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Reposted by Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them)

Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 4h

Great column from @kpc.bsky.social on the current state of the quantum computing industry www.newscientist.com/article/2499...

What makes a quantum computer good?

Claims that one quantum computer is better than another rest on terms like quantum advantage or quantum supremacy, fault-tolerance or qubits with better coherence – what does it all mean? Karmela Pada...

www.newscientist.com

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Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them) @kpc.bsky.social · 1d

No, I don't want AI to summarize my long documents, it is literally my job to be able to read long documents and formulate opinions about them, can I not just open a .pdf in peace anymore

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Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them) @kpc.bsky.social · 1d

In my quantum column this week I try to sift through all the things you'd have to take under consideration if you wanted to buy a useful quantum computer, giving you a sort of loose buyer's guide www.newscientist.com/article/2499...

What makes a quantum computer good?

Claims that one quantum computer is better than another rest on terms like quantum advantage or quantum supremacy, fault-tolerance or qubits with better coherence – what does it all mean? Karmela Pada...

www.newscientist.com

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Reposted by Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them)

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 3d

UNTIL IT’S DONE, Ep. 4: Sylvia Rivera

In the 1970s, queer New Yorkers had been pushed to the margins of NYC. Our trans neighbors faced immense cruelty. But in Sylvia Rivera, they found a champion.

As we combat Trump’s politics of darkness, her legacy can light the path forward.

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 4d

This arrest appears to be in direct violation of a temporary restraining order prohibiting DHS officers from arresting journalists. The officers here may well be subject to contempt of court. protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/u...

It is hereby ORDERED that Defendants,' their officers, agents, assigns, and all
persons acting in concert with them (hereafter referred to as "Federal Agents"), are temporarily
ENJOINED in this judicial district from:
a.
Dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical
force against any person whom they know or reasonably should know is a Journalist, unless Defendants have probable cause to believe that the individual has committed a crime.

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Martin A. Nuñez @martin-nunez.bsky.social · 5d

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated: see their journeys

The most common destination for eventual Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine since 2000 is the United States, Nature has found.

www.nature.com

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Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 5d

How can we tell what's inside an #exoplanet? @timlichtenberg.bsky.social et al review how a planet's atmosphere interacts with its interior. Atmospheric observations can distinguish between lava worlds, water worlds, temperate surfaces or supercritical interiors. ☄️
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 6d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Gail Drakes @gaildrakes.bsky.social · 9d

I just learned that the number of children in the U.S. navigating life with Long COVID exceeds that of the number of kids with asthma.

Wow.

Long COVID is here to stay—even in children

Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC, also known as long COVID) are complex, multisystem, long-lasting complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection that profoundly impact the daily life of those...

www.thelancet.com

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Audrey Truschke @audreytruschke.bsky.social · 7d

A Rutgers professor has been forced to flee the country for his safety, after targeting by a far-right student group that was *checks notes* claiming they felt unsafe.

I'm horrified.
I'm angry.

A short 🧵 #AcademicFreedom #Rutgers #violence #antifa

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Rutgers professor moving to Europe after threats over antifa accusations

Mark Bray says threats intensified after a Turning Point USA petition accused him of promoting political violence

www.theguardian.com

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Sara Luterman @slooterman.bsky.social · 7d

Are rising prices and inflation eating into your or a loved one’s Social Security payments? Want to talk about it with a reporter for a news article? DM or email sluterman at 19thnews dot org.

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Reposted by Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them)

Keith Smith @drkeithsmith.bsky.social · 7d

⚛️

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Riley Black 🦕 🏳️‍⚧️ @restingdinoface.bsky.social · 8d

Getting off social in the sense of burrowing a few feet below the surface, exuding a mucus cocoon, and waiting for fairer conditions to return.

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Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them) @kpc.bsky.social · 8d

On my personal newsletter this week, I am writing about One Battle After Another and how Benicio del Toro's character is the one to pay attention to, the new Kathryn Bigelow film A House of Dynamite, and sketching out a reliable vegan banana muffin recipe ultracold.substack.com/p/mediadiet-...

Media/Diet (October '25)

One Battle After Another + A House of Dynamite + vegan banana muffins

ultracold.substack.com

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Reposted by Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them)

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 10d

I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America

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Michael Le Page @mjflepage.bsky.social · 11d

A study suggests AI could help evade controls on synthesising bioweapons. Here's why this is like doing a fancy Mission Impossible-style bank raid when the vault door has been left open, the alarm is off and the guards are asleep 🧪

www.newscientist.com/article/2498...

