Burr Ito
@ututuy.org
I'm a scientist studying fluid dynamics in the cores of rotating planets and stars. I mostly post pics of clouds and timelapses. All media by me. He/him.
Pinned
Burr Ito
@ututuy.org
· Nov 20
Reposted by Burr Ito
A year ago, I came up with the phrase Doom Dopamine: the unconscious reward we give people for spreading doom.
Take a minute to like positive posts.
Cause when alarmist content goes viral & positive posts get 5 likes, it engineers our brains to think doom is rewarding & positivity is not. 🧵
Take a minute to like positive posts.
Cause when alarmist content goes viral & positive posts get 5 likes, it engineers our brains to think doom is rewarding & positivity is not. 🧵
December 27, 2025 at 8:31 PM
A year ago, I came up with the phrase Doom Dopamine: the unconscious reward we give people for spreading doom.
Take a minute to like positive posts.
Cause when alarmist content goes viral & positive posts get 5 likes, it engineers our brains to think doom is rewarding & positivity is not. 🧵
Take a minute to like positive posts.
Cause when alarmist content goes viral & positive posts get 5 likes, it engineers our brains to think doom is rewarding & positivity is not. 🧵
Reposted by Burr Ito
I mean yeah it’s an authoritarian takeover but can we take some comfort in the fact that the people doing it are INSANELY stupid?
December 23, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I mean yeah it’s an authoritarian takeover but can we take some comfort in the fact that the people doing it are INSANELY stupid?
Reposted by Burr Ito
I work on #geothermal energy projects and find the #geology, and its potential for helping us decarbonise heating, exciting.
But…it always frustrates me when it’s framed as being a somewhat out-there, somewhat futuristic technology, when it’s actually been around for *ages*…
But…it always frustrates me when it’s framed as being a somewhat out-there, somewhat futuristic technology, when it’s actually been around for *ages*…
Deep drilling to 10–20 km down is challenging. Success would mean unlocking near-limitless, 24/7 clean power. Here's how projects in the UK, US, and EU show the breakthroughs are coming ⤵️
@eastangliabylines.co.uk @stephenmcnair.bsky.social
@eastangliabylines.co.uk @stephenmcnair.bsky.social
Unlimited energy: reaching for the heat beneath our feet
Deep below us, is a vast untapped source of sustainable energy waiting to be released. Slowly, we are finding ways to tap into it
eastangliabylines.co.uk
December 23, 2025 at 8:58 PM
I work on #geothermal energy projects and find the #geology, and its potential for helping us decarbonise heating, exciting.
But…it always frustrates me when it’s framed as being a somewhat out-there, somewhat futuristic technology, when it’s actually been around for *ages*…
But…it always frustrates me when it’s framed as being a somewhat out-there, somewhat futuristic technology, when it’s actually been around for *ages*…
Reposted by Burr Ito
James Talarico calls out bill forcing schools to display the Ten Commandments:
This bill is not only unconstitutional and un-American, it's also deeply un-Christian.
Instead of a bill that will feed the hungry—we're mandating that people put up a poster. We're imposing our beliefs on other people.
This bill is not only unconstitutional and un-American, it's also deeply un-Christian.
Instead of a bill that will feed the hungry—we're mandating that people put up a poster. We're imposing our beliefs on other people.
December 23, 2025 at 6:35 PM
James Talarico calls out bill forcing schools to display the Ten Commandments:
This bill is not only unconstitutional and un-American, it's also deeply un-Christian.
Instead of a bill that will feed the hungry—we're mandating that people put up a poster. We're imposing our beliefs on other people.
This bill is not only unconstitutional and un-American, it's also deeply un-Christian.
Instead of a bill that will feed the hungry—we're mandating that people put up a poster. We're imposing our beliefs on other people.
Reposted by Burr Ito
Not sure how long it will last, so download it ytdown.to/en2/
YouTube Video Downloader - YTDown
Download any YouTube video with just one click using our free YouTube video downloader tool. Save to any device or platform as an HD MP4.
ytdown.to
December 23, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Not sure how long it will last, so download it ytdown.to/en2/
The sunset ride. #Cartagena #Colombia
December 22, 2025 at 4:39 PM
The sunset ride. #Cartagena #Colombia
Street performers in #Cartagena, #Colombia.
December 22, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Street performers in #Cartagena, #Colombia.
Cheesy sunset today. But the nacreous clouds did not return.
December 22, 2025 at 5:08 AM
Cheesy sunset today. But the nacreous clouds did not return.
