I wrote this rather odd and personal piece over New Years, and it has received so much positive echo from so many people, including allowing me to reconnect with long lost friends. You might find it useful too. jksteinberger.medium.com/against-fitt...

Tom has not one but two books coming out. One is, naturally enough, The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of Mind. us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

A new way of probing nanometre-scale particles of a single chemical element has revealed that they have markedly different properties from larger chunks of the same element. go.nature.com/4aeHrkO

A western European ‘water world’ was a holdout for hunter-gatherers for thousands of years go.nature.com/4rCgz5a

It's the International Day of Women and Girls in Science! With a funding programme for female professorships (which passed the milestone of 1,000 supported positions this year), 🇩🇪 is taking steps to get more women into science. The proportion of female professors in 🇩🇪 stands at about 30%.

According to a new paper published by a group of astrophysicists, simulations seem to indicate that our galaxy cluster exists in a thin area of highly concentrated dark matter, which itself is located between two voids of dark matter. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHAO...

Today, we acknowledge & thank our outgoing Board Chair, Nick Talley, for his outstanding leadership & contribution to Doctors for the Environment Australia. Nick’s wisdom, integrity & generosity have been instrumental in shaping the organisation & we are deeply grateful for everything he has done.

Exciting news! The Maryland Lieutenant Governor’s Office is honored to welcome the Walk for Peace Buddhist monks to Annapolis before their final journey back to Texas.

Ahead of next week's new episode of Under Review podcast, just a reminder of the fascinating first edition with my guest @deevybee.bsky.social as we discussed The Royal Society, Musk and academic fraud. Listen on Apple podcasts apple.co/4qthaFo Watch on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=35dc... 1/2

🚨LIVESTREAM ALERT🚨 @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social reflects on the Epstein scandal, Peter Mandelson’s betrayal, and the turmoil now engulfing the Labour Party. Live from 16:30 GMT 🇬🇧 Link in the replies 👇

Overdose Prevention Advocacy Day on Feb. 10 will bring together state and local leaders, policymakers, advocates, and community members to call for sustained action to reduce overdoses in Maryland. We hope you can join us! More Details: stopoverdose.maryland.gov/events

Australia needs more homes, and more tradies to build them. But tools, transport and training costs can add up. That's why Labor's backing new construction apprentices with a $10,000 cash bonus. Read more at the link below 👇

No catch. New construction apprentices can now get $10,000 cash while they train. And you could be next.

Sad to see how many academics were willing to look the other way. Maybe all this attention will make them see and think more clearly in the future?

Ooh my latest article for @spectrum.ieee.org has been published! It's on a refrigerant-free freezer, developed by researchers at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) 👩‍🔬🧪⚛️ spectrum.ieee.org/subzero-elas...

Once complete it will provide enough renewable energy and storage to power 3 million homes a week.  Snowy 2.0 will be a cornerstone of our transition to renewable energy, while at the same time, increasing energy security.

When we came into government Snowy 2.0 was facing delays, now it's back on track and 70% complete.

Two multi-billion dollar pumped #hydro energy storage projects declared Critical State Significant Infrastructure in race to cancel out #coal.

The PhD programme is designed to train more elite engineers who can help boost China's innovation go.nature.com/3ZSpR18

For the first time, clean energy has supplied the majority of electricity in our main grid for a full three months. And, because renewables are dominating new supply and easily the cheapest source of new energy, our bills were cheaper as a result. Win, win! reneweconomy.com.au/landmark-mom...

The CGT discount is the most unfair tax handout there is. It is exacerbating inequality and locking a generation out of home ownership. Enough is enough. No more tinkering around the edges of the housing crisis. Labor must scrap the CGT discount in the next budget.

hah! perfect timing to express my current frustration

What are the benefits of doing philosophy? So glad to see our contribution (with Anna Ichino and @matteomameli.bsky.social) in a special issue dedicated to philosophy in the public sphere! #philsky #philosophymatters #philosophyforeveryone

Highlights from our Women in Philosophy lecture series: @ellyvintiadis.bsky.social on psychedelic-assisted therapy youtu.be/q90qc9xJeN8?... #philsky #philpsy

What if you keep zooming in? Our latest video out now on YouTube. youtu.be/P-4pbFcERnk

When a math trick turns out to be real Watch our latest video in full, out now on YouTube! youtu.be/XKSjCOKDtpk

Finally, Intel seems to have released a series of chips that thoroughly outperform their predecessors, offer good battery life, and provide all the benefits of the company’s latest graphics architecture.

