David Sloan
@davesmaths.bsky.social
Chief Scientific Officer of the Foundational Questions Institute. Reader in Physics at Lancaster University. Friend to dogs. (He/Him)
Trans rights are human rights, black lives matter, Palestinians are human beings. The unfollow button is up there ⬆
Trans rights are human rights, black lives matter, Palestinians are human beings. The unfollow button is up there ⬆
Pinned
David Sloan
@davesmaths.bsky.social
· Nov 30
Now I'm loose on the internet, and I've got some strong opinions about contact manifolds.
I guess it's post your favourite Popcorn cover time: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O775...
December 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I guess it's post your favourite Popcorn cover time: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O775...
Come on, Guardian, "McDonald's serves up slop" was right there...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
‘Ruined my Christmas spirit’: McDonald’s removes AI-generated ad after backlash
Commercial in Netherlands depicting festival-season chaos at ‘most terrible time of year’ prompted flurry of criticism online
www.theguardian.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Come on, Guardian, "McDonald's serves up slop" was right there...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Reposted by David Sloan
Your brain uses 20 watts of power constantly. This is a massive reproductive fitness cost. Why can natural selection not reduce that cost?
December 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Your brain uses 20 watts of power constantly. This is a massive reproductive fitness cost. Why can natural selection not reduce that cost?
Reposted by David Sloan
I'm hiring a postdoc -- come and do awesome cosmology with great people in one of the nicest cities in the world (not that I'm biased or anything) 🔭 🧪
cosmology.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/2025/12/12/p...
cosmology.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/2025/12/12/p...
Post-doc @ Auckland
Looking for a cosmology post-doc at the University of Auckland
cosmology.blogs.auckland.ac.nz
December 12, 2025 at 10:12 AM
I'm hiring a postdoc -- come and do awesome cosmology with great people in one of the nicest cities in the world (not that I'm biased or anything) 🔭 🧪
cosmology.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/2025/12/12/p...
cosmology.blogs.auckland.ac.nz/2025/12/12/p...
Last cosmology lecture today, so we had open questions. A student asked a question about quantum gravity...
December 11, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Last cosmology lecture today, so we had open questions. A student asked a question about quantum gravity...
Inverse challenge for the @zachweinersmith.bsky.social books: Divide by a hundred.
A year of solitude
A year of solitude
@zachweinersmith.bsky.social poses a fun activity: add “hundred” to a book title.
A Tale of Two Hundred Cities
Lord of the Hundred Flies
The Hundred Brothers Karamazov
A Hundred Hundred Years of Solitude
www.smbc-comics.com
A Tale of Two Hundred Cities
Lord of the Hundred Flies
The Hundred Brothers Karamazov
A Hundred Hundred Years of Solitude
www.smbc-comics.com
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Hundred
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Hundred
www.smbc-comics.com
December 5, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Inverse challenge for the @zachweinersmith.bsky.social books: Divide by a hundred.
A year of solitude
A year of solitude
Can't wait to see who's gonna win the Nobel prize for football.
December 5, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Can't wait to see who's gonna win the Nobel prize for football.
Finishing 2025 with a bang: arxiv.org/abs/2512.03645
Scaling symmetries can even reduce singular theories, like the standard model.
Next stop: General Relativity!
Scaling symmetries can even reduce singular theories, like the standard model.
Next stop: General Relativity!
Gauge Symmetries, Contact Reduction, and Singular Field Theories
The reduction of dynamical systems which are invariant under changes of global scale is well-understood, for classical theories of particles, and fields. The excision of the superfluous degree of free...
arxiv.org
December 5, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Finishing 2025 with a bang: arxiv.org/abs/2512.03645
Scaling symmetries can even reduce singular theories, like the standard model.
Next stop: General Relativity!
Scaling symmetries can even reduce singular theories, like the standard model.
Next stop: General Relativity!
Reposted by David Sloan
1/4
How do you escape the "parallel universe of fake papers?"
@nicolakimjones.bsky.social spoke with Ilka Agricola, chair of the IMU's committee on publishing and a physicist and mathematician at the University of Marburg, in Germany.
Full story: qspace.fqxi.org/articles/281...
How do you escape the "parallel universe of fake papers?"
