AI: the unwanted "gift" that keeps on giving.
It's not just academic journals & grant agencies inundated with slop. I used to reply to everyone asking about PhD/intern opportunities. Now I auto-delete the 100s of stock-text queries that arrive each month. Glum☹️
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Fab story from Margaret Hamilton, RIP, showing why Science-Mums are brilliant scientists! When innovating at the cutting edge of technology, it's so important to bring together a wide range of lived experiences. Sad that only ~20% comp-scientists are female 👩🔬🧪
ℹ️: www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
As arXiv announces a new submission rate limit policy, I refer anyone who is up in arms about it to👇Hogg 2026👇.
I'm so confused who would want to submit so much slop? For me (both writing and hiring) it's always been about quality over quantity, every single time. 🧪⚛️
blog.arxiv.org/2026/10/01/u...
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ok3ms3dzop7gcwejp7lswhpi/post/3menuonlzuc2h
Fair Moderation, Equitable Acc...
NASA picture of the day today is a real 🏴beauty! This is a composite image of the ~5000yo Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis. The amazing Giuseppe Petricca has only gone and photographed the Sun at noon there, every few days, for a whole year. #Dedication 🔭🧪👌
ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/image-articl...
Here are all my tour dates (spit out my tea - yes I am going on actual "tour" 😲 - do I get to print a ti-shirt?). There will be planetarium shows, science talks and in-conversation events! Come and say hello some time!
www.roe.ac.uk/~heymans/H2D...
How to Design a Universe: Even...
🥳The book launch was the most amazing night at Dynamic Earth! @spacedoot.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy knocked it out of the park when it came to the visuals!
If you missed it, the planetarium show will be repeated
* @glasgowscience.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy 23 Sept
* Winchester Planetarium 13 Oct
* @sherwoodobs.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy 9 Dec
"yeah but did you know that you were going to be on the front cover"
Yes
"WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME"
🤣
"I'm busy posting it through a letterbox and I'm thinking, NO WAY THAT'S MY ACTUAL MUM"
😇
The 13yo just came home from his paper-round with this! I think I might have finally impressed him 👌
Vogue next? 🤣
👩🔬
A total heart-sink moment this morning when I saw this over on LinkedIn from a colleague who transitioned to corporate data science 8yrs ago.
I have politely pointed them to @hogg.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy's excellent piece on AI-use in academia, but internally I'm screaming "Why? Why? Why would you do this?" 🫣🧪
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ok3ms3dzop7gcwejp7lswhpi/post/3menuonlzuc2h
BlueSky: I give you the very grown up and highly professional Astronomer Royal for Scotland, as quoted in the Times. 🤣
#solareclipse 🔭
www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...
Did I travel all the way to #JodrellBank this morning for a 5min TV interview? Yes reader, I did.
Did I then persuade the fab e-MERLIN Director Simon Garrington to let me climb inside the Lovell Telescope?
Well, if you can't flex a Royal title occasionally, then what is the point of having it? 😇🔭🧪
I'm absolutely devastated for colleagues at Jodrell Bank who found out this morning that funding for the UK's e-MERLIN radio telescope array will be terminated. This is a short-sighted move, to save a tiny fraction of the overall UK science budget. #SaveJodrellBank 🔭🧪
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ok3ms3dzop7gcwejp7lswhpi/post/3mqvr2fsv2s26
Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescop...
"When asked to reassure early-career researchers about why they should continue in the sector, Prof. Heymans admits it is "bleak" but insists "we're not giving up fighting".
"You're very valued – the early-career community is the lifeblood of astronomy and particle physics in the UK," she adds.
Best thing about #NAM2026: meeting lots of fantastic early career researchers and demanding they tell me all about the cool science in their posters. 🥳
Not so best thing about NAM2026: giving the why/what/how of #STFC funding cuts explainer, while trying to not jettison all their hopes and dreams.🔭
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qgkte62puf4w7v6hwevwhshd/post/3mrahvco2zc24
🔊Calling families in #Edinburgh: it's Space week at National Museums Scotland 🚀. I'll be in the Earth in Space gallery on Mon/Fri morn for "Ask the Astronomer Royal Anything"! Excited to meet the curious young people in your lives. 🔭🏴👩🔬
🗓️ Free drop-in 20/24 Jul
www.nms.ac.uk/events/summe...
Summer Family Fun | National M...
“What will the Lovell Telescope discover/enable 20 yrs from now? I can’t tell you, and that’s the point. It will either be something extraordinary that none of us can yet predict, or we will defund it and leave Cheshire with a rusting monument to unfulfilled potential and discoveries never made.” 🔭🧪
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:3v6mzmo32aufp2ajyuxzajw2/post/3mqvppxjelc2y
Um..... so I did a thing 🫣
📽️: youtube.com/shorts/krnxj...
Indie 📕: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/how-...
Amazon 🔗: www.amazon.co.uk/How-Design-U...
🔭👩🔬🎢
Exciting new Announcement!!
Spectacular discoveries come about from the pairing of great data with great people. This book, by dear friend @goetzhoeppe.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy, is a super fascinating, deep and detailed cultural study. Check it out to see how astronomers work and the impact of the open data model that we follow. 🔭
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:givfu3tbul2hblhs64gxk64o/post/3mpoab53muk2i
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
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:gvxrgsmxjzlhkg3ikju437me/post/3modqgqaq2q25
Reposting for the Sunday morning reading crowd with a free-to-read link that isn't behind the Nature paywall! 🔭⚛️🧪👩🔬
📖: rdcu.be/floXQ
RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ok3ms3dzop7gcwejp7lswhpi/post/3mmy75vcmuk2o