Uma Karmarkar
@umakarma.bsky.social
Decision (neuro)scientist. Joint faculty between business and policy at UCSD. Neuroeconomics, psych, marketing, policy, snark, etc.
Pinned
Uma Karmarkar
@umakarma.bsky.social
· Nov 23
Hello #neuroeconomists and decision (neuro)scientists - did I miss you in this starterpack? Just reply to this post or DM if you'd like to be added!
go.bsky.app/1K9Suh
go.bsky.app/1K9Suh
art
Cher’s outfit reveals on The Cher Show (1975) designed by BOB MACKIE — who passed away today at the age of 87.
September 14, 2026 at 9:36 PM
art
Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
The Cat Righting Reflex is the official name of the process cats use to automatically correct themselves mid-fall and land on their feet.
It develops between 3 - 9 weeks of age, and is responsible for the greatest wikipedia gif of all time.
It develops between 3 - 9 weeks of age, and is responsible for the greatest wikipedia gif of all time.
September 5, 2026 at 8:52 AM
The Cat Righting Reflex is the official name of the process cats use to automatically correct themselves mid-fall and land on their feet.
It develops between 3 - 9 weeks of age, and is responsible for the greatest wikipedia gif of all time.
It develops between 3 - 9 weeks of age, and is responsible for the greatest wikipedia gif of all time.
I was unaware that the Lower Decks guy made an animated series of my 3rd favorite* early arcade game of all time?! Am I going to get to see a chicken-horse tailsweep a bad guy? AM I?
*1=Centipede, 2=Street Fighter. I am equivalently terrible at all of them though.
*1=Centipede, 2=Street Fighter. I am equivalently terrible at all of them though.
HAPPY GOLDEN AXE WEEK!
All episodes drop on P+ on Wednesday.
All episodes drop on P+ on Wednesday.
September 14, 2026 at 5:13 PM
I was unaware that the Lower Decks guy made an animated series of my 3rd favorite* early arcade game of all time?! Am I going to get to see a chicken-horse tailsweep a bad guy? AM I?
*1=Centipede, 2=Street Fighter. I am equivalently terrible at all of them though.
*1=Centipede, 2=Street Fighter. I am equivalently terrible at all of them though.
Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
1/ What is the prevalence of personally identifiable information (PII) in author-collected data publicly shared in the social sciences?
We audited 327 replication packages from 11 leading journals in economics, political science, and psychology
Answer: surprisingly high 🧵
We audited 327 replication packages from 11 leading journals in economics, political science, and psychology
Answer: surprisingly high 🧵
September 8, 2026 at 1:08 PM
1/ What is the prevalence of personally identifiable information (PII) in author-collected data publicly shared in the social sciences?
We audited 327 replication packages from 11 leading journals in economics, political science, and psychology
Answer: surprisingly high 🧵
We audited 327 replication packages from 11 leading journals in economics, political science, and psychology
Answer: surprisingly high 🧵
Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
Are you studying human neuroscience broadly defined, and enjoy working with bright and motivated students? If so we'd love to see your application for this TT position at Pomona College! Review of applications begins on Oct 1.
Please share widely: We're hiring!📣
The Departments of Psychological Science and Neuroscience at @pomonacollege.bsky.social are seeking candidates for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Psychological Science and Neuroscience.
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/32248
The Departments of Psychological Science and Neuroscience at @pomonacollege.bsky.social are seeking candidates for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Psychological Science and Neuroscience.
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/32248
Pomona College, Psychology
Job #AJO32248, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science & Neuroscience, Psychology, Pomona College, Claremont, California, US
academicjobsonline.org
September 8, 2026 at 12:58 AM
Are you studying human neuroscience broadly defined, and enjoy working with bright and motivated students? If so we'd love to see your application for this TT position at Pomona College! Review of applications begins on Oct 1.
Thank you, Playboy, for representing the female gaze.
(Neuro people, help the social sciences out. What's the olfactory analog for gaze?!)
(Neuro people, help the social sciences out. What's the olfactory analog for gaze?!)
Men are "pheromone-maxxing," skipping showers before dates. Kelly Oxford weighs in on whether women really like this.
The answer is no.
