Jacopo Bertolotti
@jacopobertolotti.com
Associated Professor of Physics at the University of Exeter.
Scientific visualizations (grouped under the hastag #PhysicsFactlet).
He/lui/on. All opinions are my own fault.
Scientific visualizations (grouped under the hastag #PhysicsFactlet).
He/lui/on. All opinions are my own fault.
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
January 13, 2026 at 8:27 AM
We've got ISSUES. Literally.
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do?
arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563
A 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
Ursula K. Le Guin, spitting truth.
January 13, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Ursula K. Le Guin, spitting truth.
Students sometimes fail to appreciate that relativity did not emerge fully formed from Einstein's head. I for sure failed to appreciate how long before Einstein's 1915 general relativity paper people were already discussing the idea that mass might distort space-time.
⚛️🧪🎢
⚛️🧪🎢
Sylvester and Clifford on Curved Space
Einstein realized that gravity is due to the curvature of spacetime, but let’s go back earlier: On the 18th of August 1869, the eminent mathematician Sylvester gave a speech arguing that geom…
johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com
January 12, 2026 at 1:29 PM
Students sometimes fail to appreciate that relativity did not emerge fully formed from Einstein's head. I for sure failed to appreciate how long before Einstein's 1915 general relativity paper people were already discussing the idea that mass might distort space-time.
⚛️🧪🎢
⚛️🧪🎢
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
There is always an XKCD
January 12, 2026 at 8:58 AM
There is always an XKCD
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
And 🥁 the final program of the *"Image Science" Gordon Research Conference*, to take place in Italy April 26-May 1st, is out!
Please take some time to check the program, apply, *share* with your colleagues.
www.grc.org/image-scienc... (1/N)
Please take some time to check the program, apply, *share* with your colleagues.
www.grc.org/image-scienc... (1/N)
January 5, 2026 at 9:07 AM
And 🥁 the final program of the *"Image Science" Gordon Research Conference*, to take place in Italy April 26-May 1st, is out!
Please take some time to check the program, apply, *share* with your colleagues.
www.grc.org/image-scienc... (1/N)
Please take some time to check the program, apply, *share* with your colleagues.
www.grc.org/image-scienc... (1/N)
Quantum mechanics is a wave theory, and once you look at it as a wave theory 99% of its weirdness completely disappears.
(The "wavefunction collapse" is the only part that is not about waves, and also the only part that is genuinely weird.)
(The "wavefunction collapse" is the only part that is not about waves, and also the only part that is genuinely weird.)
Most quantum computer scientists obliviate the fact that complex numbers are just a compact way to represent the wave function. Waves mean something to most people. Complex numbers, not so much.
January 9, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Quantum mechanics is a wave theory, and once you look at it as a wave theory 99% of its weirdness completely disappears.
(The "wavefunction collapse" is the only part that is not about waves, and also the only part that is genuinely weird.)
(The "wavefunction collapse" is the only part that is not about waves, and also the only part that is genuinely weird.)
Paper accepted! 🥳
"Explaining and exploiting the radial memory effect in multimode optical fibres"
(A slightly older version is on ArXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2508.11389 )
1/3
💡 ⚛️ 🧪 #OpticalFibers
"Explaining and exploiting the radial memory effect in multimode optical fibres"
(A slightly older version is on ArXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2508.11389 )
1/3
💡 ⚛️ 🧪 #OpticalFibers
The radial memory effect in multimode optical fibres
We present a study of a novel memory effect in multimode optical fibres, which manifests itself as an output ring of excess energy at the same radius as an input focussed spot. This effect is robust a...
arxiv.org
January 9, 2026 at 11:40 AM
Paper accepted! 🥳
"Explaining and exploiting the radial memory effect in multimode optical fibres"
(A slightly older version is on ArXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2508.11389 )
1/3
💡 ⚛️ 🧪 #OpticalFibers
"Explaining and exploiting the radial memory effect in multimode optical fibres"
(A slightly older version is on ArXiv: arxiv.org/abs/2508.11389 )
1/3
💡 ⚛️ 🧪 #OpticalFibers
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
Nominations are now open for the Trust’s Philip Leverhulme Prizes, which are awarded in six broad subject areas and worth £100,000 each for two to three years.
Deadline: Wednesday 14 May 2026, 4pm.
🔗 For more details, visit: www.leverhulme.ac.uk/philip-lever...
Deadline: Wednesday 14 May 2026, 4pm.
🔗 For more details, visit: www.leverhulme.ac.uk/philip-lever...
