Marcel S. Pawlowski
@8minutesold.bsky.social
Astrophysicist studying cosmic choreographies of dwarf galaxies. Junior Research Group Leader at AIP, Street Photographer (he/him)
Autor des Buchs „Von tanzenden Galaxien, Dunkler Materie, und anderen kosmischen Rätseln“
Potsdam, Germany
Autor des Buchs „Von tanzenden Galaxien, Dunkler Materie, und anderen kosmischen Rätseln“
Potsdam, Germany
Pinned
Es ist soweit: heute erscheint mein Sachbuch "Von Tanzenden Galaxien, Dunkler Materie und anderen kosmischen Rätseln" ISBN: 978-3-95972-788-4
Auf 304 Seiten schreibe ich über Astronomie, Galaxien, und wie Astrophysiker*innen Herausforderungen des Dunkle-Materie-Modells begegnen. 🔭🧪
Auf 304 Seiten schreibe ich über Astronomie, Galaxien, und wie Astrophysiker*innen Herausforderungen des Dunkle-Materie-Modells begegnen. 🔭🧪
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
Today’s the day! There are still some tickets if you’re interested to join.
Wie weit sind alternative Methoden zu Tierversuchen?
Darüber diskutieren wir bei #WissenUnplugged am 4.11. in der Hörsaalruine.
👉Jetzt anmelden: wissen-unplugged.de
Gemeinsam veranstaltet mit ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS in Kooperation mit #Dlf Nova und ZEIT Campus.
@holtzbrinckberlin.bsky.social
Darüber diskutieren wir bei #WissenUnplugged am 4.11. in der Hörsaalruine.
👉Jetzt anmelden: wissen-unplugged.de
Gemeinsam veranstaltet mit ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS in Kooperation mit #Dlf Nova und ZEIT Campus.
@holtzbrinckberlin.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Today’s the day! There are still some tickets if you’re interested to join.
Happy Halloween!
October 31, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Happy Halloween!
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
This excellent press release about a paper favouring dark matter over MOND came out a few days ago. A great primer to get you excited for dark matter day and the power of tiny galaxies 🔭🧪 bsky.app/profile/8min...
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
October 30, 2025 at 7:38 AM
This excellent press release about a paper favouring dark matter over MOND came out a few days ago. A great primer to get you excited for dark matter day and the power of tiny galaxies 🔭🧪 bsky.app/profile/8min...
Who wouldn’t vacuously stare at the back of a computer screen showing a globular cluster when doing research on dwarf galaxy dynamics?
AI slop at its finest. 🙄
(from www.cadena3.com/amp/noticia/...)
AI slop at its finest. 🙄
(from www.cadena3.com/amp/noticia/...)
Los datos de galaxias enanas favorecen la existencia de materia oscura
Un estudio internacional liderado por el Instituto Leibniz de Astrofísica de Potsdam logró resolver el debate sobre la velocidad de giro de las galaxias y su relación con la materia oscura.
www.cadena3.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Who wouldn’t vacuously stare at the back of a computer screen showing a globular cluster when doing research on dwarf galaxy dynamics?
AI slop at its finest. 🙄
(from www.cadena3.com/amp/noticia/...)
AI slop at its finest. 🙄
(from www.cadena3.com/amp/noticia/...)
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
Analysis of stellar velocities in faint dwarf galaxies indicates their internal dynamics are better explained by dark matter models than by modified gravity theories such as MOND. doi.org/g977ff
Dwarf galaxies tip the scales in favor of dark matter over modified gravity
An international team of researchers led by the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) has shed light on a decades-long debate about why galaxies spin faster than expected—and whether this behavior is caused by invisible dark matter or by a collapse of gravity on cosmic scales.
phys.org
October 27, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Analysis of stellar velocities in faint dwarf galaxies indicates their internal dynamics are better explained by dark matter models than by modified gravity theories such as MOND. doi.org/g977ff
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
October 27, 2025 at 10:45 AM
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
October 27, 2025 at 10:45 AM
New press release about our new paper led by my PhD student Mariana Pouseiro Júlio! 🔭🧪☄️
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
English version here: www.aip.de/en/news/dark...
Charon: There just isn't enough money to go around to fund free public transport for everyone.
Describe a character in Greek mythology the way someone trying to defend a politician would. I’ll start.
Oedipus: Like you’ve never had sex with someone and regretted it later
Oedipus: Like you’ve never had sex with someone and regretted it later
October 26, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Charon: There just isn't enough money to go around to fund free public transport for everyone.
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
Researchers face uncertainty like never before. Join the To Be Honest Conference 2025 to discuss careers, funding & resilience in academia.
🗓 Dec 4–5 | Online
🎓 For PhDs & academics
🔗 Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AqL7Vnz0Q...
