For their first project, my Kids and Society students have to create an infographic clarifying a common misconception about "kids these days." I'd prefer that they not use AI to create their projects, so I made my own infographic explaining why : )

“There is no joy more intense than that of coming upon a fact that cannot be understood in terms of currently accepted ideas." Astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who decoded spectral lines to deduce the elemental composition of stars, was born #OTD in 1900. 🧪 🔭 ⚛️ 👩‍🔬 Image: Harvard Observatory

New paper out in J Theor Biol! I make the case that "normal" phylogenetic networks are the gas. #mathsky www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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.

I have this beautiful old pedal organ at home in Sydney. I think my parents were given it in the late 70s while we lived in Cooma, NSW, but clearly it comes originally from Vermont. I want to offload it, but how? Who would want a pedal organ now?

The battle still rages.

That's hilarious. The banal ignorance of the anti science, mediocrity now in charge.

I must say, this is the first summer in such a long time that I'm not working on an ARC #grant , unable to actually have down time. So hats off to the ARC for making the schedule change! #academicsky #research #mathsky #sciencesky

I think we found an Australian funnel-web spider today in this little tunnel on St Georges Basin in NSW. Cute little thing came out to grab a pine needle we tickled its web with, and dragged it back, holding tightly.

My father died over 8 years ago, which means it's time to sort through more boxes of stuff from his life. Why did he keep so many pencil stubs? Needless to say, I'm keeping them too.

Too plausible.

Well that ending left a sour taste in the mouth after a great day's cricket. Unnecessary niggle. #AUSvsIND

Great work by Amandine Schaeffer from UNSW Maths and Stats! www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...

Gotta also love that with the gender pay gap already a big problem, it's only the blokiest cars for blokey blokes that get subsidised.

Good morning Sydney! I guess it's huntsman season again 😬. This one was released into the backyard after delaying my morning coffee.

Nice!

Welcome to all recent arrivals! It does seem a lot more civil here.

Phylogenetics hits the big time!

we are, in the end, responsible for ourselves, and one of the longrunning themes of Discworld is how important it is to make the right decisions simply because they are right

Discworld QOTD, from Feet of Clay "You couldn't say 'I had orders.' You couldn't say 'It's not fair.' No one was listening. There were no Words. You owned yourself. [...] Not 'Thou Shalt Not'. Say 'I Will Not'."

Read this

In my view this is a massive own goal by the new Adelaide Uni. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

RIP Daniel Kahnemann. I gained a lot from the two books of his I read: Thinking Fast and Slow; and Noise. He made a difference with his work, and I'm glad to have known of it and of him.

Ouch!!

Other big thanks goes to Profs. Margaret Sheil, Susan Dodds & Mark Hutchinson for undertaking the #ARCreview!

A huge thanks to the Minister Jason Clare for taking the #ARCreview seriously and putting its recommendations into legislation. Massive credit & thanks to Senator Mehreen Faruqi for initiating the 2018 Senate enquiry that set parliament on this course, & for pushing it so hard.

🚨🚨🚨 IT’S DONE! ❗️The ARC Review Response Bill just passed parliament❗️ No more political interference in individual ARC grants! The ARC will get a Board, who will approve individual grants. It’s a wonderful day for Australian research!

I keep thinking about the aviation and shipping sectors as major targets to transform. But cloud computing was something I hadn't put in the same category.

What other jobs are there where people internally flinch before saying what they do? I'm a mathematician, and without a doubt, before saying that, have to consciously try to normalise the fact that we exist and are otherwise unremarkable. Sometimes I say "I work in a university" to avoid it.

Anyone know how to get posts on the Discover feed in order of posting, new on top? I'm only seeing posts hours old.

Log Cabin xkcd.com/2891

In clinical trials of new treatments, when the treatment is clearly and obviously immediately effective it is sometimes considered unethical to continue to withhold it from the control group. Pretty sure we passed that milestone about a decade ago with basic income experiments.

A re-read, because Francis is giving a public lecture at UniSA next month! This really is a beautiful, nourishing book. #read2024

What the world can learn from Copenhagen’s cycling revolution “When mayors in other cities ask me how Copenhagen afforded to invest in its cycling networks, I ask them how on earth they have been able to afford highway projects." theprogressplaybook.com/2024/01/31/w...

Thread: Each week I run a simulation of Australia’s main electricity grid using rescaled generation data to show that it can get very close to 100% renewable electricity with just 5 hrs of storage (24 GW / 120 GWh) Results: last week: 100% RE last 125 weeks: 99.0% RE (1/3)

What an amazing story!

Some big news for me professionally today! I'll be shortly changing university, for the first time since I got my first tenured position in the year 2000. A very big moment. 😬😱 In May, I'll start a new role as Head of the School of Mathematics and Statistics at UNSW!

Discworld QOTD, from Hogfather this is my favorite quote in the entire series merry Hogswatch, everyone

New book to read! I'm such a sucker for books while at airports.

Excellent article. Glad he's spoken about this.

I wish I'd thought of that 🙂

Valuable research. Great work @tomecon.bsky.social and team!

Yikes. Musk's hubris and over reach is some day going to catch up with him where it really matters.

It's 10.20am in Sydney, and the temperature where I am is 35.5C. Forecast for the day is 42C. For those who speak Fahrenheit, that's about 107.5F. Unpleasant.

asking for an image of a professor and asking to make it "more professor", a thread.

It's an amazing read!

finally they got the guy who kept tying people to trolley tracks

I never. Never. Get tired of discworld quotes.

Massive news for the ARC and restoring trust in the process! www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

This article captures really well our key problem with housing in Australia. We have to shift away from the attitude that housing is "an investment". But as long as it really, functionally, IS an investment, that will be impossible. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...