Joachim Kopp

How sad to hear that Tom Lehrer has left us. I vividly remember my first big scientific conference – Neutrino 2006 in Santa Fe. At an evening event, members of the Santa Fe Opera sang The Elements Song for us. A brilliant performance. I've been hooked ever since.

This is absurd.

The red supergiant Betelgeuse is the bright feature in this image.

But that darker blue splotch is a *companion star* that's just been discovered—and it orbits so close to Betelgeuse that it's inside the larger star's outer atmosphere.

Let me guess:
2007 – $0
2012 – $100 (to the intern who designed it)
2013 – $1,000
2015 – $10,000
2017 – $100,000
2024 – $1,000,000
2026 – $25 (for a ChatGPT subscription)

Theorists' take on Quantum 👩🏻‍🏫👨‍🏫

We recently invited our community #AtCERN to describe quantum. Now, it's the turn of the physicists to share their insights.

Hear from Miguel, Wilke, and Irene as they share their perspective on what #quantum is.

"𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘓𝘢𝘣𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦."

-- Steven Chu, Nobel Lecture 1997

Changes to the 2026 and 2027 Work Programmes With the launch of the competitions for grants under ERC Work Programme 2026 in July of this year, several changes to the submission of applications and the evaluation of proposals will apply. The mai...

Planning to apply for #research #funding from the ERC?

From the next application rounds, expect changes to the:

• proposal structure
• evaluation process
• extra funding you can request
• eligibility for Starting & Consolidator #Grants (from 2027)

More 👇 europa.eu/!RPHWvv

and publicly funded geologists predicted the disaster, preventing massive loss of life.

Goldau seen from the mountain that collapsed.

The loss of their village is a tragedy for the inhabitants of #Blatten. But they are alive because geologists saw it coming. It was their worst case scenario. The village was evacuated. Unlike Goldau in 1806. 457 died. Thanks Geology.

Don’t worry guys, BlueSky can be perfect so long as we all get along. First things first, we just need to agree whether vim or emacs is the better editor.

Der #Exzellenzcluster PRISMA an der JGU Mainz geht in die dritte Runde!

One of my responses was that processes are too complicated :-)
On the other hand, I envy you for not having the EU id app because it means you haven't had to apply for European funding (one of the processes that are too complicated) in recent years :-)

The EU is seeking input on how to protect democracy in Europe. I just responded to the survey at ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/run... (which is open also to non-EU citizens.)

The ultimate host country for a linear collider :-)
(The most circular of the CERN member states is Poland btw.)

In the Star Wars opening crawl style. A star-field background Leo XIV A NEW POPE

Pope Leo XIII - Wikipedia

Note: the previous Pope Leo reestablished the Vatican Observatory “so that everyone might see clearly that the Church & her Pastors are not opposed to true & solid science… but that they embrace it, encourage it, & promote it with the fullest possible devotion.” 🧪 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Le...

Who knew? The LHC is the philosopher's stone. 🧪⚛️

In the economy of scarcity that much of European science has been facing for years, every euro is turned around five times, leading to more complicated grant application procedures, tighter rules, and longer decision-making time scales, further reducing the efficiency of the system.

The Magnificent Fourteen
James Bond 014 – You Only Live Four Times
Bruce Semi-Almighty
14人の侍 (14 Samurai)

30% tariff for the Elven-kings under the sky,
70% tariff for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
90% tariff for Mortal Men doomed to die,
100% tariff for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

A welcome initiative. It will be important to ensure that not only the financial framework is there, but also that administrative burdens are kept to a minimum. The current tendency to micromanage science stifles innovation and progress.

Europe’s choice is clear.

To put science at the heart of its economy.

To become the home of scientific freedom and collaboration.

And to welcome talent from all over the world.

I’m glad to present the first elements of our Choose Europe Initiative.

→ europa.eu/!TTbWbJ

True. I don't know the internal workings of Oxbridge, but within the MPG, the secret to efficiency is trust. Individual institutes (and departments within institutes) can take decisions without the endless red tape and multiple layers of committee meetings that others have to put up with.

In many countries, processes are way too slow. Even when there is political will, such changes take years. Though they wouldn't have to if everyone involved was a little more pragmatic. Just look at how long faculty searches take in Europe.

Sarah’s rules of looking for life with only chemical signatures:

1) the smaller the molecule(s) the more likely they can also be produced by abiotic processes

2) one molecule, if it can be produced by any abiotic process, will never be enough to definitively claim detection of life

The problem with most machine-based random number generators is that they’re not TRULY random, so if you need genuine randomness it is sometimes necessary to link your code to an external random process like a physical noise source or the current rate of US tariffs on a given country.

The LHC experiment collaborations #AtCERN receive Breakthrough Prize

The prize is awarded to ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb, which unite thousands of researchers from more than 70 countries, and concerns the papers authored based on #LHCRun2 data up to July 2024.

Read more: home.cern/news/press-r...

Ein Kollisionsevent im CMS Detektor

Ich forsche am Institut für Hochenergiephysik @hephy.bsky.social der @oeaw.bsky.social an der Nutzung von künstlicher Intelligenz in der Teilchenphysik. Diese neuen Techniken erlauben uns noch effizienter die riesigen Datenmengen des Teilchenbeschleunigers #LHC zu analysieren und zu verstehen.

1/3

This perception was different during the US Snowmass process. Perhaps writing white papers and giving parallel talks is indeed not a career boost for ECRs, but being a member of the strategy group could certainly be.

Choosing among possible future projects was already the goal of the 2020 update of the European strategy. But the community still hasn't united behind a single project. Perhaps many do not feel represented by the European Strategy group which, for instance, does not contain early career researchers.