Reposted by Burr Ito
These pics show some clouds very similar to nacreous clouds (above the dark cloud band). This is about 20 minutes after sunset. Normally #nacreous #clouds form at high latitudes, but this is from Cartagena, Colombia, at only 10.4º latitude North. Any expert around knows if this is possible? 🧪 ⚛️
December 21, 2025 at 5:12 AM
These pics show some clouds very similar to nacreous clouds (above the dark cloud band). This is about 20 minutes after sunset. Normally #nacreous #clouds form at high latitudes, but this is from Cartagena, Colombia, at only 10.4º latitude North. Any expert around knows if this is possible? 🧪 ⚛️
December 21, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Reposted by Burr Ito
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
December 19, 2025 at 12:24 PM
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
There was a nice atmospheric inversion layer when my flight took off early in the morning from Paris. Here you see dense fog on the ground that doesn't even reach the top of the wind turbines. The ripples are gravity waves created by the wind turbine towers as the wind blows. 🧪 🌬️
December 21, 2025 at 3:51 AM
There was a nice atmospheric inversion layer when my flight took off early in the morning from Paris. Here you see dense fog on the ground that doesn't even reach the top of the wind turbines. The ripples are gravity waves created by the wind turbine towers as the wind blows. 🧪 🌬️
Reposted by Burr Ito
Models are great. Simulations are awesome. Synthetic data is useful.
But all of them can also be awful and used to generate bad science. We need to know exactly why we're using any of them, what assumptions we're making when using them, and what those assumptions mean for our inferences.
But all of them can also be awful and used to generate bad science. We need to know exactly why we're using any of them, what assumptions we're making when using them, and what those assumptions mean for our inferences.
December 16, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Models are great. Simulations are awesome. Synthetic data is useful.
But all of them can also be awful and used to generate bad science. We need to know exactly why we're using any of them, what assumptions we're making when using them, and what those assumptions mean for our inferences.
But all of them can also be awful and used to generate bad science. We need to know exactly why we're using any of them, what assumptions we're making when using them, and what those assumptions mean for our inferences.
Reposted by Burr Ito
Take a journey through time down a new NSF COLDEX ice core borehole just completed by the team in #Antarctica!
If you’re at #AGU25 stop by the COLDEX booth in the Exhibit Hall to talk to COLDEX team members from across the 15-institution center funded by NSF! @agu.org Follow us on IG @ coldex_stc
If you’re at #AGU25 stop by the COLDEX booth in the Exhibit Hall to talk to COLDEX team members from across the 15-institution center funded by NSF! @agu.org Follow us on IG @ coldex_stc
December 14, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Take a journey through time down a new NSF COLDEX ice core borehole just completed by the team in #Antarctica!
If you’re at #AGU25 stop by the COLDEX booth in the Exhibit Hall to talk to COLDEX team members from across the 15-institution center funded by NSF! @agu.org Follow us on IG @ coldex_stc
If you’re at #AGU25 stop by the COLDEX booth in the Exhibit Hall to talk to COLDEX team members from across the 15-institution center funded by NSF! @agu.org Follow us on IG @ coldex_stc
Reposted by Burr Ito
This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites.
The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.
The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.
December 14, 2025 at 8:02 PM
This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites.
The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.
The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.
Reposted by Burr Ito
If you live in #Belgium, and you want to know what will happen in the sky for 2026, you want to get the mighty Hemelkalender (Sky Calendar) from the Vereniging Voor Sterrenkunde VZW (note: in Dutch). Presented here by #StijnMeuris from #Noordkaap for us!
#astronomy
youtube.com/shorts/5kQ7I...
#astronomy
youtube.com/shorts/5kQ7I...
De VVS Hemelkalender 2026
YouTube video by Dominique Dierick
youtube.com
December 12, 2025 at 10:47 PM
If you live in #Belgium, and you want to know what will happen in the sky for 2026, you want to get the mighty Hemelkalender (Sky Calendar) from the Vereniging Voor Sterrenkunde VZW (note: in Dutch). Presented here by #StijnMeuris from #Noordkaap for us!
#astronomy
youtube.com/shorts/5kQ7I...
#astronomy
youtube.com/shorts/5kQ7I...
Reposted by Burr Ito
All missions should have cartoon versions of their spacecraft, and these cartoons should be on all slides. These are the rules, as shown here by JAXA’s Go Murakami talking about BepiColombo.
December 12, 2025 at 4:47 PM
All missions should have cartoon versions of their spacecraft, and these cartoons should be on all slides. These are the rules, as shown here by JAXA’s Go Murakami talking about BepiColombo.
Reposted by Burr Ito
Worked on this yesterday with my new found free time with the kid starting school.
