Just had a special time stargazing with my toddler in the driveway. She kept exclaiming about the waxing moon and I showed her the constellations and she picked stars for everyone in the family. 🥹
I need you to all understand just how much racism, sexism and other biases shapes how people hear tone, framing, and affective stance in other people’s language: if you ever hear someone’s speech being described with affective language (“angry,” “diatribe,” etc) NEVER take that at face values
Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social · 2w agoThis is a really striking tweet.
One of my workplaces is staffed entirely by PhDs. The office kitchen has a sign by the toaster. It reads: Please do not butter bread before placing in toaster. Lemme tell you. Signs like that don’t happen because ONE person did it ONE time.
Memento (spooky) Morty 🌙@mementomorty.bsky.social · 2w agomy ex is a literal rocket scientist and when i tell you intelligence doesn't translate you just have to trust me
Very sad to hear that Margaret Hamilton has passed away. Here's a short thread about her role in the Apollo mission, and her lesser-known work on the simulations that led to the discovery of Chaos Theory. 🧪 👩🔬 ⚛️
Margaret Hamilton, computing pioneer who led software development for the Apollo program, dies at 90
Margaret H. Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died at age 90.
news.mit.edu
Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees@mcnees.bsky.social · 2mo agoMargaret Hamilton, a pioneer of software engineering who led NASA's in-flight software team for the Apollo mission, was born #OTD in 1936. 🧪 🔭 👩🔬 Image: NASA
1. Recently I’ve received lots of emails from people I don’t know personally, asking for my feedback on their books or papers. They explain the connection between my work and theirs and ask me to take a look. The catch, of course, is that the emails are transparently, obviously, written by AI.
NEW: In March the White House released an FY27 budget request that zeroed out the National Science Foundation's directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). For months it was unclear what would happen. Now, with FY26 over, the damage to SBE is coming to light. My reporting:
‘Complete devastation’: How NSF gutted its social sciences research
Agency body that funds sociology, linguistics, and archaeology studies in U.S. gave 90% fewer new grants this year
science.org
The 2026 Physics Nobel Prize to Francis Halzen is well deserved! I wrote the attached explainer for the public from the perspective of someone who has worked in this field and known Francis for decades. I welcome helping sharing it. Congratulations to Francis and all! medium.com/@beacom.7/ho...
How Neutrinos, Which Barely Exist, Just Ran Off with a Nobel Prize — Again!
John Beacom (Ohio State University), with no assistance from AI
medium.com
The 82-year-old scientist, originally from Belgium, is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research into capturing neutrinos at the South Pole dates back to the 1980s. n.pr/4xXvV77
Francis Halzen wins Nobel Prize in physics for work on high-energy neutrinos from space
The 82-year-old scientist, originally from Belgium, is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research into capturing neutrinos at the South Pole dates back to the 1980s.
n.pr
It's October 3rd, so we're wearing pink! 🌸 On Cerro Pachón in Chile, nature puts on its own show during twilight, painting the sky and NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory in glowing pink. We can't really enforce a dress code for the cosmos, but the Chilean skies clearly got the memo.
Wife: use the newspaper to get that spider down Me *reads the news out loud* Spider *depressed* holy shit
Answer: New NSF Astro-Core has "target submission date" of Nov 16! From the NASEM Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics meeting last week, Chris Smith said this "is not a deadline but proposals submitted after the target date may be considered for funding in the following fiscal year" (see pic). 🔭
Dr. Jessie Christiansen@aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 4w agoUmmm until yesterday there were actual deadlines listed here 👀 (Maybe this is just the previously discussed move to rolling deadlines, but it seems ominous when bundled with all the rest of the new "The Astro-Core program is anticipated to be especially competitive in Fiscal Year 2027" guidelines.)
Earlier this week, I agreed to interviews with two USA Today journalists. They wrote fantastic articles about the Cornell case that I'm proud to have been a part of. What I did not know is that their employer considers interviews to proprietary and opens up recordings to be used by any journalist.
here I thought the Indian question was about where to get the best Indian food
Christopher Mathias@letsgomathias.bsky.social · 4w agoNew: Chris Rufo & his co-host devoted a podcast to "The Indian Question," framing Desi people as a problem to be solved. Their "solution?" Mass expulsion. For those allowed to remain: an “assimilation hazing process” w/ instances of “vulgar, defamatory racism" talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chris-r...
just submitted a grant proposal while feeling like I’m 24 months pregnant, please clap
It's not every day you get a tour of the pioneering biotech outfit from the CEO herself. I had a fascinating chat with Genentech leader Ashley Magargee recently as she looks toward the next 50 years of the company and tries to maintain its famous scientific culture in the age of AI. Check it out!
