Markus Deserno
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markusdeserno.bsky.social
Markus Deserno
@markusdeserno.bsky.social
Theoretical and computational biophysicist at Carnegie Mellon University. Loves lipid membranes, music, and art. (he/him) 🇩🇪🇺🇸
Found a more “flattering” picture. This is Mitchum in “El Dorado,” where he plays sheriff J.P. Harrah, shown here as a drunkard who has given up on himself after an “affair of the heart” (we’re not even shown) ended poorly.
Excellent movie, by the way.
January 18, 2026 at 2:33 PM
“When kids weren’t as clumsy as nowadays, they used to build snowstorks in the winter.”
January 12, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Same here! 🤩
January 11, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Sergei Prokofiev
January 1, 2026 at 3:31 PM
This comes to mind. Can’t help it. 🤷🏼‍♂️
December 28, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Impossible not to hear THIS 😉
November 30, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Melania memecoin not doing so hot.
November 29, 2025 at 2:23 PM
This is fun, but the photo is doctored. The actual “day in the future” is (was…) October 21, 2015, and I distinctly remember watching BTTF-2 on that day at the Waterfront. A DeLorean was parked outside the movie theater. People complained that there were no hoverboards. 😉
November 9, 2025 at 2:17 PM
NSF email to GRFP applicants from TODAY: you MUST submit official academic transcripts with your most recent academic status!

First year PhDs often don't get these until the end of this semester.

No clarification opportunity because of government shutdown.

Application deadline is next week.

🫠
November 5, 2025 at 1:04 AM
The number of Muslims living in NYC is approximately the size of the population of Congressman Gill’s entire district.
November 2, 2025 at 8:17 PM
“Short shorts.” God forbid we could see a little bit more of his naked legs. That would be inappropriately revealing. It would violate the sanctity of sports.
November 2, 2025 at 1:32 PM
This is the correct way to take eggs from the carton.
November 2, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Here’s Adalyn, using a beloved meme template for the third time, now dealing a blow to Röntgen, who couldn’t check that X-rays were EM radiation. To be fair, von Laue did it first (and got Nobel'ed for it), while William H. Bragg and his son William L. Bragg turned this into an industry.

17/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
In for a penny, in for a pound: Ryan Z. one final time, complaining that Piazza wouldn’t let him delete posts he noticed a split second too late are not ready for the light of day. Keep it up, Ryan, we will keep chuckling!

16/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Ryan C., on a roll apparently, this time with a very apt illustration of the inefficiency of incandescent light bulbs.

15/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Ryan C. offers a pictorial (gifforial?) illustration about his mindset when my problems warn that there might be “dense algebra ahead” (which at times they do).

14/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Marcus found an analogy I presented in class very compelling. I hope that analogy will not ruin everyone in that year forever, but I’ll stick with it!

13/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Ryan Z. offers an entry with a similar format, making a great point about irreverent Albert.

12/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Angela found a relativistic reason why love can be complicated. We need this Facebook relationship status!

11/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Ari striking a well-deserved death blow to the likes of Ernst Mach…

10/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
And Grace D. observed the equivalence of reference frames. Apparently Lorentz invariants are like Spiderman. Sorry, Spidermen!

9/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Here’s Eldon, bringing an important point into razor sharp focus. Seems modern physics could have had an earlier start if only memes were a thing back then.

8/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
It appears Molly recently had some text exchange with Lord Rayleigh. I can’t help but feel modern students should have a bit more compassion with these old physicists. They were TRYING HARD!

7/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
And Zoe observed, astutely, that our good old friend Einstein seems to have a knack of handing in the same homework for double credit. (When will someone call him out for that?)

6/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Now we have Jack, asking the really deep questions about my inscrutable naming conventions form protagonists in contrived relativistic plots, where people are running past other people…

5/17
November 1, 2025 at 3:07 PM