@drwhosit.bsky.social
chemistry, science, crystallisation, books, art and music; these a a few of my favourite things.
Reposted
PM @albomp.bsky.social says "his government was a “friend of science”"
@australiainstitute.org.au graph says NO
(Australia's pitiful R&D spend includes tax breaks to private companies; h/t @rodcampbell.bsky.social, @tomswann.bsky.social)
#WithFriendsLikeTheseWhoNeedsEnemies
@australiainstitute.org.au graph says NO
(Australia's pitiful R&D spend includes tax breaks to private companies; h/t @rodcampbell.bsky.social, @tomswann.bsky.social)
#WithFriendsLikeTheseWhoNeedsEnemies
November 19, 2025 at 7:28 AM
PM @albomp.bsky.social says "his government was a “friend of science”"
@australiainstitute.org.au graph says NO
(Australia's pitiful R&D spend includes tax breaks to private companies; h/t @rodcampbell.bsky.social, @tomswann.bsky.social)
#WithFriendsLikeTheseWhoNeedsEnemies
@australiainstitute.org.au graph says NO
(Australia's pitiful R&D spend includes tax breaks to private companies; h/t @rodcampbell.bsky.social, @tomswann.bsky.social)
#WithFriendsLikeTheseWhoNeedsEnemies
Reposted
It’s so tragic that instead of lifting us out of the chronic underfunding of the previous 12 years (in particular), all we’ve got to show for the last 4 years is a bunch of not-even-finished-yet reviews. And a whole bunch of unemployed researchers, to boot. Ridiculous.
November 18, 2025 at 8:44 AM
It’s so tragic that instead of lifting us out of the chronic underfunding of the previous 12 years (in particular), all we’ve got to show for the last 4 years is a bunch of not-even-finished-yet reviews. And a whole bunch of unemployed researchers, to boot. Ridiculous.
Reposted
Since Paris Agreement, the U.S., Australia, Norway and Canada have increased oil and gas production by 40%. At #COP30, some of these same countries have blocked a demand by G-77 (~134 Global South countries) for a just transition mechanism to support workers. ICYMI
drilled.media/news/COP30-OCI
drilled.media/news/COP30-OCI
Running into COP30 with Oil and Gas
As COP30 gets underway in Brazil, a new report spotlights increased oil and gas production from the U.S., Australia, Norway and Canada since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed a decade ago.
drilled.media
November 14, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Since Paris Agreement, the U.S., Australia, Norway and Canada have increased oil and gas production by 40%. At #COP30, some of these same countries have blocked a demand by G-77 (~134 Global South countries) for a just transition mechanism to support workers. ICYMI
drilled.media/news/COP30-OCI
drilled.media/news/COP30-OCI
But despite the overwhelming majority in the parliament, this government will do absolutely nothing about it......
How did Australian universities go from free education to $50,000 arts degrees in 50 years?
By Prof George Williams
"New students will b saddled w/ the consequences of Job Ready Graduates for the long term. Every day we delay a fix is a bad day for...students"
theconversation.com/how-did-aust...
By Prof George Williams
"New students will b saddled w/ the consequences of Job Ready Graduates for the long term. Every day we delay a fix is a bad day for...students"
theconversation.com/how-did-aust...
How did Australian universities go from free education to $50,000 arts degrees in 50 years?
Thanks to the Job Ready Graduates scheme, an arts degree today will cost over $50,000. How have five decades of government policy taken us from free education to this?
theconversation.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:52 AM
But despite the overwhelming majority in the parliament, this government will do absolutely nothing about it......
Reposted
The Canadian National Committee for Crystallography will be hosting a Codding Lecture in support of early career crystallographers on Nov 5 at 1 PM EST. Strain and Defect Analysis in InSb/GaAs Heteroepitaxy with a Novel 3D Reciprocal Space Approach by Trevor Blaikie. xtallography.ca/index.php/co...
Lecture 9 – Trevor Blaikie – Canadian National Committee for Crystallography
xtallography.ca
November 4, 2025 at 10:50 PM
The Canadian National Committee for Crystallography will be hosting a Codding Lecture in support of early career crystallographers on Nov 5 at 1 PM EST. Strain and Defect Analysis in InSb/GaAs Heteroepitaxy with a Novel 3D Reciprocal Space Approach by Trevor Blaikie. xtallography.ca/index.php/co...
