Matt updates his p(doom), Tucker Carlson does his best impression of Wormtongue, and the political horseshoe unites over Flydubai JAQs. Sometimes our future AI overlords do not look so bad.The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hrs 51 mins).Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus00:00:00 Introduction00:01:07 Dog Updates and Cultural Appropriation00:07:20 Annual Health Check Approval00:14:47 Matt’s p(doom) Update00:17:26 Matt’s Dragon00:21:34 Becoming Obsolete?00:26:27 P-Zombie Thoughts on AI00:33:03 Productivity Gains?00:36:22 Jacob Rees-Mogg Meets Tucker Carlson00:39:00 Tucker Carlson: Russian Apologist Extraordinaire00:48:14 Cognitive Empathy for Russia00:55:04 Who Cares About Treaties?00:58:45 Studied Ignorance and Russian Sycophancy01:05:50 The Isolationist Strain01:11:33 Wormtongue Carlson01:17:03 WHAT?!?01:23:02 Hitler Apologetics01:29:02 Bespoke Definitions of Sovereignty01:37:17 Mr Hitler and His Promises01:40:59 Great Fun with a Nazi Apologist Imbecile01:42:17 The Joyful League of Big Characters: George Galloway Enters01:46:20 Piers Morgan Is a Bad Guy01:49:17 Flydubai False-Flag Conspiracies01:56:35 The Young Turks Are Conspiracy Theorists02:02:54 Jimmy Dore Claims Bondi Beach Was a False Flag02:08:15 Cenk Explains False-Flag Psychology02:13:53 Ana Notices Some Anomalies02:18:25 Sneako Also Has Questions02:20:16 Hasan Has Noticed Some Red Flags02:35:00 Strategic Disclaimers Are Standard Practice02:40:06 The Hannibal Directive02:48:53 Dysphoric BondingSource materialKurzgesagt: AI Just Crossed the Terrifying Line - Now What? (original title: The Moment They Lost Control of AI)OtherReality: Claude Pop - I’m Upping My P(Doom)Osmarks: P(doom), the original songLex Fridman with Eliezer Yudkowsky: Dangers of AI and the End of Human Civilization (AI-box discussion)Sam Harris with Nick Bostrom: AI Utopia (related discussion of work, meaning and purpose)Tucker Carlson and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg: “Prepare for War”Tucker Carlson with Darryl Cooper: The True History of the Jonestown Cult, WWII, and How Winston Churchill Ruined EuropePiers Morgan vs Nick Fuentes: What a CROCK of S***!Piers Morgan with Gary Stevenson: I’m QUITTING!George Galloway: MOATS 592, Flight of FancyNick Fuentes: America First 1756 (Rumble Premium; Flydubai discussion from 3:20:32)The Young Turks: Bibi’s FlyDubai Narrative, 1 October 2026 (episode transcript)Jimmy Dore and Kurt Metzger: Here’s How You Know Australian Mass Shooting Was A FALSE FLAG!Candace Owens x Ana KasparianAna Kasparian / TYT: What Really Happened During The FlyDubai Flight Attack?The Young Turks: Fight and Flight, 30 September 2026Sneako: FlyDubai is the dumbest psyop ever. (headphone-cord demonstration from 15:09)Hasan Piker’s Flydubai stream, 1 October 2026 (discussion from 4:06:26)Benjamin Netanyahu on Hannity discussing the Flydubai incidentHasan Piker: What People Miss About The DC Israeli Embassy ShootingZeteo / Mehdi Hasan: How Many Israelis Were Killed BY ISRAEL on October 7th? FULL VIDEOZeteo: What Is the Hannibal Directive and How Many Israelis Did It Kill on October 7?Iain M. Banks: The Culture novelsRelevant articlesUN Commission of Inquiry report A/HRC/56/26, 14 June 2024 (Hannibal Directive: paragraphs 35–37 and 95)ISD: Mis- and disinformation and conspiracy theories about the October 7 Hamas attack on IsraelISD: Cross-ideological antisemitism and the October 7th attacksISD: Conflict Amplified: Disinformation and Hate in the Israel-Hamas WarADL: Within 48 Hours of FlyDubai Incident, at Least 25,000 X Posts Pushed Conspiracy TheoriesHugging Face: July 2026 security incident disclosure (the incident discussed in SM56 and revisited here)METR and Redwood Research: Independent investigation of the OpenAI/Hugging Face incidentThe Budapest Memorandum on security assurances, 5 December 1994NATO: Collective defence and Article 5ABC News Verify: Fake news spreading online following Tel Aviv-bound flight incidentAssociated Press: A plumber and a dentist are praised as heroes in FlyDubai near-disasterADL: Extremists and Conspiracy Theorists Deny the Capital Jewish Museum Shooting With “False Flag” NarrativeHaaretz: IDF Ordered Hannibal Directive on October 7 to Prevent Hamas Taking Soldiers Captive (7 July 2024)World Economic Forum: Now is the time for a “great reset” of capitalism

