Dan Garisto
LightNews LightNews
banner
dangaristo.bsky.social
Dan Garisto
@dangaristo.bsky.social
5.3K followers 320 following 1.1K posts
science journalist | good physics, bad physics, and sometimes ugly physics

Signal: dgaristo.72
Email: digaristo@gmail.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
dangaristo.bsky.social
Half of the comments are 'this is completely trivial, complex numbers are easily represented by real numbers,' and the other half are 'this is completely trivial, you can't get rid of complex numbers'.

(Lots of fun comments on Twitter and reddit too, many of them too impolite to share here.)
"it is baffling that there are physicists who deny that there are physical values best represented by imaginary numbers" Hot take: I hate to say it, but this is silly. Mathematicians have known for at least a century that you can replace imaginary numbers with 2x2 matrices of real numbers. Would the result be useful? Sounds like the answer is no.
November 8, 2025 at 12:04 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Gutting the federal workforce and shutting down the government does not appear to have gone well for the GOP in Alexandria, VA.
Margin shift in VA showing heavy blue arrows in Alexandria.
November 5, 2025 at 1:54 AM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Eh, I can't be bothered about that.

Can we talk about my hang-up tho: calling an effect/phenomenon a "physics thing" in the text of the article
She said that it’s a “physics thing” called Tyndall scattering. The passage of light through the feathers appears blue, when they are actually brown.
October 31, 2025 at 6:50 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Missed this at the time (busy w/shutdown stuff), but on Sept. 30 NSF dropped its appeal for the 15% indirect cost case. The AAU is now suing NSF to recoup ~330,000 in legal fees.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Plaintiff Association of American Universities (“AAU”) hereby moves for an award of attorneys’ fees and costs in the amount of $330,453.56, pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412. On May 2, 2025, the National Science Foundation (“NSF”) issued a policy purporting to cap at 15% the rates it would reimburse for so-called “indirect costs” associated with its grants to institutions of higher education (“IHEs”). This 15% rate cap idea was not unique to NSF—at the time the NSF policy was issued, courts in this District had enjoined materially identical policies issued by two other federal agencies within the prior two months. See Massachusetts v. NIH, 770 F. Supp. 3d 277, 327 (D. Mass. 2025), judgment entered, No. 1:25- CV-10338, 2025 WL 1063760 (D. Mass. Apr. 4, 2025), appeals docketed, Nos. 25-1343, 25-1344, 25-1345 (1st Cir. Apr. 9, 2025); AAU v. DOE, No. 25-CV-10912, 2025 WL 1119791, at *1 (D. Mass. Apr. 16, 2025). Courts in this District have since vacated or enjoined all four Rate Cap Policies, including NSF’s in this case and a later policy issued by the Department of Defense (“DOD”). After Defendants dropped their appeal last month, this case is the first of the four suits to reach an unappealable end. AAU now seeks to recoup some of the cost of challenging a policy that Defendants knew or should have known was unlawful from its inception.
October 31, 2025 at 4:14 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
It's possible that it was a simile; it's also possible that Tolkien was, as he did elsewhere, using a vagueness->clarity structuring.

