Chris Lintott

No, I just really like interrobangs and wanted to use one.

Is it possible to love a punctuation mark too much‽

I do feel like you should be carried out of the office by a cohort of former summer students.

Not now! This article suggests that such a thing happened when the Solar System was young.

Congratulations!

Science Showoff January 2026 Science Showoff is the chaotic science comedy show where your favourite comedians, favourite scientists and favourite friends get to be silly about serious stuff. Join a carefully-curated lineup of ...

A reminder that I and a bunch of awesome people are doing stand-up about science in Kings Cross on the 28th. This will be excellent. Tickets here: wegottickets.com/event/684234.

Yeah, the Thai restaurant opposite has hopped across the road.

The team ended up running Zheng, which was never quite as much fun. And last time I went they were basically ignoring anyone in the restaurant in favour of a stream of home delivery orders.

Sojo by the station in Oxford. Proper Szechuan stuff and lots else. Cheap vino verde. Went so often we were guaranteed a table, and we knew the enormous menu by heart. Salt and pepper squid was so good we insisted on 'double squidding', starting and ending the meal with it. I miss it so much.

PSA: RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATES (REU) • These are summer programs run via the NSF (and other orgs) around the country, where you go for ~10 weeks to do research with someone. Internships are paid and housing/ travel costs are included! • A really good way to get your foot in the door on research we don’t cover at UO, especially if you’re thinking of grad school! • For NSF-run programs you must be a US citizen/ green card holder, who has not yet graduated. The most competitive REUs are typically given to rising seniors, but less competitive programs might take applicants earlier on • Most deadlines are February 1; some earlier.

HOW TO FIND REU PROGRAMS Through NSF: https://www.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/reu/search (Tip: do a BROAD search! Astro/space for example can be found under “astronomy,” ”physics,” even “earth and environment”!) Not through NSF: Smithsonian/ CfA: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/opportunities/graduate- undergraduate-programs/reu-summer-intern-program NRAO (Green Bank, Charlottesville, Socorro): https://science.nrao.edu/opportunities/student-programs/summerstudents Space Telescope Science Institute (Jan 23 deadline): https://www.stsci.edu/opportunities/space-astronomy-summer-program Many more listed at the AAS for astro! https://aas.org/careers/internships-summer- jobs

BONUS: NON-CITIZEN/ OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD Caltech LIGO SURF: https://labcit.ligo.caltech.edu/LIGO_web/students/SURF/ (deadline Jan 11!) Los Alamos: https://lanl.jobs/search/jobdetails/intelligence-and-space-research-division- undergraduate-internship/36a70333-86bd-46af-bfff-fc068f326fbe (some countries excluded) Heidelberg, Germany: https://www.mpia.de/en/careers/internships/summer ASTRON, The Netherlands: https://www.astron.nl/education/summer-research-programme/ Leiden, The Netherlands: https://leaps.strw.leidenuniv.nl/ Lamat program: (deadline already passed for 2026) https://lamat.science.ucsc.edu/students/ LPI (deadline passed for 2026): https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpiintern/eligibility/ RISE in Germany (all kinds of science! Deadline already passed) https://www.daad.de/rise/en/rise-germany/

Astronomer here! Are you an undergrad student interested in astronomy (or know one) wanting to do a paid summer research experience this year? Here are some slides I made up for my class detailing REU programs! (both NSF and not-NSF funded, including stuff abroad and for non-US citizens)

🔭🧪🎢

Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy (Two Positions) Haverford College invites applications for two Visiting Assistant Professors of Physics and Astronomy.

We're hiring for full-time visiting faculty in physics and astronomy (potentially multi-year). We need at least one astronomer: www.haverford.edu/provost/news... 🔭👩‍🔬🎢🧪

These are all good answers, but as an editor I hope it's reassuring that people doing this for the first time are often the best and most careful referees; remember your job is to advise the editors, that's all, and you won't go far wrong.

In particular, don’t do this and then wait until the end of Feb to pick a slot and expect the information to be relevant.

Wait, it is to remove bitterness? I thought it was so they took up more flavour in sauces. Blimey.

A senior academic I know, who shall remain nameless, was still printing and filing emails in 2015

You could print them out

Oxford’s just about clinging on with that combo too.

Because as the Moon causes tides on the Earth it slows down and drifts further away. Gravity keeps it swinging around on its orbit though.

Thanks Mike. I think there are definitely people who are more optimistic about habitable planets around M dwarfs, but I agree in general with what you say.

I think it’s just simpler if it’s a particle but that’s a guess!

Haven’t you and Ethan had this discussion before?

De Sitter space is not well understood by cosmologists?

I’m an editor of a major journal, I can tell you from experience it’s hard to write a good one!

A. Not peer reviewed.
B. From a quick scan this is just a review of GRB science, nothing to do with novel cosmology. What am I missing?

Good, and getting better. We have the big things catalogued and new instruments like @vrubinobs.bsky.social will find a lot of the smaller things. The DART mission showed that deflection is possible if we have a few decade’s notice. So we’re definitely getting there.

Because you need to publish detailed papers that make testable predictions or give explanations of observations, not a book.

For our Solar System ?‽ Biggest one this year is JAXA’s MMX - sample return from Mars’ moons. Very cool.

No, I’m not counting that. Speed of light is about a foot per nanosecond.

Not our own, but everyone else’s. We see the Sun as it was 8 minutes ago, the nearest stars as they were decades ago and the Andromeda galaxy as it was two million years ago. To look into the sky is to look into the past. (You also see your feet as they were 5-6 nanoseconds ago)

Was only announced last week! With funding too.