🗓 Dec 4–5 | Online
🎓 For PhDs & academics
🔗 Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AqL7Vnz0Q...
October 22, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Researchers face uncertainty like never before. Join the To Be Honest Conference 2025 to discuss careers, funding & resilience in academia.
🗓 Dec 4–5 | Online
🎓 For PhDs & academics
🔗 Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AqL7Vnz0Q...
🗓 Dec 4–5 | Online
🎓 For PhDs & academics
🔗 Register: events.zoom.us/ev/AqL7Vnz0Q...
After my lecture we had a fun excursion to the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand yesterday afternoon. Got to see their planetarium and some workshops where they coat telescope mirrors.
October 16, 2025 at 12:40 PM
After my lecture we had a fun excursion to the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand yesterday afternoon. Got to see their planetarium and some workshops where they coat telescope mirrors.
Made it to Thailand. Already learned that you can buy vegetables at the airport, where the bathroom also had an interesting name. Now making some final edits on my lecture slides while fighting the jet lag with coffee.
October 13, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Made it to Thailand. Already learned that you can buy vegetables at the airport, where the bathroom also had an interesting name. Now making some final edits on my lecture slides while fighting the jet lag with coffee.
Neat, I have free WiFi in the plane on this leg of the trip. Though to properly work on my laptop in these tiny economy seats some T-Rex arms would come in handy. 💻🦖
October 11, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Neat, I have free WiFi in the plane on this leg of the trip. Though to properly work on my laptop in these tiny economy seats some T-Rex arms would come in handy. 💻🦖
And now on to the more demanding part of this trip, getting to Chiang Mai in Thailand to give a lecture for the WE-Heraeus and NARIT Cosmology School. First leg is a train trip to Madrid, then flights to Doha and Bangkok. If all goes according to plan, it’ll take me 31 hours door to door.
October 11, 2025 at 6:44 AM
And now on to the more demanding part of this trip, getting to Chiang Mai in Thailand to give a lecture for the WE-Heraeus and NARIT Cosmology School. First leg is a train trip to Madrid, then flights to Doha and Bangkok. If all goes according to plan, it’ll take me 31 hours door to door.
After an intense IAU Symposium on galaxy outskirts with lots of interesting talks but too little time to chat with everyone, I got a half day to enjoy beautiful Cordoba yesterday.
October 11, 2025 at 5:35 AM
After an intense IAU Symposium on galaxy outskirts with lots of interesting talks but too little time to chat with everyone, I got a half day to enjoy beautiful Cordoba yesterday.
Paper day! My PhD student Mariana Júlio, with @readdark.bsky.social, @pengfeili.bsky.social and others, studies the internal dynamics of dwarf galaxies and finds they don't agree with the Radial Acceleration Relation, challenging the dark matter alternative MOND.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.06905
🔭☄️🧪
1/7
arxiv.org/abs/2510.06905
🔭☄️🧪
1/7
The radial acceleration relation at the EDGE of galaxy formation: testing its universality in low-mass dwarf galaxies
A tight correlation between the baryonic and observed acceleration of galaxies has been reported over a wide range of mass ($10^8 < M_{\rm bar}/{\rm M}_\odot < 10^{11}$) - the Radial Acceleration Rela...
arxiv.org
October 9, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Paper day! My PhD student Mariana Júlio, with @readdark.bsky.social, @pengfeili.bsky.social and others, studies the internal dynamics of dwarf galaxies and finds they don't agree with the Radial Acceleration Relation, challenging the dark matter alternative MOND.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.06905
🔭☄️🧪
1/7
arxiv.org/abs/2510.06905
🔭☄️🧪
1/7
Congratulations to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for winning the Nobel Price in Physics … for Johns.
By my count from last year, this should now make it 12 men named John who were awarded the Nobel, versus a total of five women (of any name). 🧪
By my count from last year, this should now make it 12 men named John who were awarded the Nobel, versus a total of five women (of any name). 🧪
Congratulations, the Nobel Prize in Physics 🧪 has now been awarded to twice as many guys named John than women.
(One John even got it two times.)
(One John even got it two times.)
October 7, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Congratulations to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for winning the Nobel Price in Physics … for Johns.
By my count from last year, this should now make it 12 men named John who were awarded the Nobel, versus a total of five women (of any name). 🧪
By my count from last year, this should now make it 12 men named John who were awarded the Nobel, versus a total of five women (of any name). 🧪
And we’re stuck on the tarmac in Berlin “for at least an hour” in a fully boarded flight because some oil-related maintenance light came on.
a close up of a car dashboard with a red triangle on the bottom right
ALT: a close up of a car dashboard with a red triangle on the bottom right
media.tenor.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:53 AM
And we’re stuck on the tarmac in Berlin “for at least an hour” in a fully boarded flight because some oil-related maintenance light came on.
