Compton Scatterbrained
@comptonscatter.bsky.social
Bad hearing, bad sight, scattered brain.
Full of PFAS, but a true believer in radiation hormesis.
Why isn't rutile rutilant?
I like valence electrons (but K shell too) & deep time.
Full of PFAS, but a true believer in radiation hormesis.
Why isn't rutile rutilant?
I like valence electrons (but K shell too) & deep time.
Pinned
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
This series about the impacts of federal cuts to science funding is heartbreaking.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/c...
He Helped Cities Anticipate Damage From Storms
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:13 PM
This series about the impacts of federal cuts to science funding is heartbreaking.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/c...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/c...
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
I’ve been in Toronto at the #astmh meeting these past few days and last night some very good news was presented here: A new malaria drug has proven efficacious in a large trial and could soon be approved.🧪
My story in @science.org (and 🧵on why it's important to come):
www.science.org/content/arti...
My story in @science.org (and 🧵on why it's important to come):
www.science.org/content/arti...
‘A sigh of relief’: New malaria drug succeeds in large clinical trial
As existing drugs falter because of resistance, the world gets a backup—but hard choices loom on how to use it
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:27 PM
I’ve been in Toronto at the #astmh meeting these past few days and last night some very good news was presented here: A new malaria drug has proven efficacious in a large trial and could soon be approved.🧪
My story in @science.org (and 🧵on why it's important to come):
www.science.org/content/arti...
My story in @science.org (and 🧵on why it's important to come):
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
👇 A great collaboration with @gernon.bsky.social, Thea Hincks, Martin Palmer (all @unisouthampton.bsky.social), Chris Spencer (Queen’s University), @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social (Swansea University) and Anne Glerum (@gfz.bsky.social) 👇
Many oceanic islands far from active plate tectonic boundaries contain materials clearly originating from continents, even though they are located in the middle of an oceanic plate. Where do the continental remnants come from? @sasbrune.bsky.social, and lead author Thomas Gernon from 1/5
November 13, 2025 at 6:07 AM
👇 A great collaboration with @gernon.bsky.social, Thea Hincks, Martin Palmer (all @unisouthampton.bsky.social), Chris Spencer (Queen’s University), @wattsvolcanology.bsky.social (Swansea University) and Anne Glerum (@gfz.bsky.social) 👇
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma.
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
November 12, 2025 at 10:31 AM
What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma.
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
Athelstan Spilhaus, a geophysicist, oceanographer, and inventor at WHOI, spent his life redefining boundaries on maps, technological possibilities, and how people imagined the future.
Learn more about this ocean pioneer: go.whoi.edu/spilhaus
Learn more about this ocean pioneer: go.whoi.edu/spilhaus
November 12, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Athelstan Spilhaus, a geophysicist, oceanographer, and inventor at WHOI, spent his life redefining boundaries on maps, technological possibilities, and how people imagined the future.
Learn more about this ocean pioneer: go.whoi.edu/spilhaus
Learn more about this ocean pioneer: go.whoi.edu/spilhaus
TIL pumpjacks are called "jaknikkers" in Dutch ("yes-nodders")
November 12, 2025 at 5:44 AM
TIL pumpjacks are called "jaknikkers" in Dutch ("yes-nodders")
omg want
Tectonic plate puzzle anyone? 🌎
Made by me, one at a time. I’m planning to have a really limited number available before the holidays - if you want to find out when I do, sign up to my newsletter! I will share them through it first.
Sign up > www.luciaperezdiaz.com#newsletter
(No spam, I promise)
Made by me, one at a time. I’m planning to have a really limited number available before the holidays - if you want to find out when I do, sign up to my newsletter! I will share them through it first.
Sign up > www.luciaperezdiaz.com#newsletter
(No spam, I promise)
November 11, 2025 at 2:06 PM
omg want
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
Some moss sporophytes have teeth. Some have two rows of teeth!
November 11, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Some moss sporophytes have teeth. Some have two rows of teeth!
An email address of mine has been unexpectedly deactivated; a package I'm supposed to pick up can't be picked up because I have no code. And my kid is not learning language beyond happy grunts. I hope he at least can be able to live independently.
November 11, 2025 at 10:26 AM
An email address of mine has been unexpectedly deactivated; a package I'm supposed to pick up can't be picked up because I have no code. And my kid is not learning language beyond happy grunts. I hope he at least can be able to live independently.
This has indeed a different take than what we're generally told. Franklin wasn't unaware of what her images were showing.
Although my book on Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin mentions how Hodgkin considered her chemistry knowledge lacking.
Although my book on Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin mentions how Hodgkin considered her chemistry knowledge lacking.
