Colin Stark
@cstark.bsky.social
🧪⚒️⚛️🧮 Geoscientist studying physics of geomorphology/professor/civ eng faculty. Left pieces of my ❤️ in NYC, SF, Rennes, Cambridge. 🇬🇧 🇹🇼 🇯🇵 🌈 日本語/中文/Français ok
Pinned
Colin Stark
@cstark.bsky.social
· Nov 18
Nope. The headline should actually read “Astronomers using ML discover quasars acting as lenses”
Reposted by Colin Stark
This is one of my favorite optical illusions, because even when you know specifically HOW IT WORKS, it's still hard to make your brain believe it.
The image below is real-world video, but you're being tricked into believing it's an elaborate miniature by the DIORAMA EFFECT.
Let's talk about it.
The image below is real-world video, but you're being tricked into believing it's an elaborate miniature by the DIORAMA EFFECT.
Let's talk about it.
February 2, 2026 at 1:57 PM
This is one of my favorite optical illusions, because even when you know specifically HOW IT WORKS, it's still hard to make your brain believe it.
The image below is real-world video, but you're being tricked into believing it's an elaborate miniature by the DIORAMA EFFECT.
Let's talk about it.
The image below is real-world video, but you're being tricked into believing it's an elaborate miniature by the DIORAMA EFFECT.
Let's talk about it.
Five days (4 nights) at a major hospital in Japan, CT scans, X-rays, blood tests, major invasive surgery under general anesthetic, even some dental work thrown in (who knew?): all for the cost of a mid-range business hotel.
Spent the week in hospital in Japan and learned all sorts of useful vocab like 肺塞栓症 (pulmonary embolism), 膿む (to fester), and バルーンカテーテル (catheter).
Fun times.
Fun times.
February 6, 2026 at 1:20 AM
Five days (4 nights) at a major hospital in Japan, CT scans, X-rays, blood tests, major invasive surgery under general anesthetic, even some dental work thrown in (who knew?): all for the cost of a mid-range business hotel.
Spent the week in hospital in Japan and learned all sorts of useful vocab like 肺塞栓症 (pulmonary embolism), 膿む (to fester), and バルーンカテーテル (catheter).
Fun times.
Fun times.
February 6, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Spent the week in hospital in Japan and learned all sorts of useful vocab like 肺塞栓症 (pulmonary embolism), 膿む (to fester), and バルーンカテーテル (catheter).
Fun times.
Fun times.
Had surgery this week.
Don’t recommend.
Don’t recommend.
February 6, 2026 at 12:58 AM
Had surgery this week.
Don’t recommend.
Don’t recommend.
Surely he goes by Chuck
I refuse to believe that is a real person: "Dr. Chase Spears (U.S. Army, Retired)"
That *has* to be a pen-name, right?
That *has* to be a pen-name, right?
February 6, 2026 at 12:38 AM
Surely he goes by Chuck
Finally!
🧪🪐🔭
🧪🪐🔭
![Comic. [Over dark background, a five-pointed pentagram-style star orbits around a white circle with a smaller orbit.] [caption] Space news: Astronomers have found the first known system with a main-sequence star orbited by a five-pointed one.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreigbbhzy2dqnafyqqba26sgh7vjzdu2mvsczyiapveerp2eoru6gum@jpeg)
February 6, 2026 at 12:29 AM
Finally!
🧪🪐🔭
🧪🪐🔭
Reposted by Colin Stark
Mira Ptacin on grappling with perimenopausal aphasia (and finding the word for forgetting words).
What’s the Word for… Forgetting Words?
Lately I have been losing words. Not poetically, not as a metaphor for grief or heartbreak, shock or awe. I mean I am literally losing them. A name I should know (my own child’s), nouns that once a…
buff.ly
February 4, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Mira Ptacin on grappling with perimenopausal aphasia (and finding the word for forgetting words).
The only thing here more resolutely Japanese than the kotatsu is the Nohara family tableau (Crayon Shin-chan)
A kotatsu is a mostly low wooden table with a heater fixed underneath and a thick blanket draped over the frame. People sit on the floor, slide their legs under the table, and trap warm air inside. The blanket does most of the work, keeping the heat in so the whole body warms up, not just the feet.
February 5, 2026 at 10:29 PM
The only thing here more resolutely Japanese than the kotatsu is the Nohara family tableau (Crayon Shin-chan)
In Japan *everyone* reverses into parking spaces, and I have to say this dodgy pop-psych article does actually ring true for Japanese culture in general
siliconcanals.com/s-t-psycholo...
siliconcanals.com/s-t-psycholo...
Psychology says people who back into parking spots think they're being efficient but are actually displaying these 6 personality traits - Silicon Canals
While you might think those meticulous reverse parkers are just being practical, psychologists have discovered they're actually revealing deep-seated personality traits ranging from control issues to ...
siliconcanals.com
February 5, 2026 at 10:30 AM
In Japan *everyone* reverses into parking spaces, and I have to say this dodgy pop-psych article does actually ring true for Japanese culture in general
siliconcanals.com/s-t-psycholo...
siliconcanals.com/s-t-psycholo...
