Burr Ito
@ututuy.org
I'm a scientist studying fluid dynamics in the cores of rotating planets and stars. I mostly post pics of clouds and timelapses. All media by me. He/him.
Pinned
Burr Ito
@ututuy.org
· Nov 20
Reposted by Burr Ito
What if robots could do all the things that make life living for us, so we could just march joylessly towards death as cogs in the machine?
February 6, 2026 at 6:50 PM
What if robots could do all the things that make life living for us, so we could just march joylessly towards death as cogs in the machine?
Behold #sunspot AR4366. It's huuuge! About 10 Earth diameters from left to right. It is facing almost straight to Earth, so if it goes boom we'll get to see some auroras again!
🧪 🔭 #astrophotography
🧪 🔭 #astrophotography
February 4, 2026 at 4:07 PM
Behold #sunspot AR4366. It's huuuge! About 10 Earth diameters from left to right. It is facing almost straight to Earth, so if it goes boom we'll get to see some auroras again!
🧪 🔭 #astrophotography
🧪 🔭 #astrophotography
Reposted by Burr Ito
Even if the pedophile thing had never come to light I’d find it stunning how many powerful people and supposed intellectuals were more than happy to tone-match their email with a sixty year old man who Beavis and Butthead would have immediately dismissed as an immature loser.
February 4, 2026 at 7:11 AM
Even if the pedophile thing had never come to light I’d find it stunning how many powerful people and supposed intellectuals were more than happy to tone-match their email with a sixty year old man who Beavis and Butthead would have immediately dismissed as an immature loser.
Reposted by Burr Ito
Nature discovers a level below Nature Scientific Reports
archive.today/2026.02.03-0...
> The vision of human-level machine intelligence laid out by Alan Turing in the 1950s is now a reality. Eyes unclouded by dread or hype will help us to prepare for what comes next.
you fucking idiots
archive.today/2026.02.03-0...
> The vision of human-level machine intelligence laid out by Alan Turing in the 1950s is now a reality. Eyes unclouded by dread or hype will help us to prepare for what comes next.
you fucking idiots
Does AI already have human-level intelligence? The evidence is clear
The vision of human-level machine intelligence laid out by Alan Turing in the 1950s is now a reality. Eyes unclouded by dread or hype will help us to prepare for what comes next.
www.nature.com
February 3, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Nature discovers a level below Nature Scientific Reports
archive.today/2026.02.03-0...
> The vision of human-level machine intelligence laid out by Alan Turing in the 1950s is now a reality. Eyes unclouded by dread or hype will help us to prepare for what comes next.
you fucking idiots
archive.today/2026.02.03-0...
> The vision of human-level machine intelligence laid out by Alan Turing in the 1950s is now a reality. Eyes unclouded by dread or hype will help us to prepare for what comes next.
you fucking idiots
Reposted by Burr Ito
If you like rock climbing AND engineering, give this a read! We built an adjustable CRACK CLIMBING trainer with some slick safety features! ⚠️
#rockclimbing #crackclimbing #pcb #electronics #controlsystems #engineering #maker
#rockclimbing #crackclimbing #pcb #electronics #controlsystems #engineering #maker
Crack Snack | Matty Kakes Makes
An in-depth look at the redundant safety layers and unique electromechanical hardware powering Crackable Climbing's crack climbing trainer. Explore the fail-safes that make these highly adjustable cli...
mattykakesmakes.com
February 1, 2026 at 6:26 PM
If you like rock climbing AND engineering, give this a read! We built an adjustable CRACK CLIMBING trainer with some slick safety features! ⚠️
#rockclimbing #crackclimbing #pcb #electronics #controlsystems #engineering #maker
#rockclimbing #crackclimbing #pcb #electronics #controlsystems #engineering #maker
Reposted by Burr Ito
Epstein’s economic power among academics was made possible by a capitalist system that makes higher education dependent on the charity economy rather than a public good supported by taxing the rich
February 1, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Epstein’s economic power among academics was made possible by a capitalist system that makes higher education dependent on the charity economy rather than a public good supported by taxing the rich
Reposted by Burr Ito
What is the point of these LaTeX editors with a chatbot built in. To help search for references? If you aren't familiar with a reference, you shouldn't be citing it (if it even exists). And if you haven't thought carefully about how it relates to what you're doing, IT IS NOT REALLY A CITATION. 🧪
January 31, 2026 at 6:42 PM
What is the point of these LaTeX editors with a chatbot built in. To help search for references? If you aren't familiar with a reference, you shouldn't be citing it (if it even exists). And if you haven't thought carefully about how it relates to what you're doing, IT IS NOT REALLY A CITATION. 🧪
Reposted by Burr Ito
Jeffrey Epstein, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Marc Andreessen share an enduring fascination with eugenics, race science, and transhumanism and there is an entire generation of public intellectuals who benefited and continue to benefit from their patronage.
