Sir Anthony J. Leggett passed away on March 8. His numerous contributions—from superfluidity (for which he shared the 2003 Nobel Prize) and superconductivity to the foundations of quantum theory—have profoundly shaped our understanding of condensed matter and quantum physics.

What new fun Oobleck games can you think of that use its contrasting properties at short vs. long splash times.

Physics Magazine@physicsmagazine.aps.org · 4mo ago

Researchers used high-speed video and force measurements to capture how drops of cornstarch suspension, often referred to as Oobleck, act when they slam into a surface. The findings could help engineers better control complex fluids in 3D printing, industrial coating, and other applications.

This is a cool tool for calculating collaboration distances: mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet/f... I was surprised to learn my Erdös number is 4 via G. Ortiz, E. Knill, and V. Faber, the same as my Gell-Mann number. Next are my Einstein and Feynman numbers at 5, and Dirac and Heisenberg numbers at 6.

Check out our 'Report on Reproducibility in Condensed Matter Physics' in Phys Rev B, one of the first two Perspectives: doi.org/10.1103/27h6... The new article type has just launched in this Editorial: doi.org/10.1103/Phys... Also, watch our conference documentary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfpW...

Documentary: Reproducibility in Condensed Matter Physics

YouTube video by Sergey Frolov

youtube.com

Arrived in Denver with Suman Aich and Nicolas Lam of our IU Bloomington contingent for the #APSGlobalSummit. Come see our talks: 👤 Presenter: Siu Cheung Lam 📋 C30-9: Vortex Configurations and Bound States of Dirac Fermions 📎 Dirac and Weyl Semimetals 📌 Monday @ 5:06pm Room 303

I love flowers, especially fields of them. This is Olga Wisinger-Florian's Blooming Poppies, ca. 1895-1900, Oil on Cardboard, 70 x 98 cm, Belvedere Museum, Vienna, Austria Canvas H/T: @APainting_ADay on Twitter, Belvedere from my visit in 2017.

A conversation about understanding, intentions, and natural-language simulations: chatgpt.com/share/6883d0... 🧪💡

ChatGPT - Understanding Confirmed

Shared via ChatGPT

chatgpt.com

Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸

In early March, the Nobel Laureates Ferenc Krausz and Serge Haroche returned from their visit to #Ukraine with strong and lasting impressions. With their documentary, the two researchers draw attention to the dramatic circumstances 📹 peace4europa.org

Happy Canada day! 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦

Me, a year ago: "Perturbation theory is always the same, second quantization is just filling in the gaps." 6000 lines of code and docs later: Pymablock v2.2.0 released🎉 pymablock.readthedocs.io/en/v2.2.0/ We have bosons, spins, fermions, and Floquet, and I'm quite happy about it.

🧪⚛️ Most researchers don't choose a country but a receptive environment for work, and nimbly move across continents to do so. The proposed cuts in federal funding would create a hostile environment that could repel the next generation of scientists from the US. This'd be a major loss for the nation.

Douglas Natelson@nanoscaleviews.bsky.social · last yr.

🧪⚛️ Now is the time to push back on the proposed cuts to science and engineering research funding in the US. Congress appropriates, not the executive. nanoscale.blogspot.com/2025/06/push...

The President's 2026 NSF budget request: nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF... Overall cut: 55% MPS directorate cut: $1B+ Expected # awards: 2300, down from 9600 Expected acceptance rate: 7%, down from 26% Expected # of supported PhD students: 12400, down from 41500 🧪⚛️

Oof. Another instance of mistaking quantum theory as a theory of consciousness or a theory of mind. People, if they could exist, would have free will even in a completely classic, deterministic world.

New Scientist@newscientist.com · last yr.

Whether or not we have partial free will could soon be resolved by experiments in quantum physics, with potential consequences for everything from religion to quantum computers

Please read this thread, it is a factual and honest account of how research misconduct happens, from the point of view of a then-PhD student. Takes almost 10 years to mount the courage to come forward with it publicly!

Vincent Mourik@vincentmourik.bsky.social · last yr.

Further unreliable research from @qutech.bsky.social and @msftresearch.bsky.social covered by @averyorrall.bsky.social from @retractionwatch.com. I shared details which I wanted to share within a confidential investigation of @tudelft.nl but it was shut down... www.science.org/content/arti... 1/n

An NSF PO on its upcoming 75th anniversary: "In nature, systems evolve towards minimum of energy, following the laws of physics. In the US today things evolve to a location of maximum pain, violating the laws of the land." www.linkedin.com/posts/tomasz...

