On the latest @starxiv.bsky.social podcast, I talked about a cool paper aiming to use globular clusters across cosmic time to measure the age of the universe! Check it out 🤩🔭🧪

The StarXiv ✨ podcast@starxiv.bsky.social · yesterday

Michelle's first paper looked at using JWST and the cosmic gems arc to measure the ages of globular clusters over cosmic time to independently measure H0 and the age of the Universe! Tune in to our latest episode at starxiv.com to learn more. arxiv.org/abs/2607.19472 🔭

Lots of cool stuff in this latest episode of the @starxiv.bsky.social! Check it out on our website and subscribe wherever you get podcasts 🔭🧪☄️

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

Episode 41 – the age of the Universe, AI and literature reviews, and giant companions Payel and Michelle delve into another group of wonderful papers on the astronomy arxiv! They discuss dating the Universe, comparing 2025 large language models in their ability to assist with literature views,…

Needs a square on "newly discovered dwarf galaxy candidate that could be a star cluster or could be something else" 🔭😂

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 6d ago

I see @xkcd.com got ahold of my to do list: xkcd.com/3278 (Adding to my status as 'Most Distracted Astronomer', I'm actually working on a surprising number of these) 🔭

Think of all the awesome science-ing we could do with an extra £20M......🧪

Kirsty Grainger @kirstygrainger.bsky.social · last wk.

Earlier this year UKRI launched a funding call to invest £40M in ONE AI lab. www.ukri.org/opportunity/... For some unknown reason they decided to fund TWO AI labs at the cost of £60M. An extra £20M. Just found. That's the equivalent of 7 more years of Jodrell Bank. www.ukri.org/news/ukri-la...

The summer holidays are in full swing! It's the perfect time to catch up on the arxiv with the @starxiv.bsky.social podcast! Last week we released our 40th episode, so there's plenty to listen to 🔭☄️🧪

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

Episode 40 – globular clusters, extended disks, high redshift galaxies and aliens! In this episode, Michelle and Payel explore the search for extra-terrestrial life, mechanisms for light element variations in globular clusters, characteristics of a typical galaxy at z>10, and Andromeda's extended…

No! Jodrell Bank is such an important site for UK astronomy and has such history. I remember well my visits and experiments there as a Manchester undergraduate. These cuts are short-sighted and I hate them. 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

Michelle's second paper this episode was on Maisie's galaxy and whether this is the first "typical" very luminous red shift > 10 galaxy. Deep JWST data paints a beautiful portrait of this interesting system ☄️🔭 arxiv.org/abs/2607.08749 starxiv.com/2026/07/21/e...

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

Episode 40 has dropped! Check it out on our website or wherever you get your podcasts 🔭☄️🧪

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

Episode 40 – globular clusters, extended disks, high redshift galaxies and aliens! In this episode, Michelle and Payel explore the search for extra-terrestrial life, mechanisms for light element variations in globular clusters, characteristics of a typical galaxy at z>10, and Andromeda's extended…

A great opportunity to come work with Denis, Eugene and the Surrey Astro team! 🧪☄️🔭

Denis Erkal@derkal.bsky.social · 4w ago

Interested in a 3 year postdoc working on stellar streams and dark matter? Come join our amazing Astro group in Surrey to work with me and Eugene Vasiliev. Details here and the deadline is July 30th. Let me know if you have any questions! jobs.surrey.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx... 🧪🔭☄️

Phew! At the airport after a whirlwind at @eas-meeting.bsky.social! What a great bunch of sessions, talks and posters. I'm exhausted from all the knowledge 🤩🔭 #eas2026Lausanne

We may be in a different building for SS1 on the low surface brightness universe, but the views are 🤩🔭☄️ #EAS2026Lausanne

At today's UKRI board meeting, the fate of UK particle physics and astronomy will likely be decided. Have we done enough to convince the powers-that-be to halt the proposed funding cuts? 🤞 Read Prof. Hiranya Peiris in Nature today eloquently explaining why these cuts are wrong.🧪🔭⚛️ 📖: rdcu.be/friwM

Royal Astronomical Society@royalastrosoc.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Stars of physics are in Westminster right now to call on the Government to halt funding cuts to astronomy and particle physics research. Professor Brian Cox called them "inexplicable", urging the Government to instead "trust, inspire and continue to invest in the next generation of scientists".

I was a little late to #EAS2026Lausanne so I could finish my talk. Managed to time my departure from the train with an epic storm. Even with an umbrella, I'm soaked 😂🔭☄️

AAAAHHHHHH! 🥳🎉🎊 It begins! We're mapping the sky in a way we've never done before. Get excited everyone, LSST is finally here! 🔭☄️🧪

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory@vrubinobs.bsky.social · last mo.

