@jimkakalios.bsky.social
Your Friendly Neighborhood Physics Professor. Condensed Matter Experimentalist and author of THE PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES, THE AMAZING STORY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS and THE PHYSICS OF EVERYDAY THINGS.
Pinned
The Physics of Superheroes Goes Hollywood | James Kakalios
What if science-fiction was actually science-fact? My first book The Physics of Superheroes, was published in 2005, three years before Iron Man and The Dark Knight lit the match that ignited the super...
kakalios.com
MY NEW BOOK IS NOW OUT! WITH COVER AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY GENIAL GENE HA! @geneha.com
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER
kakalios.com/books/the-ph...
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER
kakalios.com/books/the-ph...
A Thanksgiving message for us all.
"I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
November 27, 2025 at 1:44 PM
A Thanksgiving message for us all.
Noah Hawley's stand alone script for Dr. Doom.
(Jeremy - this should have been my answer to your question at Magers and Quinn).
(Jeremy - this should have been my answer to your question at Magers and Quinn).
Guillermo del Toro’s AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS
If you were a despotic president, what movie would you force Hollywood to make? I want to see Quentin's Star Trek movie or maybe Kill Bill Vol 3.
November 26, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Noah Hawley's stand alone script for Dr. Doom.
(Jeremy - this should have been my answer to your question at Magers and Quinn).
(Jeremy - this should have been my answer to your question at Magers and Quinn).
Reposted
"The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics," my lecture series for the Great Courses (24 half-hour lectures), is still available on Prime video for a few days! Tell your family that watching football on Thanksgiving is hopelessly uncool.
www.amazon.com/gp/video/det...
www.amazon.com/gp/video/det...
November 26, 2025 at 2:14 PM
"The Many Hidden Worlds of Quantum Mechanics," my lecture series for the Great Courses (24 half-hour lectures), is still available on Prime video for a few days! Tell your family that watching football on Thanksgiving is hopelessly uncool.
www.amazon.com/gp/video/det...
www.amazon.com/gp/video/det...
Really? Joe vs. the Volcano was right there!
Tom Hanks branded colon cleansing kits aimed at 90s rappers called Nothing in Common
Tom Hanks branded push up bras called Bosom Buddies
November 26, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Really? Joe vs. the Volcano was right there!
Reposted
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:58 AM
i’m not crying you’re crying
xkcd: Fifteen Years
xkcd: Fifteen Years
Reposted
The US ice core research community, with international partners, has recovered valuable records of past climate from the Arctic & Antarctic since the 1950s.
Here is a sampling of cores—including 6,000,000 year old ice via NSF Center for Oldest Ice Exploration—at the NSF Ice Core Facility.
Here is a sampling of cores—including 6,000,000 year old ice via NSF Center for Oldest Ice Exploration—at the NSF Ice Core Facility.
November 23, 2025 at 1:27 AM
The US ice core research community, with international partners, has recovered valuable records of past climate from the Arctic & Antarctic since the 1950s.
Here is a sampling of cores—including 6,000,000 year old ice via NSF Center for Oldest Ice Exploration—at the NSF Ice Core Facility.
Here is a sampling of cores—including 6,000,000 year old ice via NSF Center for Oldest Ice Exploration—at the NSF Ice Core Facility.
Have they, though, Phil? Have they?
Hello, front desk? Thanks, but you have grossly overestimated the width of my head.
November 18, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Have they, though, Phil? Have they?
Reposted
“You are witnessing, almost live, the formation of a crater on the Moon, with an impact filmed this morning!”
Vous assistez, quasiment en direct à la formation d'un cratère sur la Lune, avec un impact filmé ce matin !
November 16, 2025 at 10:01 PM
“You are witnessing, almost live, the formation of a crater on the Moon, with an impact filmed this morning!”
Doing activities together is the key to a long-lasting relationship.
Is it ‘My wife and I’ or ‘Me and my wife’? Anyway, we just robbed a liquor store
November 16, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Doing activities together is the key to a long-lasting relationship.
Here's Prof. Lindsay Glesener ( @linering.bsky.social ) of the UMN School of Physics and Astronomy, in a one-minute video about solar flares, that give rise to auroras.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdVN...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdVN...
Science Simplified: What are solar flares?
