
I help scientists use visuals to communicate their work. Figure design workshop. #denisovans #sciart #coverart @maayanvisuals.bsky.social
Haifa, Israel
Joined August 2014
- Tweets1.9K
- Following1.5K
- Followers2.3K
- Likes24.6K
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
Excited to share that my master's work on skeletal regulation was accepted to @nature.com as the cover story! 🦴🧬 Huge thanks to our lab & collaborators, especially Taka Inoue & Yizhi Yan and to @david-gokhman.bsky.social for his guidance.
📄The paper: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-1…
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
Humans are far more prone to degenerative skeletal diseases than other apes. Our new @Nature paper uncovers the genetic changes that shaped our skeleton and uncovers a major clue to why it is so vulnerable to degeneration.🧵👇
nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
Very excited to see this out🤩. Great job @nadavmishol and Yizhi! and huge thanks to @maayanvisuals for designing such a beautiful cover!
Excited to share that my master's work on skeletal regulation was accepted to @nature.com as the cover story! 🦴🧬 Huge thanks to our lab & collaborators, especially Taka Inoue & Yizhi Yan and to @david-gokhman.bsky.social for his guidance.
📄The paper: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-1…
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
🚨Just IN: If you've used ChatGPT for writing or brainstorming in the last 6 months, your creative ability may already be permanently damaged.
A controlled experiment just proved the effect doesn't reverse when you stop using it.
3,302 creative ideas. 61 people. 30 days of tracking.
Researchers split students into two groups. Half used ChatGPT for creative tasks. Half worked alone. For five days, the ChatGPT group outperformed on every metric. Higher scores. More ideas. Better output. AI was making them better.
Then day 7. ChatGPT removed. Every creativity gain vanished overnight. Crashed to baseline. Zero lasting improvement.
But that's not the bad part.
ChatGPT users' ideas became increasingly identical to each other over time. Same content. Same structure. Same phrasing. The researchers called it homogenization. Everyone using ChatGPT started producing the same ideas wearing different clothes.
When ChatGPT was removed, the creativity boost disappeared -- but the homogenization stayed. 30 days later, same result. Their creative range had been permanently compressed.
Five days of use. Permanent damage 30 days later.
A separate trial confirmed it. 120 students. 45-day surprise test. ChatGPT users scored 57.5%. Traditional learners scored 68.5%. AI reduces cognitive effort. Less effort means weaker encoding. Weaker encoding means less creative raw material.
You're not renting a productivity boost. You're financing it with your originality.
The interest rate is permanent.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
This AI-generated tweet misrepresents nearly every aspect of the cited study. The study assessed knowledge retention, not creative ability, and found traditional study aids superior to chatGPT. There is no implication of permanent damage to participants learning ability.
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
pangram.com/history/f3c8ae…
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
Academia feels increasingly like playing Monkey Island, if you miss something as absurd as picking up a rubber chicken with a pulley in the first scene, you only realize much later that you’re stuck and can’t pass to the next stage.
I was interviewed today by @ScienceMagazine about the funding crisis following the ERC announcement. I argued that when a grant rejection can hinge on something small, and you then have to wait years to resubmit, the cost becomes so high that instead of suggesting “high-risk high-gain” plans scientists will prepare more cautious, less ambitious proposals. It turns into a perverse game of simplifying your ideas and trying (unsuccessfully) to predict what an overstretched reviewer pool will find easiest to digest.
"Abrupt change to European funder’s rules leaves researchers shut out | Science | AAAS" science.org/content/article/…
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
בשבוע הבא אני משתתפת בסדרת הרצאות על אבולוציה של האדם במוזיאון הטבע ע״ש שטיינהרדט! Steinhardt Museum of Natural History
27/4/26
18:30 נקודת מפגש: ישראל כמקום אסטרטגי באבולוציה של האדם. מרצה: פרופ' הילה מאי.
19:15 דיוקן של נערה דניסובית: שחזור אנטומי ללא שלד. מרצה: מעין הראל.
תגללו לראות סרטונים מהתהליך!
