Margaret Harris
@drmlharris.bsky.social
3K followers 1.8K following 710 posts
Science journalist at Physics World magazine (@physicsworld.bsky.social). Also available as @[email protected]. All views on science, politics, history, nonsense, etc. my own. DM for Signal contact info.
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Reposted by Margaret Harris
drsimevans.carbonbrief.org
Great to speak at the @energy-uk.org.uk conference just now, about the tenuous relationship between many media headlines & reality

Here's a taster

#eukconf25
Reposted by Margaret Harris
science.esa.int
4️⃣ Unplanned scientific opportunity ahead ☄️

Beginning of November, Juice will attempt to observe comet #3I/Atlas over a period of four weeks. The team plans on using several instruments, including cameras, spectrometers and a particle sensor. 6/8
drmlharris.bsky.social
The continued presence of significant numbers of cars in Siena’s old town is the weirdest and least pleasant thing about it. Unfortunately it also suggests that either an even more car-hostile design or an actual ban (Ljubljana says hi!) will be required.
drmlharris.bsky.social
I consider myself moderate on this topic, but to me it seems pretty clearly something where the parents + doctors + kids should be making the decisions on risks vs rewards, not government. Similar to abortion, which (extremely unfortunately) sometimes kids also need.
drmlharris.bsky.social
Then we disagree on the rewards of delaying puberty in a child with gender issues. My understanding is it can be substantial, similar to the rewards of delaying it in a child with early-onset puberty, with = risks. Do you have evidence otherwise?
Reposted by Margaret Harris
paris.nyc
after the 10th radioactive shrimp recall in 7 weeks, i decided to do some digging

little did i know it would lead me to an underreported industrial accident that may have released an airborne plume of radioactive debris over swaths of indonesia
www.consumerreports.org/health/food-...
What Is Really Going on With All This Radioactive Shrimp? - Consumer Reports
Here’s the latest on how shrimp and spices got contaminated with cesium-137, how the FDA has responded, and why consumers should not panic.
www.consumerreports.org
drmlharris.bsky.social
I’m asking whether you’re okay with giving those drugs to kids to treat some conditions and not others. And if you are, then (given the risks are identical either way), I’m asking why.
drmlharris.bsky.social
I’m a big fan of Dar Williams‘ lyrics and I’ve just seen that she has a new album out for the first time since the 2010s, so I think she qualifies.
drmlharris.bsky.social
No. 2 on your list is sometimes done for medical reasons (e.g. preventing early-onset puberty in, like, a 7-year-old) that have nothing to do with kids questioning their gender. Are you okay with it in those circumstances?
drmlharris.bsky.social
Have to admit, I thought this was a close-up of the surface of a Mars bar at first glance...
drmlharris.bsky.social
The prizes are always announced at 11.45am Swedish time or later, and they contact the laureates a little before then. The “Nobel call in the middle of the night” phenomenon is thus entirely due to the recent dominance of US science, as 11.45am in Sweden is 12.45am-5.45am in the US.
drmlharris.bsky.social
My favourite overlap is that Harvard University could have offered Galileo a professorship. And according to some sources, it actually did.
raxkingisdead.bsky.social
you ever think about those real weird overlaps. like tennessee williams might have listened to the ramones
Reposted by Margaret Harris
georgemonbiot.bsky.social
ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome
Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Margaret Harris
patchenbarss.bsky.social
Question about fiction from a non-fiction writer: I'm trying to think of protagonists who do not have a character arc, who end their story the same as they began. My one candidate: Ferris Bueller, who catalyzes change in others, but does not himself evolve or grow. Any others you can think of?
Reposted by Margaret Harris
physicsworld.bsky.social
Back in 2013, we interviewed one of the newly-announced Nobel laureates in Physics, John Martinis, about his work on quantum computing for our weekly podcast. Listen to it here: physicsworld.com/a/quantum-co... 🧪⚛️ #NobelPrize
Quantum computing: challenges, triumphs and applications – Physics World
Leading experts explain how quantum mechanics could be harnessed to revolutionize computing
physicsworld.com
Reposted by Margaret Harris
physicsworld.bsky.social
🚨The 2025 #NobelPrize for Physics goes to John Clark, Michel Devoret & John Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit”. More details soon... ⚛️🧪
physicsworld.com/a/john-clark...
John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis win the 2025 Nobel Prize for Physics – Physics World
Trio honoured for their work on quantum tunnelling
physicsworld.com
Reposted by Margaret Harris
benjaminpope.bsky.social
it's actually not two Nobels for Josephson junctions, just one that tunnelled over a gap of 52 years
drmlharris.bsky.social
I'd have gone with integrated circuits (2000), BEC (2001), graphene (2010), gravitational waves (2017) and exoplanets (2019), with neutrino mass (2015) as a runner-up, leaving out the Higgs boson and the accelerating expansion of the universe (which we still don't understand). What are your picks? ⚛️
physicsworld.bsky.social
At PW headquarters, we're all waiting with bated breath for this morning's physics #NobelPrize. If you're doing the same, why not pass the time by reading/arguing with our editor @matindurrani.bsky.social's picks of the 5 most notable physics Nobels this century? physicsworld.com/a/the-top-fi... 🧪⚛️
The top five physics Nobel prizes of the 21st century revealed – Physics World
Matin Durrani counts down the five most significant physics Nobels since 2000
physicsworld.com
drmlharris.bsky.social
Part 2 of PHYSICS NOBEL PRIZES YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF is now up: bsky.app/profile/drml...
drmlharris.bsky.social
Okay, today is physics #NobelPrize day, so there's just enough time for another instalment of...

PHYSICS NOBEL PRIZES YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF – PART 2

In 1912, a Swedish inventor called Gustaf Dalén beat Albert Einstein and Max Planck (inter alia) to the biggest prize in physics. How? Well...🧵🧪⚛️
drmlharris.bsky.social
Wow! Yes, it was a hard job, and very important.
drmlharris.bsky.social
Oh, and in case you don't believe me about the "wife guy" thing, here's a photo of Gustaf Dalén with his wife, Elma, in later life. I think they look like the perfect Swedish great-grandparents, don't you? 😍
A black-and-white photo of Elma and Gustaf Dalen. He's wearing a three-piece suit with a watch chain, she's got a 1930s hat and a dress with a top that resembles a suit jacket and a string of pearls. He's also wearing dark glasses and not looking at the camera, and she holds his arm protectively while looking slightly sceptically at the camera.