YouTube video by College of Science and Engineering, UMN
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Here's Prof. Lindsay Glesener ( @linering.bsky.social ) of the UMN School of Physics and Astronomy, in a one-minute video about solar flares, that give rise to auroras.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdVN...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdVN...
Want to learn how the sun produces the spectacular auroras that we saw last night? UMN Prof. Lindsay Glesener
@linering.bsky.social gave a great talk as part of our Summer of Astounding Astrophysics this July. Skip the annoying guy at the beginning.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUc...
Want to learn how the sun produces the spectacular auroras that we saw last night? UMN Prof. Lindsay Glesener
@linering.bsky.social gave a great talk as part of our Summer of Astounding Astrophysics this July. Skip the annoying guy at the beginning.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUc...
Here Comes the Sun! (UMN Astounding Astrophysics, Prof. Lindsay Glesener)
YouTube video by UMN School of Physics and Astronomy
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Want to learn how the sun produces the spectacular auroras that we saw last night? UMN Prof. Lindsay Glesener
@linering.bsky.social gave a great talk as part of our Summer of Astounding Astrophysics this July. Skip the annoying guy at the beginning.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUc...
Want to learn how the sun produces the spectacular auroras that we saw last night? UMN Prof. Lindsay Glesener
@linering.bsky.social gave a great talk as part of our Summer of Astounding Astrophysics this July. Skip the annoying guy at the beginning.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUc...
In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups. The urgent care who treat the wounded and the veterinarians who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."
So begins another episode of Claw and Shoulder
So begins another episode of Claw and Shoulder
November 12, 2025 at 8:43 PM
In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups. The urgent care who treat the wounded and the veterinarians who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."
So begins another episode of Claw and Shoulder
So begins another episode of Claw and Shoulder
Not only are the faculty sharing their aurora photos - but the explanations of what we saw!
"The reason that the red line is seen at high altitudes is that it has a long lifetime (the order of 100 s), so it is collisionally de-excited at low altitudes where the atmosphere is more dense. 1/2
"The reason that the red line is seen at high altitudes is that it has a long lifetime (the order of 100 s), so it is collisionally de-excited at low altitudes where the atmosphere is more dense. 1/2
November 12, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Not only are the faculty sharing their aurora photos - but the explanations of what we saw!
"The reason that the red line is seen at high altitudes is that it has a long lifetime (the order of 100 s), so it is collisionally de-excited at low altitudes where the atmosphere is more dense. 1/2
"The reason that the red line is seen at high altitudes is that it has a long lifetime (the order of 100 s), so it is collisionally de-excited at low altitudes where the atmosphere is more dense. 1/2
It's not a rogue planet. Just misunderstood.
A rogue planet accidentally intercepts the zeta-beam in Mystery in Space #55 (1959) #dccomics #exoplanets
November 12, 2025 at 1:40 PM
It's not a rogue planet. Just misunderstood.
Reposted
In an age where we have fewer and fewer collective cultural experiences that everyone is in on, it’s so special to come online and just scream, “omg omg omg” with strangers from across the country.
November 12, 2025 at 3:56 AM
In an age where we have fewer and fewer collective cultural experiences that everyone is in on, it’s so special to come online and just scream, “omg omg omg” with strangers from across the country.
This. If you want an efficient, effective way to travel using pedal power, choose a recumbent, laid-back bicycle. The standard, conventional bicycle form is best if you want a mechanical horse.
I'm not sure the bipedal robots are a "carny gimmick," as much as a lack of imagination.
I'm not sure the bipedal robots are a "carny gimmick," as much as a lack of imagination.
The insistence on making these robots bipedal is probably the most obvious giveaway that it's all a big carny gimmick
November 12, 2025 at 12:39 PM
This. If you want an efficient, effective way to travel using pedal power, choose a recumbent, laid-back bicycle. The standard, conventional bicycle form is best if you want a mechanical horse.
I'm not sure the bipedal robots are a "carny gimmick," as much as a lack of imagination.
I'm not sure the bipedal robots are a "carny gimmick," as much as a lack of imagination.
The atmosphere of Jupiter has a temperature of 700K. Based on solar illumination, temp should be 150K. The heating of Jupiter's atmosphere is due to impacting charged particles deflected by its large magnetic field.