פרטים וכרטיסים בקישור :)
smnh.tau.ac.il/mw_event/mp27…
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
Karma is finally coming for Meta, through the legal system.
As we await a verdict in Los Angeles on whether social media platforms were designed to addict young people, it's important to note that TWO courts have already ruled against Meta in the past month.
1) Yesterday, a jury in New Mexico established that Meta's platforms are not safe for kids, and that their design enabled the exploitation of children. This is a watershed moment: This is the FIRST time a jury has evaluated the evidence. The evidence was so compelling that the jury said Meta should pay $375 million dollars in civil penalties for the harms it has caused to New Mexico and its citizens.
See here:
theguardian.com/technology/2…
2. But it gets worse for Meta: a few weeks ago, in Delaware, a court ruled that Meta's insurance companies do not have a duty to defend Meta or cover its costs in the thousands of lawsuits playing out in California because, under California law, if a company caused harm through "intentional acts" rather than accidentally, the insurers have no obligation to defend that company. Because the documents brought out in the NM and LA trials show intentional actions, Meta loses insurance coverage. That's what the insurance companies asserted, and the judge agreed with them.
See here:
insurancejournal.com/magazin…
Because of these two rulings, the legal and political landscape has changed dramatically. Going forward, social media companies will be judged like any other company whose product design decisions harm children.
These two rulings mark a profound shift toward accountability. The legal system is beginning to catch up to what parents have known all along. Many parents are now more likely to get justice for what these platforms have been doing to children for many years.
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
this is incredible
The time of day for cancer immunotherapy is associated with major outcomes. Early is better. Results from a randomized trial of lung cancer, backs up the importance of our circadian rhythm and immune system
nature.com/articles/s41591-0…
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
I don't understand how people can be anti-expert. I love people who've been doing their thing for years.
I had to buy a suit and the woman who helped me could eyeball me and pick the perfect dress shirt. Everything fit perfectly on the first try.
I recently had a pipe burst in my apartment. The plumber was efficient and professional. The investigator from the insurance company was knowledgeable.
My default attitude to people, whether it's a university professor or a roofer, is "This is your domain, please educate me."
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
🥁We are recruiting PhD students/Postdocs with strong proven background in developmental/molecular/cell biology & related areas, for various projects- check out our lab website👇🏼
We offer: competitive stipends, super equipped lab, fun international team!
yanivelkoubylab.com/
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
Here's the link to the system, try it! qedscience.com/ @qedScience
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
In the spirit of giving thanks, here are a few things I am grateful for today:
1. A new cover- just in time for Thanksgiving :)
but more importantly...
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
Ethan Neumann, a 27-year-old PhD candidate in my lab, devoted himself to studying #fibrolamellar carcinoma, the cancer that claimed his life last week.
Please support his father’s effort to establish an endowed research fellowship in Ethan’s name ⬇️
gofundme.com/f/ethan-neumann…
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
🙏I’m deeply humbled to be included in Nature’s 10 for 2025. Grateful to my lab members, mentors, colleagues at Weizmann, and to my family and friends for their constant support. Our journey began with a small anomaly in the proteasome, a signal that revealed an unexpected layer of immune regulation. Excited for what lies ahead and committed to translating these insights to benefit human health.
@NaturePortfolio @WeizmannScience @ERC_Research @CancerResearch @ICRFONLINE @icrf_toronto
nature.com/articles/d41586-0…
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
Tricks and Treats - AI art
I often get asked how I made a particular piece of artwork (here it's @Procreate ). I am always happy to share, and the answer you *will not* hear is generative AI.
The idea of AI image generation as a magic trick is deceptive...
Maayan Harel 🟣 Visual storytelling for science retweeted
1/n Fun journey continues: Our new @CellStemCell paper out on how the Inherent & Dormant Plasticity of mouse naive PSCs can be "Exaggerated" to Directly form ~E8.5 Transgene-Free (TF) Mouse SEMs & WITHOUT inducing 8-16-Morula-like "Embryo Founder Cells". cell.com/cell-stem-cell/full…