FYI: The Spencer Foundation, Kapor Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have collaborated to offer $25K rapid response grants. "This rapid response bridge funding opportunity is for scholars and teams whose grants have recently been cancelled by NSF."

Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program

In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...

spencer.org

I keep seeing the puzzled question: why all the cuts to science funding? Don't they know it harms our economy? The answer is simple—it's what all culture warriors & ideologues do: a cultural revolution. Where they can, they close the universities. Where they can't, they cut their funding.

I am happy to see @spie.org put out this call to action for advocacy in support of federal science funding If you are American, please write to your legislators to encourage them to support the science/research enterprise. You can use the form at the SPIE link below, or write or call directly 🧪💡

Protect Federal Funding for Science and Technology

Act now to support the optics, photonics, and STEM community that brings so much benefit to our society

spie.org

The latest assault on US Science funding, a self-inflicted wound that will burn out the engine of our economy and bleed our talent. With 2 pending NSF proposals and 2 planned submissions, this kind of thoughtless action is extremely demoralizing, to say the least. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones

US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

nature.com

Exclusive: The director of the National Science Foundation announced his resignation today, 16 months before his 6-year term ends, in a letter to staff obtained by Science. scim.ag/42vc3fn

Exclusive: ‘I have done all I can’: NSF director announces he is resigning

Sethuraman Panchanathan, a Trump appointee who has led the agency since 2020, leaves amid mass firings and grant terminations

scim.ag

Universities across the United States are implementing budget cuts in response to tariffs, grant cancellations and overhead reductions. A no-brainer way to save money - cancel your Springer Nature subscriptions! These do not add value to research.

Today, Suman Aich will present "Interplay of entanglement and interactions in cavity light-matter systems" using an entangled variational approach he has developed for the study of light-induced phenomena in cavities: MAR-T43.6 in 263C (Level 2) @ 4:24pm summit.aps.org/events/MAR-T...

Light-Induced Dynamical Control of Electronic Phases III

3:00 pm – 5:36 pm, Thursday March 20, Session MAR-T43, Anaheim Convention Center, 263C (Level 2)

summit.aps.org

Babak Seradjeh@bseradjeh.bsky.social · last yr.

👏 Congratulations to Suman Aich, my graduate student, for receiving the APS Global Physics Summit Graduate Student Travel Award to present "Interplay of entanglement and interactions in cavity light-matter systems" on Thu Mar 20, in Session T43.6: summit.aps.org/events/MAR-T.... Be sure to stop by!

Hundreds of physicists piled into a room at 8 a.m. to hear more about Microsoft's claims to have made the first topological qubits, but the talk was light on conclusive evidence, and may have raised more questions than it answered. My reporting: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Microsoft quantum computing claim still lacks evidence: physicists are dubious

Some attendees of a packed presentation were curious about the prospect of the first ‘topological’ qubits, but left with questions unanswered.

nature.com

Grateful to APS for accommodating the schedule change. But since they won’t be emailing all attendees to promote my talk (as they did for Microsoft), I’d really appreciate help spreading the word. 📢 “Can we build a topological qubit in 2025?” 📍 Monday, 14:06 | Topological Superconductors: Theory

Henry Legg@henrylegg.bsky.social · last yr.

The APS rejected the focus session on reproducibility that I was nominated for at this year’s March meeting. In a welcome move, there has been a last minute change and I will give a talk: “Can we build a topological qubit in 2025?” MAR-B22.00014 Monday at 14:06 Thanks to those that facilitated.

BREAKING: Henry Legg @henrylegg.bsky.social WILL get a talk at the APS meeting next week! Presumably on Monday, before Microsoft's Tuesday talk. Let everyone know and please be there! More to follow.

Microsoft is receiving a ton of push-back on its quantum computer claims - @kpc.bsky.social has the story www.newscientist.com/article/2471...

Microsoft under fire for claiming it has a new quantum computer

Researchers have criticised Microsoft's new Majorana 1 quantum computer, saying it has made claims about the way it works that aren't fully backed up by scientific evidence

newscientist.com

I wrote this letter to APS about their promotion of Microsoft's "Majorana 1". When you look at the facts together, you see how a determined agent can take advantage of a professional society's infrastructure. Help me reach APS committee members and officers, their emails are hard to find...

Thank you @maxplanck.de! #StandUpForScience 🧪⚛️

Microsoft's extraordinary claim last month—to have created a bonafide topological qubit—was met with caution by many experts. Now, a physicist is raising specific and substantive concerns about a key test that underlies Microsoft's approach. My reporting: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Microsoft quantum computing 'breakthrough' faces fresh challenge

Analysis pokes holes in protocol that underpins Microsoft’s claim to have created the first topological qubits.

nature.com