If you encounter ICE, here's what every New Yorker should know.
Nigel Goldenfeld
@nigelgoldenfeld.bsky.social
Theoretical physicist at UCSD researching condensed & living matter, fluid mechanics, statistical mechanics. Bad at staying in my lane. Interested in everything. https://guava.physics.ucsd.edu/~nigel/
🚨BREAKING: The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an unprecedented lawsuit Thursday, effectively calling for Alaska’s Division of Elections to set aside the results of the Senate race if anyone other than incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) wins www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
DOJ preemptively challenges Alaska election results if Democrat wins Senate race
"An election result may be impacted by voter confusion if: (1) Senator Sullivan does not win the election," the DOJ filing argues.
democracydocket.com
If you agree with this sentiment, vote No on 38 and Yes on this measure in 2028 to use these dollars for competitive research grants supporting the most promising medical research in California instead of what seems to be a thinly disguised personal slush fund for a couple billionaires.
Newsom signs UC-backed $7.5 billion research bond measure for 2028 ballot - Daily Bruin
This post was updated Oct. 2 at 12:04 a.m. A UC-backed bond measure to fund scientific research across California will appear on the March 2028 ballot.
dailybruin.com
Katie Wilkinson@drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 24h agoI'm usually 100% for new science funding but a definite NO on Prop 38. There are plenty of currently functioning Immunology labs at CA universities and biotechs that should be able to compete for state money, not just a billionaire's institute with no currently employed scientists.
I will add my name to this, too. Another NIH scientist, not anonymous, declaring that RFK, jr. is destroying NIH. Don’t want to take my & @markhisted.org’s word for it? 39 current/recent NIHers put their name to this just a few months ago: www.27unihted.org/bethesda-dec...
Bethesda Declaration One Year Later — 27 UNIHTED
27unihted.org
Mark Histed@markhisted.org · 3d agoThis week, NIH advisors rebuked RFK for harming #NIH and US science. Sheryl Gay Stolberg reported it. Then RFK posted calling her sources anonymous or corrupt. I'll say this hoping it does good: I'm an NIH scientist, I'm not anonymous, and RFK Jr is destroying NIH. More in attachment:
The science research institute that would likely receive $4.2 billion in public taxpayer money if voters approve Proposition 38 this November had only three employees as of last month — far fewer than the 51 staffers it planned to have hired by last year.
Immunology Institute Could Get $4 Billion From a Ballot Measure. It Has 3 Workers. www.medpagetoday.com/publichealth...
Immunology Institute Could Get $4 Billion From a Ballot Measure. It Has 3 Workers.
Institute's principal funder is a billionaire who wrote California's Proposition 38
medpagetoday.com
The first genuinely honest ad for generative AI I've ever seen, from Microsoft / CoPilot A mediocre white guy sees his non-white colleague getting praised for good work, he asks AI to *literally copy it*, and then he gets all the praise instead: www.ispot.tv/ad/SoDi/micr...
If you’re in STEM and you’re eligible to vote in the midterms…YOU BETTER BE VOTING. I want “I VOTED” sticker selfies in the comments. This is an unconstitutional robbery of our scientific ecosystem cen.acs.org/policy/resea...
NSF closes fiscal 2026 with over $1 billion left unspent
The agency says the money will be invested in Trump-aligned initiatives
cen.acs.org
Open AI has solved a version of the quasi-Riemann hypothesis. What's that, and is this more AI math slop? Here is a characteristically nice explainer by @johncarlosbaez.bsky.social johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2026/10/21/t... Are there implications for physics, e.g. quantum chaos, stat. mech?
NYT vs. The Guardian NYT: If Democrats Win Congress, Could the G.O.P. Refuse to Seat Them? (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/10/20/u... The Guardian: How Senate Democrats can stop Trump from stealing the midterms www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
How Senate Democrats can stop Trump from stealing the midterms | David Walbert
Republicans could lean on congressional procedure to defy the will of voters. But if they try that, the Senate has a clear way to fight back
theguardian.com
Put bluntly, Prop 38 is an effort to steal $4.2 billion of our taxpayer money to fund an "institute" that doesn't even really exist.
CalMatters@calmatters.org · 3d agoThe science research institute that would likely receive $4.2 billion in public taxpayer money if voters approve Proposition 38 this November had only three employees as of last month — far fewer than the 51 staffers it planned to have hired by last year. cal.news/4shghlR 📸 Brian van der Brug
NYT Today: Any SARS-CoV-2 infection can trigger Long COVlD. Getting reinfected in perpetuity is like playing "Russian Roulette." www.nytimes.com/2026/10/19/w...
Holy moly did Aaron Sorkin write this or is this real life?? Treat yourself and watch the whole thing. I want to watch these kinds of interactions for the next 6 years on the national stage. We've got to do our part to help get Abdul to the Senate.
Abdul El-Sayed@abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 6d agoThis is Tommy. Tommy had a question about my allegiances. Listen to the end to hear about his.
Students from North Carolina A&T can be seen marching back to their HBCU after voting on the first day of early voting in the state. The Guilford County Board of Elections voted to remove the school’s on-campus polling site. (video via Todd Simmons) greensboro.com/news/local/g...
This is awesome. If your vote didn’t matter Republicans wouldn’t be trying so hard to stop you.
So thrilled that my employer is helping to get out the vote. Thanks @ucsdphysci.bsky.social for posting!
