Simon Farrell

A vibrant, composite portrait of the brilliant Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017), the first woman and first Iranian to win the Fields Medal. She is shown in a close-up head-and-shoulders view, facing the camera with a gentle, thoughtful expression—short brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a calm smile. She wears a navy blue fleece over a teal/green collared shirt. Overlaid transparently behind and around her is a dense blackboard filled with intricate handwritten mathematical equations in white chalk, featuring complex expressions involving binomial coefficients (e.g., n! / (k!(n-k)!)), factorials, summations, powers, and terms suggestive of hypergeometric series or combinatorial identities. The equations partially surround and frame her face, symbolizing her deep immersion in advanced mathematics, particularly in hyperbolic geometry, Teichmüller theory, and dynamical systems, while evoking the creative, exploratory nature of her work as a Stanford professor and groundbreaking researcher.

Remembering Dr. Maryam Mirzakhani on #WorldCancerDay.

Dr. Mirzakhani was first woman to win the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in #mathematics. She died in 2017 from #breastcancer at the age of 40.

stanford.io/2C0io2A #WomenInSTEM

This TikTok star sharing Australian animal stories doesn’t exist – it’s AI Blakface The ‘Bush Legend’ is bringing us short videos of an Aboriginal person teaching us about native animals. But he isn’t real.

“We are seeing the rise of an AI Blakface that is utilised with ease thanks to the availability and prevalence of AI. Non-Indigenous people and entities are able to create Indigenous personas through AI, often grounded in stereotypical representations that both amalgamate and appropriate cultures.”

“Don’t feel for a minute that we don't have power. Don't think for a minute we can’t drive change.” – Dr Richard Denniss, co-CEO of The Australia Institute

Read more from Dr Richard Denniss on The Point: thepoint.com.au/news/260109-...

Logo of the Medieval Irish History podcast.

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Medieval Irish History Podcast

The staff in the @maynoothuniversity.ie Department of Early Irish have a lot of experience when it comes to the public dissemination of their research, but none more so than Dr Niamh Wycherley. As part of her @researchireland.ie Pathway Grant, she started…
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FOI docs reveal Meanjin axing never debated by Melbourne Uni. And why were all bids to save it rejected? The University of Melbourne's finance committee didn't invite members to question the closure of the 85-year-old literary journal, instead only waving it through. Meanwhile, all external offers to sav...

This is the way #Meanjin ends — not with a bang but a whimper.

New FOI story from me for @crikey.com.au:

www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/17/m...

It's so fucked up to have been a kid during the D&D is the devil freakout and the Tipper Gore dirty lyrics freakout and live to see the teen suicide machine get such a pass.

Seven-parameter drift-diffusion pdfs and cdfs now in Stan
statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/12/11/s...

The Prime Minister credited 36 Months for convincing him to ban teens from social media.

This group accused experts who opposed the ban of being 'bought' by big tech. Meanwhile, it was lining up brand deals, eyeing global expansion & developing an AI tool to track students

www.crikey.com.au/20...

YouTube video by thejuicemedia Honest Government Ad | Social Media Ban

The Australien Government has made an ad about the Social Media Ban for Under-16s, and it's surprisingly honest and informative.

My teen, who had dreamt of being an astrophysicist, just told me he wants to go to law school because, “Science isn’t going to be a priority in the US in the future…I don’t want a job where I’ll be constantly worried my funding will be taken away.”

Gutting. How many future scientists have we lost?

Here’s my Spotify Wrapped 🎵✨

Thread of French and Dutch research institutes slowly unsubscribing from web of science (and thence impact factors).

CSIRO to cut up to 350 research jobs in major overhaul After 440 positions were slashed last year, the CSIRO has announced more staff cuts across the country in a bid to remain financially viable.

“CSIRO has announced it will slash up to 350 jobs as the national science agency grapples with long-term financial challenges … with current funding failing to keep pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency.”

