Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 22h

is a star condensed

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 1d

Time and time again, universities prove that their primary responsibility is not to their students but to themselves and the endowment

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 1d

Very bad: OSU unilaterally cancelled the registration of grad students attending the joint conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists. And OSU won't fund recruiting at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.

Ohio State changes policy on group conferences after Trump administration threats

A federal investigation into potentially discriminatory practices at Ohio State prompted the university to change its policies regarding conferences.

www.dispatch.com

3 13

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 8d

Michigan State Astro as well.

4

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 9d

(As someone who was not asked) for pen and paper style methods I quite liked Byron and Fuller & Dennery and (??), both Dover books. The book by Mary Boas is also great, especially at the undergraduate level

2

Reposted by Brandon Barker

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 12d

Earlier this month, New Mexico became the first state to offer universal free child care to all residents, regardless of income.

How New Mexico Became a Sanctuary State for Health Care

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the number of abortion clinics there has doubled. With strong protections for gender-affirming treatment, and now universal child care, the state is betting on a prog...

www.newyorker.com

3 78 390

Reposted by Brandon Barker

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 12d

New Mexico’s governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, has allocated $20 million to build reproductive-health clinics. “I want more primary-care access for women and their families,” she said.

How New Mexico Became a Sanctuary State for Health Care

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the number of abortion clinics there has doubled. With strong protections for gender-affirming treatment, and now universal child care, the state is betting on a prog...

www.newyorker.com

5 110 450

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 13d

pre ordered

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 14d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 15d

good choice

1

Reposted by Brandon Barker

James Davenport @jradavenport.com · 16d

ADS has given astronomy THE BEST literature tools available anywhere. I almost never have to use the garbage that other academics have to suffer through (GoogleScholar, JSTOR, LexisNexis, WoS, PubMed...)

Literally anytime I have to interface with those tools I weep

Science Explorer (SciX) @scixcommunity.bsky.social · 16d

A natural evolution of ADS, SciX brings its powerful capabilities into new domains. Expanded coverage, intuitive search, smart recommendations, and tools for collaboration. SciX makes research more discoverable, connected, and accessible than ever before. https://scixplorer.org/scixblog/scix-launch

3 19 74

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 15d

inspire HEP is decent as well, but I can’t be bothered to learn it. The worst part about cosplaying as an applied mathematician is that the papers aren’t on ADS

1 4

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 15d

what do you mean i designed this

5

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 15d

getting better at software development is miserable business because you want to rewrite everything you’ve ever written

1 9

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 16d

few know this but python4 already exists. it’s called julia

1

Reposted by Brandon Barker

AstroArxiv @astroarxiv.bsky.social · 21d

A novel algorithm for GPU-accelerated particle-mesh interactions implemented in the QUOKKA code. Chong-Chong He (ANU) et. al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18261

Top: Accretion rate versus time for the Bondi-Hoyle accretion test described in {ssec:bh

1

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 21d

Spanish is definitely the faster language

1

Reposted by Brandon Barker

Michael Zingale @michaelzingale.bsky.social · 28d

today the new season of the Virtual Astronomy Software Talks kicks off: vast-seminars.github.io

Some of the organizers will talk about their own projects this time. Join us at 11am (NY time).

#astro
#astrocode

Virtual Astronomy Software Talks

vast-seminars.github.io

2 3 8

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 28d

Any text editor should have the ability to compile tex, often on saves like overleaf). I use vim + vimtex (and command line compilation) but vscode and friends can definitely do this. A makefile helps to, so you can just type make and have it compile. Git for the sharing part

2

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · 28d

god i hate having to use overleaf, why on gods earth do i need an internet connection to write text in text editor

2 1 9

Reposted by Brandon Barker

AstroArxiv @astroarxiv.bsky.social · Sep 4

Kilonovae and Long-duration Gamma-ray Bursts. Marko Ristić et. al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.03003

2 1

Reposted by Brandon Barker

Huei Sears, PhD 🌟 @starlights.bsky.social · Sep 4

v v excited about this work feat. @astrobarker.bsky.social 👀 one conclusion: GRBs 211211A + 230307A fit a collapsar-kilonova model better than a compact-binary-kilonova model 👀

🧪🔭☄️

AstroArxiv @astroarxiv.bsky.social · Sep 4

Kilonovae and Long-duration Gamma-ray Bursts. Marko Ristić et. al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.03003

1 6

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · Sep 3

Programmatic postdocs (i.e. staff X has money for a postdoc to work on project Y) can have a fast turn around — some positions posted “this cycle” might want someone to start before fall 2026 etc. a little more info here cdn.lanl.gov/files/postdo... i can chat more if you have more specific Qs!

cdn.lanl.gov

1 1

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · Sep 3

LANL is all over the place — for CTA it’s probably most aligned with a fall 2026-ish start date, but flexible? Packages due in December. But there are a number of fellowship calls happening quarterly (such as Director’s fellows) but require a staff sponsor to write a nomination/memo.

2

Brandon Barker @astrobarker.bsky.social · Sep 3

The Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Center for Theoretical Astrophysics has its postdoctoral position posted! LANL and the CTA has extensive experience in theory, simulation, modeling, and ML/AI applications. Northern New Mexico is also beautiful and full of good food! lanl.jobs/search/jobde...