Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · Aug 31

From Norman Lewis' "Voices of the Old Sea". Sadly I can't find any online reference to this Geoffrey of Ipswich dude

Although Geoffrey of Ipswich may have introduced arithmetic into England after his thirteenth-century visit to Barcelona, few rural Catalans could now even add up, let alone multiply or divide.

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · Jul 31

TIL Dirac has a cone in Bristol. That is all www.about-bristol.co.uk/fam-12.php

maps.app.goo.gl

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · Jun 18

Quahog clams can live to an age of 500 years! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_(c...

Ming (clam) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

1

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · Jun 16

I sincerely believe the burden of proof is on anyone who imagines that there’s no effect of everyone doing something for hours per day that they didn’t do 15 years ago

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · Jun 16

Agree that “screentime” is a useless notion. We need a snappy name for media with tight feedback loops designed to strip you of agency. The reason why TV is better than TikTok in this regard is that the former learns slowly and in aggregate what you like, not instantly and individually

Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · Jun 16

“screens” in parenting is such an ill-defined topic — telly, computers, kindles, iPads (and then whatever they’re doing on them), “the internet”, social media… — and I think a lot of the backlash comes when people try to have one policy on all of them

1

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · Jun 16

We're swimming a 12 hour open air swim relay in the Jesus Green Lido in Cambridge! We're raising money for Level Water, an incredible charity that provides 1-to-1 swimming lessons for children with disabilities. Send us a few pounds if you can!
www.justgiving.com/page/wild-wets

The Wild Wets fundraiser for Level Water

Help Austen Lamacraft raise money to support Level Water

www.justgiving.com

2

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · Jun 13

Enjoying all the updates from #Helgoland2025

bsky.app

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · Jun 12

What *are* candy plotens?

2

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 28

If we abandon the idea that “woman” has to have a uniform meaning across all of society (unlike, for example, “child”) then there’s no difference between excluding trans women and excluding heavyweights from a flyweight boxing match imo. But many people reject my premise, I understand

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 27

It's so spot on: "Algebra is the offer made by the devil to the mathematician. The devil says: I will give you this powerful machine, it will answer any question you like. All you need to do is give me your soul: give up geometry and you will have this marvelous machine"

1

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 27

I guess I always knew this because of the perilous proximity to "Jonty", which has such awful cricket captain vibes

2

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 27

I did @pintofscience.uk last week. My talk was about Heisenberg's abandonment of Newton's classical orbits 100 years ago on Helgoland. Around the time I found myself describing Kepler's Mysterium Cosmographicum as his pre-breakbout concept album I realised I might be a massive ham. Loved it

2 9

Reposted by Austen Lamacraft

James Kelleher @jameskelleher.pilcrow.ie · May 27

Incredible work from everyone involved here

35 470 2.1K

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 27

I mean if something is produced by a computer, read by a computer and assessed by a computer, maybe we should shake-up more than peer review?

1

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 27

The whole discourse about LLMs to write / review / read science (or anything else)never seems to engage with the key question about what should replace the paper

Bryan Wilder @brwilder.bsky.social · May 26

Should LLMs be used to review papers? AAAI is piloting LLM-generated reviews this year. I wrote a blog post arguing that using LLMs as reviewers can have bad downstream consequences for science by centralizing judgments about what constitutes good research.

bryanwilder.github.io/files/llmrev...

Equilibrium effects of LLM reviewing

bryanwilder.github.io

1 1

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 26

Ok I actually enjoyed this. The city is Marseille, and you are going to Benasque?

1 1

Reposted by Austen Lamacraft

Netherton Foundry @nethertonfoundry.bsky.social · Apr 25

With thanks @thamesandhudson.bsky.social, we have a copy of REPAST by @jennylinford.bsky.social to give away with one of our 9" sauteuse prospector casseroles, worth £118. Follow us, share this post and then find entry details here
www.netherton-foundry.co.uk/competitions

A copy of REPAST by Jenny Linford on a grey linen cloth

A Netherton Foundry 9 inch sauteuse prospector pan on a linen cloth, with the matching lid propped up behind

20 18

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 23

Oh god… this is why I am unsuited to advocating for change… because I can’t bear to hear stupid comments like that

2

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 21

Spotted in Cambridge: a sleek BMW with the number plate UKRI. Brilliant

3

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 21

Ah yes I’ve used it myself. Tried to convince my colleagues. Crickets

1 1

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 21

Wow... it looks like you are using something more sophisticated that Cambridge's stack of paper and a shitty spreadsheet. What is it?

1

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 17

The new bane of my existence is being emailed for feedback after visiting a restaurant. What is the best way of avoiding this pox?

Reposted by Austen Lamacraft

Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · May 17

It smells of rejection, grading, and committee work

A photo of a scented candle labeled “Dark Academia”

7 36 210

Reposted by Austen Lamacraft

Simon Trebst @simontrebst.bsky.social · Jan 29

🎬… and cut. We are done recording lectures for my course “Quantum Computational Physics”.

Tune in if you want to do “quantum on quantum”: concepts, algorithms, and practical computational skills to simulate quantum many-body systems on digital quantum computing platforms.

vimeo.com/showcase/Qua...

1 3 9

Austen Lamacraft @austen.uk · May 8

We'll be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Theory of Condensed Matter group in Cambridge on 25th July! Here's the booking page if you are interesting in attending. Reposts appreciated

Hoping to see many alumni and friends of the group there!

www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/events/theor...

Theory of Condensed Matter 70th Anniversary

Join us in celebrating the 70th Anniversary of TCM at the new Ray Dolby Centre.

www.alumni.cam.ac.uk

1 3