The answer is no.
Please Don't Skip a Shower Before Your Date, Guys
Men are "pheromone-maxxing," skipping showers before dates. Kelly Oxford weighs in on whether women really like this.
www.playboy.com
September 7, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Thank you, Playboy, for representing the female gaze.
(Neuro people, help the social sciences out. What's the olfactory analog for gaze?!)
(Neuro people, help the social sciences out. What's the olfactory analog for gaze?!)
Oh noooooooo. Fellas, that is NOT a place you want to have "spiced"
September 6, 2026 at 1:23 AM
Oh noooooooo. Fellas, that is NOT a place you want to have "spiced"
I gave a little quote to the LA Times about blind boxes and FOMO, but the larger story here is bonkers, and worth a read!
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
This L.A. shop was cute before cute was cool. It launched on TikTok, and things got ugly
JapanLA, a 20-year-old shop known for selling cute products, has survived the e-commerce disruption by peddling products on TikTok Shop. But after its Sonny Angel dolls exploded in popularity, the sto...
www.latimes.com
September 4, 2026 at 6:06 PM
I gave a little quote to the LA Times about blind boxes and FOMO, but the larger story here is bonkers, and worth a read!
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
www.latimes.com/business/sto...
I love the community science approach in this IgNobel winner:
"we wondered whether nonscientists would be interested enough to participate. Then we had an idea: Cotton underpants with elastic “skeletons” would be both intriguing and practical!"
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
"we wondered whether nonscientists would be interested enough to participate. Then we had an idea: Cotton underpants with elastic “skeletons” would be both intriguing and practical!"
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Assessing soil health with underpants
www.science.org
September 4, 2026 at 4:23 PM
I love the community science approach in this IgNobel winner:
"we wondered whether nonscientists would be interested enough to participate. Then we had an idea: Cotton underpants with elastic “skeletons” would be both intriguing and practical!"
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
"we wondered whether nonscientists would be interested enough to participate. Then we had an idea: Cotton underpants with elastic “skeletons” would be both intriguing and practical!"
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
Rough Draft vs Final Draft
September 3, 2026 at 1:52 PM
Rough Draft vs Final Draft
Did you forget to register for the Society for Neuroeconomics conference in October?
Earlybird rates are now extended to Sept 9th!
neuroeconomics.org/registration/
Earlybird rates are now extended to Sept 9th!
neuroeconomics.org/registration/
Registration - Society For Neuroeconomics
neuroeconomics.org
September 2, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Did you forget to register for the Society for Neuroeconomics conference in October?
Earlybird rates are now extended to Sept 9th!
neuroeconomics.org/registration/
Earlybird rates are now extended to Sept 9th!
neuroeconomics.org/registration/
Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
The chase behind Stoll's book The Cuckoo's Egg ran a full year across networks, modem banks, and international borders, tracing to German hackers who also worked for the East German Stasi.
Cliff Stoll revisits the 75-cent glitch that caught KGB hackers, 40 years later
Every year since 1993, hackers, researchers, computer security specialists, and government intelligence employees have gathered in Las Vegas for the annual DEF CON. This year Clifford Stoll gave an energetic…
boingboing.net
August 27, 2026 at 5:09 AM
The chase behind Stoll's book The Cuckoo's Egg ran a full year across networks, modem banks, and international borders, tracing to German hackers who also worked for the East German Stasi.
🎉 This would help so many!
(Separately, IMHO this is also a climate science breakthrough. Resilience is going to need many and varied innovations.)
(Separately, IMHO this is also a climate science breakthrough. Resilience is going to need many and varied innovations.)
A tetanus-diphtheria vaccine that doesn’t need a fridge has passed its first human trial. UK scientists reformulated a licensed shot using trehalose, the sugar that lets desert plants survive without water, keeping it stable for up to two years at 30°C. Gavi buff.ly/1kNIUHB
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Fridge-free vaccine passes first human trial, raising hopes for the hardest-to-reach
Unreliable electricity makes it hard to keep vaccines at the right temperature – this development could change that.
www.gavi.org
August 26, 2026 at 3:20 PM
🎉 This would help so many!