Jupiter's aurora keeps it warm day and night!
Jupiter's aurora keeps it warm day and night!
Seeing some beautiful photos of aurorae tonight, so here's a reminder that other planets get them, too!
This is Saturn, with aurorae visible at both poles in this UV image from Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, taken in October 1997 when the planet was 1.3 billion km away.
This is Saturn, with aurorae visible at both poles in this UV image from Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, taken in October 1997 when the planet was 1.3 billion km away.
November 12, 2025 at 3:49 AM
The atmosphere of Jupiter has a temperature of 700K. Based on solar illumination, temp should be 150K. The heating of Jupiter's atmosphere is due to impacting charged particles deflected by its large magnetic field.
Jupiter's aurora keeps it warm day and night!
Jupiter's aurora keeps it warm day and night!
Received this email from a faculty member and I must share it:
Warning! This email is only for people who appreciate beautiful colors in the sky!
Solar activity is REALLY high, with many recent X class flares, including an X5 today that is among the largest flares of this solar cycle so far. 1/N
Warning! This email is only for people who appreciate beautiful colors in the sky!
Solar activity is REALLY high, with many recent X class flares, including an X5 today that is among the largest flares of this solar cycle so far. 1/N
Homepage | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center
www.swpc.noaa.gov
November 11, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Received this email from a faculty member and I must share it:
Warning! This email is only for people who appreciate beautiful colors in the sky!
Solar activity is REALLY high, with many recent X class flares, including an X5 today that is among the largest flares of this solar cycle so far. 1/N
Warning! This email is only for people who appreciate beautiful colors in the sky!
Solar activity is REALLY high, with many recent X class flares, including an X5 today that is among the largest flares of this solar cycle so far. 1/N
Circulatory System in the Kitchen.
YES, CHEF!
YES, CHEF!
Happy There Is A Circulatory System Walking Through The Kitchen Day to all who celebrate.
November 10, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Circulatory System in the Kitchen.
YES, CHEF!
YES, CHEF!
Someone at US Consumer Product Safety is a Jon Osterman fan.
I notice she's wearing her watch.
I notice she's wearing her watch.
November 10, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Someone at US Consumer Product Safety is a Jon Osterman fan.
I notice she's wearing her watch.
I notice she's wearing her watch.
Reposted
Special congrats to my microwave who has been wrong for six months but is now back to actually telling the time
November 3, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Special congrats to my microwave who has been wrong for six months but is now back to actually telling the time
"who cheated the devil & was trapped between 2 worlds"
That's the face you make when you realize that the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is the correct one.
That's the face you make when you realize that the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is the correct one.
A reminder that the original Hallowe'en jack o' lanterns date back to 18th century Ireland if not earlier, were based on a shady boozy blacksmith called Stingy Jack who cheated the devil & was trapped between 2 worlds, were carved from turnips and looked like this:
October 31, 2025 at 10:25 AM
"who cheated the devil & was trapped between 2 worlds"
That's the face you make when you realize that the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is the correct one.
That's the face you make when you realize that the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics is the correct one.
Last night I saw the Misel lecture at the Univ. of MN by Nobel Laureate Kip Thorne, who gave a beautiful talk about black holes, warped spacetime, and gravitational waves.
I'm reminded of an old piece I wrote about LIGO and what happens after we die.
kakalios.com/black-holes-...
I'm reminded of an old piece I wrote about LIGO and what happens after we die.
kakalios.com/black-holes-...
Black Holes and Exits | James Kakalios
This past October I attended the Twin Cities Book Festival, an annual convention that brings together readers and authors with recently published books. I was invited for The Physics of Everyday Thing...
kakalios.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Last night I saw the Misel lecture at the Univ. of MN by Nobel Laureate Kip Thorne, who gave a beautiful talk about black holes, warped spacetime, and gravitational waves.
I'm reminded of an old piece I wrote about LIGO and what happens after we die.
kakalios.com/black-holes-...
I'm reminded of an old piece I wrote about LIGO and what happens after we die.
kakalios.com/black-holes-...
Reposted
This has to be one of the greatest gags in schism history
Mar Awa III, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, also born in Chicago, gave Pope Leo a Cubs jersey.
October 28, 2025 at 2:41 AM
This has to be one of the greatest gags in schism history