A reading journey via the archives of Physics Today 1/ physicstoday.aip.org/features/exp...

New at The Watch: I dug into archival witness accounts of the British siege of Boston prior to the American Revolution. They are remarkably similar to what we're seeing in Minneapolis. open.substack.com/pub/radleyba...

Not comforting

This is insane

U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

New word of the day: chrysophilia

I would find it very funny if USAID won this year's Nobel Peace Prize

The fucking hypocrisy of the Trump administration.

📸 Miscellaneous from the CERN Non-Scientific Personnel Masterclass 💫 A few snapshots from the latest edition held on 1 October at IdeaSquare! #CERN #IPPOG #Masterclass #IdeaSquare #ScienceForEveryone #Outreach

Have we passed peak social media? - on.ft.com/4nwwIYe via @FT

WTF

Reminder that support for war crimes on TV was Hegseth's only qualification for the job; it's the only reason Trump knew he existed. Secretary of War Crimes is the job he was auditioning for during his career as a drunken talking head on Fox.

Thread.

@cmsexperiment.bsky.social found in Togo

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout. On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar. This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media. Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵

Defend WHAT now?

Yup. As I’ve said before, the right’s constant sense of grievance even as they control every branch of government stems from the fact that the base doesn’t really want specific policy reforms. They’re angry about cultural trends the government can’t really do anything about in a free society.

Sponsored by Brawndo

WTF. This sort of talk used to be beyond the pale. Now ...

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will build an unprecedented map of the universe—and discover billions of fast-changing objects. scim.ag/4kTwRE6

Hell of a chart, this, from @financialtimes.com. Spot the JCPOA. on.ft.com/4kSuQYO

JFC, this story! I couldn't help but be reminded of John Dee "communicating" with angels. They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...

Don’t think I’ve ever muttered the words “fuck me sideways” quite so much reading a story as this one.

Me with the Breakthrough Prize awarded to CMS

🔴 Brand new comic now up on @boingboing.net - "A Busy, Busy Day at the Airport" after Richard Scarry - boingboing.net/2025/06/04/t...

U.S. Scientists Warn That Trump’s Cuts Will Set Off a Brain Drain www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/u...

This result hits the sweet spot between my particle astrophysicist past and my particle physicist present

To quote the Willie Nelson song, "The Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning"

MAGA’s assault on science is an act of grievous self-harm www.economist.com/leaders/2025... From The Economist

Apologies Senator. I misheard the question. I thought you asked "what is the opposite of habeas corpus?"

Cato has published my comprehensive review of the ~240 Venezuelans the US government renditioned 2 months ago to Salvador’s notorious prison. We identified FIFTY who came legally, never violated any immigration law, but are imprisoned at the US government’s request and at US taxpayer expense.

The World Is Wooing U.S. Researchers Shunned by Trump www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/b...

HAPPY 75th, NSF! We’re celebrating this milestone by highlighting some of NSF’s most transformative accomplishments—innovations that have shaped our world and continue to drive progress in health, technology, the environment, and beyond. Read on 🧵(1/11):

Ruh roh

Exclusive: The director of the National Science Foundation announced his resignation today, 16 months before his 6-year term ends, in a letter to staff obtained by Science. scim.ag/42vc3fn

The cost of Trump’s attack on American science - on.ft.com/4imQT7D via @FT

I had been doubtful that we were going to have a "this is the crisis moment" with Trump, as opposed to "everything about this is a destructive catastrophe." But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment. 1/

The LHC experiment collaborations #AtCERN receive Breakthrough Prize The prize is awarded to ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb, which unite thousands of researchers from more than 70 countries, and concerns the papers authored based on #LHCRun2 data up to July 2024. Read more: home.cern/news/press-r...

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

Apparently Free Speech is not one of the founding principles

Donald Trump and the Unmaking of American Greatness: this administration is at war with the American Idea itself. open.substack.com/pub/alexmass...

The number of new grants handed out by the National Science Foundation since President Donald Trump took office has fallen by nearly 50% compared with the same 2-month period 1 year ago. scim.ag/42dCJjc

40% of U.S.-affiliated Nobel Prize winners in the sciences — physics, chemistry and medicine — between 2000 and 2023 were immigrants. www.axios.com/2025/03/31/u...