Very kindly @newscientist.com have listed the new book in their "best new popular science books of August 2026" list. The summary made me chuckle - I suppose I kind of always have been a "go big or go home" type of girl. 😂

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 3d ago

A Sunday reading for you! Chpt 2 of "How to Design a Universe" opens with the philosophical: do you see colour in the same way I see colour? What even is colour? Queue physics of rainbows & electromagnetism to question if we could ever simulate human sense🤔 #BookSky 🔭 www.youtube.com/shorts/Upkww...

I'm in Nature! 🤯 Okay, so it may not be for an academic publication, but they described 📡 Radio Universe📚 as “captivating” in their Five of the Best book review! Excuse me while I dance around my living room...💃 🧑‍🩰 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Oh wow. I just misremembered Linkin Park as “Linked In” in the pub quiz. I really have gone corporate with age.

Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation

Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation

PHILADELPHIA—In a 4,500-word essay published in Harper’s Magazine, Emily Wilson, known for her popular translation of the Minions epic poem, blasted the latest film Thursday as a “sexless, bloodless” ...

theonion.com

Do psychics cancel events due to “foreseen circumstances”? 🤔

July #WokeratiBookClub Radio Universe: how to explore space without leaving Earth by @dreochapman.bsky.social A fascinating look at the use of radio waves in studying the universe. Enjoying & learning as I unwind after work. A shame that this week the UK cut funding for radio astronomy 🪐

Stefan Marciniak@profmarciniak.bsky.social · last mo.

June #WokeratiBookClub Nexus by Yuval Harari As this was from the author of Sapiens, I expected to like it. In fact, I love it. I think it’s better than Sapiens. Highly thought provoking, which the best books are. Think of periods in history (& political systems) as differing information networks.

Jodrell Bank is a gateway to the stars, a 📡 telescope that translates the radio universe into colours our eyes can see. It is my happy place, a truly inspiring monument. And it’s going to shut unless they find funding. “Heartbroken” doesn’t quite cover it. 🔭💔 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

bbc.co.uk

If Dyson spheres exist in the universe, we might be able to find them if they are nearby. In this episode I talk about a paper that follows up candidate Dyson spheres with JWST! No 👽 tech found yet. But maybe one day 🔭☄️🧪

The StarXiv ✨ podcast@starxiv.bsky.social · 2w ago

Michelle's first paper is hunting for Dyson spheres! The authors used JWST to follow up two M dwarf stars with an infrared signature at their position. The results? These two objects are not Dyson spheres. The hunt for alien life continues! 👽🔭☄️🧪https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.09460

Stuck on a train because there is someone on the track and I’ve had to put my AirPods in due to the level of vitriol: “just run them over!” “Teach him a lesson, we’re just trying to get on with our lives!” … people, the person is clearly unwell in some respect, have some fricking compassion.

An honour to be on Woman’s Hour today, and chat with the incredible women in the Green Room. And so nice to talk about 🔭science🧪 and not just the issues faced by women in STEM.

When you moan SO MUCH that you can’t eat the prop-sweets on set that the BBC send you this… 😳 #noregrets

Classic. The day I stumble in exhausted, hair unwashed, and disillusioned with the world… I apparently do my best work! Science revives me 🔭❤️🥰 watch here: youtu.be/00BL35sKJfY?...

It’s meeeee!

Dan Voltaire@dominustempori.bsky.social · 4w ago

A wild @dreochapman.bsky.social appears! www.youtube.com/watch?v=00BL...

A lady should never leave the house without her meteorites ☄️ #space #astronomy #nerd

The clouds allowed an early night last night (no stargazing for me!) so enjoyed an early morning cup of tea overlooking the lake instead. Bliss.

Camping time! My suitcase is half clothes, half telescopes 🔭 😁 Dwarf II ✅ Binoculars ✅ Astronomy magazines ✅ #holiday #stargazing #astronomy #camping

I just finished your book! “The Echoing Universe” since I’m in the States. I checked it out from my library after hearing you on Talk Nerdy with Dr Cara Santa-Maria and I really enjoyed it! Thank you for the journey! 🙌 And congratulations! 🥳

Horrified to learn that the Particle Physics and Astronomy groups at Sussex University are facing a proposed 35% cut in staff numbers! That would be devastating to a high quality department.

Woooo! Radio Universe is named in New Scientist’s Best Books of the first six months of 2026! Why, thank you 🤩 🔭📡❤️

Well, that’s terrifying. ChatGPT just recommended I delete my lecture notes on the need for more regulation of AI as this would “soon be seen as an outdated view”. 🫠

Are you planning an event for the August Partial Solar Eclipse? Make sure you have ordered GENUINE eclipse glasses from @gostargazing.bsky.social! gostargazing.co.uk/solar-glasse... There are a lot of fakes around and using them risks real and lasting damage to eyesight.

Solar glasses for the August partial eclipse

Get discounted glasses for yourself, your friends, family, colleagues and outreach organisation, in support of Astronomers Without Borders

gostargazing.co.uk

Many pro astrophysicists receive unsolicited letters from amateurs with new but subtly wrong physics theories, often about relativity and from retired engineers. This cute new paper is a perfect reply & I love how it uses cyclotrons & transponders & radar 🧪🔭 arxiv.org/abs/2605.21660

Relativity for Retired Engineers

We provide some guidance and examples to clear up common misconceptions about special relativity. These misconceptions often come from trying to express the truths of special relativity in Newtonian t...

arxiv.org

I came out of Disclosure Day yesterday brimming with emotion, “10/10, no notes! Superbly, ridiculously, wonderful!” My partner thought I was being sarcastic. “God I know, 3/10 at a push, terrible.” Me: 😬😨😮 … “if I hadn’t of married you last month this honestly might have been a dealbreaker.”

“Chapman’s analogies are earthly and humorous.” “The heart of the book, though, is driven more by persuasive awe than overly rosy ideas, showing the reader the universe’s strange parts and the inventive humans who seek them out.” Thank you to @sarahscoles.bsky.social for a lovely review 📡 🥰 🔭

Book Review: How Radio Astronomy Made the Invisible Visible

Emma Chapman's "The Echoing Universe" is a vivid survey of the hidden parts of the cosmos and those who seek them out.

undark.org

The spectacular Venus-Jupiter #conjunction is tonight! 🥳 Shortly after #sunset, brilliant #Venus will appear next to bright #Jupiter. And #Mercury will lie below them in the evening twilight. Watch this video: buff.ly/fSA3rMC Visit EarthSky’s night sky guide: buff.ly/QJkeIZz 📸 EarthSky.org.

When your enthusiastic science talk is auto-detected as dance 😄💃🔭

Radio Universe 📚️ has had a makeover in the US... The Echoing Universe! Same amazing and inspiring stories about radio astronomy 📡 🔭 (we're talking black holes, aliens 👽️, and echoing radio waves solving mysteries in our local neighbourhood 🪐) ... just a different title! Buy now! 🇺🇸 a.co/d/0eaIxnXE

My department stands to see 20 wonderful colleagues thrown out like they are worthless. These are the most hardworking, kindest and loyal people I have ever worked with. As a research fellow, I am not “at risk” (yet), but I will not be grateful.. or silent. nottinghamphysics.github.io/Open_Letter/

Alongside the majority of my colleagues in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Nottingham, I have received a letter telling me I am at risk of redundancy. To my physics friends - please sign this letter to help us save our amazing School nottinghamphysics.github.io/Open_Letter/

JD Vance Still Waiting For Secret Service To Retrieve Him From Secure Hiding Area

JD Vance Still Waiting For Secret Service To Retrieve Him From Secure Hiding Area

theonion.com