Christine Fawcett, Ph.D.

What Tressie says below is essentially the point of my @insidehighered.com column today. We know what students need (and want) and it has nothing to do with the pivot to AI. In fact, it's more like the opposite. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

You cannot keep your head down and expect to sneak through the next three years unaffected.

We MUST come together and say “NO!”

Suppression of freedoms *always* starts at universities and in the press.

You’ve got like 5 seconds to wake up.

Only 1 person in the whole study went from identifying as trans to not identifying as trans. The 1/5 number came from youth going between the binary and non-binary spectrum.

This headline and post are misleading on purpose to fit the economist's editorial bent on the political issue.

There's a lawsuit about AI stealing your work. It's the same lawyers taking on Elsevier et al in a separate case.

Academics:
1. Check if your work is in LibGen at www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

2. If so, let the lawyers know at www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...

I'm going to start pitching all my courses as "artisanally crafted by real humans", I am so sick of both fellow faculty and higher-ups pushing this shit on us when that's not what students come to college for!

Children’s gender identification beyond binary categories predicts their prosocial behaviour Prosocial behaviour develops early in life yet also shows increasing gender differences over development, pointing to a role for learning and socialization connected to gender. Here, we examine pro...

New paper: 5-year-olds’ gender identification beyond binary categories is related to their anonymous, costly sharing. Kids who identify more with boys on a continuous scale share less generously, even though as a group, boys and girls shared comparably.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Thanks! Glad to hear you enjoyed our article!

Female solidarity keeps male bonobos in check Study on wild bonobos reveals that females team up to maintain power in their societies

Bonobo societies are famous for being “female dominant.” But females are weaker than males, so how can this be? Study by Barbara Fruth and Martin Surbeck on wild bonobos explains how.

Hint: it has to do with female solidarity.

Paper ▶️ www.nature.com/articles/s42...

www.ab.mpg.de/673281/news_...

To Improve Literacy, Improve Equality in Education, Not Large Language Models Huettig and Christiansen in an earlier issue argue that large language models (LLMs) are beneficial to address declining cognitive skills, such as literacy, through combating imbalances in educationa...

Out this week @cogscisociety.bsky.social! @samhforbes.bsky.social & I ”urge extreme caution in the use of LLMs in classrooms lest we further normalize: pupils losing their privacy, reducing contact between learner and educator, deskilling teachers & polluting the environment”
doi.org/10.1111/cogs...

Opinion | The Tech Fantasy That Powers A.I. Is Running on Fumes (Gift Article) A.I. is just what we need in the post-fact era: less research and more predicting what we want to hear.

This piece from @tressiemcphd.bsky.social starts with a bang and just gets better and better. Gift link.

75% of US scientists who answered Nature poll consider leaving More than 1,600 readers answered our poll; many said they were looking for jobs in Europe and Canada.

We polled Nature readers to ask if they were thinking of leaving the US for jobs abroad. Three-quarters of them (who said they were US-based scientists) said yes. 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The number of people with chronic conditions is soaring. Are we less healthy than we used to be – or overdiagnosing illness? Are ordinary life experiences, bodily imperfections and normal differences being unnecessarily pathologised? One doctor argues just that

I'm concerned about several ideas promoted in this article on overdiagnosis, which argues that people are now excessively and unnecessarily seeking medical diagnoses for a range of difficulties. I describe my concerns below

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

me in March 2025 APA Monitor:

I fear for the future if we continue along this current path...but I also see incredible opportunity if we can reckon with our discomfort and realize people whom we initially perceive as different typically don't confirm our worst fears

www.apa.org/monitor/2025...

Together this suggests that preschoolers have a nuanced understanding of gender beyond two discrete categories.

Overall, children were able to consider both someone’s gender identity and environmental factors (how they were raised) to make varying predictions. They also showed nuance in expressing their own gender identity using two continuous scales for identification with girls and with boys.

Figure showing variation in boys’ and girls’ identification with boys and with girls.

New paper: We show that 3-to 6-year-old children who have a more rigid gender identity and gender-typed toy preferences have more gender stereotypical expectations for others’ preferences too.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The She Made Him Do It Theory of Everything The rhetoric and logic of the abuse of power operates similarly at all scales, which is why I've found feminism such useful equipment for understanding authoritarians in public and political life. Bec...

These stories amount to "the left was so annoying about pronouns or liberals made people feel so guilty about plastic straws they had no choice but to get on board with the second coming of the Third Reich and the destruction of the planet."

Why It’s Important to Talk about Race with Children Children start learning about race and racism as early as preschool. Talking about race early, however difficult, will help them become more antiracist

I wrote a piece for @sciam.bsky.social about why White parents should be talking to their kids about race and racism. It was so great to work with @megha.bsky.social on this piece! Please share! www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...

What My All-Male Students Could Teach the President About Sex and Empathy I teach gender studies at Wabash, an all-male college. Our elective introductory course is always waitlisted. The students, mostly from the Midwest where sex ed is virtually nonexistent in public scho...

I wrote for @msmagazine.com about the anti-trans Executive Order and the value of studying gender and the Liberal Arts.

msmagazine.com/2025/02/24/w...

Public comment is now open for passport gender marker changes.

You can go here to go to each of the three proposed passport rules, and submit comment.

My suggestion: be unique, argue for trans-inclusive policies, against the constitutionality of the changes, etc.

www.reddit.com/r/Passports/...

Buckle up babes, it's time for a long thread about #USAID. Many of you know I've worked on USAID contracts and in humanitarian aid for the last decade. But very few know why. I studied international security in undergrad and my first job out of school was in the defense/intel world. I hated it. 1/

Scientists, in their purest form, are interested only in truth, capable of self-criticism along with respectful but fierce disagreement with peers, and willing to sacrifice comfort in pursuit of these values

So you can see why, in being so opposite of the people now in power, they become the enemy.

Science is political. It wouldn't necessarily have to be partisan.

But when one party is opposed to science-based policy, scientists have a choice between saying "you're right, thoughts and prayers are probably as effective as reducing carbon emissions" or saying "fuck that."

Oh no! :(

A Very Human Answer to One of AI’s Deepest Dilemmas Imagine that we designed a fully intelligent, autonomous robot that acted on the world to accomplish its goals. How could we make sure that it would want the same things we do? Alison Gopnik explores....

www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/ai-... — Alison Gopnik

Donate to Help Kari, John, and Jonah Rebuild After Fire, organized by John Franchak Our family (Kari, John, and Jonah) was so thrilled and excited to have rec… John Franchak needs your support for Help Kari, John, and Jonah Rebuild After Fire

We are so grateful to everyone who has reached out to offer support as we face this horrifying tragedy. We have a long road ahead and are comforted to know we are not alone. If you would like to contribute: gofund.me/95387a92

California Announces Special Session To Protect Trans People: Here's How They Could Do It Gavin Newsom has called a special section to protect LGBTQ+ people, abortion rights, and immigrants from Donald Trump. There are many ways the legislature can step up for transgender citizens.

Land of the free, except if you are gender/sex diverse, female or a person of color. Let's hope other states step up too. #transrights

www.erininthemorning.com/p/california...

I miss Sir Terry Pratchett but his wisdom remains.

Once again, millennials are the real greatest generation

Part of me envies the people who are naive enough to exist in denial right now about what Trump as president will mean.

The rest of me wants to scream in frustration because these people will be the appeasers, the circular firing squad, the fools Trump & co will use to make the worst happen.