# Reviewer, too | Elise Cutts
> A science newsletter about the systems, instincts, and incentives that shape what's discovered, what's believed, and what happens
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [About](https://www.reviewertoo.com/about.md) - Reviewer, too is a newsletter about science. It covers the systems, instincts, and incentives that shape what's discovered, what's believed, and what happens when research hits the real world for hundreds of readers who care about science and truth as forces for good. Subscribe Support my work Leav…
- [AI Policy](https://www.reviewertoo.com/ai-policy.md) - This page outlines how I use AI tools in making Reviewer, too and my general outlook on the use of AI tools in science journalism. It is updated regularly as I add (or drop) tools from my workflows and change my thinking on AI. The golden rules All of my decisions regarding AI use not just on this…
- [Files](https://www.reviewertoo.com/files.md) - A home for linked files referenced elsewhere, mostly data. Annual research spending spreadsheetAnnual research spending spreadsheet.csv2 KBdownload-circle
- [Impressum](https://www.reviewertoo.com/impressum.md) - Elise Cutts Freelance Science Journalist Mariahilferstraße 1 #4 8020 Graz Austria Neue Selbständige (New Self-Employed) USt-ID: ATU81308489 Email: hello@reviewertoo.com Online Streitbeilegung: Verbraucher, welche in Österreich oder in einem sonstigen Vertragsstaat der ODR-VO niedergelassen sind, ha…
- [Weekly Research Roundups](https://www.reviewertoo.com/paper-roundups.md) - A monthly email digest of papers you'd find sitting on the desk of an old timey natural philosopher who'd been whisked to the present.

## Posts
- [How can I make this newsletter better for you?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/how-can-i-make-this-newsletter-better-for-you.md) - I'm on vacation for the eclipse. So instead of the usual Monday post, I have a request: tell me what you want!
- [Academics in Germany and Austria are stuck in job limbo](https://www.reviewertoo.com/2026-08-03-career-limbo-germany-austria-chain-contract.md) - Also: Montana's "right to try" law for experimental cures, UK science gets reshuffled, a university sues Anthropic over patents, and more from last week
- [It is not science journalism's job to improve trust in science](https://www.reviewertoo.com/27-7-2026-trust-in-science-science-journalism.md) - Also: The "Science: A New Golden Age" report, layoffs at National Geographic, and studies on the consequences of AI adoption in research
- [Is peer review at Science sexist?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/is-peer-review-at-science-sexist.md) - Also: Attention as a class issue, an anti-AI editorial containing AI links, and a Thiel-backed journalist-rating startup
- ["The bullets we've dodged have hit someone else" — UK science cuts largely spare physics and astro, hit projects and labs](https://www.reviewertoo.com/13-7-2026-bullets-dodged-uk-funding-cuts-physics-astro-labs.md) - Also: AI conflict of interest disclosures in philosophy, PhD admission down 15% at US universities, an AI "humanizer" tool for science, and more from last week
- [In the last 2 weeks, 4 science magazines shut down, sold, or lost funding](https://www.reviewertoo.com/6-7-2026-2-weeks-4-science-magazines-shutdown-sold.md) - Also: Avi Loeb to head White House UFO committee, overworked ERC peer reviewers, Anthropic's push for AI in science, and more from last week
- [Is the NSF slashing research to fund a tech initiative?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/29-6-2026-nsf-funding-slash-tech.md) - Also: SciAm sold, two Max Planck papers retracted, a big study links AI to skill atrophy in schoolkids, and more from last week
- [What determines how science is done — and how it matters?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/whats-discovered-whats-believed-and-what-happens.md) - The newsletter is back with a new focus on the systems, instincts, and incentives that shape what's discovered, what's believed, and what happens when science hits the real world
- [Pluto is MAGA's favorite "planet" for a reason](https://www.reviewertoo.com/pluto-planet-populism.md) - Jared Isaacman's Pluto push is a master class in science populism
- [I want to do more than write science entertainment](https://www.reviewertoo.com/i-want-to-do-more-than-write-science-entertainment.md) - Let's talk about science, science communication, and how knowledge matters
- [Who gets the job? Here's how computers could help catch unfair rankings](https://www.reviewertoo.com/ranking-algorithm-fairness-hyperfair.md) - I am weirdly hopeful that it could be easier to notice biased AI than biased humans?
