Martin Dominik
@everfurther.bsky.social
Reader in Phys & Astro @ Univ St Andrews – Co-Director, Centre for Exoplanet Science (StA-CES) – Past President of NoRCEL – Alumnus of the Global Young Academy (GYA)
Reposted by Martin Dominik
I am so upset by this. WHY would it be a problem having to walk past a hotel? At the moment - the problem is GANGS OF PRICKS kicking up a fuss outside them.
Asked by the BBC how he would feel if "your daughter was having to walk past one of these [asylum] hotels every day?" Keir Starmer replies that "I completely get it".
"I understand why people want the hotels closed. I want them closed".
"I understand why people want the hotels closed. I want them closed".
September 1, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I am so upset by this. WHY would it be a problem having to walk past a hotel? At the moment - the problem is GANGS OF PRICKS kicking up a fuss outside them.
Reposted by Martin Dominik
as a Chicago alumn (Astonomy & Astrophysics PhD 2000), this saddens me greatly. Chicago was such a great institution because of the strength of _all_ of the departments.
The hits keep coming. “The departments that won’t be accepting Ph.D. students now include art history, cinema and media studies, classics, comparative literature, East Asian languages and civilizations, English language and literature, Germanic studies, linguistics, Middle Eastern studies…”
More UChicago Ph.D. Programs Will Pause Admissions
The arts and humanities dean said “nearly all” faculty leaders preferred “a broader pause for the division.” Some social sciences programs also aren’t accepting new students.
www.insidehighered.com
August 23, 2025 at 2:47 PM
as a Chicago alumn (Astonomy & Astrophysics PhD 2000), this saddens me greatly. Chicago was such a great institution because of the strength of _all_ of the departments.
Reposted by Martin Dominik
Dutch TheOnion: “Iraq announces it will invade US to bring freedom and democracy”
August 23, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Dutch TheOnion: “Iraq announces it will invade US to bring freedom and democracy”
Reposted by Martin Dominik
A key difference here is that while either can be incorrect, the structure of Wikipedia *creates context* and the structure of LLMs *destroys context*
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Some of the anti-AI stuff feels a bit like when people would say "don't use Wikipedia as a source." It's just like anything else, a piece of information that you weigh against multiple sources and your own understanding of its likely failure modes
April 26, 2025 at 6:39 PM
A key difference here is that while either can be incorrect, the structure of Wikipedia *creates context* and the structure of LLMs *destroys context*
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Wikipedia has linked sources and an edit history showing where information came from and who added it when
An LLM just generates text
Reposted by Martin Dominik
We have seen, time and again, there are stories on this, that trying to placate the hard/far right inevitably ends up emboldening them and causing them to gain ground. Lesson here isn't to try and appease them, but to confront them, because absolutely none of their arguments stand up to scrutiny. 2/
August 16, 2025 at 3:51 PM
We have seen, time and again, there are stories on this, that trying to placate the hard/far right inevitably ends up emboldening them and causing them to gain ground. Lesson here isn't to try and appease them, but to confront them, because absolutely none of their arguments stand up to scrutiny. 2/
Reposted by Martin Dominik
A social media site run by a fellow of the @royalsociety.org is producing deepfake porn of Taylor Swift and they are fine with it.
Musk’s AI generating deep fake Taylor Swift porn www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Pornographic Taylor Swift deepfakes generated by Musk's Grok AI
Grok Imagine's
www.bbc.co.uk
August 9, 2025 at 5:59 PM
A social media site run by a fellow of the @royalsociety.org is producing deepfake porn of Taylor Swift and they are fine with it.
Reposted by Martin Dominik
Why, when, and where to share your papers, in 3 minutes #ASA2025
Post your papers on SocArXiv
YouTube video by Philip N. Cohen
youtu.be
August 9, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Why, when, and where to share your papers, in 3 minutes #ASA2025
Reposted by Martin Dominik
This is absolutely brilliant.
The best lampooning of a certain “Harvard Astronomer” I have seen.
The best lampooning of a certain “Harvard Astronomer” I have seen.
I have a complaint about Avi Loeb's latest work and I want to speak to management.
medium.com/@steve.desch...
medium.com/@steve.desch...
This is not the quality of pseudoscience infotainment to which I have grown accustomed
Teasing the public with fraudulent or self-deluded promises of aliens used to mean something. It took work. It meant slapping together…
medium.com
August 9, 2025 at 1:59 PM
This is absolutely brilliant.
The best lampooning of a certain “Harvard Astronomer” I have seen.
The best lampooning of a certain “Harvard Astronomer” I have seen.
