Note to political leaders - stop AI overhype. Today's letter from 73 scientists led by my colleague @krisshrishak.bsky.social to Ursula von der Leyen demands that she retract her budget speech non-scientific AI statement that parroted tech CEO hype. www.mlex.com/mlex/article...

Unfortunately this appears not to be a minimum

Are you frustrated that you missed out on getting tickets to Rachel's live event with Michael McFaul before it sold out? Fret not! Rachel has another live event next month with Timothy Snyder in Chicago. Tickets and details through the Harris Theater site: my.harristheaterchicago.org/10853/10854

Today for #AdaLovelaceDay, which celebrates the achievements of women in STEM, read about the 10 most influential women in British science history, as chosen by leading female scientists: #WomenInSTEM royalsociety.org/about-us/who...

Falter Arena @ Stadtsaal www.falter.at/arena

The always brilliant Anjana Ahuja calls out the Royal Society for failing to stand up to Elon Musk. www.ft.com/content/d4eb...

It was only a question of time. One of those Nobels that was always inevitable, and hugely deserved.

Life goals – what an absolute legend.

Great piece by @jonathanjarry.bsky.social on the descent of Sabine Hossenfelder, from science communicator to contrarian outrage-monger www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/...

As the @royalsociety.org council meets on 01 Oct to discuss the repudiation of its core values by one of its fellows, Elon Musk, I respectfully remind them of my proposals for actions that should help the RS recover its standing in the scientific community. occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...

In the early days of quantum chemistry, before we had computers to calculate the shapes of electron orbitals, one man invented a mechanical machine that simulated their shapes. My latest column for @chemistryworld.com www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-...

A welcome, if belated, awakening to the disconnect between Musk's actions and the stated values of the Royal Society?

"We don't hire smart people to tell them what to do, we hire them to tell us what to do." ERC grantee Jan Lagerwall (quoting Steve Jobs), during this morning's #RIDaysEU discussion of how bottom-up funding, supporting investigator-driven frontier research, helps meet future innovation challenges.

#Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in #Gaza, theUN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory & Israel said in a new report, urging all States to fulfil their legal obligations to end it. ➡️ bit.ly/4mjBAi2

No comment necessary, sadly. www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically." www.ru.nl/en/research/...

Another semester, another small research seminar I am coordinating, this time Tuesdays at 14:30-16:00 (CET/CEST). Please contact me if you’d like to speak about 4D-STEM, ptycho, EELS, or related topics! Previous talks here to give you a flavor: physnano.univie.ac.at/seminar/pres...

Powerful new Banksy mural on the Royal Courts of Justice building shows a judge hitting a protester lying on the ground with his gavel, with blood splattering the placard.

What might seem like a small announcement—it’s just one institution—actually carries substantial weight and has a strong symbolic meaning. @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social, has taken another bold step: it won't renew its Web of Science license. www.uu.nl/en/news/acce...

Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:

You can see the same cluster shape just copy pasted multiple times lmao

Congratulations to the new generation of ERC grantees!! The AERG looks forward to welcome you in our community. To know more on the AERG activities and how become a member 👉 aerg.eu #ERC

3 @erc.europa.eu Starting Grants, die mit je rund 1,4 bis 1,7 Millionen Euro dotiert sind, gehen an die #univie: Historikerin Eva-Maria Muschik, Mikrobiologin Megan Sørensen & Geschichtssoziologin Agata Zysiak erhalten die prestigeträchtige Förderung für ihre Forschung. Wir gratulieren herzlichst! 🥳

In this piece for Aeon, I argue that, while nanotechnology is now a very real and mature field, a popular early vision of it was an example of what I am calling an "oneiric technology": a fantasy of the sort that Silicon Valley loves. aeon.co/essays/no-su...

The lovely science community on Bluesky (even without the comparison to the abusive mess on X) has been plain for a long time, but it's nice to have it confirmed by numbers. #science 🧪 #Bluesky #community #socialmedia www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Are you an early career researcher? ✨ @circleu.bsky.social offers mobility fellowships (5 - 30 days) to explore postdoc opportunities at partner universities. 🗓️ Extended deadline: Sept 15. More here: 👉 www.circle-u.eu/calls/circle...

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Georgios Varnavides will join the Imaging Physics (ImPhys) department as Assistant Professor, starting on 1 September 2025. He will be leading the the Curious Beams Lab. buff.ly/BnFRzZl #ImagingPhysics #CuriousBeamsLab @gvarnavides.bsky.social

Und auch auf Deutsch. doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Press release from the DLR side of our recent Science article (doi.org/10.1126/scie...) collaboration.