- [About "to" and "around" the Moon](https://www.reviewertoo.com/about-to-and-around-the-moon-artemis-launch.md) - Technically correct is not, in fact, the best kind of correct in scicomm
- [AI-generated science is now "good enough"](https://www.reviewertoo.com/ai-generated-science-is-now-good-enough.md) - The "AI Scientist" is mediocre and uninspired. Don't dismiss it.
- [How do social movements win?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/how-do-social-movements-win-timo-damm.md) - Timo Damm blends qualitative and quantitative research to understand how small groups push for change
- [You and a frog might have the same taste in music](https://www.reviewertoo.com/animals-humans-same-sounds-music-beautiful.md) - Citizen science revealed a shared "taste for the beautiful" across species
- [Are the Stardew Valley wiki authors scientists?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/what-is-science-cataloging-video-game-lore.md) - Science is the generational project of finding out true things about the real world — and that project needs catalogers
- [The asteroid Ryugu contains every letter of the genetic alphabet](https://www.reviewertoo.com/the-asteroid-ryugu-contains-every-letter-of-the-genetic-alphabet.md) - This is awesome, but does not mean life fell to Earth from space
- [Is your willpower stronger than a proton beam?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/academic-sacrifice-marginalized-researchers.md) - How much are researchers — especially marginalized researchers — expected to endure just to stay in science?
- [Stingers and spikes across nature have the same shape. Here's why.](https://www.reviewertoo.com/stingers-and-spikes-have-a-universal-shape.md) - Not everything in biology evolved for a purpose.
- [Networks are math squares disguised as drawings](https://www.reviewertoo.com/networks-are-math-squares-matrices-linear-algebra.md) - This is why neural networks are linear algebra under the hood
- [A tiny scrap of the genetic molecule RNA can *almost* copy itself.](https://www.reviewertoo.com/self-replicating-rna-origin-of-life.md) - Here's what it means for the origin of life
- [Complexity is less than the sum of its parts, not more](https://www.reviewertoo.com/complexity-is-less-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-not-more.md) - Patterns are a shorthand for reality
- [Elon Musk wasn't stupid to buy Twitter](https://www.reviewertoo.com/elon-wasnt-stupid-to-buy-twitter.md) - New research shows that the X algorithm pushes people to the political right
- [The origin of life wasn't fat-free](https://www.reviewertoo.com/origin-of-life-lipids.md) - James Sáenz studies how fatty molecules might have helped life get started
- [Tell me how you really feel](https://www.reviewertoo.com/change-questions-an-checking-in.md) - And by that I mean: please fill out my survey.
- [Pop science doesn't reach a "general audience"](https://www.reviewertoo.com/pop-science-doesnt-reach-a-general-audience.md) - Pop sci readers are wealthy, educated, and left-leaning
- [Paper Roundup 3.2.2026](https://www.reviewertoo.com/roundups/paper-roundup-3-2-2026.md) - A human-curated research roundup published each Tuesday
- [Maybe don't call exoplanets "Earth-like" until the 2040s](https://www.reviewertoo.com/stop-calling-exoplanets-earth-like.md) - A plea and a note on science communication
- [Paper Roundup 27.1.2026](https://www.reviewertoo.com/roundups/paper-roundup-27-1-2026.md) - A human-curated research roundup published each Tuesday
- [Hot rocks are what's cool in rocky exoplanet research](https://www.reviewertoo.com/hot-rocks-rocky-exoplanets.md) - Habitable zone? Pfft. For exciting planetary science discoveries, keep your eye on lava worlds and hot rocks.
- [Paper Roundup 20.1.2026](https://www.reviewertoo.com/roundups/paper-roundup-20-1-2026.md) - A human-curated research roundup published each Tuesday
- [A bad month for space whales](https://www.reviewertoo.com/a-bad-month-for-space-whales.md) - Two new papers on Europa and Titan complicate the case for habitable oceans on the icy moons. They're still our best bet for finding aliens.
- [Paper Roundup 13.1.2026](https://www.reviewertoo.com/roundups/paper-roundup-13-1-2026.md) - A human-curated research roundup published each Tuesday
- [Paper Roundup December 2025: computing billiards,  an impossible atmosphere, and Roman constructions](https://www.reviewertoo.com/paper-roundup-december-2025.md) - Papers on big questions at the frontiers of science, curated by hand each month
- [More than words: prosody in the brain](https://www.reviewertoo.com/more-than-words-prosody-brain.md) - The brain's dedicated hardware for handling the melody of speech overlaps with regions involved in language processing and recognizing facial expressions.
