It's that time of year again, and I've got long-distance FOMO! Sydney cycle gang, the Newcastle Overnight is happening this Saturday, join the grand depart at 9 pm from Observatory Hill. This is genuinely the best cycling event I've ever done. There is such good camaraderie and there's nothing […]

Hello! Do you have access to an x-ray system, CT, Radiography, or a few seconds on the LHC main beam with a homebrew pixel detector? Do you want to take part in #xraymyadvent this year? You know you do.

It's so impressive how consistent Randall has been over the years. Another good one, although I have to point out the reason Geology depts aren't OK is not that mountain hovercrafts, it's that departments keep getting decimated...

A massive advantage of living abroad is not realising the Melbourne Cup is on until after the fact.

Proposed cuts at #ansto look very likely to affect the Australian Quaternary community - worryingly via ceasing expert support for 14C dating. I wonder what proportion of Australian quaternarists have leaned on ANSTO facilities? I'm going to guess all of us! There is still oportunity to make […]

Living in Germany means for the first time in my life I'm surrounded by Michas. It's very confusing. Is this how it feels to be a Jennifer or a Rebecca? At least the Jens and Becs don't have people assuming that they're men 😂

Isogeochem mailing list always delivers. Favourite today is a job ad in Delware with [Delaware exists!] as a handy reminder 😂

Going to add some pretty things to this thread. Because today is Quirks and Quarks interview day(!!!), and at this point I'm about equal parts INCREDIBLY EXCITED to be on that show, and SUPER PISSED OFF that instead of getting to talk about cool astronomy research, I have to talk about a […]

And yeah, oh my goodness, there are SO MANY THINGS to fight against right now. Pick one and talk to your government reps about it! If you love the sky, pick this fight. If you love something else that's being destroyed, focus on that. If you have no spoons left, be yourself and fight by existing […]

Dear bluesky folks - I would love to be able to interact with you, but to do this, you'll also need to build a bridge from your side, too. My bridge only brings my posts to bluesky, to bring yours to the fediverse/mastodon, you need to turn to follow. See https://fed.brid.gy/ And for more info […]

Discovery Projects 2026 (round 1) have been announced! Wonderful to see a lot of familiar names in the mix, I think it's been a good year for the quaternarists and archaeologists...

The 'thank you for your application' email generally makes my heart drop, as usually there's a 'but'. This time, the uni has been so polite as to send a 'we're still working through the apps, bear with us' email.

“Holy shit that wind is strong!” “I got an idea.” *knock* *knock* “Hey void, you in?” 「I’m here. Also everywhere.」 “Got room for a storm?” 「Let me just move some furniture.」 “Wait, what?” 「 -yes- you silly creature. Let ‘er rip 」 “Thanks, you’re a pal” 「awwww 」 #tootfic #microfiction […]

Tax return submitted a whole 5 days before due. As with many things in my life, I put it off because the whole not a resident for tax purposes/foreign income stuff seemed too hard, but in the end it was fine. Will I learn anything from this experience? Probably not.

The Guardian is catering to niche interests today with this"critical mineral or Tolkien invention" quiz. I got 8/10, time to read LOTR again! https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/24/critical-mineral-or-tolkien-invention-quiz #earthscience #geology #lotr #tolkien

The welcome home committee is doing a great job tonight. Suki is Not A Cuddler, so now of course I cant possibly move until she decides she's had enough. Getting a dog is a big motivator for getting a permanent job. Until then, I've been lucky to get to live […] [Original post on fediscience.org]

Wow, the BOM has finally launched the new website! It's so shiny! Will things be easier to find? TBD...

Something intensely frustrating which I've seen across academia, NGOs, media orgs and corporations (I mean, just, every professional space in the world) is "WHAT IF WE JUST DIDN'T" is **never** considered an option, and it's the same for this report. Error rates like that, 3 years in? Ditch it ffs

Bundespolizei engaging in some very unsubtle racial profiling on the train home from Paris tonight. Pretty gross stuff, especially considering that Schengen exists and it's political grandstanding/security theatre to check passports at all.

The hype around Paris is real. This is an excellent city, made even better by yesterday's sundog bracketing the Eiffel tower! #sundog #paris

Ah and now it's the Swiss being ******* not respecting Schengen "Zoll" (customs, douane) control in the TGV between Vallorbe and Lausanne, but they ONLY ask for IDs, do not even enquire what any passengers are carrying This is a border control dressed up as a customs control I asked the […]

I'm off to Paris tomorrow morning for an impromptu weekend away. I'm too late to reserve tickets for anything, but intend to brave the queues for Musee d'Orsay and Notre Dame. Any other suggestions welcome! City things I enjoy include: good (new wave!) coffee, flea markets/second hand shops […]

At least 6 people have sent me the article in the Guardian about the call for applications to be deployed to Antarctica! To be known is to be loved💚

It's that time of year where I'm reminded that if I'd just been a sparky instead of pursuing a research career I'd have probably made it to Antarctica by now! AAD is advertising a few cool roles - beyond the normal trades roles, they're also looking for some ecologists and an environmental […]

