Optimist: The cup is half full. Pessimist: The cup is half empty. Gravitational wave astronomer: *makes strange gesture with arms* the cup expands in one direction, contracts in another, but its volume remains constant as spacetime distorts.

Daniel Williams@daniel-williams.co.uk · 3d ago

Optimist: The cup is half full. Pessimist: The cup is half empty. Cosmologist: The cup is expanding in all directions all of the time. We don't know how fast it's happening, and our measurements all seem to contradict each other.

Optimist: The cup is half full. Pessimist: The cup is half empty. Cosmologist: The cup is expanding in all directions all of the time. We don't know how fast it's happening, and our measurements all seem to contradict each other.

ellebil@ellebil.bsky.social · 3d ago

Optimist: The cup is half full. Pessimist: The cup is half empty. Historian: The cup was half full according to one source, half empty according to another, and the cup itself has not survived.

So Daniel, what's the best thing you've done to the flat since you bought it? Paint? New floors? No, I installed a sensor which would identify when my laundry had dried by the ambient humidity.

Would anyone like to join a collective to buy and run this? www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottis...

Popular Glasgow cafe loved by Paolo Nutini calls in liquidators after 50 years

Cafe Gandolfi on Albion Street has called in liquidators after almost five decades in Glasgow's Merchant City.

glasgowtimes.co.uk

Old man shouts at cloud.

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · last mo.

Trump threatens Canada with tariffs over ‘invasion’ of wildfire smoke ft.trib.al/qyxF06M

In a moment of peak adulting, I am disproportionately excited about having just had an induction hob installed in my kitchen.

Well, I certainly chose an interesting week to visit family in Northern Ireland.

Not to suggest that I approve in any way of embezzlement, but there are worse things you could have bought with the money...

It's results day at the gravitational-wave factory! We have an exciting treasury of new events: from three events a decade ago to almost 400 to date.

UofGNews @uofgnews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Researchers from the @uofgphysastro.bsky.social and @uofgravity.bsky.social are celebrating the publication of a vast new treasure trove of gravitational wave detections, hailed as a milestone marking the coming of age of gravitational astronomy. Read more here: www.gla.ac.uk/news/headlin...

Nice seeing gravitational waves highlighted as driving technological innovation. As well as advances in optics and photonics, technologies have been applied to help grow bone tissue and to monitor the performance of retinal scanners. Investing in fundamental research can lead to surprising benefits

Richard Jones@richardaljones.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Me in @wonkhe.bsky.social on the breakdown of political consensus supporting R&D spending, as the UK economy continues to stagnate & the world looks more dangerous. The science funding system needs to adapt and demonstrate that it is delivering for the nation. wonkhe.com/blogs/uk-sci...

"On the application of astrophysical signals to gravitational-wave detector calibration" — an artistic interpretation of our latest science with #GW240925 and #GW250207 by @asleepywanderer.bsky.social 🔭🧪⚛️🐡

Would you believe I dropped a reference to Cher into an interview about astronomy? www.iflscience.com/this-wasnt-r...

“This Wasn't Really Something We Were Expecting To Be Able To Do”: Black Hole Collisions Can Now Be Used To “Autotune” Gravitational Wave Detectors

Sometimes you need a hammer, sometimes you need a screwdriver, sometimes you need two black holes many times the mass of the Sun.

iflscience.com

Gravitational wave researchers at @uofgphysastro.bsky.social and @uofgravity.bsky.social, working as part of the LVK collaboration, have found a way to tune their detectors using a process akin to the pitch-correction used in music production. Read more here: www.gla.ac.uk/news/headlin...

You know what, I should start doing the lottery.

Daniel Williams@daniel-williams.co.uk · 5mo ago

Friends fear he has written a Bayesian Scotish election prediction code.

Great Britain. A modern advanced economy. Where, when I move house, I need to fill in one form to update the address on my Driving Licence, another to update the address on my car logbook, and then phone someone to update my car tax details. The second form is only available during work hours...