- [There's no gene for being human](https://www.reviewertoo.com/theres-no-gene-for-being-human.md) - Barbara Molz found supposedly extinct ancient gene variants in hundreds of modern humans. They don't seem to do much.
- [What do space sugars tell us about the origin of life?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/bennu-space-sugars.md) - The mystery of life's origin is not a missing magic ingredient, it's a missing process.
- [Paper Roundup November 2025: Mars lightning, language processing, and autism microbiome](https://www.reviewertoo.com/paper-roundup-november-2025-mars-lightning-language-processing-and-autism-microbiome.md) - This month's curated list of interesting new papers
- [Tessellation revelation](https://www.reviewertoo.com/tessellation-revelation.md) - From my archives: the story of how mathematicians discovered "soft cells" that fill space without corners
- [The individual isn't what it used to be](https://www.reviewertoo.com/cultural-evolution-tim-waring.md) - Tim Waring thinks human evolution is shifting from genetic and individual to cultural and collective
- [Women have no genetic blueprint](https://www.reviewertoo.com/women-have-no-genetic-blueprint.md) - Neither do men, but women *really* don't
- [Paper Roundup October 2025: dark matter, emergence, and dinosaur mummies](https://www.reviewertoo.com/paper-roundup-october-2025-dark-matter-emergence-and-dinosaur-mummies.md) - Papers on big questions at the frontiers of science, curated by hand each month
- [Does biology play dice?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/does-biology-play-dice.md) - Some thoughts on nature, nurture, and chance in development
- [Political (neural) networking](https://www.reviewertoo.com/political-physics-eddie-lee.md) - Eddie Lee mapped the political landscape underpinning the increasingly polarized US Senate using the same physics that sparked the AI boom
- [True fictions](https://www.reviewertoo.com/true-fictions.md) - The storytelling instinct conjures illusions of consensus in science
- [Paper Roundup September 2025: Mars life, exploding black holes, quantum computing](https://www.reviewertoo.com/paper-roundup-september-2025-mars-life-exploding-black-holes-quantum-computing.md) - Papers tackling the biggest questions in science, curated by hand each month.
- [There is no time telescope](https://www.reviewertoo.com/there-is-no-time-telescope.md) - The Mars that may have hosted life long ago is our neighbor in space only.
- [The Loeb Scale for science PR disasters](https://www.reviewertoo.com/loeb-scale.md) - The Loeb Scale measures the severity of science PR disasters from typos to fraud
- [Hydra are a cosmos in a cuvette](https://www.reviewertoo.com/hydra-anais-bailles.md) - To see order emerge from chaos, Anaïs Bailles shreds up immortal animals and watches them re-grow
- [Paper Roundup August 2025: Alpha Centauri Ab, Worm Circuits, AI Chess](https://www.reviewertoo.com/paper-roundup-august-2025-alpha-centauri-ab-worm-circuits-ai-chess.md) - Every month, I publish a curated list of scholarship on "big questions" in science — the stuff you'd find sitting on the desk of an old timey natural philosopher whisked to the present.
- [Why does complexity science like ants so much?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/why-does-complexity-science-like-ants-so-much.md) - Ants are basically the unofficial mascot of complexity science. Why?
- [A habitable world next door?](https://www.reviewertoo.com/a-habitable-world-next-door.md) - More than you needed to know about the smudge of light that might be a planet in the habitable zone of the nearest Sun-like star
- [Paper Roundup July 2025: 3I/ATLAS "fanfiction," arsenic life retraction, K2-18b](https://www.reviewertoo.com/paper-roundup-july-2025.md) - Every month, I publish a curated list of scholarship on "big questions" in science — the stuff you'd find sitting on the desk of an old timey natural philosopher whisked to the present.
- [I'm trying something new here.](https://www.reviewertoo.com/im-trying-something-new-here.md) - Reviewer, too is a new newsletter synthesizing the frontiers of complexity, astrobiology, and origins of life research — and an attempt at bridging journalism and scholarship. I hope you'll join me!

## Optional
- [RSS Feed](https://www.reviewertoo.com/rss/)
- [Sitemap](https://www.reviewertoo.com/sitemap.xml)
- [Full content of pages and posts](https://www.reviewertoo.com/llms-full.txt)