Markus Mosbech
@mosbech.bsky.social
Cosmology postdoc at RWTH Aachen, astroparticle physics, dark matter, nerd stuff.
PhD from University of Sydney. He/him
PhD from University of Sydney. He/him
When I was studying, the exams that gave me the best learning outcomes were oral exams with the broad questions published in advance. It made it "easy" to study until I knew I understood everything, and possible to clarify unclear questions, but they absolutely disadvantage less confident speakers.
August 1, 2025 at 10:19 AM
When I was studying, the exams that gave me the best learning outcomes were oral exams with the broad questions published in advance. It made it "easy" to study until I knew I understood everything, and possible to clarify unclear questions, but they absolutely disadvantage less confident speakers.
I similarly have very mixed feelings about any exam-based grades: evaluating a student based on one performance is obviously inadequate, but what matters is how well they know the material at the end of the course, and including performance during the course does not measure this and can add stress.
August 1, 2025 at 9:15 AM
I similarly have very mixed feelings about any exam-based grades: evaluating a student based on one performance is obviously inadequate, but what matters is how well they know the material at the end of the course, and including performance during the course does not measure this and can add stress.
Congrats on getting it ready for release! Do you know if Bert's Books will be getting signed copies again? After picking up the first two this way, it feels like tradition by now, so I would love to continue it.
July 9, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Congrats on getting it ready for release! Do you know if Bert's Books will be getting signed copies again? After picking up the first two this way, it feels like tradition by now, so I would love to continue it.
My PhD had a "1st year ethics check" and part of it was running a piece of original writing through TurnItIn - it's less than useless for physics, flagging the entire bibliography as well as any equation that has ever appeared in another paper (and the explanation thereof).
May 14, 2025 at 3:16 PM
My PhD had a "1st year ethics check" and part of it was running a piece of original writing through TurnItIn - it's less than useless for physics, flagging the entire bibliography as well as any equation that has ever appeared in another paper (and the explanation thereof).
OLÉ, the new emulator we present here, uses Gaussian Processes to emulate cosmological observables, and is able to speed up a traditional inference pipeline by orders of magnitude! It relies on online learning, so it does this with no pre-training!
March 18, 2025 at 9:18 AM
OLÉ, the new emulator we present here, uses Gaussian Processes to emulate cosmological observables, and is able to speed up a traditional inference pipeline by orders of magnitude! It relies on online learning, so it does this with no pre-training!
Lived on Parramatta Road the whole time I did my PhD (first Stanmore, then Camperdown), and this is making me homesick for Sydney!
February 16, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Lived on Parramatta Road the whole time I did my PhD (first Stanmore, then Camperdown), and this is making me homesick for Sydney!
With the caveat that this is a particle physics thesis, I can really recommend taking a look at my good friend Zac's thesis: zacpicker.com/wp-content/u...
November 22, 2024 at 9:53 AM
With the caveat that this is a particle physics thesis, I can really recommend taking a look at my good friend Zac's thesis: zacpicker.com/wp-content/u...
In case you don't find anyone, I've had good experiences with reship.com (probably more expensive than a friend helping out, though).
October 14, 2023 at 8:57 AM
In case you don't find anyone, I've had good experiences with reship.com (probably more expensive than a friend helping out, though).
Appropriate, given that Trader Joe's is owned by German grocery chain Aldi.
September 25, 2023 at 8:12 PM
Appropriate, given that Trader Joe's is owned by German grocery chain Aldi.
I would be surprised if anyone found a single post a day spammy 🙂
September 23, 2023 at 2:52 PM
I would be surprised if anyone found a single post a day spammy 🙂
Now you don't have to pay for the massage chair in the airport!
September 23, 2023 at 7:25 AM
Now you don't have to pay for the massage chair in the airport!
Oh yes, this could work for sure! It just requires that everyone follows best practices for push/pulling. However, I don't think git merging will ever be as smooth as the Google -style simultaneous editing.
