Wow, incredibly surreal, amazing experience for my orchestral piece "Exoplanets" to be augmented with lighting during performance by Sinfonieorchester Basel, not to mention expert narrations delivered by the festival resident scientist @henrylegg.bsky.social. Looking forward to sharing video soon!!
When I started studying physics I never thought I'd be involved in pushing "the boundaries of contemporary music" as the "soloist" (narrator) with an orchestra.
An amazing couple of evenings with the Basel symphony orchestra and a great team of over 100 people.
www.bazonline.ch/interfinity-...
An amazing evening yesterday narrating a composition by Rob Laidlow ( @robertlaidlow.bsky.social ) about exoplanets as part of the Interfinity festival in Basel.
Legg group dinner photo 2026:
1. Jesus Christ who is that old man in the back?!
2. Grateful to work with all these fantastic young minds doing some really exciting physics.
Just to be clear: I am against the phrase rather than the concept. It makes it sound a lot more like something which is nice to have, but not essential (and therefore can be cut). Rather than an integral aspect of a modern society.
Am I the only one that vehemently detests the phrase "curiosity driven research"? It conjures this image of a toddler asking "why, why, why?"
Wouldn't "foundational science" be better? More difficult for governments to say "we're cutting foundational science".
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I’ve been told I have a bit of a “tell” when it comes to my rugby support.
Personally, I don't see it.
Anyway, here’s me at this weekend’s Scotland vs England Six Nations game.
See! Totally neutral…
Proof that having a PhD is not a sign of true intelligence: Guess which moron waited until February to buy a bike and started cycling to work in the driving Scottish wind and rain?
That’s nothing: Topological qubits have only reached the same point that the Catholic church did 2000 years ago. (Made up stories and claims of miracles).
Supposedly the most for any physicist, although the nominations are kept secret for quite a long period of time.
Fun fact I learnt preparing my condensed matter lectures for this semester:
Arnold Sommerfeld was nominated 84 times for the Nobel prize in physics, but never won.
Interestingly, despite his lifelong Nobel prize disappointment, Sommerfeld never threatened to invade Greenland (as far as I know).
Ignoring the other madness in this: It’s interesting to see how French food is used as a weapon of diplomacy.
What’s the British equivalent of dinner in Paris? Fish and chips with the king?
I have long thought the hyper focus on the Nobel prize by many “bigshot” scientists is bad for science…
I had never considered that the hyper focus of a US president on the Nobel peace prize could be bad for peace
I am making the supreme sacrifice in the name of solidarity. For as long as Trump is threatening Greenland I will boycott American bread and chocolate.
The rarest of sights - a big glossy journal publishing negative replications! Yes, we had to bundle 4 replications into one article AND we had to wait 2 (!!) years in peer review, but here we are:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Fair point. The orcs of third age probably mostly drove Skodas.
The parsimonious position is neither that Orcs did or did not drive Ferraris to work as part of Sauron's compensation package to them, but that some orcs may have sometimes driven Ferraris to work.
Thank you for all your private messages to me about Balrog wings.
Unfortunately, in 2025, wingers like @dangaristo.bsky.social still exist and think Balrogs were just glorified penguins.
In this era of fake news we must defend important facts: Balrogs do not have wings.
Now this is classic Usenet beef. We're talking 30-year-aged stuff here. Simpler times. Better times.
Dan there are two universal truths:
1) Balrogs do not have wings.
2) Feanor did nothing wrong.
Yes, the wings are a metaphor for the shadow. Literally following on from a simile “shadow… like two wings”. Why would it have shadow *like*wings if it already had wings?!?
I can’t believe I have to explain similes and metaphors to a journalist.
@dangaristo.bsky.social this is how Balrog wingers imagine Durin's bane.
You think a glorified penguin is going to go toe-to-toe with Gandalf? Come off it.
Dan, do not let me question your judgment: If you believe that Balrogs had wings you are very very wrong.
You probably also think that Feanor did something wrong. Feanor did nothing wrong. Period.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXKn...
I was just sent a video of a child in a Balrog halloween costume. Appallingly, the Balrog costume had wings.
**Balrogs do not have wings**
Why are we teaching children incorrect anatomy of mythical creatures? Are you going to also throw a pair of wings on a giraffe?
My day is already ruined.
Let's be very clear: Google’s claims are debatable, Microsoft’s are a work of fiction.
Be sceptical of Google like the bloke down the pub claiming he lives in a mansion.
Be sceptical of Microsoft like the bloke claiming he lives in a castle in the sky powered by topoconductors and fairy dust.
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
There are some differences between UK and international BBC.
Still there on their science page, now with a seemingly AI generated picture: www.bbc.co.uk/news/science...
NO BBC! Don't summon them, don't do it!