With the two-hour marathon now broken, I wondered: how fast could humans ultimately run a marathon? Between a simple exponential and a stretched exponential model, the latter is favored implying humans could run 1h47m (!) one day (assuming same rules/no cheating).

I have a big new research paper on an epidemic problem we don’t discuss enough in astrobiology. Currently in review but I couldn’t wait to share so here is the video, paper should land on the arXiv next few days. youtu.be/u3HLrDkMRXY

Fund NASA science or we’re demoting it again to comet.

Trump fires the entire National Science Board

The latest Science Counterpunch just landed! 👊 This week we chatted to Prof "Cool Worlds" @davidkipping.bsky.social about engaging sceptical audiences, how to better communicate physics and how scientists should engage massive influencers. Don't miss it! Link: youtube.com/watch?v=aT3S... ⚛️🧪

“Allan variance”

Don't miss my new op-ed on how space science is getting demoted to hitchhiker status at NASA: spacenews.com/put-science-...

Possibly my favorite part of my recent interview with @chrislintott.bsky.social youtube.com/shorts/tdL65...

#CoolWorlds Podcast Episode 32 is now live! @chrislintott.bsky.social on Technosignatures, Citizen Science, Scicomm youtu.be/qI3DAXM0-do

Love will always win

I love all the astronauts but is it ok to have favorites in Glover and Koch?

NASA Flew by the Moon, but Behind the Scenes, Its Science Is a Chaotic Mess www.nytimes.com/2026/04/08/o...

Let’s goooooo!

Reflect Orbital finally have some numbers for their underwhelming service. 50 Watts per square metre for 20 minutes* in 2030 if they launch 5000+ satellites. This requires 750 satellites and if they charge $5000 per satellite per hour then this will cost just $750,000. www.reflectorbital.com

“There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that, if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, their prosperity will leak through on those below.”

A new solar system in the making? For the second time ever, two planets have been directly observed forming around a host star. Our VLT and VLTI have helped astronomers confirm the presence of a second gas giant orbiting the star WISPIT 2.  More: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2604/ 🔭 🧪

Are Wormholes Actually Possible? youtu.be/z90spjws6z8

You have to feel sorry for folks who study the Epstein regime... arxiv.org/abs/2603.15810

The RAS is alarmed by the threat to ground-based astronomy posed by proposals put forward by Elon Musk's SpaceX and Reflect Orbital. We have opposed the plans with @eso.org and the International Astronomical Union. Find out more at: ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

The additional cost of ONE fossil fuel price spike on the scale of 2022 = the ENTIRE COST of Net Zero by 2050. We get precisely nothing in return for the first cost, and a whole new, more secure and cheaper energy system from the second one. #NoBrainer www.theccc.org.uk/2026/03/11/c...

6/10

For #WomensHistoryMonth: Let us celebrate the life and accomplishments of Sally Ride (1951-2012), Ph.D. physicist, educator, and the first U.S. woman in space. As a member of the Rogers Commission, she helped bring to light the O-ring failure that led to the Challenger disaster. 🎢⚛️⭐️🔭🧪🪐 1/3

let it be known that my achilles heel is cadbury mini eggs

One thing I’m seeing is that AI appears to be perceived by many as an increasingly political topic, whereas a decade ago it was largely one of technology alone. Both statements of critique and praise for such systems are becoming seen as latently partisan, much like climate science experienced.

Very interesting Astrophysics colloquium given today by Prof David Kipping (@davidkipping.bsky.social) about the role of Bayesianism and Anthropics in searches for life. Excited to see the paper published! Much to think about when it comes to finding life with future space telescopes.

Pompeii really is amazing

“I think, therefore I am.” The only thing we can be sure of. So what does that mean about our thinking machines?

“I am somebody” shaped how millions of us saw ourselves as kids, including me. That message mattered. It still does. Rest in power, Jesse Jackson 🙏🏽

The US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, a pioneer of progressive Democratic politics, close ally of Martin Luther King Jr, and two-time candidate for the presidential nomination, has died at 84. See his life in pictures: bit.ly/3OxOT3f

Claude Code is highly addictive. I find myself constantly walking back to my laptop to check on builds and agents. Is this the new social media?

I just want to get to the point where I can prompt “make TNG season 8” and it’s perfect

One of the most stupid things I’ve ever seen www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/c...

#31 Joshua Winn - Exoplanet New Discoveries, History and Future youtu.be/ISZHVwY5YjE

Am I the only one who names all my devices after Tolkien Elves? What’s your naming system?

#AstroHiveMind In my stats class we often code up an MCMC from scratch as a pedagogical exercise. Has anyone tried coding up a simple LLM or a different AI architecture? How did it go?

#AstroHiveMind In my stats class we often code up an MCMC from scratch as a pedagogical exercise. Has anyone tried coding up a simple LLM or a different AI architecture? How did it go?

I attended a meeting last week that was one of the most shocking of my career. Here’s the lowdown…. youtu.be/PctlBxRh0p4

"How many people does it take before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many people does it take, admiral?" - Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: Insurrection

It’s fascinating to see what would be the 3rd giant exomoon candidate reported using a wholly different method to transits: using astrometry. And it’s the biggest yet at 0.4 Jupiter masses. I’ve long punted on what defines a binary-planet vs a moon but this makes me wonder! arxiv.org/abs/2511.20091

Are these university rankings just tracking pure research output rather than impact? If so, it seems hardly surprising that Chinese institutes could gamify that and spam out papers. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/u...

The future can often feel dark and dystopian. But what are YOU excited about for the future in the next few decades?

Centrifugal force on the surface of this rapidly rotating asteroid would be 0.11g outwards! So almost Lunar-level anti-gravity…

NASA Discovers Distant Planet With Conditions That Could Sustain Rocks https://theonion.com/nasa-discovers-distant-planet-with-conditions-that-could-sustain-rocks/

In geopolitics, history keeps repeating itself. Different actors, different victims, but same themes. We seem unable to evolve past law of the jungle rules.

A little 3I/ATLAS update building on @marshall-eubanks.bsky.social's nice RNAAS from last week. Given its non-grav acceleration and the rate at which it's losing mass, you can work out its size. The answer: a diameter around 1 km, very typical for comets. arxiv.org/abs/2512.18341 🔭 🧪

The Eschatian Hypothesis arxiv.org/abs/2512.09970

Heading to gay Paris tomorrow! Let me know your favorite things to do