Not “challenges”. They’re choices. 😡

View Beibei Yin’s graphic link Beibei YinBeibei Yin • 1st1st Advising global changemakers on China and climateAdvising global changemakers on China and climate 20h • 20 hours ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn Third day at hashtag#COP30, I woke up to the news that dozens of Indigenous protesters forced their way into the venue, clashing with security to demand real climate action and forest protection. I share their anger and frustration. I came to COP hoping Indigenous peoples, whose lands, knowledge, and leadership are central to solving the climate crisis, would finally have the visibility and space they deserve. Instead, their absence in the “blue zone,” where the main negotiations take place, is striking. On the first day, I asked how to visit the Green Zone, where the Indigenous Peoples Pavilion is located. The staff told me it was “still under construction,” “far away,” and even asked, “Why would you go there?” Yesterday, after a long day of sessions, I tried again. I was told it’s a one-kilometer walk or a 30 to 60 minute shuttle wait. For contrast: Saudi Arabia’s pavilion, one of the world’s largest oil exporters, is just a one-minute walk from the main entrance. If someone like me, deliberately seeking to learn from Indigenous communities, can barely reach their space, what chance do the other tens of thousands of participants have? COP30 was meant to center the voices of the Amazon. Yesterday’s protests are a reminder that those voices are still being kept outside the rooms where decisions are made. https://lnkd.in/dcniMjQ9 An Indigenous demonstrator is held by a staff member. REUTERS/Anderson Coelho Protesters force their way into COP30 summit venue, clash with security reuters.com

I guess it's unlikely but if Aus does end up winning COP31 this is probably a good taste of how the government will treat the Pacific nations it's claiming to be elevating

Rosalind Franklin and the damage of gender harassment Spurred by a recent report on sexual harassment in academia, our columnist revisits a historical case and reflects on what has changed—and what hasn’t

Thinking only of Rosalind Franklin today, and what was stolen from her (and so many other female scientists alongside her).

A recent redesign of OSF by @cos.io led to widespread access failures. What began as a few broken download links became for me a total disappearance of eight years of DOI-registered work. What happened, how was it resolved, and what it reveals about trust and infrastructure in open science

I know Jane Goodall was revered by many in the environment movement, but it is pretty clear that she also harboured many seriously problematic colonial attitudes.

The 'overpopulation' stuff in particular was pretty bad, and as a concept the conduit of plenty of serious wrongdoing over the years

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

An empty broken piggy bank.

Why Anthology Unraveled

Four years after Anthology Inc. acquired Blackboard as part of its plan to become “the most comprehensive ed-tech ecosystem,” the company is bankrupt and selling many of its parts. https://bit.ly/4362TFR

#AcademicSky #EDUSky #HigherEd

One submission said leaders’ salaries could not be “justified by the quality of executive decision-making, nor by the scope of executive duties. The core business of a university – teaching and research – is co-ordinated virtually entirely by ordinary non-executive staff”.

Report on Australian Higher Education finds:

🔹️ Council members have no lived experience of universities

🔹️ Council members have COIs with consultancy firms

🔹️ Council meetings are closed affairs that lack transparency

🔹️ Leaders' exorbitant salaries could not be justified

Another HOT TAKE on Australia's 2035 targets, but also a comment more generally on rise of climate "realism" and "pragmatism", where simply giving up on trying to stop us being killed by fossil fuels is presented as the Very Reasonable and Very Serious thing to do.

has anyone checked in on the harpers letter / campus free speech panic people

Drop in WA Gouldian finch sightings sparks concern Numbers of the brightly coloured Gouldian finch appear to be dropping in Western Australia's East Kimberley.

Numbers of the brightly coloured Gouldian finch appear to be dropping in Western Australia's East Kimberley.

Cool!

Now the media is reporting that "significant progress" has been made on the negotiations and final approval could be imminent "subject to new conditions".

What's different? Has the level of pollution that would damage the rock art changed?

Alan Moore | Storytelling Learn the craft of storytelling with literary maestro, Alan Moore. Discover how to build story, character, setting and plot in this online writing course.

Just deleted that Alan Moore course I linked to, as it appears to just be the Maestro course straight pirated - that it's been up there in parts for a year makes you wonder why it hasn't been pulled, but doesn't seem credible. If you want to buy it, it's here...

www.bbcmaestro.com/courses/alan...

This is an amazing video! The clarity is remarkable. Not many of us have this gift in academia.
Conceptual frameworks from decolonial and postcolonial theorisation presented in a capsule.

AI Generated 'Boring History' Videos Are Flooding YouTube and Drowning Out Real History "These AI videos are just repeating things that are on the internet, so you end up with a very simplified version of the past."

AI "boring history" slop has taken over YouTube and is particularly insidious because it flattens history and drowns out the tireless work of creators who have been integral to legitimizing YouTube as a place for high-quality history videos

www.404media.co/ai-generated...

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery returns artefacts to Larrakia People - Museums Association Ceremony held to mark repatriation of 33 culturally significant objects to Australia

News | Bristol Museum & Art Gallery returns artefacts to Larrakia People – ceremony held to mark repatriation of 33 culturally significant objects to Australia