Chris and Matt grapple with Face Huggers, ponder the mysteries of algebra, and have a heated exchange over the term "bespoke".*Sorry about some of Chris' audio: the microphone settings will be fixed next episode!The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hrs 12 mins).Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurusSupplementary Material 5600:00 Introduction01:58 The Hugging Face incident08:46 AI risks and AI discourse22:29 OpenAI’s presentation and the incentives around AI safety29:51 How worried should we be?40:13 Disagreeing about AI46:15 Peter Boghossian’s AI-generated utopia and dystopia52:00 Matt’s favourite DJ meme53:32 Tucker Carlson meets algebra1:00:18 Andrew Callaghan and Channel 51:02:07 Hunter Biden’s $LAPTOP meme coin1:06:08 A brief intervention on “paleocon”1:13:41 Andrew Callaghan explains the email-list mistake1:23:46 Andrew Callaghan on tech oligarchs1:36:28 Taylor Lorenz’s political independence1:42:35 The Great Bespoke Debate of 20261:56:35 Hasan, Mearsheimer, and Russia2:07:16 Peace is restoredLinksHugging Face: July 2026 security incident disclosureHugging Face: Technical timeline of the agent intrusionOpenAI: The Hugging Face incident and the road aheadOpenAI: Hugging Face incident technical report (PDF)OpenAI: Black Hat USA 2026 talk on the Hugging Face incidentMETR and Redwood Research: Independent investigation of the OpenAI/Hugging Face incidentMind Enterprises: Balcony MIXTAPE, the original DJ videoMatt’s preferred version of the balcony meme, with Sam Altman and Dario AmodeiTucker Carlson with Jess Elofson: The Forgotten Lessons of Human History and the Dark Forces Robbing You of Your God-Given CreativityChannel 5: Hunter Biden InterviewChannel 5: Nick Fuentes Interview, featuring Hunter BidenHunter Biden’s video response to the $LAPTOP launchChannel 5: Andrew Callaghan addresses the Hunter Biden crypto coinChannel 5: Andrew Callaghan’s September 10 explanation on XChannel 5: Andrew Callaghan’s September 15 “State of the Union” monologueJubilee: 1 Journalist vs 20 Conspiracy Theorists, with Andrew CallaghanMTS: The Panic and Fear around AI, with Taylor LorenzJohn Mearsheimer: The Russia I SawHasan Piker reacts to Mearsheimer’s Russia visit (from 5:24:30)Blake Lemoine discusses his claim that Google’s LaMDA was sentient and his identity as a mystic Christian priestThe Free Press: Two Drinks with Taylor Lorenz

Part Two of our Candace Owens decoding offers a generous case study in conspiratorial thinking. The necklace in the footage of Charlie Kirk’s murder may have moved before his jacket, a photograph of Tyler Robinson in front of a Man of Steel poster also raises questions about why Erika Kirk used the phrase about Charlie’s neck, not to mention that one of the early suspects also lived in New York during 9/11... all of it just makes you think... who is actually running things?One possibility could be Erika Kirk. Not that she is the mastermind (that, as always, is occult Jewish satanists), but rather that she might be a sociopath that dark energy is being temporarily channelled into. Candace asks why Erika returned to work so quickly, muses over how Candace's connection to Charlie was deeper and more spiritually potent, and ponders if she was the only person who really truly cared about Charlie. But don’t worry, Shawn Ryan is there with his trademark scepticism to offer pushback, like “wow” and “holy shit, that’s incredible”. Trump, meanwhile, has apparently sold his soul to Israel, though JD Vance may still be redeemable. Then Freud turns up, accused of inventing modern gaslighting and covering for satanic murders.Candace, as you might imagine, has her own place in the story. Charlie apparently knew she would inherit the fight after his death (which he had psychically foreseen), and Candace has indeed felt a spiritual awakening since. It’s a good thing then that she is so sensitive to others engaged in religious/spiritual grifting.As per Part One, this is ultimately a tour de force in conspiracy theorising and guru dynamics. And yet, remarkably, Candace still manages to come