I can't believe I have to explain alternative hypotheses to a physicist 🤔

tolkien.slimy.com/essays/TAB6....
A variation of this later argument is sometimes called the 'vagueness to clarity' view. Effectively, it suggests that Tolkien is saying 'the shadow was like wings' because it was dark and obscured and the fellowship could not make it out. Then, when the Balrog came closer Tolkien says simply 'wings' because they could now see it clearly. An example of this sort of presentation is; "Before his feet they saw a large round hole like the mouth of a well. Broken and rusty chains lay at the edge and trailed down into the black pit. Fragments of stone lay near. 'One of you might have fallen in and still be wondering when you were going to strike the bottom,' said Aragorn to Merry. 'Let the guide go first while you have one.' 'This seems to have been a guardroom, made for the watching of the three passages,' said Gimli. `That hole was plainly a well for the guards' use, covered with a stone lid." FotR, A Journey in the Dark Here the fellowship sees a 'hole like the mouth of a well'. Under the 'simile > metaphor' view this would indicate that the hole was NOT actually the mouth of a well... yet Gimli thereafter states that it was. The purpose of the hole was originally vague, but then made clear as they got closer and Gimli's experience was brought to bear. There is a similar passage referring to wings and shadows; "Suddenly a shadow, like the shape of great wings, passed across the moon. The figure lifted his arms and a light flashed from the staff that he wielded. A mighty eagle swept down and bore him away." FotR, In the House of Tom Bombadil This differs slightly in that the shadow is stated definitively, but its SHAPE is described as being 'like wings'. The shape is unclear and hence 'vagueness'. Then, when the eagle swoops down it is clear that the shadow was indeed cast by wings though they are not explicitly mentioned in this case.
October 29, 2025 at 6:17 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
"That policy was aimed 'directly' at CART, believes Benavente, who is the former science secretary for San Juan, the mountainous western province where the observatory is located. “There is direct interference from the White House here.”"
Researchers trace CART’s difficulties to efforts by Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei, to forge close ties with U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration has made curbing China’s global influence a priority. The first signs of trouble came in June, when Argentina’s science agency missed a deadline for renewing a scientific cooperation agreement with China. Then, in September, customs officials in Buenos Aires held up a shipment of key dish parts made in China, which has contributed some $15 million in equipment and engineering to the project. Last month brought another setback when U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would provide up to $20 billion to shore up Argentina’s beleaguered economy—but only if Milei’s government suspended strategic ties with China, including efforts to build “observational facilities.” That policy was aimed “directly” at CART, believes Benavente, who is the former science secretary for San Juan, the mountainous western province where the observatory is located. “There is direct interference from the White House here.”
October 29, 2025 at 12:04 AM
dangaristo.bsky.social
it generated some amazing posts though
Ed Yong observes that the sloth hunt artwork looks like a reversed distracted boyfriend meme
October 28, 2025 at 4:49 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
What a blast from the past
Old twitter posts about the story.
October 28, 2025 at 4:49 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Well, the terms and conditions (from May) say this: nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/gc1-ma...
Recipients must comply with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws material to the government’s payment decisions for purposes of 31 U.S.C. § 3729(b)(4). (1) Definitions. As used in this term and condition – (a) DEI means “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” (b) Discriminatory equity ideology has the meaning set forth in Section 2(b) of Executive Order 14190 of January 29, 2025. (c) Federal anti-discrimination laws means Federal civil rights law that protect individual Americans from discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, and national origin. (2) Award certification. (a) By accepting the award, recipients are certifying that: (i) They do not, and will not during the term of this financial assistance award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws; and (ii) They do not engage in and will not during the term of this award engage in, a discriminatory prohibited boycott. (3) NSF reserves the right to terminate financial assistance awards and recover all funds if recipients, during the term of this award, operate any program in violation of Federal antidiscriminatory laws or engage in a prohibited boycott.
October 28, 2025 at 3:13 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
There is no such agency behind an LLM's choice of simplification; it's simply approximating what has already been written. Read closely and you can get a feel for this lack of coherence: no connective strand between 'misleading analogy about the field' and 'Higgs boson as a wave'
The origin of mass: The Higgs field is an invisible energy field that permeates all of space. As particles pass through this field, they interact with it, which is how they acquire mass. Mass based on interaction: The strength of a particle's interaction with the Higgs field determines its mass. Particles that interact strongly are heavier, while those that interact weakly are lighter. The photon, for example, does not interact with the Higgs field at all, and is therefore massless. A "sticky" analogy: One common but misleading analogy compares the field to a sticky substance, where some particles get bogged down more than others. A better analogy likens the Higgs boson to a "wave" or "ripple" in the Higgs field.
October 28, 2025 at 2:57 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
"With 83 directed accusations among 21 actors, its density (0.20) was far higher than values typically observed in ecological food webs of comparable size or in organizational communication systems. This indicates that almost no actor remained outside the arena of conflict."
October 27, 2025 at 7:17 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
The $1.2 billion number, as has been previously reported, really is there in the draft agreement. Hard to imagine anyone agreeing to this, but then a lot of hard to imagine things have happened in the past 9 months.
In settlement and compromise of the Released Claims in this Agreement, UCLA shall pay the United States the sum of One Billion Dollars ($1,000,000,000.00), payable in equal installments. The first payment shall be made within five (5) business days of the Effective Date, and each subsequent installment payment shall be made on the anniversary of the Effective Date for each year of the term of this Agreement. In addition, pursuant to the terms of the Title VII Agreement, incorporated by reference herein and attached as Exhibit A, UCLA will place One Hundred and Seventy-Two Million Dollars ($172,000,000) into a claims fund which will be distributed to claimants via a claims process outlined in the Title VII Agreement.
October 25, 2025 at 2:43 AM
dangaristo.bsky.social
I spent many late nights listening to these broadcasts, learning, and, often as not, falling asleep—not out of boredom, but comfort.
But when the opponent was clearly trying to play chess right, no matter how lowly rated they were, Daniel played slowly, respectfully, admiringly. He offered constant praise.
October 22, 2025 at 4:42 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Oof.
Few universities have revealed details of their graduate admissions plans for the 2026-2027 academic year. But several grassroots surveys hint that broad cutbacks are in the works across both US institutions and research disciplines. Levesque and her colleagues surveyed more than 150 US astronomy and physics graduate programmes, and found that at least 33 of the 91 respondents planned to admit fewer or no graduate students for the academic year starting in the second half of 2026. Meet the early-career scientists planning to leave the United States Meanwhile, 40 of the 45 biology departments that responded to a separate survey — sent to roughly 80 biology programmes — said that they had already shrunk their anticipated PhD cohorts for the 2026-2027 academic year or planned to do so. Kimberly Cooper, a developmental biologist at the University of California, San Diego, instituted the survey to share information between those responsible for admitting PhD students. “We were having all these conversations about what we do, and making the decisions, all in isolation,” she says. The response was so overwhelming that departmental representatives now meet in a monthly video call to share their experiences.
October 21, 2025 at 10:37 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
I think maybe the central confusion here comes from the idea that physics is unlike other sciences. It really isn't.