Pinker, Huberman, Attia, Weinstein, etc.
Pinker, Huberman, Attia, Weinstein, etc.
January 31, 2026 at 6:17 PM
Jeffrey Epstein, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Marc Andreessen share an enduring fascination with eugenics, race science, and transhumanism and there is an entire generation of public intellectuals who benefited and continue to benefit from their patronage.
Pinker, Huberman, Attia, Weinstein, etc.
Pinker, Huberman, Attia, Weinstein, etc.
Reposted by Burr Ito
This video was recently published by @esa.int, but it was extremely dark, so it was hard to see details.
Thanks to the ESA media team who provided me with a higher quality version, I was able to recover lots of shadow details and correct the hotpixel noise.
Original: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Thanks to the ESA media team who provided me with a higher quality version, I was able to recover lots of shadow details and correct the hotpixel noise.
Original: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
January 30, 2026 at 9:09 PM
This video was recently published by @esa.int, but it was extremely dark, so it was hard to see details.
Thanks to the ESA media team who provided me with a higher quality version, I was able to recover lots of shadow details and correct the hotpixel noise.
Original: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Thanks to the ESA media team who provided me with a higher quality version, I was able to recover lots of shadow details and correct the hotpixel noise.
Original: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Reposted by Burr Ito
How many people here would be interested if I did a digital security/privacy advice blog somewhere?
January 30, 2026 at 8:29 PM
How many people here would be interested if I did a digital security/privacy advice blog somewhere?
Reposted by Burr Ito
This is spot on. When all you have is a mass and an orbit, “Have you met Venus?” remains the best rebuttal overenthusiastic application of the “Earth-like” label.
Ok since I apparently have a little slice of Bluesky's attention regarding planets right now, allow me to rant a little.
This week's newsletter post is all about talking about exoplanets and why we might not want to call any of them "Earth-like" for a few decades 🧪🔭
This week's newsletter post is all about talking about exoplanets and why we might not want to call any of them "Earth-like" for a few decades 🧪🔭
Maybe don't call exoplanets "Earth-like" until the 2040s
A plea and a note on science communication
www.reviewertoo.com
January 29, 2026 at 9:20 PM
This is spot on. When all you have is a mass and an orbit, “Have you met Venus?” remains the best rebuttal overenthusiastic application of the “Earth-like” label.
Reposted by Burr Ito
Copernicus.
Captured last night before the cloud rolled in
Celestron C11 with a x2 Barlow
🔭
Captured last night before the cloud rolled in
Celestron C11 with a x2 Barlow
🔭
January 29, 2026 at 9:25 PM
Copernicus.
Captured last night before the cloud rolled in
Celestron C11 with a x2 Barlow
🔭
Captured last night before the cloud rolled in
Celestron C11 with a x2 Barlow
🔭
Reposted by Burr Ito
HUGE EUROPA NEWS!!
OLD DATA HAS BEEN ANALYZED AND SHOWS THE PRESENCE OF AMONIA-BEARING COMPOUNDS ON EUROPA’S SURFACE!!!
THIS IS HUGE FOR THE SEARCH FOR LIFE!!
OLD DATA HAS BEEN ANALYZED AND SHOWS THE PRESENCE OF AMONIA-BEARING COMPOUNDS ON EUROPA’S SURFACE!!!
THIS IS HUGE FOR THE SEARCH FOR LIFE!!
January 29, 2026 at 8:55 PM
HUGE EUROPA NEWS!!
OLD DATA HAS BEEN ANALYZED AND SHOWS THE PRESENCE OF AMONIA-BEARING COMPOUNDS ON EUROPA’S SURFACE!!!
THIS IS HUGE FOR THE SEARCH FOR LIFE!!
OLD DATA HAS BEEN ANALYZED AND SHOWS THE PRESENCE OF AMONIA-BEARING COMPOUNDS ON EUROPA’S SURFACE!!!
THIS IS HUGE FOR THE SEARCH FOR LIFE!!
Reposted by Burr Ito
The whole "sandgate" thing that happened yesterday on Bluesky was pretty fun. I wrote a blog post with some deeper thoughts on this, and why it is important for scientists to have humility. raisedbeaches.net/2026/01/29/s...