Reposted
Are you a PhD/honours student in the Sydney area working with X-ray/Neutron techniques? Great (and very friendly) opportunity to present your work at the Australian X-ray Analytical Assoc's student day coming up on the 20th Nov www.eventbrite.com/e/axaa-nsw-s...
AXAA NSW student symposium 2025
Join us at the University of Technology Sydney for the 2025 NSW Student Symposium hosted by the AXAA and sponsored by Dectris.
www.eventbrite.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Are you a PhD/honours student in the Sydney area working with X-ray/Neutron techniques? Great (and very friendly) opportunity to present your work at the Australian X-ray Analytical Assoc's student day coming up on the 20th Nov www.eventbrite.com/e/axaa-nsw-s...
Reposted
This is it. Word slurry formed into answer-shaped chunks. This is what Sam Altman says is now smarter than we are.
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
October 27, 2025 at 7:25 PM
This is it. Word slurry formed into answer-shaped chunks. This is what Sam Altman says is now smarter than we are.
Reposted
The ALP didn't bother negotiating with the Libs when it changed IR laws, but now apparently it needs LNP support for environmental protection changes.
When govts want to do something, they do it.
When they don't, they use bipartisanship as the excuse.
No one here should fall for it
When govts want to do something, they do it.
When they don't, they use bipartisanship as the excuse.
No one here should fall for it
October 23, 2025 at 2:29 AM
The ALP didn't bother negotiating with the Libs when it changed IR laws, but now apparently it needs LNP support for environmental protection changes.
When govts want to do something, they do it.
When they don't, they use bipartisanship as the excuse.
No one here should fall for it
When govts want to do something, they do it.
When they don't, they use bipartisanship as the excuse.
No one here should fall for it
Reposted
An open letter from educators who refuse the call to adopt GenAI in education openletter.earth/an-open-lett...
An open letter from educators who refuse the call to adopt GenAI in education
openletter.earth
October 18, 2025 at 11:10 AM
An open letter from educators who refuse the call to adopt GenAI in education openletter.earth/an-open-lett...
Reposted
Thank you, @compoundchem.com! 👇
Yes! I've got this which needs updating (for the whopping one additional woman who's won the prize since 2020). "Nobel Prize diversity" is a bit of an oxymoron...
And a whole women in chemistry category here which shows there's no shortage of potential nominees: www.compoundchem.com/category/wom...
And a whole women in chemistry category here which shows there's no shortage of potential nominees: www.compoundchem.com/category/wom...
October 10, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Thank you, @compoundchem.com! 👇
Reposted
👍💯 AI is an intrusive unwelcome guest for people who like to think for themselves.
Dear computer boffins please stop trying to fix problems I don’t have
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Dear computer boffins please stop trying to fix problems I don’t have | First Dog on the Moon
I don’t want AI in anything and certainly not everything please stop asking
www.theguardian.com
October 3, 2025 at 9:19 AM
👍💯 AI is an intrusive unwelcome guest for people who like to think for themselves.
Reposted
The climate predictions that were wrong were the ones by the contrarians/deniers during the post-1998 “hiatus”. They said temperatures would start to fall as part of a natural cycle.
In a UN speech today, President Trump said that "all of these [climate] predictions were wrong".
Back in 2019 I led a research effort to digitize old climate model projections and assess how well they did. Turns out they got future warming pretty spot on!
Back in 2019 I led a research effort to digitize old climate model projections and assess how well they did. Turns out they got future warming pretty spot on!
September 28, 2025 at 7:19 AM
The climate predictions that were wrong were the ones by the contrarians/deniers during the post-1998 “hiatus”. They said temperatures would start to fall as part of a natural cycle.
This will not age well......
Are we supposed to be impressed? Proud? This is what our foreign policy has become. Absolutely fckin ridiculous.
September 24, 2025 at 12:05 PM
This will not age well......
Reposted
"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically." www.ru.nl/en/research/...
September 12, 2025 at 10:45 AM
"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically." www.ru.nl/en/research/...
Reposted
Where's the condemnation, @albomp.bsky.social @senatorwong.bsky.social.
Where's the sanctions—the total arms embargo, navy on its way to break the siege, cancellation of all trade agreements until the illegal occupation, the apartheid, the genocide stop?
OR still too far away for you to judge?
Where's the sanctions—the total arms embargo, navy on its way to break the siege, cancellation of all trade agreements until the illegal occupation, the apartheid, the genocide stop?
OR still too far away for you to judge?
September 13, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Where's the condemnation, @albomp.bsky.social @senatorwong.bsky.social.