Questions of validity, interpretation, closed data, and incomplete methods all matter. Here's a recent story I reported where all four factor in: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
October 21, 2025 at 3:06 AM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Not really sure what to call this non-committal response from Vanderbilt, but it's not a yes. t.e2ma.net/message/tu4x...
Last Friday, Vanderbilt participated in a discussion with members of the administration and other university leaders about shaping a productive process for providing such comments. We expect to share our input with the administration through that process.   Our response will be grounded in our long-held principles and values, which were reaffirmed by our Board of Trust in October 2024. One such principle is our commitment to institutional neutrality. Institutional neutrality means that the university’s leadership will refrain from commenting on political matters unless they directly affect our core purpose of providing transformative education and conducting pathbreaking research. Since the compact could directly affect our teaching, research and other operations, our policy of institutional neutrality not only permits comment by the university’s leadership, it encourages it. Therefore, Vanderbilt will continue to share our point of view with the administration, just as we have previously shared our perspective at the local, state and federal level—most recently regarding the tax on university endowments and proposed restrictions on visas for international students.
October 20, 2025 at 11:05 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
University of Arizona now also rejects, albeit in a very conciliatory manner. No comments about academic freedom, just concern that preferential treatment by the government would be anti-merit.

7 out of the 9 initially contacted universities have now said no.

president.arizona.edu/sites/defaul...
We have much common ground with the ideas your administration is advancing on changes that would benefit American higher education and our nation at large. At the same time, a federal research funding system based on anything other than merit would weaken the world’s preeminent engine for innovation, advancement of technology, and solutions to many of our nation’s most profound challenges. We seek no special treatment and believe in our ability to compete for federally funded research strictly on merit. As a demonstration of our commitment to collaboration with the federal government, I have included below the University of Arizona’s Statement of Principles. These principles are not just an expression of philosophy; they are a commitment to strengthen or continue reforms that benefit our students, advance our shared national interests, and protect the taxpayers. Our principles affirm that our university community remains rooted in the pursuit of excellence with clear standards, transparency, and accountability. We welcome the opportunity to engage other universities, higher education associations, members of Congress, and your administration to advance and implement our principles in alignment with the national interest. I look forward to further discussion and a continued partnership with the federal government, which has helped to produce the strongest and most competitive higher education system in the world.
October 20, 2025 at 9:12 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
New: House Democrats have sent NSF a letter about changes to GRFP, namely the reduced window to apply and the exclusion of second-year PhD students, which has drawn significant pushback from the research community.
Brian Stone Acting Director National Science Foundation 2415 Eisenhower Avenue Alexandra, VA 22314 Dear Director Stone, I urge you to reconsider policy changes announced in the recent solicitation for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).1 With these policy changes, you have critically excluded second-year Ph.D. students as eligible participants for the program. In addition, you halved the application window from 98 days in the 2024 GRFP solicitation to just 49 days in the current year’s solicitation.2 You claim that these changes are to “[support] students at the start of their research careers”,3 but second-year students are incontrovertibly early-career. In an era of unprecedented volatility in our nation’s ability to train the next generation of researchers, these abrupt policy changes are ill-timed and do nothing but further break the trust of the scientific community at a time when researcher tensions and anxiety are already high.
October 17, 2025 at 8:05 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Strange bedfellows.
Both the Chamber and the AAUP lawsuits aim to block President Donald Trump’s Sept. 19 proclamation modifying the H-1B program — the avenue through which many skilled workers from abroad are hired in the U.S. Both lawsuits argue that the administration’s sudden decision to impose the extra fee — which went into effect on Sept. 21 — is unlawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. “The H-1B program has a carefully crafted fee and oversight system set by law. The president cannot rewrite it overnight or levy new taxes by proclamation,” the AAUP lawsuit says. Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the Chamber, said in a press release that the new fee would make it cost-prohibitive for U.S. employers to access global talent. “The president has said he wants to educate, attract, and retain the world’s best and brightest in the U.S., and the Chamber shares that goal,” Bradley said.
October 17, 2025 at 4:06 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
A real rollercoaster reading @science.org headlines right now.
Chicago’s beloved ‘rat hole’ was actually made by a squirrel 14 Oct 2025 Ancient chewing gum could reveal how early men and women split up their chores 14 Oct 2025 Whiplash at CDC as hundreds of employees are terminated, then reinstated 13 Oct 2025 DNA from rum-soaked fishes chronicles century of environmental change 13 Oct 2025 Economics Nobel celebrates researchers who showed how science and technology drive growth 10 Oct 2025 As U.S. shutdown drags on, ‘it’s just one blow after another’
October 15, 2025 at 2:24 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
With the exception of HHS, these are not particularly large RIFs for science agencies, compared to previous attempts to reduce staff.

