FWIW: ‘parsec’ is a measure of distance, not time, but that doesn’t make the Millennium Falcon’s Kessel Run any less impressive.

Schon gewusst? Im Asterix-Film Mission Kleopatra ist General Chorus mit seinem schwarzen Helm und dem schwarzen Umhang so von hinten zu sehen, dass er an die Figur des Darth Vader aus dem Film #StarWars erinnert. #MayTheFourthBeWithYou #Asterix [1/2]

Hat zwar nichts mit Asterix zu tun, aber ich weiß aus sicherer Quelle, dass es eine nicht geringe Fan-Schnittmenge gibt. Und ich finde sowohl das Zitat als auch das Bild einfach nur klasse: "Das Leben genießen du sollst!" #starwars #MayTheFourthBeWithYou

Gravitationswellen als mögliche Kandidaten für Ursprung der Dunklen Materie: Neuartige Berechnungen erforschen das frühe Universum / Forscher vom #ExzellenzclusterPRISMA ++ beteiligt 👉 prisma.uni-mainz.de/2026/04/01/gr…#Teilchenphysiki#DunkleMateriei#Universumu#Physiki#Gravitationswellenen

Two neutron stars may have formed the first known ‘superkilonova’ www.popsci.com/science/firs...

Exciting new results from the LZ experiment: new constraints on DM–nucleus scattering, a 4.5σ detection of the solar neutrino flux, and a measurement of the weak mixing angle. lz.lbl.gov

RIP Bill Bardeen, superb theorist and exemplary colleague.

This one looks exciting!

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

A halloween cartoon for @newscientist.com

Next Friday we are celebrating the inauguration of the Marietta Blau Institute for Particly Physics! 🤩 🥳 🖍️ Haven’t signed up yet? Now’s the time! ➡️ www.oeaw.ac.at/mbi/veransta...

CepC proposal will not be included in China’s next 5-year plan cerncourier.com/cepc-matures...

The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast' 10/10 response, no notes

Procrastination takes may forms. Tonight as a service to the astronomical community I offer help with your JWST proposal titles. #JWST 🧪🔭✨

Fantastic colloquium at @cern.bsky.social today by @fourform.bsky.social on "The end of measurement and the last lab", part of the ongoing workshop on Quantum Simulation & Computation in HEP (indico.cern.ch/event/1488240). Bonus: autocorrect mishap leading to the invention of the "axion horoscope".

Wissenschaft als Beruf besteht zu 20% aus Wissenschaft & zu 80% daraus, die immer gleichen Informationen (wie viele Drittmittel/Publikationen/Preise/Arbeitsverträge/...) in stets zusätzliche Arbeit provozierenden leichten Variationen in sehr viele unterschiedliche Formulare einzutragen. #IchBinHanna

JUNO neutrino detector switches on www.theregister.com/2025/08/29/c...

Results from the first part of our fourth LIGO @egovirgo.bsky.social KAGRA observing run are out today! We're pleased to share the largest catalog of gravitational-wave observations with more discoveries of black holes and neutron stars 📰 arxiv.org/abs/2508.18082 🔭🧪⚛️☄️ #GWTC4

Verrückter Fakt des Tages: #vfdt Bis zu 400.000 Menschen arbeiteten in den USA am Apollo-Programm, um Astronauten zum Mond zu bringen. Der politische und wirtschaftliche Aufwand war aus heutiger Sicht kaum vorstellbar. Technische Großprojekte heute (wie CERN oder ITER) sind vergleichsweise winzig.

Squintern: The *slowest* meteorite travels at 25,000 miles per hour! Me: No, *all* meteorites travel at 0 miles per hour.

We've *gotta* revive this as a pet name for future colliders en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perhaps...

RIP Herwig Schopper, CERN director general from 1973 to 1976. He made LEP possible, and thus also the LHC. Not so long ago I worked with him on a book about the scientific discoveries at CERN. Read the interview in the CERN courier about the lessons from LEP cerncourier.com/a/lessons-fr...

How sad to hear that Tom Lehrer has left us. I vividly remember my first big scientific conference – Neutrino 2006 in Santa Fe. At an evening event, members of the Santa Fe Opera sang The Elements Song for us. A brilliant performance. I've been hooked ever since.

This is absurd. The red supergiant Betelgeuse is the bright feature in this image. But that darker blue splotch is a *companion star* that's just been discovered—and it orbits so close to Betelgeuse that it's inside the larger star's outer atmosphere.