Where's the sanctions—the total arms embargo, navy on its way to break the siege, cancellation of all trade agreements until the illegal occupation, the apartheid, the genocide stop?
OR still too far away for you to judge?
Where's the sanctions—the total arms embargo, navy on its way to break the siege, cancellation of all trade agreements until the illegal occupation, the apartheid, the genocide stop?
OR still too far away for you to judge?
Reposted
Watt & Albanese made their choice. History will NOT be kind.
Climate criminals. We are already in a climate emergency.
Think they can fool physics? Science doesn’t care what you think. Pouring more carbon into our one and only biosphere will cause longer, hotter, more frequent: heatwaves, droughts
Climate criminals. We are already in a climate emergency.
Think they can fool physics? Science doesn’t care what you think. Pouring more carbon into our one and only biosphere will cause longer, hotter, more frequent: heatwaves, droughts
Albanese lied saying new gas is required for the transition. It’s not true. If he continues with Woodside’s NWS expansion to 2070 he and Murray Watt will go down as climate criminals.
There can be NO EXCUSE for Australia giving Woodside NWS gas extension approval. Most of the toxic fossil methane gas would be exported with only a TINY profit for Australia & Australians.
Gas is NOT needed & its extraction DELAYS the transition to renewables.
We’re ALREADY in a climate EMERGENCY.
Gas is NOT needed & its extraction DELAYS the transition to renewables.
We’re ALREADY in a climate EMERGENCY.
September 12, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Watt & Albanese made their choice. History will NOT be kind.
Climate criminals. We are already in a climate emergency.
Think they can fool physics? Science doesn’t care what you think. Pouring more carbon into our one and only biosphere will cause longer, hotter, more frequent: heatwaves, droughts
Climate criminals. We are already in a climate emergency.
Think they can fool physics? Science doesn’t care what you think. Pouring more carbon into our one and only biosphere will cause longer, hotter, more frequent: heatwaves, droughts
Reposted
The final approval of the 45-year expansion of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas export terminal is equivalent to building 12 new coal power stations.
It will undermine the nation's energy security, drive up energy prices & is the greatest giveaway of Australian natural resources ever.
Media release
It will undermine the nation's energy security, drive up energy prices & is the greatest giveaway of Australian natural resources ever.
Media release
North West Shelf final approval a climate, economic and energy security disaster
Australia Institute analysis shows today's final approval of the 45-year expansion of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas export terminal is equivalent to building 12 new coal power stations.
australiainstitute.org.au
September 12, 2025 at 5:41 AM
The final approval of the 45-year expansion of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas export terminal is equivalent to building 12 new coal power stations.
It will undermine the nation's energy security, drive up energy prices & is the greatest giveaway of Australian natural resources ever.
Media release
It will undermine the nation's energy security, drive up energy prices & is the greatest giveaway of Australian natural resources ever.
Media release
Reposted
Guess where former defence ministers are? 👀
The revolving door is a real obstacle to good governance and it should be SHUT.
The revolving door is a real obstacle to good governance and it should be SHUT.
August 21, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Guess where former defence ministers are? 👀
The revolving door is a real obstacle to good governance and it should be SHUT.
The revolving door is a real obstacle to good governance and it should be SHUT.
Reposted
Reposted
I call on the Australian government to #RaiseTheRate of all support payments to a living wage.
This would be the single most effective way to lift the productivity, quality of life, and well-being of the whole country.
#CommitToALivingWage
This would be the single most effective way to lift the productivity, quality of life, and well-being of the whole country.
#CommitToALivingWage
August 16, 2025 at 2:42 AM
I call on the Australian government to #RaiseTheRate of all support payments to a living wage.
This would be the single most effective way to lift the productivity, quality of life, and well-being of the whole country.
#CommitToALivingWage
This would be the single most effective way to lift the productivity, quality of life, and well-being of the whole country.
#CommitToALivingWage
Reposted
The Productivity Commission’s interim report, ‘Harnessing data and digital technology’, is a blueprint for the wholesale theft of Australia’s art, media, and cultural heritage that will do nothing more than further enrich the billionaires in Silicon Valley.
#StopAITheft
#StopAITheft
August 6, 2025 at 7:04 AM
The Productivity Commission’s interim report, ‘Harnessing data and digital technology’, is a blueprint for the wholesale theft of Australia’s art, media, and cultural heritage that will do nothing more than further enrich the billionaires in Silicon Valley.