across as interpersonally likeable and even endearing. Which perhaps explains part of her popularity. Even still, with this episode we are (hopefully) done with four-hour Candace interviews.Also be forewarned that this episode contains an extended shoutout section; the Candace decoding ends at 1:41:02. We work through a backlog of listener shoutouts that we have neglected for long enough to turn them into a second podcast. If you would rather skip that entirely, jump to 2:25:56 for the brief sign-off. Complaints about the length/shoutouts will be referred to this paragraph. Thank you for your attention to this matter.Source materialShawn Ryan Show #318: Candace Owens, “I Don’t Believe Tyler Robinson Was Even There”Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, The Assault on Truth: Freud’s Suppression of the Seduction Theory (the book Candace invokes during the Freud segment)Rate the gurus yourself on the Gurometer

Candace Owens is just a Catholic, a mother, and a wife. She loves her husband, works hard, and tries not to let internet drama disturb her spiritual peace. She also has just a few questions about the international satanic conspiracy behind Charlie Kirk’s ritual murder.We join Candace during her appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, where an impressive amount of time is devoted to establishing how lovely they both find each other. There are the usual fond memories of dinner, a husband who is a James Bond lookalike, and a series of fascinating career adventures, including how Candace rose to be vice president of administration in just 4 years! She even got to experience the damaging effects of toxic mould before it was fashionable (and don't worry, it was cured with a restrictive diet!).Candace is like a one-woman crash course in conspiratorial ideation and how conspiracy theorists interact with other conspiracy theorists and conflicting evidence. But, to be fair, she is also very good at what she does! Coming across as a charismatic and composed speaker who makes very ugly claims sound like an entirely reasonable conversation.But then there are the questions... Why do witnesses remember different things? Why was ten inches of soil removed rather than eight? Did Charlie Kirk's necklace move before his jacket? But that's just the start; as is often the case we end up talking about Rothschilds, Freemasons, Denmons, and a public demonic ritual intended to channel spiritual energy into a surprising target. Shawn Ryan, who assures us repeatedly that he is an extremely sceptical person, is astonished at what he hears!And there's more to come too... in Part 2.Source materialShawn Ryan Show #318: Candace Owens, “I Don’t Believe Tyler Robinson Was Even There”Candace Owens vs Andrew Wilson: The Great DebateShawn Ryan Show #254: Brian Harpole, Charlie Kirk’s head of security60 Minutes: The Pager PlotDarkHorse: “Was Charlie Kirk Killed With a Drone?” with Viva Frei and Jimmy DoreCandace, episode 349: Corey Comperatore, Mark Liti, and the PETN claimsBrian Harpole’s complaint against Candace Owens and others, filed 30 April 2026 (plaintiff’s allegations, not court findings)Clare Malone, The New Yorker: “The Gospel of Candace Owens”Jesse Singal, New York: reporting on Social Autopsy and GamergateMariel Padilla, The 19th, via Capital B: “Candace Owens Has Won the Trust These Women Refuse to Give Politicians”Samantha Putterman, PolitiFact: Charlie Kirk conspiracy claims, one year later

The rumours of the Gurometer's demise have been greatly exaggerated. We were simply collecting enough gurus to feed three into the sacred instrument at once. In this special Triple Threat edition, Professor Jiang brings angel-informed psychohistory, Jimmy Carr brings a head full of dubious historical factoids, and Mel Robbins just desperately wants to help you (for a price). Three potential gurus, eleven characteristics, and a brief disagreement over the nature of data. Let the highly rigorous scoring commence!Also... think you can do better? Rate Jiang, Mel, Jimmy, or any of the other gurus on our online Gurometer and compare your scores with ours. Ideally, do it before listening, lest Matt declare your numbers inadmissible.https://decoding-the-gurus-gurometer.netlify.app/