(Separately, IMHO this is also a climate science breakthrough. Resilience is going to need many and varied innovations.)
(Separately, IMHO this is also a climate science breakthrough. Resilience is going to need many and varied innovations.)
I found this pretty horrifying, particularly as an ex-wet-lab person.
But what's possibly worse is the 🤷🏽♀️ responses from some of the scientists because they've been fighting garbage like this for years?
But what's possibly worse is the 🤷🏽♀️ responses from some of the scientists because they've been fighting garbage like this for years?
A massive update: At least ~15 companies~ are selling scientists antibodies using faked validation data. We've documented 18,000+ manipulated images on 17,000+ products sold by leading laboratory suppliers including Thermo Fisher, Abcam, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Millipore Sigma and Bio-Techne.
1/🧵
1/🧵
August 25, 2026 at 10:01 PM
I found this pretty horrifying, particularly as an ex-wet-lab person.
But what's possibly worse is the 🤷🏽♀️ responses from some of the scientists because they've been fighting garbage like this for years?
But what's possibly worse is the 🤷🏽♀️ responses from some of the scientists because they've been fighting garbage like this for years?
Algorithmic visual poetry
August 23, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Algorithmic visual poetry
Hey, it's the marketing version of a recent academic post. Let me use that as a template.
So [a company] used AI to write their [ad]. Not my thing, but these days, whatever.
The 🤯 of it all happens for me because this implies NONE of the [team] then *read the [ad] that was written*?!
So [a company] used AI to write their [ad]. Not my thing, but these days, whatever.
The 🤯 of it all happens for me because this implies NONE of the [team] then *read the [ad] that was written*?!
August 21, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Hey, it's the marketing version of a recent academic post. Let me use that as a template.
So [a company] used AI to write their [ad]. Not my thing, but these days, whatever.
The 🤯 of it all happens for me because this implies NONE of the [team] then *read the [ad] that was written*?!
So [a company] used AI to write their [ad]. Not my thing, but these days, whatever.
The 🤯 of it all happens for me because this implies NONE of the [team] then *read the [ad] that was written*?!
Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
According to the complaint: “Oura did not just claim to measure a heartbeat or a temperature, but the exact stage of sleep the wearer is in—which in reality requires electrodes in the scalp and sensors on the eyes, as only a hospital or other clinical setting can do.”
Oura faces lawsuit accusing it of misleading consumers about sleep-tracking accuracy | TechCrunch
The lawsuit alleges that Oura rings are unable to measure any of the physiological signals needed to assess sleep quality or determine sleep stages.
techcrunch.com
August 21, 2026 at 2:55 PM
According to the complaint: “Oura did not just claim to measure a heartbeat or a temperature, but the exact stage of sleep the wearer is in—which in reality requires electrodes in the scalp and sensors on the eyes, as only a hospital or other clinical setting can do.”
This is a searing graf: "Economics...Cultural anthropology...Sociology... Psychology ...Political science... By the 1980s, the disciplines distinguished themselves from one another mainly by what they refused to look at"
Can't quote it all, but worth a read, even if you end up disagreeing.
Can't quote it all, but worth a read, even if you end up disagreeing.
Why Economists Don’t Listen
indevelopmentmag.substack.com/p/why-econom...
indevelopmentmag.substack.com/p/why-econom...
Why Economists Don’t Listen: Tales From an Anthropology Spy in Economics
In 1993, I was sitting on a mud floor with a small group of women in a village in Karnataka, trying to start a conversation about their lives.
indevelopmentmag.substack.com
August 20, 2026 at 9:04 PM
This is a searing graf: "Economics...Cultural anthropology...Sociology... Psychology ...Political science... By the 1980s, the disciplines distinguished themselves from one another mainly by what they refused to look at"
Can't quote it all, but worth a read, even if you end up disagreeing.
Can't quote it all, but worth a read, even if you end up disagreeing.
