A small Python tool for cleaner paper figures: curved-text labels each line right on the curve instead of in a legend. Self-contained plots, less work for the reader. pip install curved-text thiebes.org/2026/06/11/l... #AcademicSky #DataViz

Reflecting pools work because their floors are dark. That is the whole trick, and it is about three thousand years old. The Lincoln pool is being recoated swimming-pool blue this spring. New essay on what that changes. josephthiebes.substack.com/p/what-the-d...

In his paper, Turing quoted the neurosurgeon Geoffrey Jefferson, who had argued that a machine could not truly think until it could write a sonnet “because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance fall of symbols.” New essay: josephthiebes.substack.com/p/the-selfis...

i wrote about holes. the semiconductor kind. turns out they pass every test we use to identify objects. so do you. 🤔

MemPalace made a specific benchmarking error. The palace architecture that defines the system played no role in producing the headline score. The error has a 400-year-old precedent. Giordano Bruno made the same move. New piece: josephthiebes.substack.com/p/giordano-b...

What we treat as central is often an effect of duration. A new essay on attention, distribution, and interpretation: The geometry of attention.

Alysa Liu & St. Friedrich

Most people who see the aurora say it looked nothing like the photographs. They are right. What few realize is that the longer they stood there, the less true that became.

After watching Bad Bunny's performance again, I was looking at thumbnails of past halftime shows and thought, wow I bet Shakira sang a lot of Spanish songs. Sure enough, she did. Do you know what else made an appearance? The flag of Puerto Rico. And do you know WHO else made an appearance? Benito!

As I always say: Shamrocks for your real friends, Real rocks for your sham friends. (Unless they are geologists, in which case give them both.)

Got my COVID booster.

Cozying up to kick off my birthday weekend with this remarkable new book by Toby Hendy @tibees.bsky.social. Look closely at the photograph: an inversion hides in plain sight! The fourth dimension may be closer than it seems…

I’m starting a new position as a part-time Middle School Science Laboratory Instructor! I’ll spend an hour each week helping students explore the scientific method, nurture critical thinking skills, and connect with the Montessori tradition of self-directed cosmic education.

@bskyttrpg.bsky.social unsubscribe

Meitner-Auger recombination: A process by which energy transfer between excitons causes one to recombine and the other to be excited to a higher energy state within the same energy band. It was discovered and published in 1922 by Lise Meitner and—independently—in 1923 by Pierre Victor Auger.

Happy Tau Day! We celebrate both Pi Day and Tau Day at our house. Tau (≈6.28) is 2π, and some say it is the better circle constant. Either way, it is a great chance to talk angles, radians, and geometry with kids. Preferably over something round and tasty. #TauDay

Every science award given to multiple people should go to half who identify as women and half who identify as men. For odd numbers, alternate yearly. “Best qualified” is no excuse. There are always more qualified people than awards. All-male award lists should be embarrassing. #WomenInSTEM

Pão de Queijo! Easy to make: 170 g tapioca flour 1 egg 1/3 C olive oil 2/3 C milk 66 g cheese 1 tsp salt Blend to homogeneity, 3/4 fill greased mini muffin pan, bake at 400 F for 15 min. Spray the pan w/ canola oil because it is healthy and to spite RFK who hates it. #ChemistsWhoCook

The White House doubled down on Trump’s absurd claim that #DOGE canceled $8 million for “making mice #transgender.” In reality, none of the projects do anything of the sort. (Do mice even have gender identity?) Here’s what they actually study: 1/

Although she fell asleep every time we listened to Project Hail Mary (audiobook), the 5yo retained enough to draw this picture of Rocky, the alien in the book, almost a week after we finished listening.

My 10yo won first place in her class spelling bee today. So proud of her ❤️

Clearly, my recent paper might find itself in hot water with the ‘bias patrol.’ I suppose ‘systematic error’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it! #Optics #Photonics ⚛️ 🧪

Pleased to share our study on how substrate annealing affects CsPbBr₃ perovskite photoluminescence on TiO₂. We show how annealing temp tunes surface roughness, crystallinity & charge recombination. Grateful to lead author Xavier Vorhies and co-authors! #PerovSky #MatSky #ChemSky 🧪

I’m reading Project Hail Mary, and so far it’s a great read for the spectroscopy content alone! #chemsky

My dissertation is now freely available: scholarworks.montana.edu/items/5f1522d5… It examines nanocrystal ligand effects on transport, lamellar structure influence on charge separation, and impact of noise in measures of excited state diffusion in semiconducting materials. 🧪#chemskyk#perovskyky

Sweeping restrictions at NIH have halted grant reviews, workshops, and hiring. Travel and communication bans block scientists from presenting work, recruiting for clinical trials, and publishing. Fear and uncertainty now threaten U.S. biomedical research progress. 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...

Gasoline (petrol) near me: $2.80/gal (€0.67/L). Eggs: $6.59/dozen (€6.05). Noting these prices today as the newly inaugurated president promised to lower costs.

