"hahaha okay somebody's up late in Berkeley. Thank goodness I still have access to NYU's cluster--"

"Surely I won't have to wait that long for a GPU on a Sunday night!" Berkeley's cluster:

When we think about fluids, there are a handful of substances that usually come to mind—things like water, air, cheez whiz, etc. But that’s not all there is to it—even glacial ice is a fluid. 1/6 ⚛️🧪

Periodically the high performance computing team sends out emails about "urgent maintenance issues" with NYU's supercomputer and without fail I imagine that something is on fire or the cluster has exploded

Pit vipers need to hunt in the dark—they sense vibrations on the ground pretty well, but they even prey on birds or fast prey that require precision strikes. Instead, they use some of the most sensitive organs on the planet to locate prey. 1/6 ⚛️🧪

A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women 🧵

hope to see you there!

Domesticated animals have pulled our heavy carts and turned our large mills for centuries. But what about the opposite end of the spectrum—what if the wheel you want to turn is so small you can’t see it? Turns out we can harness the power of bacteria to power the world’s smallest machines. 1/7 ⚛️🧪

Over the summer I heard about an essay contest about women in physics. ⚛️🧪 I interviewed four of my mentors, role models, and colleagues to put together the essay that was selected as a runner up and that has just appeared today: febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Do y’all remember that game from 2009 that claimed you could move a ball around with ONLY your MIND using BRAIN WAVES??? What even are brain waves, anyway? www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMDc... 1/5 ⚛️🧪

I love it here

me for the next two weeks

Imagine you are an ant. You are close to the ground, have pretty poor eyesight, and can’t see all that far ahead of you. How are you going to find your way back home? Turns out ants and other insects navigate by a property of light humans can’t even see. 1/7 ⚛️🧪

when you stumble upon a GitHub issue describing exactly the problem you're having but the post was made by you from two years ago and you're still waiting for a response

Can't get over how easy it was to vote in @berkeleyca.gov! I have some last-minute travel that will keep me out of town on election day, and I was worried I was too late to request a mail-in ballot. But Alameda county automatically mails every registered voter a ballot, *and a sticker*

Trees: a symbol of a healthy ecology, clean air, and a tranquil environment. And also maybe responsible for a mass extinction. 1/7 ⚛️🧪

Recently it occurred to me that you can check the arXiv on your phone, and I went from never checking it to checking it on *Saturday*

Today was a hard day for Ph.D. students who found out that they can no longer apply for NSF's prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program. "Devastating“ was how one student described it to me. #GradSchool #NSFGRFP www.science.org/content/arti...

Really torn up about whether I want to apply for Hubble again this year--of course the funding would be great, but I just can't bring myself to take half the broader impacts items off my CV

LESS PROFICIENCY MORE JOY

it's giving

Titanium is a favorite material for medical implants like screws, staples, or joint repair, because it’s strong, lightweight, and doesn’t corrode easily. And, as a fun bonus, it doesn’t set off metal detectors. What makes it so special? 1/8 ⚛️🧪

Hummingbirds' metabolisms are so fast that they have to go into a hibernation-like state called torpor just to sleep through the night. Otherwise, they would starve to death in their sleep.

Adorable Puffins are adept in 2 worlds: flying through the air and diving deep underwater for fish. How do they do it? This 7-min. video from @cornellbirds.bsky.social uses super slow motion and still photos to capture these birds’ astonishing skills: www.allaboutbirds.org/news/atlanti.... #birds

Lizards are famous for their ability to detach their tails under stress. But how do they manage to drop them so quickly, and why do they never seem to accidentally lose their tails if they come off so easily? 1/8 🧪⚛️

Saw these strange-looking clouds while hiking at elevation a few weeks ago, and took them as a sign that I might want to get down the mountain. What was happening here? 1/6 ⚛️🧪

not the CERN HOSTEL addressing my invoice to MRS. CARA GIOVANETTI????!!!!!?!?!??!!!!

Consider taking a moment to comment ⚛️🧪

🎉 We also congratulate two runners-up, whose essays will be published later this year: Dr. Cara Giovanetti, "It Takes a Village: Preparing #WomenInScience for difficult times" Mahaiwon Shadang, "The Other Women" Thank you to every researcher who submitted! @idontevencara.bsky.social

Not only does this plant move—it can also learn, and maybe even remember. How does it do it? 1/6 ⚛️🧪

⚛️🧪 folks--how do you keep your directories organized and uncluttered? I've got a billion papers I want to read/reference, too many project directories in a few different places (GH repos and stashes Documents folder), and old versions of other people's codes I need, which all needs reorganizing...

That's me!! Honored to have been shortlisted and excited to read the winning submissions!

euphorbia

Backpacking in Georgia earlier this year, I was lucky enough to spot a few barred owls flying low in the canopy—but I would always see them, and never hear them, despite being pretty close by. Owls are famous for their silent flight. How do they do it? 1/6 ⚛️🧪

I've spent a concerning amount of time today thinking about cases where "uphill both ways" can be a true statement

Scientists! @skypeascientist.bsky.social matches scientists with classrooms, libraries, & more for virtual Q&As! It's easy and fun! We are looking for 750 more volunteers by 8/15 If you're down to chat with 1-5 classrooms this semester, sign up here www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html

Is the Earth's magnetic field constant? Let's say you wanted to measure magnetic fluctuations—you pull out your uber-precise magnetometer and start looking for time-dependent signals. You would find something *really* unexpected in your measurement. 1/7 ⚛️🧪

"dough filled stress ball" was my nickname in college

I’m feeling bad for a spider I accidentally killed the other day—I was too rough moving her outside and she lost a leg. Many animals can survive the loss of a limb, but it’s much harder for spiders. This is because they rely on a hydraulic system to move around. 1/6 ⚛️🧪

finally

Peacocks zeroing in on laser eyes... www.science.org/content/arti...

one thing I wish more people knew is that many offices have such poor air circulation that CO2 levels in meeting rooms can rapidly exceed 1000ppm, the point at which people start to get groggy and sleepy people are literally suffocating in offices every day & absolutely no one talks about it

How do we know how far away stars are if we've never been out to them? The first reliable measurements of these distances actually have a lot in common with how humans and other animals judge distances to nearby objects. 1/6 ⚛️🧪

Hello, friends! So many new people are walking in and asking how to get a library card and we are delighted to have you! If you live in California, you can get a free library card at BPL. Check out some of the library card designs to choose from:

And this (much shorter) one riding said bus over the Dumbarton Bridge! sfmsi.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/u...

Got to read this great essay while waiting 50 minutes for a bus just now darrellowens.substack.com/p/why-transi...

Oakland DMV hitting us with science facts!

Y'all @berkeleypubliclibrary.org lets you pick the design on your library card *Obviously* I picked the cat in the sweater

Think I'm gonna like it here