@nicolakimjones.bsky.social spoke with Ilka Agricola, chair of the IMU's committee on publishing and a physicist and mathematician at the University of Marburg, in Germany.
Full story: qspace.fqxi.org/articles/281...
December 3, 2025 at 5:15 PM
1/4
How do you escape the "parallel universe of fake papers?"
@nicolakimjones.bsky.social spoke with Ilka Agricola, chair of the IMU's committee on publishing and a physicist and mathematician at the University of Marburg, in Germany.
Full story: qspace.fqxi.org/articles/281...
How do you escape the "parallel universe of fake papers?"
@nicolakimjones.bsky.social spoke with Ilka Agricola, chair of the IMU's committee on publishing and a physicist and mathematician at the University of Marburg, in Germany.
Full story: qspace.fqxi.org/articles/281...
I'll be in New York at a Simons workshop from Feb 20th until March 11th. If anyone on the east coast wants a physics talk around those dates (or just to meet up) let me know.
December 2, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I'll be in New York at a Simons workshop from Feb 20th until March 11th. If anyone on the east coast wants a physics talk around those dates (or just to meet up) let me know.
Masterclasses with Julian Barbour, courtesy of @fqxi.org !
Join Julian’s new three-part FQxI masterclass, “Complexity in the Cosmos”, on QAcademy – where he radically rethinks gravity, the Big Bang and time.
Limited-time offer. Free access for three weeks. Offer ends 17th December 2025.
GET FREE ACCESS: qacademy.fqxi.org/offers/fkEBq...
Limited-time offer. Free access for three weeks. Offer ends 17th December 2025.
GET FREE ACCESS: qacademy.fqxi.org/offers/fkEBq...
November 26, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Masterclasses with Julian Barbour, courtesy of @fqxi.org !
Carl Orff - O Fortuna ~ Carmina Burana
YouTube video by Beatriz
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by David Sloan
It is time for universities — not just staff and student unions, but the senior management too — to admit out loud that this government is actively trying to make universities fail. We *all* need to come together and collectively try to fight their attempts to loot and pillage.
i: Reeves to unveil £600m raid on foreign student
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
university fees #TomorrowsPapersToday
November 24, 2025 at 10:25 AM
It is time for universities — not just staff and student unions, but the senior management too — to admit out loud that this government is actively trying to make universities fail. We *all* need to come together and collectively try to fight their attempts to loot and pillage.
The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth. George Orwell, 1984
www.msn.com/en-us/health...
www.msn.com/en-us/health...
MSN
www.msn.com
November 20, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth. George Orwell, 1984
www.msn.com/en-us/health...
www.msn.com/en-us/health...
Are Labour MPs having a competition to see who can come up with the most disgusting policy proposal?
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
This isn't about economics, it's about being fucking horrible to people.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
This isn't about economics, it's about being fucking horrible to people.
Asylum seekers’ jewellery could be seized to pay for processing costs, says Home Office minister
Idea borrowed from Denmark is latest attempt to reduce number of people seeking asylum in UK
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Are Labour MPs having a competition to see who can come up with the most disgusting policy proposal?
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
This isn't about economics, it's about being fucking horrible to people.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
This isn't about economics, it's about being fucking horrible to people.
Reposted by David Sloan
The science journals Critical Care Medicine and Biology Open and the science platform Research Hub have been testing how paying reviewers affects the science publishing process. Reporter Geoff Marsh found out more.
Full podcast: qspace.fqxi.org/podcasts/125
Full podcast: qspace.fqxi.org/podcasts/125
November 12, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The science journals Critical Care Medicine and Biology Open and the science platform Research Hub have been testing how paying reviewers affects the science publishing process. Reporter Geoff Marsh found out more.
Full podcast: qspace.fqxi.org/podcasts/125
Full podcast: qspace.fqxi.org/podcasts/125
Life imitates art...
November 11, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Life imitates art...
Reposted by David Sloan
Another not-at-all dated reference from today's lecture.
November 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Another not-at-all dated reference from today's lecture.
Looking for a postdoc in foundations of physics/cosmology/science? Come work with us at @fqxi.org on the Foundational Answers project
fqxi.org/jobs-postdoc...
fqxi.org/jobs-postdoc...
