Ross Andersen

Beyond thrilled to learn that my essay ‘Do Animals Know That They Will Die’ will be in this year’s Best American Science and Nature Writing. This was extra meaningful because the piece was chosen by @susanorlean.bsky.social and @jaimealyse.bsky.social, two writers whose work I absolutely adore.

A novel legal strategy represents a new front for the climate-change movement—if it holds up in court, @rossandersen.bsky.social reports: theatln.tc/WtjyezsD

Very cool article by @rossandersen.bsky.social on the new archaeological and DNA evidence changing our understanding of human history. www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

The discoveries of “ghost” ancestors, ancient tools, and hidden earthworks are redefining the story of human origins, @rossandersen.bsky.social writes:

Since he's returned to office Trump has attacked the Smithsonian as "out of control" where everything discussed "is how horrible our country is, how bad slavery was." Lonnie Bunch has been the person who has put himself between Trump and the Smithsonian. This is the story of his work to protect it.

I wrote about the quest to invent new kinds of psychedelic experience www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...

I've spent months speaking to current & retired Black service members about being part of the military in this political moment. What I found were officers and soldiers despondent at the resurgence of racism, yet often insistent that they were fighting for what this country could be, not what it is.

Whichever of the purple dots you look at turns more purple.

With AI wearables, even the average person might need to worry about their every move being recorded, @rossandersen.bsky.social writes. He reports on a growing list of technology that is cropping up to counter this surveillance:

This is a story about life extension for dogs, in which my own pup makes several appearances www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

Claude Mythos Preview is, of course, a big deal for cybersecurity. But perhaps more importantly, the model brings into stark relief how AI companies are amassing more power and influence than nation-states. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

The Most Beautiful Moment of the Artemis II Mission. It had little to do with science or celestial bodies; instead it was a moment shared by four curious, caring humans, united in purpose, far from home. [theatlantic.com]

I wrote a tiny thing about the most beautiful moment of the Artemis II mission www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

The astronauts on Artemis II have now traveled farther from Earth than any human before them. Last week, @rossandersen.bsky.social reported on the mission's historical gravitas:

Going to the moon is objectively awesome. Even when you don't land on it. I love this @rossandersen.bsky.social dispatch from the Artemis II launch: www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

On the Florida bridge watching the new mission to the moon take off with @rossandersen.bsky.social and realizing that much of the nation may not be aware it's happening. www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

I went to the moon launch and wrote about it Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

Had a blast talking about the Artemis 2 launch with this crew bsky.app/profile/ians...

"American science has been the envy of the planet since the Second World War at least, but it has recently gone into decline." www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

“Anthropic’s dispute with the Pentagon is a reminder that the people who create a powerful technology don’t usually get the final say in how it’s used.” Ross Andersen for @theatlantic.com

From an ignorant outsider perspective, NASA making the cuts before the budget passed (which it never did) felt so insane to me

New details on the dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic; how the negotiations broke down, and a particular sticking point on AI in the cloud vs inside of edge systems. by @rossandersen.bsky.social / tip @techmeme.com

"The big 'aliens exist' bets would make sense only if the traders actually believed that they would pan out, perhaps because they knew something about a hushed-up discovery that the rest of us are about to find out."

I wrote about the coming prediction singularity www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Michael Jackson was so good at creating the cinema of himself that the only striking images here are direct copies of those he already made bsky.app/profile/phil...

“For more than a century, scientific journals have been the pipes through which knowledge of the natural world flows into our culture. Now they’re being clogged with AI slop” www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

Anthropic wants to be the AI industry's superego, but is caught between the pressures to be safe and fast, rigorous while being commercially successful. I profiled the company and its leadership, who seem earnest but torn, anxious but at times hubristic: www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Preach @adamserwer.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Glad this is being discussed more. It is a big problem. I think academic publishing needs a new paradigm. Science Is Drowning in AI Slop - Peer review has met its match www.theatlantic.com/science/2026... #AIslop #publishing #science #research #ethics

Wrote about the observers. The people standing by and filming and the risk they are taking to let the world see what is happening. It's crucial and its the only way to combat the lies and blatant propaganda. www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

I am trying not to post on these events in this state of mind but: I hope people understand what the observers are doing is brave and dangerous.

AI slop is everywhere in scientific publishing, we’re only catching the easy-to-detect stuff (like when you happen to peer review a manuscript with a AI-hallucinated reference of a paper you apparently wrote) www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

"For more than a century, scientific journals have been the pipes through which knowledge of the natural world flows into our culture. Now they’re being clogged with AI slop." www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...

For more than a century, scientific journals have been the pipes through which knowledge of the natural world flows into our culture, @rossandersen.bsky.social writes—now they’re being clogged with AI slop: