Prof Carla Faria

Quantum Battles

PS: You can also follow the livestream on YouTube at
www.youtube.com/@QuantumBattles (live chat is open for subscribers).

The #AttoFridays are back, on 10/10 at 3pm UK time. Our speaker will be Prof. Wendell T Hill (University of Maryland) & he will talk about "Rousing the quantum vacuum: ephemeral-pair dynamics on sub-attosecond timescales".
Register here us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Below is an abstract & bio:

White Ibis in a swamp

A huge amount of water birds on a beach

Bird sitting on a fence

There is so much evil in the world right now that I am sharing some nice pictures from the Amazon to clean up the timeline. These are from Marajó Island. Bom dia!

The #AttoFridays will start soon. Below is a sneak peek at the schedule. We will circulate Zoom registrations soon. Subscribers to the YouTube channel can ask questions via the live chat.

9) The lesson is that sometimes you have to build bridges across differences to common goals, which isn't easy, and know how to listen, which is even harder and gets worse with age. Now it's time to get on with life and put my photos on a hard drive. But the lessons remain (and perhaps the bridges).

8) I will miss the huge rivers and a lot of people, but it's great to be back, and enjoy the silence & the space. There's a lot of noise everywhere. This prevents people from having more than superficial conversations, which is generally a pity. But in some cases, it might be a blessing in disguise.

7) There are animals & birds everywhere, coming from the jungle, eating fish in the city lakes, or unfortunately in zoos. This made me wonder who decides who is free to fly away (and come back whenever they want), who has their wings clipped, and who is completely trapped.

6) People are proud of #COP30, but there's a lot of gentrification in the city, with the usual victims (riverside communities, quilombolas, etc). This is a huge, century-long social & ecological problem. However, a sustainable culture cannot be achieved w/o social justice & they need our support.

Flag of Pará - Wikipedia

5) I was pleasantly surprised by the many t-shirts with the (red) Pará flag en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of.... I bought one for myself. I didn't see any BR t-shirts for sale, and I wouldn't buy them. After Bozo, I can't walk around in those colours. The South+Southeast of BR also see us as a colony.

4) The herb stalls with #medicinefromtheforest at #VeroPeso market are an institution per se. Below a picture with Beth & Cibele Cheirosinha, who work with #ervasquecuram for generations and are local celebrities. Note the red flag of the state Pará on the background & the biojewels.#saberancestral

3) There are many more indigenous people selling their art than there used to be, so if you want to support them, I recommend Praça da República on Sunday. I bought some fantastic Ticuna biojewelry & some (already gone) Genipapo paintings which, according to the artist, serve as protection.

2) For the first time, I saw a real Muiraquitã. It's shocking that something so present in Amazonian culture isn't in every museum in the city. Jade was present in pre-Columbian cultures, and we are no exception. The Jade Museum in Costa Rica has similar pieces en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muiraqu...

Dear all,
I am back after some time in #Amazonia + some (longer than expected) recovery time. Below are a few impressions 🧵

1) Seminar at UFPA. The room was full of physics students. After 30+ years, it was a pleasure to return. I know where my bridges to BR will be, and I want to stay in touch.

Thought of the day: ``A gente tem que trabalhar muito para não ter heróis. Os heróis são uma denúncia contra nós. O herói só é uma pessoa extraordinária porque a gente não faz da causa que ele transforma em extraordinária uma ação ordinária. " Marina Silva (Brazil's environment minister)

🤔👇

*damnedest creature*

I learned today from Rick Wakeman at BBC R4 that he played keyboards in Sabbath Bloody Sabbath & that Ozzmosis can be loosely classified as prog rock. I guess we will all miss the prince of darkness's shenanigans (I definitely will). Borrowing from Anne Rice, Ozzy was the damnest creature 😊 #RIPOzzy

Urge Lula To Veto the Devastation Bill and Protect the Amazon! | Amazon Watch Brazil’s Congress just passed a bill that would be catastrophic for Indigenous rights, the Amazon rainforest, and the global climate. But there’s still time to stop it.

#VetaLula #PLdaDevastacao #sosamazonia
Vamos mandar uma mensagem pro Lula (vejam o link abaixo)

amazonwatch.org/take-action/...

Great work on Murano Glass, birds everywhere & free books too!

One of the perks of being a scientist is to travel a lot. I have been in #Venice for an invited talk after a looong time.

NÃO AO PL DA DEVASTAÇÃO!
#VetaLula

#VetaLula #SaveTheAmazon #SOSAmazon

Bom dia 😊

In June 2025, Germany produced a record 11.8 TWh from solar ☀️

If this had been produced by coal (as it was in the past), Germany would have had to burn an additional 6 million tonnes of coal! 🔥

That's ~3000 full trainloads...
or enough to fill 50 Bundestag buildings with coal

Confidence isn't "they will like me." It's 'I'll be fine if they don't." @psychologyposts_

Finishing soon - the above phrase sounds strange.

How to Save the Amazon 'Ultimately as inspiring and devastating as the Amazon itself' The Guardian 'Bold, pacy, bursting with optimism and filled with vivid descriptions, this is the work of an indomitable soul' - Guy Shrub...

Just read 80% of this book, and it's amazing. Dom Phillips actually died trying to write it. A must-read for anyone who cares about the Amazon & its people (or even about this planet's ecosystems)

#HowToSaveTheAmazon

www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/produc...

I have been thinking about being a scientist from the Amazon. What bridges to keep, what bridges to (re)build, and what bridges to burn. Things have improved, but I still feel BR treats us as outcasts for being from the North. However, we are an insurgent lot. A nossa bandeira sempre foi vermelha!

Missing in the Amazon: the frontline – episode six According to Beto Marubo, if Dom and Bruno did the same expedition in 2025, they would face the same levels of danger. The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, returns to the Javari v...

The sixth and final episode of our Dom & Bruno podcast ‘Missing in the Amazon’ is out now

I guess we caught up after all 😊. It was great talking to you. A luta continua!