Andrew Francis
@arkfrancis.bsky.social
Head of Mathematics & Statistics at UNSW Sydney, doing phylogenetics and combinatorics with bits of algebra. Likes thinking about problems and not only maths ones! Valuing people, our amazing and unlikely existence, and all we share it with. He/him.
Reposted by Andrew Francis
For their first project, my Kids and Society students have to create an infographic clarifying a common misconception about "kids these days." I'd prefer that they not use AI to create their projects, so I made my own infographic explaining why : )
September 25, 2025 at 10:34 AM
For their first project, my Kids and Society students have to create an infographic clarifying a common misconception about "kids these days." I'd prefer that they not use AI to create their projects, so I made my own infographic explaining why : )
Reposted by Andrew Francis
“There is no joy more intense than that of coming upon a fact that cannot be understood in terms of currently accepted ideas."
Astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who decoded spectral lines to deduce the elemental composition of stars, was born #OTD in 1900. 🧪 🔭 ⚛️ 👩🔬
Image: Harvard Observatory
Astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who decoded spectral lines to deduce the elemental composition of stars, was born #OTD in 1900. 🧪 🔭 ⚛️ 👩🔬
Image: Harvard Observatory
May 10, 2025 at 6:02 PM
“There is no joy more intense than that of coming upon a fact that cannot be understood in terms of currently accepted ideas."
Astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who decoded spectral lines to deduce the elemental composition of stars, was born #OTD in 1900. 🧪 🔭 ⚛️ 👩🔬
Image: Harvard Observatory
Astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who decoded spectral lines to deduce the elemental composition of stars, was born #OTD in 1900. 🧪 🔭 ⚛️ 👩🔬
Image: Harvard Observatory
New paper out in J Theor Biol! I make the case that "normal" phylogenetic networks are the gas. #mathsky
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com
August 20, 2025 at 10:46 PM
New paper out in J Theor Biol! I make the case that "normal" phylogenetic networks are the gas. #mathsky
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Andrew Francis
The problem with most machine-based random number generators is that they’re not TRULY random, so if you need genuine randomness it is sometimes necessary to link your code to an external random process like a physical noise source or the current rate of US tariffs on a given country.
April 9, 2025 at 7:15 PM
The problem with most machine-based random number generators is that they’re not TRULY random, so if you need genuine randomness it is sometimes necessary to link your code to an external random process like a physical noise source or the current rate of US tariffs on a given country.
I have this beautiful old pedal organ at home in Sydney. I think my parents were given it in the late 70s while we lived in Cooma, NSW, but clearly it comes originally from Vermont.
I want to offload it, but how? Who would want a pedal organ now?
I want to offload it, but how? Who would want a pedal organ now?
April 8, 2025 at 10:20 AM
I have this beautiful old pedal organ at home in Sydney. I think my parents were given it in the late 70s while we lived in Cooma, NSW, but clearly it comes originally from Vermont.
I want to offload it, but how? Who would want a pedal organ now?
I want to offload it, but how? Who would want a pedal organ now?
The battle still rages.
PUT AWAY YOUR THROWING SPIKES, TODAY YOU WILL BATTLE DESPAIR. AND YOU WILL WIN.
March 28, 2025 at 7:32 AM
The battle still rages.
That's hilarious. The banal ignorance of the anti science, mediocrity now in charge.
So now we are all legally female
The Trump executive order against trans people defines "female" and "male" *at conception.* Not birth. This is fetal personhood language (in addition to being scientifically inaccurate). www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
January 21, 2025 at 8:35 PM
That's hilarious. The banal ignorance of the anti science, mediocrity now in charge.
I must say, this is the first summer in such a long time that I'm not working on an ARC #grant , unable to actually have down time.
So hats off to the ARC for making the schedule change!
#academicsky
#research
#mathsky
#sciencesky
So hats off to the ARC for making the schedule change!
#academicsky
#research
#mathsky
#sciencesky
January 12, 2025 at 10:57 AM
I must say, this is the first summer in such a long time that I'm not working on an ARC #grant , unable to actually have down time.
So hats off to the ARC for making the schedule change!
#academicsky
#research
#mathsky
#sciencesky
So hats off to the ARC for making the schedule change!
#academicsky
#research
#mathsky
#sciencesky
I think we found an Australian funnel-web spider today in this little tunnel on St Georges Basin in NSW.
Cute little thing came out to grab a pine needle we tickled its web with, and dragged it back, holding tightly.
Cute little thing came out to grab a pine needle we tickled its web with, and dragged it back, holding tightly.
January 10, 2025 at 9:35 AM
I think we found an Australian funnel-web spider today in this little tunnel on St Georges Basin in NSW.
Cute little thing came out to grab a pine needle we tickled its web with, and dragged it back, holding tightly.
Cute little thing came out to grab a pine needle we tickled its web with, and dragged it back, holding tightly.
My father died over 8 years ago, which means it's time to sort through more boxes of stuff from his life.
Why did he keep so many pencil stubs?
Needless to say, I'm keeping them too.
Why did he keep so many pencil stubs?
Needless to say, I'm keeping them too.
January 5, 2025 at 10:43 PM
My father died over 8 years ago, which means it's time to sort through more boxes of stuff from his life.
Why did he keep so many pencil stubs?
Needless to say, I'm keeping them too.
Why did he keep so many pencil stubs?
Needless to say, I'm keeping them too.
Great work by Amandine Schaeffer from UNSW Maths and Stats!
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...