🧠🆕 NEW: Deploying Small Language Models (LFWS307) — a live 3-day workshop with 10+ hrs of hands-on labs. Learn to deploy SLMs on laptops, servers, edge & browser. Build skills for real-world AI & ML platform roles. Enroll: training.linuxfoundation.org/training/dep... #SLMs #AIEngineering #MLOps

Why does light exist? It's a consequence of what physicists call a "gauge symmetry" and in today's video I do my best to try and explain how that works. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rca...

Good overview here from @benjedwards.com at @arstechnica.com arstechnica.com/information-...

Our conversation wasn't specifically about a new book, but Rachell does have a previous related book, "Contingency and Convergence Toward a Cosmic Biology of Body and Mind." mitpress.mit.edu/978026204339...

Mindscape 342 | Rachell Powell on Evolutionary Convergence, Mind, and Morality. Do social structures, like eyes and fins, arise independently from evolutionary pressures? #MindscapePodcast www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026...

Grateful for the opportunity to say a few words at the citizenship ceremony as well. Happy Australia Day everyone.

In which I wonder whether we have to accept that the laws of nature are ugly www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBHd...

2026 will finally be the year that fancy type systems will have to provide good error messages, so that coding agents can actually use the error messages to effectively fix the programs. We didn't do it for the humans, but we'll be forced to do it for the machines. (-:

Please help us publicize TEAL: Tools for Educational Activities in Logic, a workshop associated w/ FLoC26. We have a novel design, focused on demos, discussion, and generally high-quality interaction rather than weak papers. See full details on our site! teal.cs.brown.edu/floc2026/

Elements of any number of nondemocratic governing philosophies have arrived in the U.S.—but none has taken hold entirely, Marc Novicoff reports. He explores exactly what kind of government America has now:

"Applications are now open for the Disinformation Summer Institute. This 4-day event (June 15-18) is intended primarily for advanced PhD candidates, advanced law and medical students, post-docs, assistant professors & early career researchers seeking to better understand and address disinformation."

Today, CERN’s #PhotoOfTheWeek features a series of images captured by Matteo Monzali during the 2025 CERN Photowalk competition. #PhysPics25 👉 Vote now and help select the global winners: www.interactions.org/photowalk-vo... Which picture is your favourite? 😉

The laws we passed last night will make Australians safer.

👀 UK Research and Innovation and its councils quietly quit X / Twitter. Funding agency has “been using alternative platforms” amid ongoing controversies over social media company. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Why does space have 3 dimensions? Why not 2? Or 4? Or 7? It’s because physics wouldn’t work properly. Let’s take a look at the major reasons for why physics needs 3 dimensions. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqI2...

Mindscape 341 | Stewart Brand on Maintenance as an Organizing Principle. Yes, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance comes up. #MindscapePodcast www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026...

We know the wait for mental health care can feel impossible. That's changing.

We just witnessed the invention of kite diplomacy. Learn why they are actually much more than just kids’ toys! 🪁🇮🇳🇩🇪

The UK will become an Erasmus+ partner country in 2027. Welcome back! 👋 Erasmus+ provides exchange opportunities for: 🧑‍🎓 students 👷 apprentices 🧑‍🏫 teachers 🎒 pupils and more. Erasmus isn't just a chance to experience a new country (incl. 🇩🇪) and build friendships, it also boosts your employability.

“As the number of physicists increases, each specialty becomes more self-sustaining and self-contained. Such Balkanization carries physics, and indeed, every science further away, from natural philosophy, which, intellectually, is the meaning and goal of science.” — I.I. Rabi

Happy New Year! In 2026, as we count down to the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in June, the excitement is just getting started. This year will be about turning our vision for a better future into reality for all — one that celebrates community and brings change home.

Researchers have realized, visualized, and theoretically explored coherent wave structures known as discrete solitons in an optically trapped BEC of cesium atoms. These nonlinear waveforms had previously existed only in theories.