“Getting Franklin’s story right is crucial, because she has become a role model for women going into science. She was up against not just the routine sexism of the day, but also more subtle forms embedded in science — some of which are still present today.”
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:01 PM
This has indeed a different take than what we're generally told. Franklin wasn't unaware of what her images were showing.
Although my book on Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin mentions how Hodgkin considered her chemistry knowledge lacking.
Although my book on Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin mentions how Hodgkin considered her chemistry knowledge lacking.
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
New filter-feeding pterosaur dropped and it was found in dinosaur vomit!
The name Bakiribu waridza derives from Kariri words: bakiribú (“comb”) and waridzá (“mouth”), referring to the animal’s comb-like dentition. The name also honors the Indigenous peoples native to the Araripe region, Brazil.
🎨 by @lacerdajulio.bsky.social
🎨 by @lacerdajulio.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 10:50 AM
New filter-feeding pterosaur dropped and it was found in dinosaur vomit!
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
Seismic monitoring stations in Alaska are closing after a denied federal grant, risking delayed tsunami warnings for people living on the West Coast ⚒️
www.nbcnews.com/science/tsun...
www.nbcnews.com/science/tsun...
U.S. tsunami warning system, reeling from funding and staffing cuts, is dealt another blow
Seismic monitoring stations in Alaska are closing after a denied federal grant, risking delayed tsunami warnings for people living on the West Coast.
www.nbcnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:17 PM
@dieworkwear.bsky.social
I ran into a tip for washing clothing less: a homemade spray of 1 part vodka and 3 parts water. For if there's a bit of smell but not really dirty.
Is this anything? Would alcohol do anything adverse to particular fabrics or dyes?
I ran into a tip for washing clothing less: a homemade spray of 1 part vodka and 3 parts water. For if there's a bit of smell but not really dirty.
Is this anything? Would alcohol do anything adverse to particular fabrics or dyes?
November 10, 2025 at 11:40 AM
@dieworkwear.bsky.social
I ran into a tip for washing clothing less: a homemade spray of 1 part vodka and 3 parts water. For if there's a bit of smell but not really dirty.
Is this anything? Would alcohol do anything adverse to particular fabrics or dyes?
I ran into a tip for washing clothing less: a homemade spray of 1 part vodka and 3 parts water. For if there's a bit of smell but not really dirty.
Is this anything? Would alcohol do anything adverse to particular fabrics or dyes?
St Nicholas is scheduled to arrive in the Netherlands on his steam boat from Spain this weekend, and I am enjoying showing my oldest pictures of the Good Holy Man bitch-slapping Arius for claiming Jesus is less God than God, lol
November 10, 2025 at 6:25 AM
St Nicholas is scheduled to arrive in the Netherlands on his steam boat from Spain this weekend, and I am enjoying showing my oldest pictures of the Good Holy Man bitch-slapping Arius for claiming Jesus is less God than God, lol
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
We're snailposting, post your snails!
November 9, 2025 at 5:11 PM
We're snailposting, post your snails!
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
Fun fact- I have a chunk of pure copper from Keeweenaw Peninsula that I use as a door stop.
My dad got it out of Lake Superior, decades ago.
My dad got it out of Lake Superior, decades ago.
#OreCup R2M1: Are you supporting tendrils of native #Copper or dark grains of #Ilmenite?
vote: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...
results: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...
vote: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...
results: www.mineralcup.org/vote-results...
Vote in Semifinals Match 1 — Mineral Cup & Ore Cup
Vote in Copper vs Ilmenite Credit: Carles Millan and Modris Baum
www.mineralcup.org
November 7, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Fun fact- I have a chunk of pure copper from Keeweenaw Peninsula that I use as a door stop.
My dad got it out of Lake Superior, decades ago.
My dad got it out of Lake Superior, decades ago.
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
Worrying to see my university @psl-univ.bsky.social cancelling a history colloquium on Palestine. And our minister says that cancelling a conference is to “preserve academic freedom”.
What will be the next topic that can't be freely discussed among scholars?
What will be the next topic that can't be freely discussed among scholars?
Le Collège de France annule un colloque sur la Palestine présenté par ses détracteurs comme une « foire antisioniste »
Le Collège de France annule un colloque sur la Palestine présenté par ses détracteurs comme une « foire antisioniste »
Le Collège de France « ne prône, ni n’encourage, ni ne soutient aucune forme de militantisme », a affirmé l’établissement qui assure de sa « stricte neutralité (…) au regard des questions de nature politique ou idéologique ».
www.lemonde.fr
November 9, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Worrying to see my university @psl-univ.bsky.social cancelling a history colloquium on Palestine. And our minister says that cancelling a conference is to “preserve academic freedom”.