Reposted by Martin Dominik
"Bannign VPNs" would, apart from many other things, make it literally impossible for millions of students to access online library resources off-campus, & completely destroy the learning-model of thousands of degree programmes...
Dear U.K. Labour. The fact that VPNs can easily bypass large parts of the Online Safety Act is *not* a reason to ban VPNs. It’s a reason to rethink the Online Safety Act.
We did tell you. Many times.
Don’t throw good money after bad.
We did tell you. Many times.
Don’t throw good money after bad.
July 29, 2025 at 7:23 AM
"Bannign VPNs" would, apart from many other things, make it literally impossible for millions of students to access online library resources off-campus, & completely destroy the learning-model of thousands of degree programmes...
Reposted by Martin Dominik
Every UK petition is like this
July 11, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Every UK petition is like this
Reposted by Martin Dominik
the only people LLMs are qualified to replace are the people who think LLMs are qualified to replace anyone
July 28, 2025 at 9:45 PM
the only people LLMs are qualified to replace are the people who think LLMs are qualified to replace anyone
Reposted by Martin Dominik
Here's an idea politicians!
Why not chase the votes of the majority rather than a minority of racist thugs.
Crazy thought I know.
Why not chase the votes of the majority rather than a minority of racist thugs.
Crazy thought I know.
July 27, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Here's an idea politicians!
Why not chase the votes of the majority rather than a minority of racist thugs.
Crazy thought I know.
Why not chase the votes of the majority rather than a minority of racist thugs.
Crazy thought I know.
Reposted by Martin Dominik
What happened to this Republican Party?
July 22, 2025 at 1:38 PM
What happened to this Republican Party?
Reposted by Martin Dominik
😬😬😬
July 22, 2025 at 2:15 PM
😬😬😬
Reposted by Martin Dominik
So Machine Learning is really only Machine Memorizing?
A paper thar took too long to finish. We show that AlphaFold3 its clearly better than AlphaFold2 (and Boltz-1 and Chai-1) to predict the structure of antibody-Antigens, but only for cases with (har to detect) similarity in the training set.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Evaluating Deep Learning Based Structure Prediction Methods on Antibody-Antigen Complexes
Motivation: AlphaFold2 significantly improved the prediction of protein complex structures. However, its accuracy is lower for interactions without co-evolutionary signals, such as host-pathogen and a...
www.biorxiv.org
July 22, 2025 at 3:36 PM
So Machine Learning is really only Machine Memorizing?
Reposted by Martin Dominik
Aujourd'hui, c'est @nature.com qui mentionne notre travail sur les papiers COVID (bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....) et les problèmes de l'IHU(researchintegrityjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....) en décrivant mon parcours académique
L'article: nature.com/articles/d41...
L'article: nature.com/articles/d41...
July 22, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Aujourd'hui, c'est @nature.com qui mentionne notre travail sur les papiers COVID (bmcmedresmethodol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....) et les problèmes de l'IHU(researchintegrityjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....) en décrivant mon parcours académique
L'article: nature.com/articles/d41...
L'article: nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Martin Dominik
During my last years in academia, I grew weary of helping NERC with their EDI initiatives...
And RE: "...are limiting applications from institutions based on past success rates...", I'm guess this means that institutions *not* currently in recent of a NERC grant will be viewed more favourably...🤔
And RE: "...are limiting applications from institutions based on past success rates...", I'm guess this means that institutions *not* currently in recent of a NERC grant will be viewed more favourably...🤔
NERC: We need to open up environmental science! Why is it not diverse?
Also NERC: We're scrapping Independent Research Fellowships, New Investigator Grants, Small Grants, are limiting applications from institutions based on past success rates and will only allow you to submit your proposal once.
Also NERC: We're scrapping Independent Research Fellowships, New Investigator Grants, Small Grants, are limiting applications from institutions based on past success rates and will only allow you to submit your proposal once.
July 21, 2025 at 1:14 PM
During my last years in academia, I grew weary of helping NERC with their EDI initiatives...
And RE: "...are limiting applications from institutions based on past success rates...", I'm guess this means that institutions *not* currently in recent of a NERC grant will be viewed more favourably...🤔
And RE: "...are limiting applications from institutions based on past success rates...", I'm guess this means that institutions *not* currently in recent of a NERC grant will be viewed more favourably...🤔
I repeat: The US health system sucks
@karenguzzo.bsky.social
@karenguzzo.bsky.social
We got the first bill yesterday. It’s only the provider bill, not the hospital bill. It’s $1,588. Our out-of-network deductible is $7,500. (She’s doing a summer internship out of state).
I probably won’t tell my daughter how much it is because I don’t want her to feel guilty.