From HST Proposal 17067,
The diversity of protoplanetary disks: Imaging a complete sample of edge-on disks in four nearby star-forming regions
Principal Investigator: Gaspard Duchene
flic.kr/p/2rnisMm
From HST Proposal 17067,
The diversity of protoplanetary disks: Imaging a complete sample of edge-on disks in four nearby star-forming regions
Principal Investigator: Gaspard Duchene
flic.kr/p/2rnisMm
August 13, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Worked on this yesterday with my new found free time with the kid starting school.
From HST Proposal 17067,
The diversity of protoplanetary disks: Imaging a complete sample of edge-on disks in four nearby star-forming regions
Principal Investigator: Gaspard Duchene
flic.kr/p/2rnisMm
From HST Proposal 17067,
The diversity of protoplanetary disks: Imaging a complete sample of edge-on disks in four nearby star-forming regions
Principal Investigator: Gaspard Duchene
flic.kr/p/2rnisMm
Reposted by Burr Ito
As I say here, this is not about saving the planet. The planet will be orbiting the sun long after we’re gone.
The question is, will there be a healthy, thriving human society on that planet? The answer to that question is very much up for grabs at this point.
The question is, will there be a healthy, thriving human society on that planet? The answer to that question is very much up for grabs at this point.
World must jointly tackle issues of climate change, pollution, UN says
The United Nations says the world needs a new way of thinking about environmental crises threatening the health of people and the planet
abcnews.go.com
December 9, 2025 at 4:36 PM
As I say here, this is not about saving the planet. The planet will be orbiting the sun long after we’re gone.
The question is, will there be a healthy, thriving human society on that planet? The answer to that question is very much up for grabs at this point.
The question is, will there be a healthy, thriving human society on that planet? The answer to that question is very much up for grabs at this point.
Reposted by Burr Ito
New Publication: "Cosmic Rays Masquerading as Cool Cores: An Inverse-Compton Origin for Cool Core Cluster Emission" by
Philip F. Hopkins (Caltech), Eliot Quataert (Princeton), Emily M. Silich, Jack Sayers, Sam B. Ponnada & Isabel S. Sands (Caltech)
doi.org/10.33232/001...
Philip F. Hopkins (Caltech), Eliot Quataert (Princeton), Emily M. Silich, Jack Sayers, Sam B. Ponnada & Isabel S. Sands (Caltech)
doi.org/10.33232/001...
Cosmic Rays Masquerading as Cool Cores: An Inverse-Compton Origin for Cool Core Cluster Emission | Published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics
By Philip F. Hopkins, Eliot Quataert & 4 more. An argument that cosmic-ray inverse-compton emission could contribute significantly to the X-ray surface brightness (SB) in cool-corre clusters, implying...
doi.org
December 9, 2025 at 7:23 AM
New Publication: "Cosmic Rays Masquerading as Cool Cores: An Inverse-Compton Origin for Cool Core Cluster Emission" by
Philip F. Hopkins (Caltech), Eliot Quataert (Princeton), Emily M. Silich, Jack Sayers, Sam B. Ponnada & Isabel S. Sands (Caltech)
doi.org/10.33232/001...
Philip F. Hopkins (Caltech), Eliot Quataert (Princeton), Emily M. Silich, Jack Sayers, Sam B. Ponnada & Isabel S. Sands (Caltech)
doi.org/10.33232/001...
Reposted by Burr Ito
Tech bros shocked that normal human beings enjoy thinking
December 5, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Tech bros shocked that normal human beings enjoy thinking
Reposted by Burr Ito
As a professional astronomer, I absolutely would not want my children going into this. I hope they have been clear witnesses to my ceaseless anxiety and job insecurity. Yes, funding is much worse now than a year ago, but academia has been a disaster for a LONG time
My teen, who had dreamt of being an astrophysicist, just told me he wants to go to law school because, “Science isn’t going to be a priority in the US in the future…I don’t want a job where I’ll be constantly worried my funding will be taken away.”
Gutting. How many future scientists have we lost?
Gutting. How many future scientists have we lost?
December 7, 2025 at 8:21 PM
As a professional astronomer, I absolutely would not want my children going into this. I hope they have been clear witnesses to my ceaseless anxiety and job insecurity. Yes, funding is much worse now than a year ago, but academia has been a disaster for a LONG time
Reposted by Burr Ito
I mean we are absolutely in a place now where the only solution to this information disorder is for everyone to constantly evaluate the source of information. Never trust a chatbot, but also don't believe a video unless you know and trust where it comes from.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
December 5, 2025 at 11:18 PM
I mean we are absolutely in a place now where the only solution to this information disorder is for everyone to constantly evaluate the source of information. Never trust a chatbot, but also don't believe a video unless you know and trust where it comes from.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.
Unfortunately... that's a lot of work.