Chelsea Whyte

SPECTACULAR. I'm laughing so hard

Beg the Question It's not begging at all

Apparently those of us in the fight are rarer and rarer. The dictionary (!!) says the wrong usage is fine because it's everywhere and to "cultivate an attitude of serene detachment in the face of its use by others". I could never.

www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/beg-...

Who wouldn't? Break open all the moons!!

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is about to totally transform astronomy With the ability to scan the entire southern night sky every three days, the huge Vera C. Rubin Observatory could be about to start solving the mysteries of the universe, from dark matter to Planet Ni...

@chelswhyte.bsky.social went to see the Vera Rubin observatory and though I am known space hater, I could not be more excited for all we are about to see in the night sky www.newscientist.com/article/2483...

ok i've been curious about it but now i'm afraid it will steal all my brainpower (what little i have)

Yeah I went down a few Reddit threads hoping for an answer before I came back here. I really hope someone around here knows!

What a curious expression. Do you know where it came from?

This is all reminding me of that convo you had on Never Post like a year ago about when an email is important enough to use your computer vs the phone

don't worry bout it, time isn't real

Fair enough! Thanks for the chat, always nice to hear from scientists on their experiences with journalism

I understand that position, and I'm curious how you feel about someone writing a story about a pre-print of yours without including your voice in it? Is a that a concern? I could see how it might not be, I'm just curious how it looks from your point of view

Definitely. I'm mostly curious if researchers tend to prepare to talk about a pre-print the same way they would a paper, or if you see them as different enough to require different prep

We should start with multiple infinities and go from there (ha)

One of the problems, which I suffered myself, is that people are taught from a young age that maths is too hard or too boring for them. But when you get into it you find out it's so creative and amazing and delightful. But getting readers there can be tough! Worth keeping at it though :)

Yeah, I totally get that. Our readers absolutely love maths stories, but explaining the incremental (though important) advances can be tough to get readers engaged, so it often tends towards the bigger findings or those with wider implications

Yes, that's been my experience, too. Still, I find some scientists seem surprised we would read the arxiv and report on it at all, though plenty of people are willing to chat once we explain that's common in our line of work. It's just a difference in how we view pre-prints, I've noticed

I'd be curious if you have thoughts to share on pre-prints, as that's often where I've seen friction. I've come across scientists who suggest a pre-print isn't published, as it hasn't been in a journal. While my colleagues and I see it as public information that has indeed been published.

From the point of view of a journalist, this is fantastic and covers so many common misunderstandings of how the journalism side of things works.

Absolutely shocking and very worrying from NOAA www.newscientist.com/article/2469...

When I was a kid I got banned from my school library for reading 6th grade books in 3rd grade so my mom took me to the city library and said I could take out any book I wanted

Quantum computers have finally arrived, but will they ever be useful? Hundreds of quantum computing firms around the world are racing to commercialise these once-exotic devices, but the jury is still out on who is going to pull ahead and produce a machine that actually ...

We've got a great special report on quantum computing this week. First up, @kpc.bsky.social runs through all the big players in this growing industry, and asks who will be the first to make a machine that actually does something useful? www.newscientist.com/article/2467...

The only disappointment here is the Dead Planets Society part of me, which wants the asteroid to crack the moon entirely in half

There’s a tiny chance the asteroid headed for Earth could hit the moon If asteroid 2024 YR4 does smash down on the lunar surface, the explosion might be visible from Earth and would leave a new crater on the near side of the moon

Listen, do I want the looming asteroid to hit anything? No, not deep down in my heart. But if it must, can it please hit the moon?? The DRAMATICS! The new crater! We could possibly see the explosion of impact!

www.newscientist.com/article/2467...

If you were tested for flu, I think it would show up as influenza A, though it would take further testing to determine if it was H5N1

plus a shocking amount of information about, let's see here, Trigger's broom in Only Fools And Horses? what is happening

They have favorite things to be part of. Does that mean some of your atoms hate you? Yes.

d) a mime getting ready to juggle
e) you drying your nails after a manicure
f) the beginning of a werewolf transformation

Time to break out my favorite cosmic tool: BIG NET

Are we entering a dangerous new phase of climate change? A series of events, from the California wildfires to evidence we passed 1.5 degrees last year, suggests wild weather will become even more common

My leader this week is a cheerful one: it is time to accept that we have broken the climate, and for us to look at what comes next www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

Red Note and Lemon8 are not the TikTok refuges you are looking for The Chinese social media apps Red Note and Lemon8 have become popular alternatives for TikTok users ahead of a US government ban on TikTok. But government restrictions loom over those apps too

Americans have been trying the Chinese-owned social media apps Red Note and Lemon8 as alternatives ahead of a looming US ban on TikTok. But those apps may not provide a refuge from US (or Chinese) government restrictions.

Story with comments from @emmiehine.com

www.newscientist.com/article/2464...