week's post, I conclude: "Metaphors invite us to see something as something else, but we should always ask what a metaphor makes easy to see and what it makes easy to miss!" #metaphors makingsciencepublic.com/2026/10/23/m...

this is the kind of ‘innovation’ we deserve

Remember: the hype IS the product

Today's post returns to my favourite topic: #metaphor, with a bit of history of #linguistics and a sprinkle of #AI makingsciencepublic.com/2026/10/23/m...

University of Nottingham, right now, is cutting 560 jobs. Do we need to rebrand universities as very large, very clean, land-based oil rigs to get government support?

Record-shattering rainfall intensity in Corsica 196.2 mm in 1 hour 416.5 mm in 3 hours These rainfall intensities are unseen in the observational record and hard to imagine. This is twice the highest 1-day rainfall in Geneva in 1 hour rather than a day www.meteoconsult.fr/actualites-m...

A lot of people pointing out the sinister potential of this tool to personalise insurance premiums based in your appearance. If you look older and more frail, then you'll have to pay more!

So how many academics does it take to change a light bulb? And what does this have to do with making a claim about research results? patthomson.net/2026/10/18/t...

Shall we look under the AI hood? bit.ly/lookhood2026a #metaphor #stealthmetaphor #insight #perspective #languagepower #languagefun

Anthropic floats a sample bill. It would allow the gov’t to block a model that has a “foreseeable, imminent risk of more than $1 billion in damages, or of killing or seriously injuring more than 50 people” www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

Ever wondered about AI and toasters (and AI going rogue)? Wonder no more #AI #criticalAI makingsciencepublic.com/2026/10/16/r...

Ever wondered about AI and toasters (and AI going rogue)? Wonder no more #AI #criticalAI makingsciencepublic.com/2026/10/16/r...

In the morning I heard about metagenomic testing, a true wonder of science, and then, in the evening, I heard about... flippppping cars! What a day!

A quick little post on the toaster as a metaphor resisting the dominant metaphor of rogue AI #AI #metaphor #AIMetaphorObservatory #criticalAI makingsciencepublic.com/2026/10/16/r...

A quick little post on the toaster as a metaphor resisting the dominant metaphor of rogue AI #AI #metaphor #AIMetaphorObservatory #criticalAI makingsciencepublic.com/2026/10/16/r...

My book, Language and the Rise of the Algorithm, will be coming out in paperback this winter! Check it out if you'd like a historical perspective—a long one, going back to the 1500s and earlier—about the current tensions surrounding AI. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Ca n'arrête décidemment pas ! Les 32°C sont (encore !) atteints en France en cette mi-octobre. Si les records ne sont pas dépassés, c'est la récurrence qui est impressionnante. Certaines villes, comme Dax, connaissent des journées à plus de 30 °C depuis le début du mois d’avril !

A fellow of the @royalsociety.org aiding and abetting the Russian terror state.

"We are entering a new era of civilizational risk and retreat. With these new conditions comes a physical retreat of the human footprint and an aspirational contraction of what humans can do and where we can do it." www.nytimes.com/2026/10/12/o...

Helen Branswell has been a shining example of truth-telling, decency, and rationality at a time when those qualities are in desperately short supply. We're all going to miss her at @statnews.com so much, and I know many others will, too. www.statnews.com/2026/10/13/h...

Hey @royalsociety.org, this is your most esteemed Fellow. And you continue to endorse his atrocities through your silence. When did you decide endorsing a nazi would be a good look? How's that working out for you?

"Loss of control is the price of reach." !!

Fellow Blueys! (Bleeps? Blueps?) Someone asked me for a recommendation for reading on critical thinking, the scientific method, research practices, or really anything solid and accessible on the subject of analysing claims. Any suggestions?

I hate the passive tone in which these tend go be written, as if these are developments that just happen without human interference. www.anthropic.com/research/sel...

Heat pumps ARE defence. We are fighting a war against fossil-fuel backed petrostates whose Achilles heel is our energy independence. Our weapons are as much heatpumps, EVs, grid upgrades, batteries, solar, wind as munitions. (I made this argument last week, speaking at @friendsofeurope.bsky.social)

Sehr sehr lesenswert und wichtig 👇💯

The leaves are beginning to turn in #Wollaton Park

Public executions were not abolished out of tenderness towards the criminal. They were abolished because of the effect on the people watching, and the dangers of making human death a source of commercial entertainment. Here's Charles Dickens in The Times, after witnessing an execution in 1849.

The leaves are beginning to turn in #Wollaton Park

Chatting about 'super intelligence/superintelligence'? Want to know more about the scientific context? Explore here makingsciencepublic.com/2026/10/11/w...

I was about to throw away a post on three 'man-made' adjectives (anthropogenic, synthetic and artificial) when 'super' came along and I couldn't #AI #synbio #climate #linguistics #metaphors #scicomm makingsciencepublic.com/2026/10/11/w...

If Americans view, clip, share, and permanently enshrine an American public killing in a million ways on the internet, we will move towards fascist rituals of violence. snyder.substack.com/p/four-wrong...

In other words, a 10 percent contraction in one of Britain’s most successful exports. If it were steel or fish or other infinitely less profitable sectors, people would be having a meltdown.