Celebrate 10 years of gravitational wave astronomy with a family lecture in The Planetarium! Discover how ripples in space reveal black holes, exploding stars and the secrets of the Universe, led by experts from @uofgravity.bsky.social 9 May | Ages 8+ | No experience needed https://bit.ly/3P61Dih

What an excellent evening! Many thanks to the ARC at @glasgow.ac.uk for hosting and giving me the chance to geek-out about black holes. (For anyone who missed it, this is said book by the way)

Daniel Williams@daniel-williams.co.uk · 5mo ago

Interstellar is quite possibly one of the finest ever film adaptations of a book. "But Daniel, which book?" you ask. Well, find out on 9 April as I discuss the science of Interstellar as part of the CinemARC spring festival. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cinemarc-i...

SUPER NINTENDO CHALMERS

Science is a precious thing. It's powerful, but we do it no service by failing to accept its limitations. A swab cannot define someone's gender; it cannot reliably define someone's sex. Using science as a crutch in this argument is wrong. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympi...

Women's Olympic sports limited to biological females from 2028 - IOC

The women's category of Olympic sports will be limited to biological females from 2028, says the International Olympic Committee.

bbc.co.uk

Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility! We're everywhere and we're cool. Here's the trans pride flag 🏳️‍⚧️ on a mid-90s Pentium running DOS.

Don't know your wormholes from your black holes? I'll be giving a 20 minute masterclass in all things gravitational before the film next week. Don't rely on special relativity to buy more time: there are *only a few tickets left* 👀.

Daniel Williams@daniel-williams.co.uk · 5mo ago

Interstellar is quite possibly one of the finest ever film adaptations of a book. "But Daniel, which book?" you ask. Well, find out on 9 April as I discuss the science of Interstellar as part of the CinemARC spring festival. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cinemarc-i...

🔭 Black Holes and Neutron Stars: 218 Mergers and Counting Image Credit: Ryan Nowicki, Bill Smith & Karan Jani Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II) ap260326

Do you like organ music with a little sprinkling of physics? I've got you covered. Black holes and blockbusters. 9 April. Glasgow. Tickets are selling like things with extremal thermodynamic properties, or so they tell me.

Daniel Williams@daniel-williams.co.uk · 5mo ago

Interstellar is quite possibly one of the finest ever film adaptations of a book. "But Daniel, which book?" you ask. Well, find out on 9 April as I discuss the science of Interstellar as part of the CinemARC spring festival. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cinemarc-i...

In a city where empty office buildings are becoming tinderboxes, it's really incomprehensible why the council is trying to squeeze vibrant organisations out of city property. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'We feel betrayed' - the bitter rent row in Glasgow's art scene

Seven organisations that use the Trongate 103 building were informed last month their rent was to increase by four times the current amount.

bbc.co.uk

What do you mean, you don't post your latest papers on Tinder?

What can colliding black holes tell us about the nature of the Universe? That's the question three new papers from the LVK set out to answer, by testing General Relativity, our best theory of gravity. 🔭 arxiv.org/abs/2603.19019 arxiv.org/abs/2603.19020 arxiv.org/abs/2603.19021

GWTC-4.0: Tests of General Relativity. I. Overview and General Tests

The worldwide LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA network of gravitational-wave (GW) detectors continues to increase in sensitivity, thus increasing the quantity and quality of the detected GW signals from compact binar...

arxiv.org

Gollum bites off Frodo’s finger. Holding both finger and Ring aloft, he squeals, ‘My Precious!’ Stepping back, he falls with the Ring into the chasm. Fire leaps up. Sam carries Frodo out. As they watch, the shadows around the distant Barad-dûr lift, then the tower crumbles.

We’ve told all the casting agents that the Weird Al biopic sequel is currently on hold, but they just keep sending in headshots.

Friends fear he has written a Bayesian Scotish election prediction code.

Frodo and Sam leave the road. No longer needing any disguise, Frodo takes off his orc-gear. Sam drops his beloved cooking pans into a fissure. They carry only food, water, Sting, and the Lady’s gifts as they start hiking south across the plain of Gorgoroth toward the Mountain.