September 21, 2023 at 9:17 AM
Oh yes, this could work for sure! It just requires that everyone follows best practices for push/pulling. However, I don't think git merging will ever be as smooth as the Google -style simultaneous editing.
While I agree that free and open source is preferable, I think that the collaborative features of Overleaf do make collaboration much easier. No sending the.tex back and forth or dealing with conflicting versions in Dropbox.
September 21, 2023 at 9:07 AM
While I agree that free and open source is preferable, I think that the collaborative features of Overleaf do make collaboration much easier. No sending the.tex back and forth or dealing with conflicting versions in Dropbox.
My favourite description is as decay of curvature: spacetime is in a high energy state and emits particles to decay to a lower energy state.
I think this description is either from Page or Teukolsky?
I think this description is either from Page or Teukolsky?
September 20, 2023 at 3:16 PM
My favourite description is as decay of curvature: spacetime is in a high energy state and emits particles to decay to a lower energy state.
I think this description is either from Page or Teukolsky?
I think this description is either from Page or Teukolsky?
It looks like it shows real galaxy data "underneath" vs dark matter simulations at earlier times
September 20, 2023 at 2:07 PM
It looks like it shows real galaxy data "underneath" vs dark matter simulations at earlier times
As much as having nearly my entire time in Australia be la niña was a bit sad weather-wise, this sounds like I might be lucky to be back in Europe now... (Although I am hoping for your sake that your prediction is wrong)
September 19, 2023 at 3:39 PM
As much as having nearly my entire time in Australia be la niña was a bit sad weather-wise, this sounds like I might be lucky to be back in Europe now... (Although I am hoping for your sake that your prediction is wrong)
Ah, but this presumably requires me to not be lazy by just using plt.plot(), and actually define an axis object...
September 19, 2023 at 1:07 PM
Ah, but this presumably requires me to not be lazy by just using plt.plot(), and actually define an axis object...
If their ability to make batteries is as good as their spelling of their own name...
September 18, 2023 at 8:29 AM
If their ability to make batteries is as good as their spelling of their own name...
I guess academics are used to writing without compensation...
September 14, 2023 at 11:45 PM
I guess academics are used to writing without compensation...
Yeah, having done a MSc in Europe, then an Australian PhD, the Master is a great way to find out if you like doing research, and learn a lot to prepare for a 3-4 year PhD or going into industry.
It is also a great opportunity to try working with someone to see if you are a good match.
It is also a great opportunity to try working with someone to see if you are a good match.
September 12, 2023 at 10:51 PM
Yeah, having done a MSc in Europe, then an Australian PhD, the Master is a great way to find out if you like doing research, and learn a lot to prepare for a 3-4 year PhD or going into industry.
It is also a great opportunity to try working with someone to see if you are a good match.
It is also a great opportunity to try working with someone to see if you are a good match.
You have to back to the real old school memes. Dig up your advice animals.
September 10, 2023 at 3:35 PM
You have to back to the real old school memes. Dig up your advice animals.
And it's not even suspicious character mustache season!
September 8, 2023 at 2:24 PM
And it's not even suspicious character mustache season!
When I was in Sydney, we had a seminar from Xinran Liu, who transitioned from dark matter detection to carbon capture.
His seminar is available here if you are interested: youtu.be/VMmW4v6geuo?...
His seminar is available here if you are interested: youtu.be/VMmW4v6geuo?...
XinRan Liu (UNDO): From Dark Matter to dark matter
Sydney CPPC Seminar 11th May 2023Abstract: The latest and final part of the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made up of the wo...
youtu.be
September 7, 2023 at 5:57 AM
When I was in Sydney, we had a seminar from Xinran Liu, who transitioned from dark matter detection to carbon capture.
His seminar is available here if you are interested: youtu.be/VMmW4v6geuo?...
His seminar is available here if you are interested: youtu.be/VMmW4v6geuo?...