#Caturday with Frimousse, the cat of Les Houches Physics School. He was always escorting and joining us during the outdoor blackboard discussions. Frimousse all the students of the Blaumann Summer School on Covariant Loop Quantum Gravity loved you 😻 and the teachers too!

🗞️1/ Now live: ICAN’s new report Hidden Costs: Nuclear Weapons Spending in 2024 shows global nuclear weapons spending rose to more than 100 billion dollars in 2024, an 11% increase from the year before. Here’s what you need to know⬇️🧵 icanw.org/hidden_costs... #NuclearBan

I mourn the killing of my Iran colleagues in the current Israeli attacks, and I despise the lack of condemnation in the Western world. No killing will ever bring any lasting peace. aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/13/israel-kills-nuclear-scientists-strikes-sites-in-iran-who-did-it-target

Last week, thanks to Lee Smolin's birthday conference, we shared some good (online) time with Slavoj Žižek (listen to the end, for Lee's remarks and the witty ending) :-D pirsa.org/25060058

A short 15’ talk on the discreteness of time, in honor of Lee Smolin. pirsa.org/25060063

A beautiful talk by Carlo Rovelli to celebrate Lee Smolin's 70th birthday, for anyone interested in the origin of Loop Quantum Gravity. pirsa.org/25060030

It was a pleasure to read and review the book "The Battle of the Big Bang" by Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Harper! rdcu.be/em0U2

… e insomma, alla fine ho fatto sette brevi lezioni di fisica pure io 😅 Le trovate sul Corriere della Sera 👇

Starting now:

When I speak openly against war, there is always some guy that replay "what if you were..." or "you do not know, you have not experienced...". They are right, I had the privilege to grow up in peace. But...

#Caturday memories from the public talk I gave this week: there were cat in boxes, of course. Thank you to all the friends who showed up, and to all my foster cats for the inspiration! Pic credit: @yichenaluo

Europe should invest in intelligence for the sake of all, not in stupid armaments for the sake of few: let’s follow the example of these universities! theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/25/europe-universities-us-researchers-trump-administration-science

Dear researchers and educators, do not let the Trumpian agenda corrode your science.

Astronomer Caroline Herschel was born #OTD in 1750. She discovered and catalogued a wealth of comets, stars, and nebulae. Along with Mary Somerville, she was the first woman elected to the Royal Astronomical Society. 🧪🔭👩‍🔬 Image: Artist's impression of a young Caroline Herschel. Lisa Rosowsky / CfA

An inspiring woman, and a good listening for those who care about healthful cooperation with developing countries. aljazeera.com/program/the-bottom-line/2025/3/16/chihombori-quao-usaid-was-a-wolf-in-sheeps-clothing-in-africa

Dear friends, who have dear science and peace: please read this call and consider sign it. Let others know that there is a large base of people who say no to the escalation of military expenses in Europe. iuscientists.org/against-militarization-scientists-unite-in-opposition-to-eu-rearmament/

In the last year we have lost some of the greatest thinkers in feminist epistemology. Their legacy is enormous! I am so grateful to Sandra Harding for giving us powerful instruments to transform the world for the better ❤️ dukeupress.wordpress.com/2025/03/12/f...

Thursday April 3rd, in the beautiful Conron Hall here at Western! uwo.ca/smss/outreach/nerenberg_lecture_series.html

Paper submission is open for 24th annual Graduate Student Conference on May 27-28 at Western University. The aim is to promote cooperation and critical engagement amongst grad students doing research in the philosophies of physics, mathematics, and logic. Join us! www.logicmathphysics.uwo.ca

If you care for Ukraine, please take the time to watch this video in its entirety.

Today social medial feels depressive as ever, with people being taken by induced gut emotions, further radicalizing, and getting blinded from seeking any further deeper, complex and nuanced explanation for the facts of the world. It makes me sick how easily people can be induced to support war.

This #Caturday let me introduce to you Chief. He reminds me of a #ClintEastwood from an alien cat world, maybe because of his blue eyes, or maybe because he lost a teeth so he has often an expression as if he had an invisible cigar in his mouth. #Purrfect #CatRescue purrfecthavenrescue.ca/chief/

If you want to understand the world we live in, learn history and do not fall for the permeative propaganda we are all exposed to. Take the time to watch this well informed video in its entirety, it’s worthy. Please share it and rise awareness. We need understanding beyond gut feelings.