Very cool to see my 3D model being printed in chocolate!

Starting a new lab?! The most important factors for choosing the university/institute/company are: the colleagues, students & postdocs, the leadership, equipment, the lab space and start-up funds; IN THAT ORDER.

We watched Nightbitch last night, and I loved it. A modern “Heroine’s Journey” that is raw, unsettling, and empowering. Not horror as billed, but a visceral, strange, and cathartic exploration of motherhood and identity. Highly recommend!

This excellent video by @acollierastro.bsky.social is a sharp, funny critique that explores the weird obsession billionaires like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos have with #physics, and why they all want us to think they’re secret geniuses. youtu.be/GmJI6qIqURA

Is the Winter Solstice ‘a child’s game’? The Catholic League thinks so. Read my open letter challenging their divisive message and exploring the humanist values that truly define the season. #WinterSolstice #Humanism @friendlyatheist.com @americanhumanist.bsky.social thiebes.org/2024/12/21/c...

Why is so much of the scholarly literature inaccessible to blind and low-vision scientists (and other readers)? My latest for Nature: www.nature.com/articles/d41... @natureportfolio.bsky.social

Refreshments to accompany tomorrow’s White Elephant gift exchange. #ChemistsWhoCook

My second 🔓editorial for @naturenano.bsky.social is out. This time, I talk about something I care a lot: Why do battery researchers not use a shared basic electrochemistry terminology? www.nature.com/articles/s41... What's your experience? 🙂 #batteries #battchat #electrochemistry

Do research journals use alt text for figures? My grad school required alt text for every image in my dissertation, which brought the question to mind: which journals require or encourage this? I’d love to submit to those that do. Any insights? #Accessibility #AcademicPublishing #ChemSky 🧪 ⚛️

Perovskite based solar cells have made huge progress in the laboratory 🧪 in recent years. To get them from lab to factory all fabrication techniques need to be scalable. So that we are able to deposit all layers on large areas.

“Exceeds the age of the known universe” is an extreme understatement. 10 septillion years is about 100 billion times the entire projected lifetime of the universe. That is, from Big Bang to Heat Death, times 100,000,000,000.

BLUESKY MEGA-THREAD Altmetric is thrilled and also LITERALLY RELIEVED to officially announce: We are now tracking research attention as it happens on Bluesky! We have been picking up posts on the site since late Oct. Our team is on Bluesky all day answering questions. Let's get into it!

Accessible color palettes are key for scientific figures. Gradients add complexity, especially for B&W printing. Cubehelix, a color map designed for perceptual uniformity and grayscale compatibility [1,2] tackles both. #SciComm 🧪 1. arxiv.org/abs/1108.5083 2. ifweassume.blogspot.com/2013/05/cube...

A classic editorial by Prashant Kamat @kamat.bsky.social that was partial inspiration for the quoted thread below: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.... #ChemSky #Physics 🧪

“16 Panels” (to the tune of “16 Tons”) #Science #ChemSky #Physics 🧪 Verse 1 Well some people say, “Keep your figures lean.” But I load sixteen panels, I’m a data machine. My plots are dense, the reviewers should swoon, But the editor scoffs, saying, “This just won’t do.”

@bskyttrpg.bsky.social reroll

This study from @phond-uam.bsky.social investigates exciton diffusion in Mn-doped (PEA)₂PbBr₄, a 2D #Perovskite. Spatiotemporal modeling reveals excitons travel further than expected to reach Mn sites, with critical implications for #energy and #optoelectronic device design. 🧪 #ChemSky #Physics

📍Pinned Post: Welcome to the PerovSky feed! 🔸This feed is for any perovskite-related posts from the last week. 🔸Either #PerovSky or #Perovskite sends your post here. 🔸Please use Alt Text for pics & CamelCase in hashtags

PerovSky is now live! A dedicated feed for perovskite materials, featuring research, applications, and updates. Follow for more! #Perovskite #Science #ChemSky #MatSky #Physics 🧪https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jput5vbya3y5yubaq5gx2nrx/feed/aaajpvigquhmu

In solidarity with Dr. Louks @allylouks.bsky.social, I’m sharing my photo and dissertation abstract. As a STEM PhD, I stand with humanities scholars whose work is often unfairly dismissed. Rigorous research, whether in literature or chemistry, drives understanding and innovation. #PhDinSolidarity

New preprint! "All-passive upconversion imaging of incoherent near-infrared light at intensities down to 50 nW/cm^2" arxiv.org/abs/2411.18707 🧪💡 This was a large collaborative work led by Rabeeya Hamid in our group, in collaboration with Dan Congreve's group at Stanford, and supported by DARPA

“Scientists need to recognize that bold presentation, dissemination, and support of scientific knowledge has become both a basic commitment and a political act. Being purely reactive … or assuming an artificial air of neutrality … are both ethically problematic and practically detrimental.”