“The Emperor is a fan of Flock ....Because we all know that the Flock cameras are not only following the license plate readers...They are following children in parks and gymnasiums. And we need this. I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend”
Darth Vader spoke in favor of Flock cameras at a San Diego city council meeting yesterday
'The Emperor Is a Fan of Flock': Darth Vader Speaks at City Council Meeting
"This council was elected to serve the police, not the public," said Vader.
gizmodo.com
August 20, 2026 at 5:17 PM
“The Emperor is a fan of Flock ....Because we all know that the Flock cameras are not only following the license plate readers...They are following children in parks and gymnasiums. And we need this. I need this so I can stalk my ex-girlfriend”
In today's "quotes lifted entirely out of their original context" - this is also how I describe all my published papers:
It’s got my signature insane attention to detail while also being a fun hang!
August 20, 2026 at 4:31 PM
In today's "quotes lifted entirely out of their original context" - this is also how I describe all my published papers:
Pronto card FTW!
Let me tell you in particular how much I love the SD trolley. I love it for every ballgame, concert and other fun event that my traffic/parking anxiety would otherwise cause me to miss.
And I extra extra love it for SfN.
Let me tell you in particular how much I love the SD trolley. I love it for every ballgame, concert and other fun event that my traffic/parking anxiety would otherwise cause me to miss.
And I extra extra love it for SfN.
In June 2026, most large urban areas experienced substantially lower transit ridership than in June 2019. They're still suffering from the Covid slump.
The exceptions, where transit ridership has essentially recovered:
—Seattle
—Salt Lake
—San Diego
www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...
The exceptions, where transit ridership has essentially recovered:
—Seattle
—Salt Lake
—San Diego
www.thetransportpolitic.com/databook/us-...
August 19, 2026 at 7:01 PM
Pronto card FTW!
Let me tell you in particular how much I love the SD trolley. I love it for every ballgame, concert and other fun event that my traffic/parking anxiety would otherwise cause me to miss.
And I extra extra love it for SfN.
Let me tell you in particular how much I love the SD trolley. I love it for every ballgame, concert and other fun event that my traffic/parking anxiety would otherwise cause me to miss.
And I extra extra love it for SfN.
Here, you too can have your morning brightened by a lovely story to read.
So, we found a live bat in our galleries.
🦇 a thread🦇
🦇 a thread🦇
August 19, 2026 at 5:56 PM
Here, you too can have your morning brightened by a lovely story to read.
Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
To be extra clear: all that LLM typing speed? Interface design. We published on it. And the speed has a minor but
significant effect.
significant effect.
The funniest reason that many users believe LLMs are “thinking” is that where it used to write text on the screen slowly where a user could read it; now it writes text on the screen very quickly and they cannot.
August 19, 2026 at 4:45 PM
To be extra clear: all that LLM typing speed? Interface design. We published on it. And the speed has a minor but
significant effect.
significant effect.
A colleague recently worried that we've exhausted the "easy" marginal benefits of messaging. This finding might be consistent:
"there were no significant differences between the two groups in rates of primary care visits, ER visits, or inpatient hospitalizations"
"there were no significant differences between the two groups in rates of primary care visits, ER visits, or inpatient hospitalizations"
📣NEW results from @JPAL affiliated professors Sarah Gordon and @jacobwswallace.bsky.social and coauthors Breanna Biondi, Kevin Nguyen, Benjamin Sommers, & Anna Goldman evaluated whether simplified mailers 📬 could ⬆️primary care engagement among #Medicaid enrollees in Maine.
Learn more🧵👇
Learn more🧵👇
August 18, 2026 at 7:36 PM
A colleague recently worried that we've exhausted the "easy" marginal benefits of messaging. This finding might be consistent:
"there were no significant differences between the two groups in rates of primary care visits, ER visits, or inpatient hospitalizations"
"there were no significant differences between the two groups in rates of primary care visits, ER visits, or inpatient hospitalizations"
Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
“X’s algorithm learns what you hate and shows you more of it, according to a new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”
www.404media.co/xs-algorithm...
www.404media.co/xs-algorithm...
X's Algorithm Feeds Off Ragebait and Impacts Democrats More, Study Finds
X is driving engagement by making users fight in the replies.
www.404media.co
August 18, 2026 at 1:34 PM
“X’s algorithm learns what you hate and shows you more of it, according to a new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”
www.404media.co/xs-algorithm...
www.404media.co/xs-algorithm...