#StopAITheft
#StopAITheft
Reposted
"thanks to another of the poisonous legacies of the ill-fated, yet damaging, Morrison govt, the fees to undertake a basic arts degree in the low-cost humanities have skyrocketed to $50,000."
But worse is the Albanese govt's failure to act.
As with #AUKUS, they are too comfortable with LNP poison.
But worse is the Albanese govt's failure to act.
As with #AUKUS, they are too comfortable with LNP poison.
Attacks on the humanities at Australian universities are not new – but they are now more lethal | Julianne Schultz
Attacks on the humanities at Australian universities are not new – but they are now more lethal | Julianne Schultz
Punishing fees for arts degrees must be ended if the country seriously wants to participate in the information age and give students the opportunities we need them to have
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It’s a question from a young graduate student that should chill every educated politician, public servant and university administrator to the bone. “Why do they hate us so much?”
It’s a good question, and she hoped that Graeme Turner, the eminent professor of cultural studies who has recently published a scathing diagnosis of the condition of Australian universities, Broken: Universities, Politics and the Public Good, might be able to answer it. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
August 3, 2025 at 9:43 AM
"thanks to another of the poisonous legacies of the ill-fated, yet damaging, Morrison govt, the fees to undertake a basic arts degree in the low-cost humanities have skyrocketed to $50,000."
But worse is the Albanese govt's failure to act.
As with #AUKUS, they are too comfortable with LNP poison.
But worse is the Albanese govt's failure to act.
As with #AUKUS, they are too comfortable with LNP poison.
Reposted
The Morrison and then Albanese governments have provided next to no rationale for the huge #AUKUS commitment.
The strategic objectives, the cost-benefit, the likelihood of delivery...all are dodgy at best.
Yet there is ONE certainty; several ex-ministers are set to benefit personally. #auspol
The strategic objectives, the cost-benefit, the likelihood of delivery...all are dodgy at best.
Yet there is ONE certainty; several ex-ministers are set to benefit personally. #auspol
The revolving door between government jobs and the defence industry is especially problematic when we see massive contracts awarded without due process.
My CleanUp Politics Act would close that door & stop senior public servants & politicians using insider knowledge in their post-politics careers.
My CleanUp Politics Act would close that door & stop senior public servants & politicians using insider knowledge in their post-politics careers.
Battle stations: The former PM, ministers, and military brass cashing in on Australia’s defence spending bonanza
With billions of dollars in AUKUS spending looming, the rush to join defence industry contractors and advisory firms has never been greater.
www.theage.com.au
August 2, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Reposted
" nearly 100 wind farms operating on Australia’s main grid set a new peak of 10.16 gigawatts (GW).
Battery storage hit a new peak of 2,045 megawatts (2 GW) in the evening peak at 5.55pm on June 20."
reneweconomy.com.au/wind-output-...
Battery storage hit a new peak of 2,045 megawatts (2 GW) in the evening peak at 5.55pm on June 20."
reneweconomy.com.au/wind-output-...
Wind output smashes through 10 GW barrier for first time on Australia’s main grid
Wind and big batteries pass significant milestones on Australia’s main grid, and new output records also set for wind in South Australia and wind and solar in Queensland.
reneweconomy.com.au
July 29, 2025 at 7:06 AM
" nearly 100 wind farms operating on Australia’s main grid set a new peak of 10.16 gigawatts (GW).
Battery storage hit a new peak of 2,045 megawatts (2 GW) in the evening peak at 5.55pm on June 20."
reneweconomy.com.au/wind-output-...
Battery storage hit a new peak of 2,045 megawatts (2 GW) in the evening peak at 5.55pm on June 20."
reneweconomy.com.au/wind-output-...
Reposted
"People with disability who rely on NDIS supports must not be placed at risk or live in fear that they will be summarily removed from the Scheme for their advocacy, views or any arbitrary decision of senior NDIA staff." 12 orgs demanded answers from NDIA. Not pleased. pwd.org.au/disability-r...
Disability representative organisations call for accountability after NDIA conduct targeting person with disability - People with Disability Australia
Joint Statement on disability representative organisations call for accountability after NDIA conduct targeting person with disability.
pwd.org.au
July 10, 2025 at 7:42 AM
"People with disability who rely on NDIS supports must not be placed at risk or live in fear that they will be summarily removed from the Scheme for their advocacy, views or any arbitrary decision of senior NDIA staff." 12 orgs demanded answers from NDIA. Not pleased. pwd.org.au/disability-r...