I think there might have been “signs”
Thousands may have unknowingly taken this erectile dysfunction drug disguised as honey
Ashfiat Alharamain Energy Support was sold online at sites including Amazon.
www-pennlive-com.cdn.ampproject.org
February 4, 2026 at 10:53 AM
I think there might have been “signs”
Reposted by Colin Stark
Wall of an Irish castle
February 4, 2026 at 9:29 AM
Wall of an Irish castle
#taiwan 🧪⚒️⚛️
📣Introduction to the Special Section on Earthquake Hazards 25 Years After Chi‐Chi: Learning from the Past to Prepare for the Future📣 #BSSA⚒️
In this Special Section, 12 papers build upon lessons learned from the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake.
Introduction: buff.ly/YrWyY4h
Special section: buff.ly/M41zzxJ
In this Special Section, 12 papers build upon lessons learned from the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake.
Introduction: buff.ly/YrWyY4h
Special section: buff.ly/M41zzxJ
February 2, 2026 at 10:23 PM
#taiwan 🧪⚒️⚛️
Reposted by Colin Stark
The director of Melania movie
January 31, 2026 at 6:59 PM
The director of Melania movie
Reposted by Colin Stark
You may have seen pictures, but have you ever seen video of a gigantic jet #TLE from space?
Astronaut Jeanette Epps captured this incredible sequence on July 20th, 2024 for the DTU/@science.esa.int Thor-Davis experiment. 🧪🔭
youtu.be/xN2J7_rOBJY
Credit: ESA/NASA/J. Epps
Processing: Simeon Schmauß
Astronaut Jeanette Epps captured this incredible sequence on July 20th, 2024 for the DTU/@science.esa.int Thor-Davis experiment. 🧪🔭
youtu.be/xN2J7_rOBJY
Credit: ESA/NASA/J. Epps
Processing: Simeon Schmauß
January 30, 2026 at 9:09 PM
You may have seen pictures, but have you ever seen video of a gigantic jet #TLE from space?
Astronaut Jeanette Epps captured this incredible sequence on July 20th, 2024 for the DTU/@science.esa.int Thor-Davis experiment. 🧪🔭
youtu.be/xN2J7_rOBJY
Credit: ESA/NASA/J. Epps
Processing: Simeon Schmauß
Astronaut Jeanette Epps captured this incredible sequence on July 20th, 2024 for the DTU/@science.esa.int Thor-Davis experiment. 🧪🔭
youtu.be/xN2J7_rOBJY
Credit: ESA/NASA/J. Epps
Processing: Simeon Schmauß
🧪
January 30, 2026 at 2:25 AM
🧪
Reposted by Colin Stark
![Comic. [A chemical formula trailing off the right side] C1076 H1080 Ac1067 Ag1069 Al1075 Am1026 Ar1075 As1070 At1047 Au1069 B1071 Ba1070 Be [caption] The approximate chemical formula for the universe](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiheadwaulk6slb3ao3jmuve4grmz72ri4bjvi2zjfotsxjdgwlji4@jpeg)
January 30, 2026 at 2:14 AM
Now that’s what I call town planning!
🧪⚒️🛰️
🧪⚒️🛰️
Just an incredible and unusual landslide at Niscemi, Sicily, Italy, as captured by @planet.com SuperDove satellites 🧪⚒️🛰️
January 30, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Now that’s what I call town planning!
🧪⚒️🛰️
🧪⚒️🛰️
Reposted by Colin Stark
subscriptions >>> shop.viz.co.uk/viz352bs
January 29, 2026 at 9:41 PM
subscriptions >>> shop.viz.co.uk/viz352bs
“Large” isn’t the first adjective that leaps to mind when Greg Bovino is mentioned
January 28, 2026 at 11:05 PM
“Large” isn’t the first adjective that leaps to mind when Greg Bovino is mentioned
There are worse places to be 😎
January 28, 2026 at 5:17 AM
There are worse places to be 😎
Reposted by Colin Stark
🧪🧮⚛️
First column for Quanta Magazine's new essay section, Qualia.
I take stock of particle physics, a field in crisis. What happened, and what now? Commentary here from many angles.
Please lmk your thoughts, or any tips or topic ideas I should look into. 🙏
www.quantamagazine.org/is-particle-...
I take stock of particle physics, a field in crisis. What happened, and what now? Commentary here from many angles.
Please lmk your thoughts, or any tips or topic ideas I should look into. 🙏
www.quantamagazine.org/is-particle-...
Is Particle Physics Dead, Dying, or Just Hard? | Quanta Magazine
Columnist Natalie Wolchover checks in with particle physicists more than a decade after the field entered a profound crisis.
www.quantamagazine.org
January 28, 2026 at 12:25 AM
🧪🧮⚛️