
Catboy physicist ๐ณ๏ธโ๐๐งถโ๏ธ
3.1K posts

Catboy physicist ๐ณ๏ธโ๐๐งถโ๏ธ
@stringlandscape
What would Himmel the hero do?




๐จ Elon Musk says physics has stagnated and AI could overtake scientific research. He says progress has relied on expensive hardware like colliders and telescopes, that slows discovery.




โOur grandparents were eating real food!โ Not sure how old your grandparents are but Iโm pretty sure a large portion of our grandparents were cooking everything in crisco and margarine.


Reminder that EVERYTHING is an achievement: St. Augustine was shocked to find St. Ambrose reading *silently* (reading was then social and aloud) and private silent reading only really took off 700 years after in the 12 century.






Dr @nathancofnasโs appointment at Ghent University has prompted a campaign by members of the institution calling on the university to reverse course, citing his published work on race, heredity and intelligence. In response, CAF Advisory Board member Professor Abhishek Saha helped organised a counter-petition in support of Cofnasโs right to #academicfreedom of expression. CAF Director Dr Edward Skidelsky is among the signatories, alongside a number of senior academics from leading universities. This is not about endorsing Cofnasโs views, but about defending the principle that disagreements of this kind should be addressed through open inquiry, criticism, and civil debate. Of course, academics must be free to strongly contest ideas they regard as deeply objectionable. But that does not extend to a veto over appointments. Universities cannot function if controversial or provocative lines of research are treated as grounds for exclusion rather than argument. You can read the statement and sign the counter-petition here: drive.google.com/file/d/1RRsGmaโฆ @ObhishekSaha @ProfDHayes @epkaufm @Furedibyte @HJoyceGender @drianpace @aytchellesse @JoPhoenix1 @sapinker




The cost to replace the Interstate Bridge between Washington and Oregon increased ~ 140% from a 2022 estimate of $6 billion to a new "target" of $14.4 billion. How much of this cost is not related to actual construction and is instead fees of consultants and lawyers?















@zenahitz We're certainly confused about certain things, but we have a better understanding of, say, Newtonian mechanics than Newton had. Our progress has meant we're confused about new things, like getting gravity and quantum mechanics to work with each other.


@LocasaleLab Maby have lost their labs and more continue to lose them with delays and lack of funding in hand. I, myself, have had to downsize and could also lose my lab by the end of the year if none of my in process grants happen. There are real consequences to NIH not fundings grants.







I had a conversation once with a most distinguished physics colleague at UMCP: why don't we get more graduate students from St. John's College? A: they're certainly bright, but they fare poorly in the PhD qualifier exam.