#Caturday with Morty who loves to be hold and pet, except the he weights some good 6-7 Kg. He was bullied by a cat in the previous foster home so he got some scratches like the one on his face, that makes him look more like a pirate and less like a potato. #Purrfect #CatRescue #rescuecats #catlady

CLOSE ALL MILITARY BASES! Join us tomorrow to protest at military bases—critical pieces of the war machine that must be dismantled. Find an action near you: https://buff.ly/3X9jsOj

I have been among the very first cohort of editors of Quantum, and it has been an amazing experience. As of today, I still hail this journal as the model toward which the scientific community should move. If your community needs a new journal, read and get inspired! ⁠#Quantum #Journal

I wish this was translated in European newspapers…

In those places where there is a correlation between higher proportion of female researchers and a lower pay for research job with respect to other jobs, there is no much to celebrate. europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20190712STO56961/the-european-parliament-s-fight-for-gender-equality-in-the-eu

must read

#Caturday my guests are a bit intrusive, they want cuddles at every moment, the four of them all jump into my arms and kiss me, they don't leave me alone for a moment. The only way I've found to make them stay quiet is to put them in front of the screen!

C’était un plaisir aujourd’hui de parler un petit peu de physique avec Natasha Triou á la radio français !

This #Caturday I got to host some handsome friends of a friend 🥰 #catlady #fosterkittens #fostersavelives #purrfect #catrescue

Remembering Prof. Toller, who happened to be the PhD advisor of Carlo Rovelli: people in quantum gravity may not know that he is at the origin of the use of the unitary representations of the Lorentz group in covariant LQG.

我们量子引力小组祝您农历新年快乐。愿蛇年给我们带来许多新的有趣的科学成果！#LoopyTuesday #lunarnewyear #yearoftheserpent 🐍

#Caturday fighting time. #Purrfect #CatRescue #CatsLover #Clockwork

Excited to start a new adventure as a visiting student at the Rotman Institute! Thanks for the opportunity, @francesvidotto.bsky.social

#LoopyTuesday with Wolfgang presenting at @ILQGS about the origin of the Wieland effect from non-perturbative quantum gravity. It's amazing how aspects of the quantum theory may explain macroscopic aspect of the classical theory, it could very well be the case in quantum gravity too!

What a happy #Caturday for Lucy! Older cats have a tougher time to get adopted. Lucy was so thin when she arrived that looked like a teenager, but she was 4. During the holidays Charlotte took care of her, and now decide not to depart: it’s the start of a new lasting friendship!

1st #Caturday of the year: one last cuddle with good 'ol Toni, the family barn cat.

#LoopyTuesday of the end of the year! Kudos to my collaborator Thiago Guedes for pioneering the numerical exploration of the full Hamiltonian dynamics in Loop Quantum Gravity. For the results in short: arxiv.org/abs/2412.20257 For the full details: arxiv.org/abs/2412.20272

#Caturday greetings from Madrid! Please meet the #CSIC cat colony 😻

To celebrate the last day all together at Western, I met with my collaborators Manu, Mateo and Antoine, with which we are investigating cosmological bouncing models featuring black holes remnants as dark matter, to our local pub the Grad Club to have a drink and enjoy the music of... The Remnants!

The end of my course on “Women and Science” with all the students’ project presentations is always a special moment: a lot of creative ideas about how to create concrete positive actions and make the world better! This is philosophy in action :-)

Could “Science Diplomacy” be your call? Here there is an interesting postdoctoral opportunity: aias.au.dk/opportunities-at-aias/aias-science-diplomacy-fellowships

Sorry, I really need to tell you… my group is simply the best!

#Caturday breakthrough: Lucy, our foster cat, enjoys car trips! She tends to be quite an anxious cat, but she relaxes in the car 🥰 #Purrfect #catrescue #fosteringsaveslives #kitty #ontheroad #vanlife

Today we welcomed at @rotmanphilo as #QISS visiting philosopher Emilia Margoni, currently postdoc in Geneva. She is investigating emergence in quantum gravity, we look forward to discussing this and more conceptual questions in quantum gravity.

#Halloween🎃 decoration is a serious thing in Canada 🍁