Should we worry AI will create deadly bioweapons? Not yet, but one day

AI tools are being used to design proteins and even viruses, leading to fears these could eventually be used to evade bioweapon controls

www.newscientist.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 12d

Leucovorin may have a role in treatment of some people with #autism. But one of the researchers who studied it warns it's not a silver bullet. @rosebroderick.bsky.social reports. www.statnews.com/2025/10/01/l...

Leucovorin has a place in autism treatment, researcher says, but he tamps down parents’ expectations

STAT spoke with Robert Hendren, a retired UCSF researcher who conducted a small study of leucovorin in children with autism in 2020.

www.statnews.com

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Robert “The Bobby Yaga” McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 12d

Yesterday’s #OTD *should* have been astrophysicist Dr. George Carruthers, born 1939. He developed a UV spectrograph (launched in 1970 on a sounding rocket) that confirmed the existence of interstellar hydrogen, and a similar device placed on the moon by Apollo 16. 🧪 ⚛️

Image: US Naval Research Lab

Dr. George Carothers working on a shiny gold and black apparatus — his UV spectrograph. He is a Black man of thin or medium build, wearing a white lab coat over a green button/down shirt. He has on white gloves, and he is examining his spectrograph.

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Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them) @kpc.bsky.social · 12d

November will be six months out from my book's publication date and I'm going to shift into being so deeply annoying you won't believe it

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them) @kpc.bsky.social · 13d

I’m reading an advance copy of a new pop science quantum book and in the first 100 pages it’s already twice claimed that quantum computers will solve climate change. If I weren’t reading for work, I’d rage quit right about now. We (science writers) gotta do better!

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 13d

The possibility of a shutdown has become routine in recent years (near misses in December and March). Now, the government has actually shut down, and the administration has threatened to use the opportunity for massive permanent layoffs.

Our story on the potential impacts for science:

This US government shutdown is different: what it means for science

President Trump’s budget office lays out guidelines for mass lay-offs across the federal government.

www.nature.com

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Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 13d

I've become such a grinch lol. As soon as I saw this, my "ITS NOT A BIOSIGNATURE" hackles went straight up 😅😂

This looks genuinely interesting, though. If it is a sign that there's active hydrothermalism on Enceladus then the lil snowball would be an even more exciting target for alien hunting.

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 14d

🆕 The discovery of new complex organic molecules at Saturn's #Enceladus enhances the likelihood that the moon is habitable 🪐

On Earth, these molecules are involved in chemical reaction chains that lead to the more complex molecules essential for life.

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭 🧪 ☄️

Scientific illustration showing a cross-section of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. It features three labelled layers: An ice shell at the top, with visible cracks releasing jets of water vapour into space; an ocean in the middle, depicted as a large body of water beneath the ice; a rocky core at the bottom, shown emitting heat that may drive the jets. In the background, Saturn and its rings are visible in space.

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Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 15d

Ohio State just advised all staff and students not to attend the SACNAS (Society for the advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) annual meeting of 6000+ scientists -- which is in Columbus, OH this year! -- saying it may be exclusionary, even though it is open to all.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 14d

NSF has a new banner. (Per contingency plan, 75% of staff are furloughed and most agency activities will stop.)

Due to a lapse in appropriations, NSF is closed. NSF will continue to accept proposals in accordance with published guidelines. Please continue to watch this site for changes to NSF's operating status, reopening guidance for employees, and if necessary, general instructions for recipients.

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Karmela Padavic-Callaghan (they/them) @kpc.bsky.social · 14d

He was the first professional physicist I had ever met, as a teenager at a science festival in Croatia. I asked him an overly wordy question in broken English and he was really kind about it. It felt like a huge deal at the time.

El Espectro 👻 🎃 @telescoper.bsky.social · 18d

R.I.P. George F. Smoot (1945-2025)

We will no doubt read many official obituaries in days to come, but all I can say is that he was a character, a very original thinker, a fine scientist, and a very nice man. Along with many others, I will miss him enormously.

R.I.P. George F. Smoot (1945-2025)

We will no doubt read many official obituaries in days to come, but all I can say is that he was a character, a very original thinker, a fine scientist, and a very nice man. Along with many others, I will miss him enormously.

telescoper.blog

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