Sandgate
A beach on Inujima (Dog Island) in Japan, which is composed of a sand that is primarily slag. It is close to an abandoned copper refinery. In September last year, I participated in the Ark of Coral…
raisedbeaches.net
January 29, 2026 at 2:41 PM
The whole "sandgate" thing that happened yesterday on Bluesky was pretty fun. I wrote a blog post with some deeper thoughts on this, and why it is important for scientists to have humility. raisedbeaches.net/2026/01/29/s...
Reposted by Burr Ito
Imagine having Bruce Springsteen AND Billy Bragg release songs about how much you fucking suck and how much the people fighting you rule you within the same 48 hours
January 28, 2026 at 9:33 PM
Imagine having Bruce Springsteen AND Billy Bragg release songs about how much you fucking suck and how much the people fighting you rule you within the same 48 hours
Reposted by Burr Ito
God, I fucking love Bruce Springsteen. "Streets of Minneapolis", just released: m.youtube.com/watch?v=wWKS...
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
m.youtube.com
January 28, 2026 at 7:19 PM
God, I fucking love Bruce Springsteen. "Streets of Minneapolis", just released: m.youtube.com/watch?v=wWKS...
Reposted by Burr Ito
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Reposted by Burr Ito
What’s depressing is that it seems to me more and more that those who cut corners are those promoted and rewarded in science… Why number of papers is a main metric of success is mind boggling
Using gen AI means sacrificing accuracy for convenience. Its purpose is to cut corners. If that’s how you roll, science has no need for you.
We’re getting so many journal submissions from people who think ‘it kinda works’ is the standard to aim for.
January 28, 2026 at 7:08 AM
What’s depressing is that it seems to me more and more that those who cut corners are those promoted and rewarded in science… Why number of papers is a main metric of success is mind boggling
Reposted by Burr Ito
Anderson Cooper played side-by-side video of Noem and Bovino smearing the victim of Saturday's shooting, then said, "If either of these public officials had an ounce of decency, they would call up Alex Pretti's parents and apologize."
January 28, 2026 at 1:34 AM
Anderson Cooper played side-by-side video of Noem and Bovino smearing the victim of Saturday's shooting, then said, "If either of these public officials had an ounce of decency, they would call up Alex Pretti's parents and apologize."
Reposted by Burr Ito
1. The thing about science that these jokers don't understand is that science cannot be vibe-coded.
Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.
Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.
“The idea is to put ChatGPT front and center inside software that scientists use to write up their work in much the same way that chatbots are now embedded into popular programming editors.
It’s vibe coding, but for science.”
It’s vibe coding, but for science.”
OpenAI’s latest product lets you vibe code science
Prism is a ChatGPT-powered text editor that automates much of the work involved in writing scientific papers.
www.technologyreview.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:09 PM
1. The thing about science that these jokers don't understand is that science cannot be vibe-coded.
Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.
Whatever its flaws, the point with vibe coding is that you're trying to quickly make something that sorta works, where you can immediately sorta see if it sorta works and then sorta use it.
Reposted by Burr Ito
If you write about the messy reality behind "free" internet services: we're seeing #OpenStreetMap hammered by scrapers hiding behind residential proxy/embedded-SDK networks. We're a volunteer-run service and the costs are real. We'd love to talk to a journalist about what we're seeing + how […]
Original post on en.osm.town
en.osm.town
January 27, 2026 at 6:56 PM
If you write about the messy reality behind "free" internet services: we're seeing #OpenStreetMap hammered by scrapers hiding behind residential proxy/embedded-SDK networks. We're a volunteer-run service and the costs are real. We'd love to talk to a journalist about what we're seeing + how […]
Reposted by Burr Ito
It's not just Wikipedia - OpenStreetMap is another example of a free, community-built service getting tagged by scrapers.
If you write about the messy reality behind "free" internet services: we're seeing #OpenStreetMap hammered by scrapers hiding behind residential proxy/embedded-SDK networks. We're a volunteer-run service and the costs are real. We'd love to talk to a journalist about what we're seeing + how […]
Original post on en.osm.town
en.osm.town
January 28, 2026 at 1:16 AM
It's not just Wikipedia - OpenStreetMap is another example of a free, community-built service getting tagged by scrapers.
Reposted by Burr Ito
Alex Pretti’s coworkers take a moment of silence this morning
January 26, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Alex Pretti’s coworkers take a moment of silence this morning
Reposted by Burr Ito
This hit so fucking hard today.
January 26, 2026 at 8:52 PM
This hit so fucking hard today.