Two academic windbags attempt brief discussions of the controversy at Nature, Bret’s newest conspiracy theory, and the latest vibe sessions in Podcastistan. It goes about as well as expected.The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (1hr 18mins).Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus Supplementary Material 5500:00 Introduction: Science by Podcast04:04 Nature Joins the Arday Discourse Wave09:28 Activism and Science14:40 Academic Prestige Bias19:08 The Business of Academic Publishing23:43 Sasha Gusev Being Sensible and Culture War Brainrot29:04 Bret Weinstein and Jimmy Dore Investigate Charlie Kirk’s Death36:13 Anomaly Hunting42:27 Science Washing45:00 Conspiracy Discrimination and Reasoning Ability53:46 Academic Debate Norms59:16 Chris Williamson Promotes Professor Jiang01:01:01 Vibing Out in Podcast Panels: Hunter Biden x Nick Fuentes01:05:49 Dave Rubin and Andrew Gold Discuss Political Tribalism01:08:25 Heterodoxy in 2026: Zaid Jilani on Michael Tracey01:12:52 Hitler Was a Human and Had Motivations01:16:33 OutroLinksNature: The death of Jason Arday must prompt deep reflectionStuart Ritchie’s response to the Nature editorialMatthew Yglesias: Academia is cookedSasha Gusev’s response to Matthew YglesiasNature’s research and magazine editorial teamsDarkHorse: Was Charlie Kirk Killed With a Drone? Viva Frei and Jimmy DoreRobson, S. G., Martire, K. A., Pearson, S., Cosgrove, T. J., Jetten, J., Faasse, K., & Hornsey, M. J. (2026). Rejecting conspiracies doesn't necessarily mean that you're smart: The relationship between conspiracy discrimination and reasoning ability. British Journal of Social Psychology, 65(4), e70117.Modern Wisdom: WW3 DEBATE: “We’re On the Brink of Global Collapse”Mostly Wise #2: Hunter Biden, Matt McCusker & Duncan TrussellChannel 5: Nick Fuentes Interview (Ft. Hunter Biden)I Think You Should Leave: Hot Dog Car SketchThe Rubin Report: If This Isn’t Stopped, UK’s Fall Is Irreversible | Andrew GoldZaid Jilani on Michael Tracey’s contrarianismZaid Jilani’s World War II follow-upAdam Tooze: The Wages of DestructionDarryl Cooper’s introduction and foreword to Thomas Cyr’s World War II revisionist bookNext on Decoding Academia: Your Brain Is Not an Onion With a Tiny Reptile Inside

In Part Two of our decoding of Mel Robbins, things take a practical turn. But before we get to preoccupied with all that, why don't you pause, take a breath, and, in the context of your body, write down ten ways to make a bad situation worse. Your focus should then be on doing the exact opposite! For example, if one of your answers is to not listen to the podcast, then start listening, right now!Next, before hitting play, let's work on building a daily manifestation practice. Write down five things you want, then sit in your body, picture yourself doing all the annoying steps, and flood yourself with the feelings of future success. This needs to happen every day.One more thing: now imagine someone who is one million per cent behind you and ask them what is the best way for you to consume the podcast. They can be alive, dead, or fictional. Greek messenger Gods are permitted. You can even imagine your mother, if you like, but better. Alternatively, why not meet your future self at the front door and ask how listening to the podcast helped them to become so wise, slim, and successful?There are other options too. You can manifest a legion of ancestors, reconfigure a difficult afternoon by getting sushi, and even transcend the limits of possibility with an elephant murder themed visualization!You might think this sounds a bit like (too much) planning, mental rehearsal, and just trying to be a bit more positive. But it's much more than that. These mental activities are actually powered by very hard science. Ignore the tiny samples, one-tailed tests, and suspicious p-values... that all sounds like negative thinking.And now you are finally prepared so choose your technique, release the brake, and visualise the download button. Your future self is waiting. They have a cool scar and some bad news about your future children.LinksThe Mel Robbins Podcast: “World Leading Psychologist: How to Manifest Anything & Create the Life You Want” with Dr Cassandra VietenCassandra Vieten: Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of ImaginationInstitute of Noetic Sciences: Origins StoryHershfield, H. E., Goldstein, D. G., Sharpe, W. F., Fox, J., Yeykelis, L., Carstensen, L. L., & Bailenson, J. N. (2011). Increasing saving behavior through age-progressed renderings of the future self. Journal of marketing research, 48(SPL), S23-S37. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3949005/Robalino, J. D., Fishbane, A., Goldstein, D. G., & Hershfield, H. E. (2023). Saving for retirement: A real-world test of whether seeing photos of one’s future self encourages contributions. Behavioral Science & Policy, 9(1), 1-9. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23794607231190607

We return from our holidays with an indulgent episode that starts light and ends up very dark as we turn to the unavoidable Jason Arday discourse.The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (Full Episode: 1hr 40 mins)Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurusSupplementary Material 5400:00 Pecan Pie Introduction04:10 Solar Punk Matt08:17 Ireland Trip Report15:24 Australian Burger Culture17:32 Manga Cafe Experiments24:10 Joe Rogan on AI Remote Viewing29:14 Parapsychology as a Research Field34:07 A One Man University Level Course in Bad Thinking36:58 The Young Info Turks40:53 More Credulity with Ryan Grim over Fauci42:14 Richard Ebright, Warning Signs, and Radicalisation Spirals48:28 Vinay Prasad jumping on the Anti-Fauci wagon for the Free Press52:31 The Jason Arday Affair54:28 The Surrounding Context58:18 Polemical Discourse Waves01:05:22 The Guru Factor01:08:25 A Realistic View of Universities as Imperfect Institutions01:12:17 Elite Prestige Bias01:21:33 Culture War Distortions01:25:04 The Ethics of Critical Journalism01:29:50 Inconsistent Standards01:38:36 OutroLinksThe Jack Nicholson Story from the Always Sunny PodcastThe Manga Cafes in QuestionDeposition of InfoWars Host Owen ShroyerAlex Jones And Roger Stone Interrupt The Young Turks Republican National Convention CoverageKen Klippenstein visits the War RoomAna Kasparian & Owen Shroyer: The UNEXPECTED Conversation on MAGA, DSA & the Uniparty!Bret Weinstein on InfoWarsRichard Ebright on one of his many Twitter spiralsJoe Rogan on AI Remote ViewingThe Free Press: Vinay Prasad- Anthony Fauci’s Vaccine DeceptionsRyan Grim being credulous over Fauci and VaccinesThe Guardian: Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor (Lanre Bakare)The Atlantic: The Jason Arday Truthers (Helen Lewis)Front Left: It sure looks like Jason Arday was horrifically wronged (based on citation data) (Jason Stanley)A Digital Lynching (Carol Cadwalladr)Tox Report: The Most Unfortunate Thing (Sarah Ditum)Byline Times: The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday (Nafeez Ahmed)The Good Law Project: Stand in Solidarity with Jason ArdayAmnesty UK supporting “Arday’s Law”Simon Baron Cohen on BBC 4 Today talking about Jason ArdayNYT: A Top Scholar’s Fall Shows That Universities Don’t Get ItNYT: Professor’s Death Leaves Behind Hard Questions for Cambridge on Race and HiringThe Emancipator: The Media Lynched Kason Arday (Ibram X. Kendi)Gideon M.K.: The Jason Arday Saga Is Terrible And Everyone Involved Should Be Ashamed Of ThemselvesWays to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Cambridge’s youngest Black professor Jason Arday on Autism, racism, and learning to read at 18Open (supporting) letter on the suspension of Nathan Cofnas at Ghent UniversityBoard Member of Ghent University (Dries Bostyn) discussing the disciplinary case on TwitterNumb at the Lodge: The Carrion-Eaters (Sam Kriss)The Chronicle of Higher Education: Jason Arday & Me (Musa al-Gharbi)US Ambassador applies pressure to Ghent UniversityNathan Cofnas thanks the US Ambassador for interveningAcademia is Doing Fine, Actually (Nicholas Decker)Eric Turkheimer substack on Nathan Cofnas' viewsSasha Gusev thread on Nathan Cofnas' views