Let me guess: 2007 – $0 2012 – $100 (to the intern who designed it) 2013 – $1,000 2015 – $10,000 2017 – $100,000 2024 – $1,000,000 2026 – $25 (for a ChatGPT subscription)

Theorists' take on Quantum 👩🏻‍🏫👨‍🏫 We recently invited our community #AtCERN to describe quantum. Now, it's the turn of the physicists to share their insights. Hear from Miguel, Wilke, and Irene as they share their perspective on what #quantum is.

"𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘓𝘢𝘣𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦." -- Steven Chu, Nobel Lecture 1997

Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC? From the next application rounds, expect changes to the: • proposal structure • evaluation process • extra funding you can request • eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027) More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv

and publicly funded geologists predicted the disaster, preventing massive loss of life.

The loss of their village is a tragedy for the inhabitants of #Blatten. But they are alive because geologists saw it coming. It was their worst case scenario. The village was evacuated. Unlike Goldau in 1806. 457 died. Thanks Geology.

Don’t worry guys, BlueSky can be perfect so long as we all get along. First things first, we just need to agree whether vim or emacs is the better editor.

Der #Exzellenzcluster PRISMA an der JGU Mainz geht in die dritte Runde!

The EU is seeking input on how to protect democracy in Europe. I just responded to the survey at ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/run... (which is open also to non-EU citizens.)

Note: the previous Pope Leo reestablished the Vatican Observatory “so that everyone might see clearly that the Church & her Pastors are not opposed to true & solid science… but that they embrace it, encourage it, & promote it with the fullest possible devotion.” 🧪 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Le...

Who knew? The LHC is the philosopher's stone. 🧪⚛️

In the economy of scarcity that much of European science has been facing for years, every euro is turned around five times, leading to more complicated grant application procedures, tighter rules, and longer decision-making time scales, further reducing the efficiency of the system.

The Magnificent Fourteen James Bond 014 – You Only Live Four Times Bruce Semi-Almighty 14人の侍 (14 Samurai)

30% tariff for the Elven-kings under the sky, 70% tariff for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, 90% tariff for Mortal Men doomed to die, 100% tariff for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

A welcome initiative. It will be important to ensure that not only the financial framework is there, but also that administrative burdens are kept to a minimum. The current tendency to micromanage science stifles innovation and progress.

Europe’s choice is clear. To put science at the heart of its economy. To become the home of scientific freedom and collaboration. And to welcome talent from all over the world. I’m glad to present the first elements of our Choose Europe Initiative. → europa.eu/!TTbWbJ

In many countries, processes are way too slow. Even when there is political will, such changes take years. Though they wouldn't have to if everyone involved was a little more pragmatic. Just look at how long faculty searches take in Europe.

Sarah’s rules of looking for life with only chemical signatures: 1) the smaller the molecule(s) the more likely they can also be produced by abiotic processes 2) one molecule, if it can be produced by any abiotic process, will never be enough to definitively claim detection of life

The problem with most machine-based random number generators is that they’re not TRULY random, so if you need genuine randomness it is sometimes necessary to link your code to an external random process like a physical noise source or the current rate of US tariffs on a given country.

The LHC experiment collaborations #AtCERN receive Breakthrough Prize The prize is awarded to ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb, which unite thousands of researchers from more than 70 countries, and concerns the papers authored based on #LHCRun2 data up to July 2024. Read more: home.cern/news/press-r...

Ich forsche am Institut für Hochenergiephysik @hephy.bsky.social der @oeaw.bsky.social an der Nutzung von künstlicher Intelligenz in der Teilchenphysik. Diese neuen Techniken erlauben uns noch effizienter die riesigen Datenmengen des Teilchenbeschleunigers #LHC zu analysieren und zu verstehen. 1/3

I'm happy to pass on the announcement of an off-cycle postdoc position (3 years) and a senior research fellowship (5 years) theoretical physics at DIAS, Dublin, Ireland: inspirehep.net/jobs/2901328 inspirehep.net/jobs/2903777

Spring at CERN 🌸 As the flowers start to blossom and the days are getting sunnier, CERN prepares for #BeamTime at the Large Hadron Collider and the start of the fourth data-taking season of #LHCRun3. Which physics topic would you like us to cover this season? Let us know in the comments. 👇

Every single member of the Columbia administration should step down. Through their complicity and their cowardice, they've betrayed their faculty, their staff and most of all their students. There's no way they can lead that university in any meaningful sense from this point on.

From slack today