The moment we've all been waiting for is finally here… On June 29, 2026, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory officially began the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)! 🔭🧪☄️🌌 🔗: rubinobservatory.org/news/action-...

Hearing now from @emily.space about the platinum age of astronomy in the globular cluster session of #EAS2026Lausanne! Did you know Gaia ended a 200 year plateau in the discovery of young stellar clusters in the galaxy? 🤩🔭☄️

This morning I'm joining the @ec-euclid.bsky.social session at #EAS2026Lausanne. How do we deal with the 1 billion source detections in Euclid? David O'Ryan discusses this for anomaly detection using Cutana to stream rather than save cutouts! Available on datalabs 🔭☄️

A great opportunity to work with a great scientist and excellent human within our lovely Surrey astro group. Feel free to approach us with any questions and make sure to apply! 🔭🧪☄️

Denis Erkal@derkal.bsky.social · last mo.

Interested in working on stellar streams in the UK? I’ll be posting a 3 year postdoc position to work with me and Eugene Vasiliev on measuring dark matter subhalo properties with streams in a few days. Interviews will be in early August with a start date of October 1st. 🧪☄️

This is so short-sighted. ⚛️ 🔭🎢 🧪

Mike Boylan-Kolchin@mbkplus.bsky.social · last mo.

I hate that this — urgent pleas to save prestigious departments from drastic cuts — is becoming a regular occurrence. A program like this takes decades to build and a few strokes of a pen to destroy.

Interested in working on stellar streams in the UK? I’ll be posting a 3 year postdoc position to work with me and Eugene Vasiliev on measuring dark matter subhalo properties with streams in a few days. Interviews will be in early August with a start date of October 1st. 🧪☄️

I'll be heading to #EAS2026Lausanne early tomorrow morning! Looking forward to hearing about all the cool new astro results 🤩🔭

Clearly I'm dealing well with the heat. Came in nice and early to prepare for a viva examination I'm conducting. Cycled to the office and realised I forgot one tiny thing: the bottom half of my outfit 😬😬😬

Ever felt baffled when you’ve tried to wrap your head around a big scientific idea? Well, I’m here to help with a new YouTube channel. Subscribe here: www.youtube.com/@UnbaffledSc.... First video coming this Friday!

This is * insane *. STFC council minutes from December have been removed from their website, changed, and reposted. The new version rolls back on funding commitments made explicit in the initial version. I can't think of another adjective other than Trumpian behaviour.

Conor Fitzpatrick@fitzparticle.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Hi @ukri.org I see the minutes are back up, but have been modified. Dec 2025 Item 3.1 previously read: (1/n)

This reminds me of when Gemini AI confidently told me there were no astronomers of note named Michelle Collins in my town. Bastard.

Mel Andrews@bayesianboy.bsky.social · 2mo ago

When utilized in literature review, LLMs consistently 1. fail to mention female authors in female-led literatures, 2. insist that men are more influential or more heavily cited when this is contradicted by objective citation counts, and 3. attribute women’s work to hallucinated male scholars.

Don’t trust LLMs with your literature searches. Horrible gender biases as found in this paper (from later in the thread below) arxiv.org/abs/2508.02740 🧪🔭

Who Gets Cited? Gender- and Majority-Bias in LLM-Driven Reference Selection

Large language models (LLMs) are rapidly being adopted as research assistants, particularly for literature review and reference recommendation, yet little is known about whether they introduce demogra...

arxiv.org

Mel Andrews@bayesianboy.bsky.social · 2mo ago

When utilized in literature review, LLMs consistently 1. fail to mention female authors in female-led literatures, 2. insist that men are more influential or more heavily cited when this is contradicted by objective citation counts, and 3. attribute women’s work to hallucinated male scholars.

A necessary read in @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/education/20... #astro

University of Cambridge accused of tolerating misogyny and bullying in tribunal

Professor alleges the Institute of Astronomy has a ‘bad history of misogyny’ and staff were mistreated

theguardian.com

The Cambridge Whistleblowing Saga This is an update concerning the Employment tribunal I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. The claimant in the case is Professor Wyn Evans of the Institute of Astronomy. Now that he has finished given evidence, it is now possible to release some of the background…

The Cambridge Whistleblowing Saga

This is an update concerning the Employment tribunal I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. The claimant in the case is Professor Wyn Evans of the Institute of Astronomy. Now that he has finished given evidence, it is now possible to release some of the background publicly. You can read a summary here. If you follow that link you will see reference to…

telescoper.blog

Interested in applying for Astro fellowships in the UK? Come to Surrey! We are a fun group and will help you hone your application. Our deadline for ERF/URF consideration is July 8th. For more details of all the fellowships and how to contact us, see www.surrey.ac.uk/astrophysics... 🔭☄️

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