January 9, 2026 at 9:28 AM
Nominations are now open for the Trust’s Philip Leverhulme Prizes, which are awarded in six broad subject areas and worth £100,000 each for two to three years.
Deadline: Wednesday 14 May 2026, 4pm.
🔗 For more details, visit: www.leverhulme.ac.uk/philip-lever...
Deadline: Wednesday 14 May 2026, 4pm.
🔗 For more details, visit: www.leverhulme.ac.uk/philip-lever...
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
I took to the blog and wrote about the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics, in case you're in the mood for a discount @seanmcarroll.bsky.social kind of thing: chadorzel.substack.com/p/why-the-ev...
Why the Everett Interpretation of QM Is Not Insane
The dollar-store version of Sean Carroll
chadorzel.substack.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:29 AM
I took to the blog and wrote about the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics, in case you're in the mood for a discount @seanmcarroll.bsky.social kind of thing: chadorzel.substack.com/p/why-the-ev...
Dear Journal editors sending a request to review a paper on Dec 26, a reminder on Dec 28, and a second one (called "final reminder") on Jan 2: don't.
#AcademicChat
#AcademicChat
January 6, 2026 at 9:45 AM
Dear Journal editors sending a request to review a paper on Dec 26, a reminder on Dec 28, and a second one (called "final reminder") on Jan 2: don't.
#AcademicChat
#AcademicChat
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
Join our team at Imperial College London! 🚀
I am looking for a postdoctoral researcher in time-varying metamaterials and ultrafast structured light in space and time.
👉 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPX643/r...
🔹 Deadline: 31st January 2026
#Photonics #Postdoc #Physics #Metamaterials #ScienceJobs
I am looking for a postdoctoral researcher in time-varying metamaterials and ultrafast structured light in space and time.
👉 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPX643/r...
🔹 Deadline: 31st January 2026
#Photonics #Postdoc #Physics #Metamaterials #ScienceJobs
January 6, 2026 at 8:21 AM
Join our team at Imperial College London! 🚀
I am looking for a postdoctoral researcher in time-varying metamaterials and ultrafast structured light in space and time.
👉 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPX643/r...
🔹 Deadline: 31st January 2026
#Photonics #Postdoc #Physics #Metamaterials #ScienceJobs
I am looking for a postdoctoral researcher in time-varying metamaterials and ultrafast structured light in space and time.
👉 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPX643/r...
🔹 Deadline: 31st January 2026
#Photonics #Postdoc #Physics #Metamaterials #ScienceJobs
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
We spoke to a dozen professional concept artists who are currently or have previously worked in game development about whether generative AI image tools have made their jobs any easier.
Zero said it did. Most said it made things harder.
thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/conc...
Zero said it did. Most said it made things harder.
thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/conc...
Concept Artists Say Generative AI References Only Make Their Jobs Harder
“The ‘early ideation stages’, when worlds are being fleshed out by writers and artists, are literally crucial to the development of a game’s vision,” said one artist.
thisweekinvideogames.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:06 PM
We spoke to a dozen professional concept artists who are currently or have previously worked in game development about whether generative AI image tools have made their jobs any easier.
Zero said it did. Most said it made things harder.
thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/conc...
Zero said it did. Most said it made things harder.
thisweekinvideogames.com/feature/conc...
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
Physicist Leo Szilard, in a short science fiction story from 1948, describing how to retard science by making the funding application longer and harder than the proposed research - now called the ‘Szilard point’
December 19, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Physicist Leo Szilard, in a short science fiction story from 1948, describing how to retard science by making the funding application longer and harder than the proposed research - now called the ‘Szilard point’
Streaming services are getting more expensive and are packed with adverts
+
DVD prices are incredibly low
=
I guess I will go back to buy the DVD of the movies/series I want to watch
+
DVD prices are incredibly low
=
I guess I will go back to buy the DVD of the movies/series I want to watch
December 19, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Streaming services are getting more expensive and are packed with adverts
+
DVD prices are incredibly low
=
I guess I will go back to buy the DVD of the movies/series I want to watch
+
DVD prices are incredibly low
=
I guess I will go back to buy the DVD of the movies/series I want to watch
I went to the Dolomites a lot as a kid, and I could clearly see the difference between the '80s and the '00s. Much less snow, higher temperatures, ski slopes that only existed because of snow cannons.
I haven't been there in over 20 years, but I guess the situation now is a million times worse.
I haven't been there in over 20 years, but I guess the situation now is a million times worse.
