Nicola Spaldin @nicolaspaldin.bsky.social just gave the Boltzmann Lecture at @univie-physik.bsky.social on "Hunting for hidden order". Very inspiring talk about magnetoelectric materials!

A good sign at check-in for the Spice Chiral Phonons workshop ;) www.spice.uni-mainz.de/chiral-phono...

I haven’t worn a tux since high school prom. Nice to meet @nicolaspaldin.bsky.social and other interesting people in Cambridge.

Early season conditions in Tuolumne Meadows; snow slope and bergschrund start to Holdless Horror.

Congratulations to Dongwook Go on winning the 2025 IUPAP Early Career Scientist Prize in the field of Magnetism: iupap.org/who-we-are/i...

A Swiss send-off from colleagues at the end of my Berkeley sabbatical!

President von der Leyen's speech at Aachen University is a motivating read for young (and old!) scientists: ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Congratulations to Eva Zurek on her appointment as the new @PhysRevResearch Lead Editor: journals.aps.org/prresearch/e...

Cy Twombly (left) imitating my office blackboard (right) at SFMOMA today:

A nice "Science Brief" on the ALS website about an enjoyable collaboration with Alex Gray and his team: als.lbl.gov/a-deeper-loo...

A big cheer from the audience for "Diversity is an asset of humanity and the lifeblood of science. It is one of the most valuable global assets and it must be protected" (5 minutes into the speech).

It's fantastic that the ERC has support from the highest level to in turn support excellent fundamental curiosity-driven research in Europe.

It's a privilege to share this honour with @nbuchmann.bsky.social as well as @lbaudis.bsky.social at Uni Zürich!

A treat to meet a goose family in the Brussels botanical garden after Day 1 of the ERC scientific council meeting :)

On phomo (hover over the cartoon with your mouse) xkcd.com/3076/

Over-excited wildlife at the Molecular Foundry today.

Congratulations to Edith on her first paper in the group! journals.aps.org/prresearch/a...

Weekend reading on Emergent Surface Multiferroicity: journals.aps.org/prl/pdf/10.1... Thanks to all the former postdocs for still wanting to collaborate with me!

A call to make more interesting Quantum Materials :) www.eps.org/Europe-and-t...

Nelly's MSc thesis work explaining the paramagnetic diffuse scattering in MnWO4 just posted on the arXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2503.23704

Fabulous view on the conference hike to Tomales Bay!

View of Tomales Bay from the Berkeley New Frontiers in Quantum Materials Workshop :) physics.berkeley.edu/new-frontier...

Perks of sabbatical in Berkeley: A really nice day hiking on Angel Island

The Materials Theory group at ETH Zürich has an opening for a postdoctoral researcher in the area of Direct Detection of Light Dark Matter using Noble Gas Detectors. For more information and to apply: jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOP...

Five things I achieved last week: - Naps - Snoozes - Resting my eyes - Dozing - Writing this list

Getting over jet lag with a long run in the Berkeley hills and found my first California poppy of the season :)

The Materials Theory group at ETH Zürich has an opening for a postdoctoral researcher in the area of Direct Detection of Light Dark Matter using Noble Gas Detectors. For more information and to apply: jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOP...

The Materials Theory group has an opening for a postdoctoral researcher in the area of Chiral Phonons in Quantum Paraelectric Materials. For more info and to apply: jobs.ethz.ch/job/view/JOP...

What can you do when you don't want to look woke (or be shut down) but still care about DEI issues? #womeninstem www.ft.com/content/85af...

Restrictions on Academic Freedom harm the global research enterprise and in turn global prosperity. Read the ALLEA statement here: allea.org/portfolio-it...