Professor at the NYU School of Medicine (https://yanailab.org/). Co-founder and Director of the Night Science Institute (https://night-science.org/). Co-host of the 'Night Science Podcast' https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/night-science/id1563415749https://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mv2m3capik2aDo you think you would have discovered a gorilla hiding in plain sight in your data? In our 2020 paper, we found that you're 3 times less likely to find it if you have a specific hypothesis. A hypothesis is a liability - keep looking for the gorilla in the data! https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13059-020-02133-w09 Sep 2026 03:33 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv2m3capik2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3muvjxghk5s2b🔥Does academia stifle creativity? This new perspective argues that academia is currently structured to select against creativity, intellectual risk-taking and bold ideas. Young scientists – best positioned for new ideas – are particularly incentivized to play it safe. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-026-02575-507 Sep 2026 03:11 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3muvjxghk5s2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mumq36wyk22nDoing a PhD is - at heart - one long discussion with your mentor. The discussion changes over time - with unexpected turns and ups & downs - but through it all is two people discussing a topic endlessly to make sense of it. PhD students: choose someone you like to talk to.03 Sep 2026 15:07 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mumq36wyk22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mufm7y6bos2uNobel Prize winner Ada Yonath sadly passed away today. She was a legend for her pioneering work on the structure of ribosomes.31 Aug 2026 19:09 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mufm7y6bos2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mudj4blo5s2bAdvice for new PhD students: choose a mentor who is committed to your training, not just your project. The most important product of your PhD - even more important than the science - is YOU, a newly trained scientist.30 Aug 2026 23:08 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mudj4blo5s2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mtvzomhvvk2vFriends in Israel! I'm looking forward to giving a talk at the Weizmann on how cancer cell state transitions facilitate drug resistance according to developmental constraints.25 Aug 2026 14:28 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtvzomhvvk2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mttkm2kcfc22We just sold out this one, but let us know where we should set up the next ‘train the trainer’ event for teaching the creative scientific process! https://night-science.org/train-the-trainer-workshop-europe/24 Aug 2026 14:52 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mttkm2kcfc22https://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mtsams7gjk22How to do science in the age of AI.24 Aug 2026 02:21 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtsams7gjk22https://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mtmn4jam7k2hThe future of AI should not be determined by the dreams of a small group of technologists, but by democratic choices about the kind of society we wish to build. –Daron Acemoglu, Nobel Prize-winning MIT Professor21 Aug 2026 20:49 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtmn4jam7k2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mtmdirqras2pA.I. hallucinations can be remarkably useful. They are dreaming up riots of unrealities that help scientists track cancer, design drugs, invent medical devices, uncover weather phenomena and even win the Nobel Prize. Gift article: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/science/ai-hallucinations-science.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7FA.EqFO.b99Ff2fKrnP-&smid=url-share21 Aug 2026 17:57 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtmdirqras2phttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mtfm756nq22tThere's a museum in Amsterdam called "Micropia" that's all about microbes. How cool 😎19 Aug 2026 01:44 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtfm756nq22thttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mtfaoaqth22kScience at its best is organized chaos. We teach young scientists how to be organized and robust, but not the night science creativity that’s needed for discovery. Come train with us in how to teach the tools of the creative scientific process in our EMBO train the trainer event.18 Aug 2026 22:17 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtfaoaqth22khttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mtc3lhjil225🔥The NIH has funded our R25 grant to bring Night Science training to all 40,000 US postdoctoral fellows! It all started with discussions at the Radcliffe Summit we organized 2 years ago at Harvard where the question was how bring creativity training into the sciences.17 Aug 2026 16:08 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtc3lhjil225https://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mt2nive5z22xIf you’re letting AI do a review of a manuscript for you, just know that (A) it’s super obvious to anyone reading it, (B) it’s dishonest - as you’re explicitly instructed not to do so, and (C) it’s careless - because you’re uploading someone’s confidential material to an AI app.14 Aug 2026 17:08 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mt2nive5z22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mstkz6bh2c2sNight Science sessions are popping up everywhere! Contact me for support in setting one up in your area. Our NYC club has been going strong for nearly two years with so many amazing sessions!11 Aug 2026 21:35 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mstkz6bh2c2shttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mssxmdydu22qHow would you let the LLM dream? [...] In a sense, to replay things, organize them, think about them so that tomorrow when we wake up, our thoughts are more organized than just input-output-input-output. –Jure Leskovec, Stanford Professor11 Aug 2026 15:47 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mssxmdydu22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mson24lrzc2aThere is where I disagree with Professor Bill Martin: "If you follow the data, then you've completely lost control... you're putting the data where your mind should be. For me, the scientific process is one of questions.. But if you go into data driven science... seek and you shall find."09 Aug 2026 22:28 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mson24lrzc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3ms4a6urfik2oI actually don't mind being wrong.. we said this is what's happening on the Millennium Bridge.. what we proposed doesn't work. But it was interesting. We really did stick our neck out and unfortunately got our head chopped off. –Steven Strogatz, Cornell Professor @stevenstrogatz.com02 Aug 2026 14:50 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms4a6urfik2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3ms26nfanvc2jI said to my PI, I want to go do my postdoc, will you write a letter for me. And he wrote in my letter that I wasn't very creative .. I finally met with Magda and she told me she saw straight through the letter. –Samantha Morris, Harvard Professor01 Aug 2026 19:17 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms26nfanvc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mrvsfnvlzc2xScience funding has still not reached gender equality: "Projects led by male PIs received roughly twice the mean funding compared to female PIs." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213538326000469?via%3Dihub31 Jul 2026 01:27 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrvsfnvlzc2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mrnpe3g72s2iThere is a big misunderstanding about “the linear model” – the notion that there is a pipeline in science that goes from research to development – in the White House's report "Science A New Golden Age".27 Jul 2026 20:11 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrnpe3g72s2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mrjab6atlc23Creativity is ultimately rooted in the individual –Ruth Lehmann, Director of the Whitehead Institute, MIT26 Jul 2026 01:30 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrjab6atlc23https://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mrfgqxl4dk2pScience would be more trustworthy in the public eye if scientists were more open about the creative process behind scientific discovery. – Tom McLeish, on the Night Science Podcast, episode 1024 Jul 2026 13:16 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrfgqxl4dk2phttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mrd3bq6egs2oIf you always stick to the field you were trained in, you could be denying yourself the chance of creating a new field.23 Jul 2026 14:45 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrd3bq6egs2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mrd37uqqus23Going from a creative idea [..you ask..] what's the fastest way we could find out that it's completely wrong? .. that doesn't come naturally to a lot of people because they become attached to their ideas... you have to be able to have many ideas & most of them could be wrong. –@benlehner.bsky.social23 Jul 2026 14:44 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mrd37uqqus23https://bsky.app/profile/itaiyanai.bsky.social/post/3mraxdomor226Day science is trying to design tests that would disprove a hypothesis – and night science is finding something that wasn't initially thought of. So basically wandering into the forest of the data and trying to figure out what's up. – Yana Bromberg, on the Night Science Podcast, Ep. 822 Jul 2026 18:29 +0000at://did:plc:hfp3die5v5ojjt3bdm2luips/app.bsky.feed.post/3mraxdomor226