UC San Diego School of Physical Sciences@ucsdphysci.bsky.social · last wk.Finding a parking spot in Gilman after 10:00a is hard. Voting is easy. There's still time to register to vote in the November election. Learn more: https://bit.ly/47i5qi2 #UCVotes #GetOutTheVote
NIH Clinical Center board unanimously rebukes the RFK, Jr. vaccine injury clinic. [Gift Link] www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/u... 1/2
N.I.H. Hospital Board Rebukes Kennedy Over New Vaccine Injury Clinic (Gift Article)
The board that oversees the N.I.H. Clinical Center voted unanimously to support a statement accusing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of undermining trust in the hospital’s work.
nytimes.com
Breaking trust from the top... Board Chair: “The clinical center’s standing rests on one thing: the confidence of patients, physicians and the public that the research done here is designed to find the truth, not to confirm a conclusion reached in advance. Trust is slow to build and quick to lose.”
N.I.H. Hospital Board Rebukes Kennedy Over New Vaccine Injury Clinic (Gift Article)
The board that oversees the N.I.H. Clinical Center voted unanimously to support a statement accusing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of undermining trust in the hospital’s work.
nytimes.com
Marjorie Taylor Greene comes out with a statement opposing the raid on Ilhan Omar before Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic Party
W.E.D.em Boyz@leftistwonk.bsky.social · 2w agoIt is INSANE that Chuck Schumer hasn't put out a statement on Ilhan Omar yet
Repulsive, autocratic behavior. Well over the line for impeaching and removing everyone responsible.
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · last wk.WSJ: 'The Trump administration’s investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar is aimed at building a case to strip her of her U.S. citizenship and ultimately deport her, according to U.S. officials and other people familiar with the probe'
Los Alamos has a nice biographical page on her work and life.
“We thank Miss Mary Tsingou” | Los Alamos National Laboratory
A half-century after being mentioned in the footnote of a seminal physics paper, Mary Tsingou Menzel, one of the Laboratory’s first computer programmers, gets the recognition she deserves.
lanl.gov
More excellent reporting from @katherineeban.bsky.social on the GB study! Want to add some extra layers on the GB side of how this happened...🧵 www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
How a Controversial Hepatitis B Study Was Funded by the CDC Amid a Global Swirl of Criticism
As experts questioned the ethics of the study, documents show that expiring funds forced a rushed vote in Denmark, where the researchers’ institute is based
rollingstone.com
Congratulations to UC San Diego Mathematics Professor Emerita Ruth Williams on receiving the 2026 INFORMS President’s Award. Williams was recognized for her contributions to the fields of #OperationsResearch, #AppliedProbability and the mathematical sciences. https://bit.ly/4hVOvH3
Ruth J. Williams Honored with 2026 INFORMS President’s Award
INFORMS has named Ruth J. Williams, a Distinguished Professor of the Graduate Division and a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Emerita at the University of California, San Diego, as the recipient of the 2026 INFORMS President’s Award.
bit.ly
🧪⚛️Mary Tsingou Menzel is her name. Her discovery, collaborating with Fermi, Pasta, Ulam was a surprise. The first computational test of a foundation of statistical mechanics (equipartition). It failed. This work was fundamental to the development of nonlinear dynamics and applied mathematics.
Mathematician Who Waited 50 Years for Proper Credit for Her Work Has Died (Gift Article)
At the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mary Tsingou Menzel’s computer programming helped set the stage for chaos theory and other fields.
nytimes.com
More on this from @joshuasweitz.bsky.social “Rather than ‘elevating the role of scientific peer review’ as the proposal claims, the proposal diminishes it.” Comment by 11:59pm on Oct 13. joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/what-else-...
What is NIH Leadership Trying to Hide from Researchers & the Public?
A NIH proposal to conceal reviewer rankings of investigator-initiated research grants is ripe for misuse & demands a collective response (by October 13).
joshuasweitz.substack.com
Jenna Norton@jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 2w agoOct 13 comment deadline for NIH peer review score binning is fast approaching! Please add your voice! Direct link to RFI: rfi.grants.nih.gov?s=6a2b1c22c3... Background on why it matters: 27unihted.substack.com/p/nih-wants-...
In all seriousness, the NIH is proposing to change how research grants get reviewed and thus how funding gets distributed. The scientific community deserves to have their voice heard and this is your chance. Comment here: grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
Reactions from the mathematics community. proofsandprompts.com/2026/10/08/1...
100+ reactions to 100+ solutions
“Many of us are grappling with OpenAI’s announcement on 6 October. We feel that it is useful to have an updating snapshot of the community’s gut feeling.”
proofsandprompts.com
Nigel Goldenfeld@nigelgoldenfeld.bsky.social · 2w agoOpenAI just dropped hundreds of pure maths papers on topics that include PDEs & statistical mechanics. One is on the way that Navier-Stokes flows can represent a Turing machine, if I understood it correctly. I don't know whether all this is an intellectual advance or a denial-of-service attack.
What a sad little whiny baby! It’s terrible that he is in a position to do so much damage when trying to soothe his justifiable feelings of inadequacy, compared to people of real accomplishment.
Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 2w agoTrump just posted a long screed about not getting the Nobel Prize. He says he should actually get 8 Nobel Prizes, has stopped wars between Japan and South Korea, among others, and insists: “I saved more lives than anyone in History…”
OpenAI just dropped hundreds of pure maths papers on topics that include PDEs & statistical mechanics. One is on the way that Navier-Stokes flows can represent a Turing machine, if I understood it correctly. I don't know whether all this is an intellectual advance or a denial-of-service attack.
OpenAI Releases Findings on 377 Math Problems, Further Roiling Field (Gift Article)
After a previous solution angered mathematicians, the company characterized the new release as being more responsive to concerns about A.I. disrupting research.
nytimes.com