How scientists can predict what days bluebottles will wash onto beaches
Scientists from UNSW Sydney are creating technology that can go so far as to predict which beaches and on what days bluebottles will wash ashore.
www.abc.net.au
December 25, 2024 at 9:09 PM
Great work by Amandine Schaeffer from UNSW Maths and Stats!
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...
www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...
Reposted by Andrew Francis
Gotta also love that with the gender pay gap already a big problem, it's only the blokiest cars for blokey blokes that get subsidised.
A tax system that incentivises people buying big utes for "work" is terrible for the environment.
Emissions from passenger cars have fallen since 2005.
But that has been more than cancelled out by the increase in emissions from utes and other light commercial vehicles.
Emissions from passenger cars have fallen since 2005.
But that has been more than cancelled out by the increase in emissions from utes and other light commercial vehicles.
November 29, 2024 at 3:37 AM
Gotta also love that with the gender pay gap already a big problem, it's only the blokiest cars for blokey blokes that get subsidised.
Good morning Sydney!
I guess it's huntsman season again 😬.
This one was released into the backyard after delaying my morning coffee.
I guess it's huntsman season again 😬.
This one was released into the backyard after delaying my morning coffee.
November 27, 2024 at 6:23 PM
Good morning Sydney!
I guess it's huntsman season again 😬.
This one was released into the backyard after delaying my morning coffee.
I guess it's huntsman season again 😬.
This one was released into the backyard after delaying my morning coffee.
Nice!
Reading: Switzerland establishes center for scientific integrity
From 2026, a new competence center will promote academic integrity at Swiss universities and serve as an advice center for misconduct.
www.bluewin.ch/en/news/inte...
From 2026, a new competence center will promote academic integrity at Swiss universities and serve as an advice center for misconduct.
www.bluewin.ch/en/news/inte...
Switzerland establishes center for scientific integrity
From 2026, a new competence center will promote academic integrity at Swiss universities and serve as an advice center for misconduct.
www.bluewin.ch
November 18, 2024 at 7:14 AM
Nice!
Welcome to all recent arrivals! It does seem a lot more civil here.
Step 1: Elon takes over Twitter, unbans and amplifies the worst white nationalist posters, methodically turns it into a right wing echo chamber.
Step 2: Users who aren’t white nationalists or MAGA extremists leave for Bluesky en masse.
Step 3: op-ed columnists fret, “is Bluesky an echo chamber?”
Step 2: Users who aren’t white nationalists or MAGA extremists leave for Bluesky en masse.
Step 3: op-ed columnists fret, “is Bluesky an echo chamber?”
November 17, 2024 at 12:42 AM
Welcome to all recent arrivals! It does seem a lot more civil here.
Phylogenetics hits the big time!
November 13, 2024 at 7:45 PM
Phylogenetics hits the big time!
Reposted by Andrew Francis
we are, in the end, responsible for ourselves, and one of the longrunning themes of Discworld is how important it is to make the right decisions simply because they are right
November 13, 2024 at 7:04 PM
we are, in the end, responsible for ourselves, and one of the longrunning themes of Discworld is how important it is to make the right decisions simply because they are right
Reposted by Andrew Francis
Discworld QOTD, from Feet of Clay
"You couldn't say 'I had orders.' You couldn't say 'It's not fair.' No one was listening. There were no Words. You owned yourself. [...]
Not 'Thou Shalt Not'. Say 'I Will Not'."
"You couldn't say 'I had orders.' You couldn't say 'It's not fair.' No one was listening. There were no Words. You owned yourself. [...]
Not 'Thou Shalt Not'. Say 'I Will Not'."
Discworld QOTD, from Unseen Academicals
November 13, 2024 at 7:02 PM
Discworld QOTD, from Feet of Clay
"You couldn't say 'I had orders.' You couldn't say 'It's not fair.' No one was listening. There were no Words. You owned yourself. [...]
Not 'Thou Shalt Not'. Say 'I Will Not'."
"You couldn't say 'I had orders.' You couldn't say 'It's not fair.' No one was listening. There were no Words. You owned yourself. [...]
Not 'Thou Shalt Not'. Say 'I Will Not'."
Read this
November 7, 2024 at 1:56 AM
Read this
‘The death of campus life’: first major Australian university dumps face-to-face lectures, leaving staff ‘furious’
Adelaide University touts ‘rich digital learning activities’ that will be ‘self-paced and self-directed’ after student numbers on campus decline
www.theguardian.com
September 13, 2024 at 10:49 PM
RIP Daniel Kahnemann.
I gained a lot from the two books of his I read: Thinking Fast and Slow; and Noise. He made a difference with his work, and I'm glad to have known of it and of him.
I gained a lot from the two books of his I read: Thinking Fast and Slow; and Noise. He made a difference with his work, and I'm glad to have known of it and of him.
April 3, 2024 at 11:31 AM
RIP Daniel Kahnemann.
I gained a lot from the two books of his I read: Thinking Fast and Slow; and Noise. He made a difference with his work, and I'm glad to have known of it and of him.
I gained a lot from the two books of his I read: Thinking Fast and Slow; and Noise. He made a difference with his work, and I'm glad to have known of it and of him.
Ouch!!
March 28, 2024 at 6:07 AM
Ouch!!
Reposted by Andrew Francis
Other big thanks goes to Profs. Margaret Sheil, Susan Dodds & Mark Hutchinson for undertaking the #ARCreview!
March 21, 2024 at 6:17 AM
Other big thanks goes to Profs. Margaret Sheil, Susan Dodds & Mark Hutchinson for undertaking the #ARCreview!