What will be the next topic that can't be freely discussed among scholars?
What will be the next topic that can't be freely discussed among scholars?
Oh bwahahaha I snickered at "Dahly showed... clustering is essentially telling us, for example, that people who are older than 65 are older than people who are under 65."
(reading it for the beetus)
www.fharrell.com/post/cluster...
(reading it for the beetus)
www.fharrell.com/post/cluster...
The Burden of Demonstrating Statistical Validity of Clusters – Statistical Thinking
Patient clustering, often described as the finding of new phenotypes, is being used with increasing frequency in the medical literature. Most of the applications of clustering of observations are not ...
www.fharrell.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Oh bwahahaha I snickered at "Dahly showed... clustering is essentially telling us, for example, that people who are older than 65 are older than people who are under 65."
(reading it for the beetus)
www.fharrell.com/post/cluster...
(reading it for the beetus)
www.fharrell.com/post/cluster...
uh whoa I didn't know Otto Hahn was into geochemistry... I can't really read German but he's got an early paper out on Rb/Sr dating!
November 7, 2025 at 8:15 PM
uh whoa I didn't know Otto Hahn was into geochemistry... I can't really read German but he's got an early paper out on Rb/Sr dating!
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
Happy birthday to Marie Skłodowska-Curie (1867 – 1934, Polish-born, naturalized-French #physicist & #chemist at work in her lab. The contents of her lab glassware in my print appropriately glow-in-the-dark! 🧪🐡👩🏼🔬 #histsci
Marie Curie was the 1st woman to win a Nobel prize, the only woman to ever win
Marie Curie was the 1st woman to win a Nobel prize, the only woman to ever win
November 7, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Happy birthday to Marie Skłodowska-Curie (1867 – 1934, Polish-born, naturalized-French #physicist & #chemist at work in her lab. The contents of her lab glassware in my print appropriately glow-in-the-dark! 🧪🐡👩🏼🔬 #histsci
Marie Curie was the 1st woman to win a Nobel prize, the only woman to ever win
Marie Curie was the 1st woman to win a Nobel prize, the only woman to ever win
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
Happy birthday to #physicist Lise Meitner (1878-1968) who explained #nuclear #fission. 🧪🐡👩🏼🔬#histsci She worked with chemists Hahn & Straßmann in 30s Berlin, investigating whether there were any stable elements beyond uranium. They discovered bombarding nucleus of U-235 with neutrons actually 🧵
November 7, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Happy birthday to #physicist Lise Meitner (1878-1968) who explained #nuclear #fission. 🧪🐡👩🏼🔬#histsci She worked with chemists Hahn & Straßmann in 30s Berlin, investigating whether there were any stable elements beyond uranium. They discovered bombarding nucleus of U-235 with neutrons actually 🧵
Wish I could remove all MSN results from search, they are useless.
The headlines are real, but clicking on them only brings me to MSN's page of random Dutch ads.
Geo-IP is evil and needs to just fucking die.
The headlines are real, but clicking on them only brings me to MSN's page of random Dutch ads.
Geo-IP is evil and needs to just fucking die.
November 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Wish I could remove all MSN results from search, they are useless.
The headlines are real, but clicking on them only brings me to MSN's page of random Dutch ads.
Geo-IP is evil and needs to just fucking die.
The headlines are real, but clicking on them only brings me to MSN's page of random Dutch ads.
Geo-IP is evil and needs to just fucking die.
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
I would need a GPS tag that delivers position as text (do all models do this?) and that has frequent updating of position... and not very expensive if I might add that 😜 Here's how the current set up looks like... the GPS antenna doesn't always connect or send data so it's frustrating for students.
November 7, 2025 at 9:42 AM
I would need a GPS tag that delivers position as text (do all models do this?) and that has frequent updating of position... and not very expensive if I might add that 😜 Here's how the current set up looks like... the GPS antenna doesn't always connect or send data so it's frustrating for students.
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
ok, this is maybe a long shot, but anyone here using GPS tags (the ones you can put in luggage etc) for self-built surface drifters? 🌊 So far we've used raspberry-pi with a GPS module, but we have lots of connection problems, so we're looking to simplify this....
November 7, 2025 at 9:37 AM
ok, this is maybe a long shot, but anyone here using GPS tags (the ones you can put in luggage etc) for self-built surface drifters? 🌊 So far we've used raspberry-pi with a GPS module, but we have lots of connection problems, so we're looking to simplify this....
Reposted by Compton Scatterbrained
For the love of God please stop
November 7, 2025 at 9:56 AM
For the love of God please stop