Fire management in the red tingle forest of southwest Australia has been a hot topic for a few years now. New research from @natesanderson.bsky.social suggests that the red tingle forest should be managed differently than the nearby Karri forest, to reduce tree mortality. #fire #firemanagement […]

The costs to safety and human health: Although the ground illumination from the first satellite will be much fainter than the Sun’s, looking at the satellite with binoculars or a telescope could actually damage your eyes, similar to looking at a partial solar eclipse […]

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that Reflect Orbital's fucking stupid giant mirror satellite, with absolutely NOTHING useful to offer, which will cause countless safety issues, ecological disasters, and destroy the night sky, is going to launch. A bunch of astronomers and I have sent out […]

“We’ve solved the hyperspace jump gate congestion problem by linking ships into convoys and installing antimatter energy transfer grids in the gate lanes!” “Trains. You invented trains. Again.” #tootfic #microfiction #poweronstorytoot

The MPIC Sustainability group organised a pilzenwandern in the Ober-Olm Wald yesterday afternoon with a mycologist! It was all auf Deutsch (good practice for me), so my understanding was a little rubbery, but highlights include "this is Germany's most […] [Original post on fediscience.org]

Voting is open for the Australian #birdoftheyear. I'm taking it on a day-by-day basis, as we have too many great birds to pick only one. Today I went with the whip-bird - these elusive yet ever-present little things can be commonly heard on forest fringes. Did you know the call is actually a […]

#arteveryday came to a grinding halt while I was having too much fun in Australia. Back on the horse, and Christmas card season is upon us, soI'm hoping for a strong finish.

Your annual reminder that modern physics is done in diverse teams of anything between 1 and 1000 people, by people of all backgrounds imaginable. Breakthroughs are not made single-handedly by at most 3 white men. Arguably they never were.

Like the flu shot, the Covid vaccine doesn't necessarily stop a person from getting infected with the virus. But it does reduce the chances of severe illness, hospitalization or death. Get your COVID-19 and flu shots. I got mine. Protect yourself, and others. It's the right thing to do.

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.” ― Jane Goodall 💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero

Good thing about the jet-lagged 3.30 am wake-up this morning is that I was actually AWAKE for 7 am meeting with Perth and Sydney folk. Makes a nice change from the normal 'bleary but here' vibe I bring to these meetings.

Does anyone know a good set of slides / a video lection about the dangers of #ai in the classroom and for our societies? I am contemplating offering to give a talk for high school kids and have some material, already. Material might be non-English, too. #askfedi

Here at the Post Office physical research laboratory we do real science. Our package accelerators have allowed us to make genuine advances in the field of logistical mechanics. We have proven the Heisenberg-Comstock conjecture¹ , and also shown that the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Aramex limit applies to […]

Australia is still a deeply racist country when it comes to Aboriginal people. This is some of the oldest written communications on Earth. This rock art was already ~40,000 years old when the Giza pyramids were an ongoing capital works project by the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. But because […]

You go awake for a few weeks and suddenly autumn is here and sunrise is after 7? Mistakes were made yesterday, with Too Much Napping and as a result I've been up since 1 - it's going to be a loooong day! Hoping for lots of friends at work to distract me 😂

Thanks Australia, this trip home has been like a deep breath. Stoked to have been able to visit many of my favourite places and see many of my favourite people 💚 Not quite emotionally prepared to be going back to Germany, but looking forward to seeing […] [Original post on fediscience.org]

Holiday snake count up to a nice round 5 💚 Red belly at boat harbour in Cronulla. Old mate was deeply unconcerned and needed a little encouragement to move along :) #snek #wildaus #redbelly

WARATAHS ARE OUT! In the nasho, if you know where to go... This has basically been the perfect trip home. #royalnp #nsw #bloomscrolling #florespondence #flowerfriday

Lovely day at Wombeyan for another work adjacent holiday day! Thanks @Andbaker for saving some fieldwork so I could come along while I'm in the country 😊 It was a treat to be underground with Nane, a first-time caver. I love seeing our beautiful underground […] [Original post on fediscience.org]

Work adjacent holiday day today! By luck i perfectly timed my Sydney trip to be able to see Ali Kimbrough and her partner Daniel Becker present the amazing science communication work they've been doing in Sulawesi, producing comic books to be used as educational resources by the Maros Pangkep […]

#FatBearWeek is here! Voting for round one is open right now - 901 is looking chonky https://explore.org/fat-bear-week

Velociraptor has just announced our "for the last time / farewell tour" so get along to see us as it might be your last chance (unless we pull a Crowded House / John Farnham in a few years time!). End of an era. 🥲

Holiday snake count is up to 4! Two in the space of 10 mins on Castle Hill in Townsville. One python (too quick to snap) and one unknown (whip snake?). Also spotted a bunch of dragons and a tree pretending to be a frog mouth. Glad I made it to the north.

No pythons today, but lots of whales flapping and breaching, a pod of dolphins fishing, and a nice swim with the best girl. Fly loves swimming, but hates being carried, so it was a mixed day for her.

Home has been turning it on for me. Today featured a wedge tailed eagle, a sea eagle, lots of the normal sea birds, cockatoos and lorrikeets, lots of humpbacks, and this beautiful carpet python.