I probably won’t tell my daughter how much it is because I don’t want her to feel guilty.
My older daughter went to the ER yesterday for an allergic reaction (she's fine), and today she's apologizing for going b/c she feels like she failed by somehow not realizing the food had nuts in it, and she knows it's going to cost us $ even with insurance.
The US health system sucks.
The US health system sucks.
July 20, 2025 at 6:05 PM
I repeat: The US health system sucks
@karenguzzo.bsky.social
@karenguzzo.bsky.social
Reposted by Martin Dominik
Jail the regulators.
End what is universally agreed to be the worst example of a disastrous privatisation - and that is out of a crowded field of disastrous privatisations
End what is universally agreed to be the worst example of a disastrous privatisation - and that is out of a crowded field of disastrous privatisations
The number of times sewage is discharged by water companies will be halved by 2030, the environment secretary has pledged.
Steve Reed's vow marks the first time ministers have set a clear target on the issue, following public outcry over the pollution incidents
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Steve Reed's vow marks the first time ministers have set a clear target on the issue, following public outcry over the pollution incidents
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Water company sewage pollution to halve by 2030, minister pledges
The target is part of plans to improve the water sector following a record number of discharges.
www.bbc.com
July 20, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Jail the regulators.
End what is universally agreed to be the worst example of a disastrous privatisation - and that is out of a crowded field of disastrous privatisations
End what is universally agreed to be the worst example of a disastrous privatisation - and that is out of a crowded field of disastrous privatisations
Reposted by Martin Dominik
We are calling on the UK Government to not introduce a levy on higher education provider income from international students, reduce visa costs to attract global talent, and to review higher education funding to create a sustainable model
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/58...
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/58...
July 10, 2025 at 8:54 AM
We are calling on the UK Government to not introduce a levy on higher education provider income from international students, reduce visa costs to attract global talent, and to review higher education funding to create a sustainable model
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/58...
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/58...
Reposted by Martin Dominik
🌍 Together with our partners, we’re reshaping research systems.
RoRI’s new Impact Report shares what we’ve achieved with 30 funders across 15 countries – and where we’re heading next: rori.figshare.com/articles/rep...
RoRI’s new Impact Report shares what we’ve achieved with 30 funders across 15 countries – and where we’re heading next: rori.figshare.com/articles/rep...
June 26, 2025 at 2:52 PM
🌍 Together with our partners, we’re reshaping research systems.
RoRI’s new Impact Report shares what we’ve achieved with 30 funders across 15 countries – and where we’re heading next: rori.figshare.com/articles/rep...
RoRI’s new Impact Report shares what we’ve achieved with 30 funders across 15 countries – and where we’re heading next: rori.figshare.com/articles/rep...
Reposted by Martin Dominik
How might the Royal Society get out of the Musk-shaped hole it has dug for itself – and strengthen its voice in a world of misinformation? Some suggestions in my latest blog post: occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...
Conduct Unbecoming – how can the Royal Society escape its Musk box? | Reciprocal Space
occamstypewriter.org
June 19, 2025 at 12:05 PM
How might the Royal Society get out of the Musk-shaped hole it has dug for itself – and strengthen its voice in a world of misinformation? Some suggestions in my latest blog post: occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2025/...
Reposted by Martin Dominik
Interested in how collaboration across boundaries can drive real-world solutions? Read more about this topic in the GYA Connections article by GYA member Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas 👇👇👇
globalyoungacademy.net/wp-content/u...
globalyoungacademy.net/wp-content/u...
June 19, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Interested in how collaboration across boundaries can drive real-world solutions? Read more about this topic in the GYA Connections article by GYA member Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas 👇👇👇
globalyoungacademy.net/wp-content/u...
globalyoungacademy.net/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Martin Dominik
My caveat to this depressing story is to be careful — sometimes those who purport to be fighting for fairness are doing it as a cover for their own bullying behaviour.
Not in this case, however — I know Wyn well, and he is a thoroughly decent person.
(archive.is/SSL41) 🔭🧪
Not in this case, however — I know Wyn well, and he is a thoroughly decent person.
(archive.is/SSL41) 🔭🧪
June 17, 2025 at 10:17 PM
My caveat to this depressing story is to be careful — sometimes those who purport to be fighting for fairness are doing it as a cover for their own bullying behaviour.
Not in this case, however — I know Wyn well, and he is a thoroughly decent person.
(archive.is/SSL41) 🔭🧪
Not in this case, however — I know Wyn well, and he is a thoroughly decent person.
(archive.is/SSL41) 🔭🧪
Reposted by Martin Dominik