Wow @thetimes.com, that’s impressive
An entire article about “freak heat” in the Dolomites causing mayhem amongst skiers without once mentioning climate change…🤷🏼♀️
🧵
1/5
An entire article about “freak heat” in the Dolomites causing mayhem amongst skiers without once mentioning climate change…🤷🏼♀️
🧵
1/5
December 18, 2025 at 12:22 PM
I went to the Dolomites a lot as a kid, and I could clearly see the difference between the '80s and the '00s. Much less snow, higher temperatures, ski slopes that only existed because of snow cannons.
I haven't been there in over 20 years, but I guess the situation now is a million times worse.
I haven't been there in over 20 years, but I guess the situation now is a million times worse.
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
December 16, 2025 at 4:55 PM
There is a call for joint PhDs between @exeter.ac.uk and @univparissaclay.bsky.social with deadline for projects (not students' applications) in mid-January.
Most of the people I know in Paris works at Sorbonne, but maybe I know someone at Paris Saclay who wants to collaborate? 😀
Most of the people I know in Paris works at Sorbonne, but maybe I know someone at Paris Saclay who wants to collaborate? 😀
December 15, 2025 at 3:12 PM
There is a call for joint PhDs between @exeter.ac.uk and @univparissaclay.bsky.social with deadline for projects (not students' applications) in mid-January.
Most of the people I know in Paris works at Sorbonne, but maybe I know someone at Paris Saclay who wants to collaborate? 😀
Most of the people I know in Paris works at Sorbonne, but maybe I know someone at Paris Saclay who wants to collaborate? 😀
The proposal to use the frozen Russian money to fund Ukraine is more complex (from a international law point of view) than I thought, and I understand Belgium's argument.
Still, I really hope they go through with it.
Still, I really hope they go through with it.
Update: I had a chance to talk to him. Personally he sees the move as breaking international law, but he sent me an interesting blog post laying out the larger argument (see here: verfassungsblog.de/on-the-legal...). As for consequences, he thinks it won't be settled before post-war reconciliation.
December 15, 2025 at 11:49 AM
The proposal to use the frozen Russian money to fund Ukraine is more complex (from a international law point of view) than I thought, and I understand Belgium's argument.
Still, I really hope they go through with it.
Still, I really hope they go through with it.
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
December 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :)
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used
> neal.fun/size-of-life/
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
EU set to indefinitely freeze Russian assets, removing obstacle to Ukraine loan reut.rs/4iV4xAP
EU set to indefinitely freeze Russian assets, removing obstacle to Ukraine loan
The new freeze would stay in place "until there is no longer an immediate threat to the economic interests of the Union".
reut.rs
December 12, 2025 at 11:25 AM
EU set to indefinitely freeze Russian assets, removing obstacle to Ukraine loan reut.rs/4iV4xAP
I am tempted to say that should teach the difference between heat, temperature, and heat capacity in primary schools, but I suspect that most kids knows it better than the adults.
Just because it's being passed around a lot: NO, data centers in space do NOT benefit from space being cold. Space is cold in the formal sense we use to define temperature. But it is very bad at cooling. What would you rather have to cool hot metal: a lukewarm water tub or a giant cold atmosphere?
December 10, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I am tempted to say that should teach the difference between heat, temperature, and heat capacity in primary schools, but I suspect that most kids knows it better than the adults.
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
Operation Bluebird wants to relaunch “Twitter,” says Musk abandoned the name and logo arstechnica.com/information-...
Operation Bluebird wants to relaunch “Twitter,” says Musk abandoned the name and logo
“Abandonment” offers rare chance to reclaim one of tech’s most recognized brands.
arstechnica.com
December 10, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Operation Bluebird wants to relaunch “Twitter,” says Musk abandoned the name and logo arstechnica.com/information-...
Reposted by Jacopo Bertolotti
you could make an ad like this made by actual humans that goes viral and gets making of press coverage or you could put out AI slop like mcdonalds that everyone hates and still have the team whining how brutally hard it was and how long it took while also feeling creatively unfulfilled
tough choice
tough choice
Saw this adorable French animation ad and I had to share it over here! The style looks familiar but I can’t my finger on what group it is. Any ideas?
December 10, 2025 at 9:54 AM
you could make an ad like this made by actual humans that goes viral and gets making of press coverage or you could put out AI slop like mcdonalds that everyone hates and still have the team whining how brutally hard it was and how long it took while also feeling creatively unfulfilled
tough choice
tough choice