To celebrate the publication of our paper in @natcomms.nature.com, I present to you the Discontinuous Transition to Active Nematic Turbulence in limerick form 🍀🎉 For a proper post, see @ricardalert.bsky.social's thread here: bsky.app/profile/rica... The paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our paper on the transition to active turbulence is now out @natcomms.nature.com! With @the-chaotician.bsky.social. Are you curious how activity begets chaos? Check out the paper and the thread below. 👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A really good read on how the way AI products/tools are designed impacts not just our thinking but the formation of society. From the Ethics Lab at the University of Cape Town. health.uct.ac.za/ethics-lab/a...

Delighted to announce that we are recruiting multiple Postdoctoral Research Fellows to lead cutting-edge work at the intersection of climate change adaptation, AI, and global evidence synthesis. @ascend-uct.bsky.social @acdi.bsky.social

📣 PhD fellowships available in Cape Town for 2026! If you're an excellent student (local/international) keen to work at the interface of biology/maths/physics/computing in the most amazing place on Earth get in touch 🧬📐⚛️🖥️ UCT Science Faculty PhD Fellowships close 19 Sept though 😬 I'm organised...

A career in academia is a funny journey (especially for that vague species, "applied mathematicians"). So I thought it'd be fun to share some things I do now, that seven-years-ago Malcolm starting his PhD in applied maths would not have expected to be doing. I'll try do one a day until I forget!

@lepuslapis.bsky.social Has provided preliminary evidence that Euclidean geometry 📐 has weaselled its way into biology 🧬. I am forced to concede that this is very cool. Straight into my file of responses for when students ask why they need to learn technical mathematics.

Most Africans place primary responsibility for climate action on their own government. Our new paper in @natureportfolio.nature.com shows a further third see ordinary citizens as most responsible, while very few place responsibility on historical emitters that caused the climate crisis.

THREAD BORN IN DISSONANCE An ophidian trek into the heart of how paradigm shifts can happen in modern music. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtO3... 1/45

It is Friday. That seems like a good enough reason to write silly poetry about active turbulence. So in this thread, I present to you my "summary" of the recent preprint with @ricardalert.bsky.social (arxiv.org/abs/2501.06085), in four limericks 🧵 (see Ricard's thread for a real summary!)

Buckle up, browsers of Bluesky. This is one for the metalheads 🧑‍🎤 🔊🔊🔊 What happens after the simple shear flow breakdown in active nematics? Sometimes, a driven rhythmic oscillation 🎸 OK, I'll stop, no more rock-it science. Not all my simulations are at the disco! 🎶: Broken Hands by For All Eternity

Since I'm trying to be a Proper Researcher (TM), I have set up a webpage! Curious about what I do? Know students keen on chaos, or generally dynamics of natural and living systems? Want to change the world? My pro-grade website has you covered (Ts&Cs apply). Come visit! hillebrand.co.za

This was a really fun interview to do, Mariona is amazing! So do check it out if you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about when I say "chaos". Some of the questions are also just very funny 😆

Nothing to do with science this time. But despite my near-zero selfie skills, I think we can all appreciate how extraordinarily beautiful Cape Town is ⛰️🌊 In all honesty though, this picture was taken to use my southern hemisphere privilege and spark cycling envy in @lepuslapis.bsky.social 🚴

Since I haven't posted this here, I invite you to enjoy what I like to think of as the "Audiovisual Disco Abstract" for the preprint with @ricardalert.bsky.social 🔉(see: bsky.app/profile/rica...). One day "Audiovisual Disco Abstract" will be a required submission field to all journals 🪩

The first fruit of my postdoc @mpipks.bsky.social is online! An enriching journey (with near infinite patience from @ricardalert.bsky.social for my ignorance), diving deep into the dynamics of active nematics, and sifting through details to find a surprisingly discontinuous transition to turbulence.

New year, new social media platform, and very excitingly a new job! After a wonderful two years postdocing @mpipks.bsky.social, I am very excited to be back at the University of Cape Town as a lecturer in Applied Maths. It is still a bit surreal, I must say.