NOAA (within Commerce) has already lost about 1,500 FTEs since the beginning of the year, per the shutdown contingency plan.
Plot of agency RIFs
October 10, 2025 at 11:03 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Ah, okay—details seem to be from sworn OMB declaration for AFGE lawsuit. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Agency termination details from lawsuit. Numbers are same as in above screenshot of tweet: Commerce: 315 employees - Education: 466 employees - Energy: 187 employees - HHS: Between 1,100 and 1,200 employees - HUD: 442 employees - DHS: 176 employees - Treasury: 1,446 employees - EPA: 20-30 employees
October 10, 2025 at 10:48 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Have not confirmed, but here are specific numbers...
NEW details on impacts of the layoffs that took place today: - Commerce: 315 employees - Education: 466 employees - Energy: 187 employees - HHS: Between 1,100 and 1,200 employees - HUD: 442 employees - DHS: 176 employees - Treasury: 1,446 employees - EPA: 20-30 employees
October 10, 2025 at 10:34 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
Murphy does not issue a permanent injunction against DoD citing SCOTUS rulings on the APA as guidance, and the lack of need on top of vacatur.

Note closely: 'at this time'
An injunction would have no additional, “meaningful practical effect” here, where an order declaring unlawful and vacating the Policy would fully resolve the parties’ dispute and prevent injury to Plaintiffs. See NSF, 2025 WL 1725857, at *23 (“Enjoining Defendants from implementing or enforcing a policy that has been vacated would be duplicative.”). Accordingly, the Court will not issue a permanent injunction at this time.
October 10, 2025 at 9:42 PM
dangaristo.bsky.social
"Admittedly, research grant funding is not the most riveting topic to come before this Court. However, the Court has come to appreciate that, as Defendants readily admit, basic research is an 'essential' service that universities provide to the federal government and so to the American people."
This case is about “indirect costs,” an accounting term undoubtedly unfamiliar to most. Defense Secretary Hegseth has seized on this knowledge gap to call them “waste” and “bureaucratic fat.”3 But that is entirely misleading. Indirect costs are the buildings within which new materials for life-saving armor are developed. They are the supercomputers that find new ways to defend our country against cyber-attacks. Yes, they are also the assistants who keep things running and the custodians who come in at night. But these are not “waste.” Indeed, the regulations treat them as both “necessary and reasonable.”4 Admittedly, research grant funding is not the most riveting topic to come before this Court. However, the Court has come to appreciate that, as Defendants readily admit, basic research is an “essential” service that universities provide to the federal government and so to the American people. In exchange, universities submit themselves to a baroque and exacting regulatory system that scrutinizes their costs and demands accountability. Yet, Defendants would unravel that partnership with less than a nod toward Congress’s requirement that federal agencies make reasonable choices and rationally explain them.
October 10, 2025 at 9:38 PM