Does someone happen to be knowledgeable about the Wikidata query service? I had a list of my recent publications embedded on my website, but it seems to have broken... query.wikidata.org#PREFIX%20tar...

Twitter is dead.....scientifically speaking. www.southernfriedscience.com/twitter-suck...

Nobel Prize winner Serge Haroche finishing his excellent talk on the laser for the @ercgrantees.bsky.social symposium at the ÖPG-SPS meeting in the @univie.ac.at main ceremonial hall with a famous message of Abraham Flexner that resonates with all those for whom science is more than a profession.

Die Publikation "Diffraction of helium and hydrogen atoms through single-layer graphene" von Carina Kanitz, Jakob Bühler, Joseph J. Robinson, Vladimír Zobač, @mostlyphysics.net, Maxime Debiossac & Christian Brand erschien in @science.org. 👨‍🔬👩‍🔬 Zur Publikation: ⤵️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Beugung atomarer Materiewellen durch einen 2D-Kristall 🔍 Forscher:innen des @dlr-de.bsky.social & der Gruppe von Toma Susi‬ beantworten diese Herausforderung, indem sie die Beugung von Helium- und Wasserstoffatomen bei Kiloelektronvoltenergien durch einschichtiges Graphen demonstrieren. ⚛️ 🧪 Mehr: ⤵️

Just in case there was any doubt, ChatGPT 5.0 still makes up completely random citations that don't exist and should not be used for literature search.

Out today: we have an article in Science demonstrating atom diffraction in transmission for the first time: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... See also accompanying perspective: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... For local Austrian press, see APA news item: science.apa.at/power-search...

The debate around Musk and the Royal Society is just so frustrating. If those who think it is right to retain him as an FRS were to say "Here, despite his having been a direct accomplice to the dismantling of scientific institutions, destruction of scientific data, spreading of...

Motherfucking wind farms…

We are excited to announce the results of the Second Call for Cascade Funding, funded by the European Commission under the CoARA Boost project! 28 projects have been selected for the second round, please see the full details at the following links: 🔗 lnkd.in/e3VgUNxR 🔗 lnkd.in/eAi8DtWy

My first publication for @science.org is this perspective I wrote for a paper I helped review. It turned out quite nicely, thanks also to the extensive copyediting work by the staff. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (I’ll also tease that I may have some exciting news to share in short order :-)

📢 WE HAVE A NEW NAME We are excited to share that VSC has undergone a slight rebranding and will now operate under a new name: 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗔𝗦𝗖). The name was chosen to reflect the nationwide scope of the consortium - read the official statement here ➡️ asc.ac.at/news/2025/ne...

A true catch for Delft and very happy to have George join us on this side of the Atlantic!

I just got back from the big centenary meeting for quantum mechanics on Helgoland. But this year is also a bicentenary: of Michael Faraday's discovery of benzene. Here I consider what it meant, and why we might celebrate it. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/benz...

Arrival in Helgoland. A bit like arriving in Newquay on a rainy day in March, except that you have to cross the North Sea to get there. It's pretty wild. The conference is going to happen in what is basically the village hall. I hope there's a raffle.

The Helgoland 2025 quantum mechanics centenary meeting kicked off last night at the rather grand Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg, with a dinner followed by historical talks.

Proud to share our latest: In a collaboration between @univie-physik.bsky.social (@univie.ac.at) and @tuwien.at, we showed how individual #platinum atoms can be anchored to #2D MoS2 for #catalysis and #sensing. Article in Nano Letters by @pubs.acs.org physik.univie.ac.at/en/news/news...

Das ist wirklich ein Coup!

The AERG expresses grave concern over the future of fundamental research in Europe in a statement urging European leaders to protect fundamental science by reaffirming the autonomy of the @erc.europa.eu aerg.eu/news/new-sta... Read the full statement 👇 aerg.eu/storage/AERG...

From @eurekalert.bsky.social www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

🎉 Our new Ambassadors for the ERC are here to champion frontier research! Read more about Phoebe Koundouri of the Athens University of Economics and Business, plus the other 31 ambassadors 👉 bit.ly/44bQzp7 #EUresearch #ScienceCommunication #HorizonEU 🌟 #Amb4ERC 🌟 #Science4EU