Postdoctoral Research Associate - FQxI
FQxI is seeking Postdoctoral Research Associates for the Foundational Answers project. Job Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate Organization: Foundational Questions Institute (FQxI) Location: Remote...
fqxi.org
November 3, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Looking for a postdoc in foundations of physics/cosmology/science? Come work with us at @fqxi.org on the Foundational Answers project
fqxi.org/jobs-postdoc...
fqxi.org/jobs-postdoc...
Reposted by David Sloan
This Halloween special edition of the FQxI podcast features Bernard Carr, who discusses primordial black holes, the notorious 1970s Enfield poltergeist case that Carr investigated, and more!
Listen to Part 1: qspace.fqxi.org/podcasts/126...
Listen to Part 1: qspace.fqxi.org/podcasts/126...
October 31, 2025 at 6:03 PM
This Halloween special edition of the FQxI podcast features Bernard Carr, who discusses primordial black holes, the notorious 1970s Enfield poltergeist case that Carr investigated, and more!
Listen to Part 1: qspace.fqxi.org/podcasts/126...
Listen to Part 1: qspace.fqxi.org/podcasts/126...
Almost all my publications have authors listed alphabetically. How nice for those of us with surnames from the arse end of the alphabet. Forever last author regardless of our contributions.
And of course you can't fix metrics by introducing new metrics. Particularly one-size-fits-none approaches.
And of course you can't fix metrics by introducing new metrics. Particularly one-size-fits-none approaches.
When I was leading an interdisciplinary collaboration and my name would have been last for “funded this” reasons, I happily ceded that position to a valued colleague whose field elevates last authorship (mine doesn’t).
It was a win-win at the time, which Google will now punish me for? Coolcoolcool
It was a win-win at the time, which Google will now punish me for? Coolcoolcool
🧪For those of us who do complex collaborations with multiple corresponding authors this is terrible . I suspect it will also hit female authors disproportionately as they tend to have more collaborations across fields…https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03281-4
October 27, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Almost all my publications have authors listed alphabetically. How nice for those of us with surnames from the arse end of the alphabet. Forever last author regardless of our contributions.
And of course you can't fix metrics by introducing new metrics. Particularly one-size-fits-none approaches.
And of course you can't fix metrics by introducing new metrics. Particularly one-size-fits-none approaches.
French police finally realease an image from the Louvre heist getaway.
October 26, 2025 at 8:46 PM
French police finally realease an image from the Louvre heist getaway.
Postdoctoral Research Positions in the Foundations of physics.
fqxi.org/jobs-postdoctoral-research-associate/
We're looking for postdocs to work on the "Foundational Answers" program. Work with some brilliant, friendly people on a fun and exciting research project.
fqxi.org/jobs-postdoctoral-research-associate/
We're looking for postdocs to work on the "Foundational Answers" program. Work with some brilliant, friendly people on a fun and exciting research project.
Postdoctoral Research Associate - FQxI
FQxI is seeking Postdoctoral Research Associates for the Foundational Answers project. Job Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate Organization: Foundational Questions Institute (FQxI) Location: Remote...
fqxi.org
October 23, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Postdoctoral Research Positions in the Foundations of physics.
fqxi.org/jobs-postdoctoral-research-associate/
We're looking for postdocs to work on the "Foundational Answers" program. Work with some brilliant, friendly people on a fun and exciting research project.
fqxi.org/jobs-postdoctoral-research-associate/
We're looking for postdocs to work on the "Foundational Answers" program. Work with some brilliant, friendly people on a fun and exciting research project.
Harvard is destroying its PhD programs, instituting a hiring freeze and stopping work on "non-essential" spending. The reason given: A defecit of $113 million this year. I can see the concern - with their $57 billion endowment, if they keeps up for 503 years they could be in real trouble!
Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles | News | The Harvard Crimson
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for th...
www.thecrimson.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Harvard is destroying its PhD programs, instituting a hiring freeze and stopping work on "non-essential" spending. The reason given: A defecit of $113 million this year. I can see the concern - with their $57 billion endowment, if they keeps up for 503 years they could be in real trouble!
28th hour of the meeting. I imagine at this point someone has a question, or "..really more of a comment than a question"
October 16, 2025 at 1:00 PM
28th hour of the meeting. I imagine at this point someone has a question, or "..really more of a comment than a question"