‘We’re so close to the tech companies’: Genentech CEO talks Fierce through vision for the future
When recombinant DNA expert Herbert Boyer, Ph.D., first got a call from venture capitalist Robert Swanson about starting a company, the savvy scientist wasn’t sure a meeting would be worth his time | ...
fiercebiotech.com
Yes every woman has been harassed, many assaulted. But every woman has also experienced invisible loss from moments she avoided harassment. She felt a space becoming unsafe, so she left, while men stayed on. And in leaving, she lost: opportunities, experiences, learning, promotions, even simply fun.
can't believe I get to say this, but I'm now officially Dr Sean Richards! I got profiled by the University website on my journey -- "from gamer to stargazer", and being the first Sāmoan physicist from the University of Auckland. www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2026...
From gamer to stargazer: first Sāmoan astrophysicist graduates with PhD – University of Auckland
Dr Sean Richards' research helps astronomers more accurately model the formation of neutron stars and other extreme cosmic phenomena.
auckland.ac.nz
it’s been driving me insane there are sooo many grad school romance plots you can have that are fun and cute and this is what we get, dating a professor 😬 idk what to expect from fanfic but irritating to watch this become a mainstream film when like every single one of us has been harassed by a prof
Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 4w agoI'm thinking about this partly because of the Cornell news but also partly because of The Love Hypothesis, which is being pitched as a cute romance but is personally horrifying to read / watch as a woman in STEM. (I know the author is also a woman in STEM and honestly I don't get that at all.)
I'm thinking about this partly because of the Cornell news but also partly because of The Love Hypothesis, which is being pitched as a cute romance but is personally horrifying to read / watch as a woman in STEM. (I know the author is also a woman in STEM and honestly I don't get that at all.)
This creates absolute minefields for anyone who is a member of an underrepresented group: racism, sexism, and bigotry that you never even know about can absolutely tank your career. All it takes is for an influential senior person to say "I don't think they're very good" or "they're not serious."
One of the most harrowing things about academia, when you're a grad student, is how vulnerable you are to how you're perceived by more senior researchers. Your career advancement depends on confidential letters of reference & private discussions amongst faculty. You have no information or control.
Men, it’s never too late to leave your fraternity. Membership is lifelong. And these segregationist institutions use your name to uphold the power they abuse. This is what your fellow alums are doing. Do you really want to be associated with that?
Kelly@justkelly.bsky.social · 4w agoShe was doxxed by a Chi Phi alum who implored his followers to “help a Chi Phi.” Just in case anyone thought that organization was remotely redeemable.
There’s something to be said for how most of the political spectrum can unite around hounding some lesbians over niche drama in their spaces but huge segments of society are silent about pervasive campus rape impacting a huge population of primarily youngwomen
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)
An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.
nyti.ms
The bizarre culture that’s sprung up around Silicon Valley AI companies - which overlaps hugely with rationalist and effective altruist circles - appears to be seriously pressuring some women into attending sex parties for the sake of networking. This is, needless to say, horrifying.
![taco belle
@ animalologist
Multiple things can be true at once
22h
The purpose of SlutCon is to help ease men who are scared of approaching women, and for women who simply enjoy flirting to be in an environment where that happens a lot, since there's generally a dearth of that
At the same time, many - probably most! - women do Not want to be flirted with or propositioned by men they don't know. When a small scene only has a handful of large, well-known events, each one has disproportionate impact on everybody's ideas of acceptable behavior among other members of their milieu.
Attending the same events = specific shared context. Means
you're somewhat on the same page.
I suspect that the men who publicly raised concerns about SlutCon's impact on the scene are being megaphones for private objections and distresses they've heard from women in the scene who would NOT be comfortable at an event like that, but who don't voice it publicly because they suspect they'd suffer socially for doing so. That going to SlutCon to be flirted with gives women social cachet, and squirming at the idea means you're [not cool, can't get with the program, are probably a wokescold or a prude etc etc other pejoratives] and therefore, that you'll be excluded or held at a distance
Now, if this scene were purely a social scene, that'd be perfectly fine. Don't go to parties that don't suit you!! The issue arises because it's NOT purely a social scene. This scene is inarguably tied up with Al safety, research, and the SF tech scene in general.
When consistently being invited to the right parties is professionally advantageous, and when SlutCon itself **is** going to be an excellent networking opportunity for people in those fields, it's not neutral that {sexual proclivities} are the filtering mechanism that determines who's in the room. It means that promiscuity & forwardness is explicitly professionally advantageous.
And, if the norms of SlutCon influence the norms of that milieu outside of the e…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qiknc4t5rq7yngvz7g4aezq7/bafkreibofbhecabcfimcooqfmhfkw5ycfc2adnfedemupo7aihs5fb7voy)
Arrived in beautiful Corvallis for #SciWri26 - looking forward to sitting on the closing Plenary panel to unpack 2 years of MAHA & the media