Heading to Cordoba in Spain for IAU Symposium 403 ‘The Hidden Beauty of the Galactic Outskirts’, and from there to Chiang Mai in Thailand to give a lecture on dwarf galaxies and small-scale problems for the German-Thai ‘WE-Heraeus & NARIT Cosmology School 2025 – Galaxies and Beyond’. 🔭☄️
October 7, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Heading to Cordoba in Spain for IAU Symposium 403 ‘The Hidden Beauty of the Galactic Outskirts’, and from there to Chiang Mai in Thailand to give a lecture on dwarf galaxies and small-scale problems for the German-Thai ‘WE-Heraeus & NARIT Cosmology School 2025 – Galaxies and Beyond’. 🔭☄️
Facebook reminded me that exactly 12 years ago there was another government shutdown in the U.S.
I had arrived for my first postdoc just before, applied for a SSN, but the shutdown delayed getting assigned one. Which meant that I couldn’t be paid my salary until 2 months after my international move
I had arrived for my first postdoc just before, applied for a SSN, but the shutdown delayed getting assigned one. Which meant that I couldn’t be paid my salary until 2 months after my international move
October 1, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Facebook reminded me that exactly 12 years ago there was another government shutdown in the U.S.
I had arrived for my first postdoc just before, applied for a SSN, but the shutdown delayed getting assigned one. Which meant that I couldn’t be paid my salary until 2 months after my international move
I had arrived for my first postdoc just before, applied for a SSN, but the shutdown delayed getting assigned one. Which meant that I couldn’t be paid my salary until 2 months after my international move
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
🕶️ Dunkle Materie & Zwerggalaxien: Im neuen Video der virtuellen #BabelsbergerSternenächte beantwortet @8minutesold.bsky.social vom AIP wieder Fragen zu spannenden Themen. Jetzt reinschauen! youtu.be/TZLht8_YkGU
Unsichtbare Galaxien • Rätsel der Dunklen Materie | Marcel Pawlowski
YouTube video by Urknall, Weltall und das Leben
youtu.be
September 18, 2025 at 6:08 PM
🕶️ Dunkle Materie & Zwerggalaxien: Im neuen Video der virtuellen #BabelsbergerSternenächte beantwortet @8minutesold.bsky.social vom AIP wieder Fragen zu spannenden Themen. Jetzt reinschauen! youtu.be/TZLht8_YkGU
Just returned from a meeting last week, and already had to get up early for the next trip. To Brussels this time, for a workshop on “Knowledge Transfer for Policy Making” at the @leibniz-gemeinschaft.de and European Parliament.
September 10, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Just returned from a meeting last week, and already had to get up early for the next trip. To Brussels this time, for a workshop on “Knowledge Transfer for Policy Making” at the @leibniz-gemeinschaft.de and European Parliament.
This all makes so much more sense if you interpret the “PhD level experts” as referring to the numerous (mostly conservative/liberal) German politicians who have lost their degrees after it turned out that they heavily plagiarized in their dissertations.
OpenAI releases the newest version of the AI model that powers its popular ChatGPT chatbot, with CEO Sam Altman promoting it as like having a “team of Ph.D. level experts in your pocket.”
OpenAI releases GPT-5, calling it a ‘team of Ph.D. level experts in your pocket’
OpenAI says its latest version of the popular AI model is better at coding, more accurate and less deceptive than previous versions.
nbcnews.to
August 8, 2025 at 2:51 PM
This all makes so much more sense if you interpret the “PhD level experts” as referring to the numerous (mostly conservative/liberal) German politicians who have lost their degrees after it turned out that they heavily plagiarized in their dissertations.
Nice end-of-semester surprise: someone from the Potsdam Graduate School appeared in my team meeting to give me a special recognition in their SUPERvisor Award.
Feels like enough of a reward to work with this amazing team, but I take any excuse to celebrate these great people with great coffee. 😉
Feels like enough of a reward to work with this amazing team, but I take any excuse to celebrate these great people with great coffee. 😉
August 8, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Nice end-of-semester surprise: someone from the Potsdam Graduate School appeared in my team meeting to give me a special recognition in their SUPERvisor Award.
Feels like enough of a reward to work with this amazing team, but I take any excuse to celebrate these great people with great coffee. 😉
Feels like enough of a reward to work with this amazing team, but I take any excuse to celebrate these great people with great coffee. 😉
Reposted by Marcel S. Pawlowski
LLMs like ChatGPT, GoogleAI, etc are to learning what wrist magnets are to good health and vibrating belts are to weight loss.
August 6, 2025 at 11:50 PM
LLMs like ChatGPT, GoogleAI, etc are to learning what wrist magnets are to good health and vibrating belts are to weight loss.