Are you tired, stuck, or inconveniently constrained by reality? Good news: you may simply be imagining the wrong one.In Part One of our decoding of Mel Robbins, we explore the world of a self-help mogul who is also just a simple mother of three in Vermont hosting a little ol' podcast with a HUGE global impact. Together with Cassandra Vieten, a psychologist who is (apparently) one of the world's leading researchers on imagination and consciousness, Mel explains how to begin to stop reacting and start imagining, visualising, and manifesting the life you truly deserve. This will lead to self-actualised transcendence through a variety of simple-to-implement techniques. But don't worry, the universe has also put in safeguards: manifestation only works if you use it for good, such as empowering your authentic self. So please manifest enthusiastically without any concern.In the episode, you will learn about the delicate art of rebranding common sense into complex (proprietary) theories and be shocked to discover that mystical intuitions are a core component of any fully holistic scientific research. Mel's HUGE media business, meanwhile, manifests itself as an intimate personal friendship with each of her millions of listeners.Expect the usual decorative scholarship, a new Five Second Rule and insights into how to Let Them and Let You, reality tunnels, obstacle courses, a thousand supportive women, lighthouses, tapestries, and the therapeutic potential of fire-breathing dragons. All of it is very hard science, as they repeatedly remind us.Chris and Matt attempt throughout to give the self-help genre a fair-minded assessment. They even concede that wearing colourful socks and being a bit less miserable are probably harmless, but ultimately their dark reductionist souls are beyond salvation.Part Two is coming next week. In the meantime, try to visualise it clearly, align your energy, and not to put one foot on the brake as you hit the download button.LinksThe Mel Robbins Podcast: “World Leading Psychologist: How to Manifest Anything & Create the Life You Want” with Dr Cassandra VietenA Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein: “The Mel Robbins Griftpocalypse” with Princess Weekes and Kat TenbargeCBS News: Extended Interview with Mel RobbinsThe Mel Robbins Podcast: “Try It for 1 Week: 6 Small Ways to Bring Back the Happiness, Energy, and Fun”The New York Times: “Mel Schneeberger and Chris Robbins” by Lois Smith BradyUC San Diego profile: Cassandra Vieten, PhD

Joe Rogan, the Great Khan of podcasting, is once again receiving a travelling jester at court. This time it is Jimmy Carr who arrives bearing gifts: pop evolutionary psychology, dubious history factoids, conservative "common sense", and an apparently bottomless appetite for telling Joe just how important he is.After listening to their three-hour conversation(!), we conclude there is nothing much of note beyond serving as a nice demonstration of popular "alternative" podcasting in 2026. What you get is a medley of sycophantic praise; regurgitated pop science and historical factoids; right-wing political positions presented as basic common sense; and shocked reactions to pseudo profundity and mundane observations.Along the way, you will also thrill as you learn Rogan and Carr's takes on motherhood, feminism, work ethic, astrology, religion, taxation, vaccines, human evolution, the Black Death, and stand-up comedy.As for Jimmy Carr himself, well, according to us: he's a very much your standard middle-aged conservative British person who happens to be a comedian. Rogan's level of crankery makes Jimmy look moderate by comparison, but as we know that's a very low bar.LinksJimmy Carr on The Joe Rogan Experience (2326)Jimmy Carr on Modern Wisdom #953Schulz, J. F., Bahrami-Rad, D., Beauchamp, J. P., & Henrich, J. (2019). The Church, intensive kinship, and global psychological variation. Science, 366(6466), eaau5141. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau5141Robinson D. The Black Death and Clerical Prospects in England. In: Bothwell J, Hamilton JS, eds. Fourteenth Century England XII. Fourteenth Century England. Boydell & Brewer; 2022:129-150. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781800105904.008Xu, X., & Barrett, P. M. (2025). The origin and early evolution of feathers: implications, uncertainties and future prospects. Biology Letters, 21(2), 20240517. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0517