MUST READ: The best synthesis I have seen so far of things I knew or had put together from various sources but had not really seen pulled together 🧪 Importantly, I don’t think these academics were an aberration. I think a lot of scientists would have entered these circles, given the option.

Hot take: If you are thinking about observation planning, and if you have choices, you should choose the plan that maximizes your long-term future-discounted information gain. . . .

NSBP / NSHP are my people!!

I’m so proud to be a jury member for The 2025 International Kindness Olympiad (haha that doesn’t exist because how could kindness be important??)

Itai Linial @nyuphysics.bsky.social talking about stellar problems at supermassive black holes

Excellent piece by @briles34.bsky.social on writing in the discipline. It’s depressing that we think that theoretical physics expertise is not just more important but INFINITELY more important than writing to… *writing* PhD dissertations (on any subfield of astro, say). arxiv.org/abs/2510.03493

The main thing that it all makes me—Palestinian genocide, ICE kidnappings, tariffs, H1b visas, infinite detentions without hearings, all make me—is sad. Tired and sad. Love to all, and strength for this journey.

Cantiello @kantyellow.bsky.social at @flatironinstitute.org explains, in terms of fundamental physics, why we won’t be simulating stars in full 3D, ever. I likey.

Josh Ruderman @nyuphysics.bsky.social talking about freeze out and freeze in of dark matter candidates.

My colleague Vasuki Nesiah (NYU) wrote a nice blog post about political things on campus, academic freedom, and our @aaup.org lawsuit. voelkerrechtsblog.org/academic-fre...

Many universities on lockdown after black faculty were sent extremely racist death threats and threats of racial extermination. Stay safe out there. Black faculty at NYU received extremely frightening emails today.

It’s back to school, but not for anyone in Gaza. We all have responsibility for the scholasticide, the killing of students, and the destruction of educational infrastructure.

This is a good (long!!) newsletter covering many things related to academic freedom, with an NYU bias. I learn a ton every time this comes out.

Gaza Biennale in NYC

Fascinating piece by @stephenornes.bsky.social in @quantamagazine.bsky.social on “emergent misalignment” showing that we really don’t know much about what LLMs are doing. www.quantamagazine.org/the-ai-was-f...

It’s long been suspected that Rubio and Noem were targeting foreign students based on info supplied by these fanatical, sinister groups. This is the first time the government has acknowledged it in open court. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/u...

“AI For Good” isn’t for good.

I meant @aaup.org

The NYU AAUP (@aaup; of which I am a member) made the news yesterday with its lawsuit against the Trump administration: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

We (and I mean US physicists) dreamed up these weapons, and soldiers deployed them. Enormous suffering was the outcome. Never again www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

The most heartbreaking thing I’ve maybe ever read. CW: Deaths of workers; exceedingly unsafe workplace. I apologize if this is paywalled (@lrb.co.uk please don’t paywall old things) www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

easily the funniest papermill invitation I have ever received @hogg.bsky.social

James Beard Foundation! Prizes to Hamada Shoo and Mosab Abu Toha today. Two of my heroes, uplifting Gaza. And: Food is critical to liberation and justice. So much love. @mosababutoha.bsky.social

Lots of good ideas in this piece by @leylandcecco.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

This very long read by Bolin is great, imho. It’s about tech bros but many of the arguments have relevance to the “great men of science” narratives that I despise. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Briefly wandered over to The Other Place to gauge the response to the NASA budget devastation to encounter a bunch of gleeful 'we spend too much money, so this is great.' TO BE, ONCE AGAIN, PERFECTLY CLEAR, THE BUDGET REQUEST MOVES ALL THIS MONEY TO DEFENSE. IT SPENDS IT. NO MONEY IS SAVED.

I don’t love the US exceptionalism arguments—science is global—but I said something for this piece www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/w...

Amazing and wide-ranging long read about Greenland by @jamesmeek.bsky.social We’ve done so much harm to the Inuit. May they be free. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Wenzer Qin @nyuphysics.bsky.social explains a new viable route to supermassive black hole seeds (not quite primordial)

There are no universities left in Gaza.

I agree very much with this piece. The political trends in Canada are not generally good.

Generalized symmetries in QFT and axions with Marius Kongsore @nyuphysics.bsky.social

Great long read. www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Tooting my horn here: this planet (K2-18b) was discovered by Dan Foreman-Mackey and me and others at NYU. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/s...

Apologies if paywalled for you, but this news piece by Tollefson is partly about my brave and remarkable student Valentina Tardugno Poleo www.nature.com/articles/d41... (If you have an edu account you can probably get access just by authenticating?) What is wrong with this country??

NYU canceled a planned speech by the former president of Doctors Without Borders because she planned to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and cuts to US AID. This is what actual campus censorship looks like.

Everyone is upset about the leak of military information and not upset about the fact that it shows that the US deliberately targets civilian residences. Leaks are GOOD not bad.

My natural attitude to tech is cynical, but it is just so extremely cool to see Nvidia name their new chips after my hero Vera Rubin.

Canada meets all the requirements for joining the EU. (Except for one, which is maybe implicit.) Just sayin’

Tesla Model 3 crushed by an Olmec statue By Mexican sculptor @chavismarmol.bsky.social

Did SPHEREx launch??

This is remarkable. As usual, the potted history we learn in class is wrong. The library was destroyed by the corrupt ruling class. Makes so much more sense than burning.

Here’s @idontevencara.bsky.social plugging Jax in her absolutely mind-blowing PhD defense @nyuphysics.bsky.social

Dear followers: I am not @davidhogg.bsky.social. I like the guy, though!!

Great talk today about big bang nucleosynthesis by Cara Giovanetti @nyuphysics.bsky.social

A seminar @nyuphysics.bsky.social about binary stars by @katiebreivik.bsky.social showing some rainbow!

Emily Davis using coherent squeezed electron spin states to find the QCD axion @nyuphysics.bsky.social