A fun follow-up chat with Brian Greene on black holes, quantum mechanics, and the nature of reality

Pyongyang! Right here at home! This will be even better when they gild the columns

Is this what a robust democracy looks like? Asking for a friend

"An extrajudicial execution by security forces. This is where we are: armed agents of the state killing civilians with an apparent belief in their total impunity."

"The administration is urging Americans to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears. Ms. Noem and Mr. Bovino are lying in defiance of obvious truths. They are lying in the manner of authoritarian regimes that require people to accept lies as a demonstration of power."

Utterly inhumane behaviour. "In sworn court filings, a doctor who offered to render aid to Mr. Pretti described how agents initially hesitated and asked him for proof of a medical license." www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01...

Defenceless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame. — W.H. Auden, Sept. 1, 1939

Masked government agents are conducting “show me your papers” stops, detaining 5-year-olds to use them as bait, and brutally murdering U.S. citizens. Call it what it is — fascism. History will not look fondly on politicians and so-called "leaders" of this country who stood by and enabled this.

“They weaponized decency, the last incorruptible defense we have against absolute misery and evil.”

"We have three years left with a mad king. It does not feel sustainable."

Great work deporting those dangerous criminals. Brave ICE heroes putting themselves in harm's way for our protection

Classic Onion Headline, except it’s in The NY Times

Hmm. The best evidence that dark energy is evolving rather than constant just got a little weaker. The statistical significance of observational results don’t really have “momentum,” but we’ll have to continue to wait and see about this one.

Congratulations to my wonderful colleague John Clarke! And to Berkeley, and to UC. And to everyone who still believes that foundational research is worth investing in

3 new Physics Nobel Laureates from the University of California! 🥂🤙 (and one less parking space for the rest of us at Berkeley 🙃)

Everything is completely normal. Nothing to see here

Industrial scale corruption www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...

“The damage that has been done to our world-leading scientific research infrastructure will take decades to repair, if we are ever able to.”

A public lecture/fireside chat at a pub in Marin, hosted by Wonderfest

(Hint: bad but probably not the worst. Also, we do have a solution.)

On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of children he killed?

Rubio just told 275000 people who did nothing wrong that he plans to destroy everything they worked for their entire life. This is utter madness and depravity

In a universe with many matter fields, the geometry does not fluctuate. Then we know what we mean by the Generalized Second Law of Thermodynamics, and we know what we mean by a Bounce (or cyclic) Cosmology. My recent theorem says you can't have both.

Do singularities exist? I'd always thought they were purely mathematical artifacts, but recent work in mathematical physics work from @bousso.bsky.social and others hint otherwise (for sufficiently broad definitions of "singularities" and "exist"). www.quantamagazine.org/singularitie...

Science in the US is being actively destroyed simply by deliberately doing nothing. This article does not mention DOE, NSF, etc but it’s the same story. Processing freeze means: grants appear on paper but disappear in real life

Brian Greene is a national treasure, a singular amalgam of grace, professionalism, and brilliance. Also, he's pretty good at explaining stuff youtu.be/16kzFN0SWYg

What's happening with these grants is much more complicated and mostly unknown. None of the NIH have been officially cancelled. The NIH was just ordered to stop paying. They got the Unis to enforce silence on their own campuses because they thought they were "negotiating" and cld get the funds back.

My kingdom for a moderately okay government

Panch resigns: www.science.org/content/arti...

In addition to the terminations of existing awards, new NSF grants are still stopped completely since DOGE was granted access to systems a week ago. Last Thursday, an agency spokesperson said "NSF continues to issue awards." That does not appear to be the case.

Pope Francis was a friend of science. I am proud to have met him, and I am saddened by his death.

"I guess it really is a Big Tent" I yell over the sounds of breaking glass caused by David Brooks throwing a metal trash can through the window of a Starbucks to distract the police while Bill Kristol spray paints NO SYSTEM BUT THE ECOSYSTEM on a cop car

Honestly I'm glad they picked Harvard to try out this novel "we're mad" legal theory of revoking tax-exempt status, given its infinite resources, deep network of powerful alumni, and law school attended by 142 sitting federal judges. Good luck! 🫡

I want to tell you why the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia should matter to you. The one power you cannot give the executive is the ability to imprison or expel anyone regardless of their legal rights. That is our key check against autocracy. And we are watching it disappear.

Donald Trump has committed the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era. Almost everything he said—on history, economics and the technicalities of trade—was utterly deluded econ.st/3YbbFjq

“The overwhelming claim has been that dark energy is no longer consistent with a cosmological constant […] However, this conclusion — despite how widely reported it’s been — is completely premature”

Could someone just unplug the US and then plug it in again?

Francesco the taxi driver was listening to a discussion of European security (or lack thereof) on the radio. Literally as we passed the Roman Forum, he addressed me with real sorrow: people have forgotten history. My Italian is poor but the context helped

Trump was right! When you hire people for their race or gender, you don’t get the best and brightest

The signal that is being reported everywhere violates the null energy condition and is (theoretically) a very very unlikely interpretation. But even without that theory prior, there is way too little skepticism of their interpretation. The data is only 7 points, it could be many things

fulfilling my obligation to repost at least one cat video in my life

Another line crossed in the descent into authoritarianism. Government strong-arming a law firm into compliance. (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/u...