Rosemary Braun
@rosemarybraun.bsky.social
A physicist stumbling ergodically through the life sciences. Faculty
@NorthwesternU @NITMB @SFIscience. Complex systems, networks, high-dimensional statistics / ML, with application to omics data analysis in cancer systems biology, circadian rhythms, &c.
@NorthwesternU @NITMB @SFIscience. Complex systems, networks, high-dimensional statistics / ML, with application to omics data analysis in cancer systems biology, circadian rhythms, &c.
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
WATERGATE: 2512 VIRGINIA AVE NW, WASHINGTON DC 20037-9997
November 25, 2025 at 3:39 AM
WATERGATE: 2512 VIRGINIA AVE NW, WASHINGTON DC 20037-9997
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
This is concerning.
NIH is changing their policy so that staff have to prepare justification for every application that is funded BUT NO DOCUMENTATION FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SKIPPED (BASED ON PERCENTILES).
1/2
NIH is changing their policy so that staff have to prepare justification for every application that is funded BUT NO DOCUMENTATION FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SKIPPED (BASED ON PERCENTILES).
1/2
November 24, 2025 at 12:29 AM
This is concerning.
NIH is changing their policy so that staff have to prepare justification for every application that is funded BUT NO DOCUMENTATION FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SKIPPED (BASED ON PERCENTILES).
1/2
NIH is changing their policy so that staff have to prepare justification for every application that is funded BUT NO DOCUMENTATION FOR APPLICATIONS THAT ARE SKIPPED (BASED ON PERCENTILES).
1/2
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
So, if an institute or center decided not to fund any grant from University X or on Topic Y, then there would be no documentation in the official grant files about these applications.
2/2
2/2
a brown puppy is being held by a person with the words " really " on the bottom
ALT: a brown puppy is being held by a person with the words " really " on the bottom
media.tenor.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:29 AM
So, if an institute or center decided not to fund any grant from University X or on Topic Y, then there would be no documentation in the official grant files about these applications.
2/2
2/2
Before I even knew about Wigner, I was struck by the eeriness of the fact that mathematics, which feels like a game we invented, can be used as a language to reason about the physical world. The fact that it is not as (unreasonably) effective in biology is an itch that I can't stop scratching
November 23, 2025 at 4:39 AM
Before I even knew about Wigner, I was struck by the eeriness of the fact that mathematics, which feels like a game we invented, can be used as a language to reason about the physical world. The fact that it is not as (unreasonably) effective in biology is an itch that I can't stop scratching
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
type for books used to be set using little metal letters built into words in racks and then inked and pressed on to paper. If you had stock phrases you wanted to reuse a lot you could make a cast of them called a ‘stereotype’. The sound of them *clicking* into place, in French, is ‘cliché’
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 10:17 AM
type for books used to be set using little metal letters built into words in racks and then inked and pressed on to paper. If you had stock phrases you wanted to reuse a lot you could make a cast of them called a ‘stereotype’. The sound of them *clicking* into place, in French, is ‘cliché’
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
Morning Snowfall Isleworth: acrylic on linen
November 20, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Morning Snowfall Isleworth: acrylic on linen
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
November 18, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
"i asked grok" "i asked chatgpt" yeah well i asked carl sagan and he said the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge 🧪
July 18, 2025 at 4:12 AM
"i asked grok" "i asked chatgpt" yeah well i asked carl sagan and he said the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge 🧪
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
November 3, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
Physicist Laura Bassi was born 314 years ago today. Her thesis defense in 1732 was a major social event which led to her getting hired by the University of Bologna as a paid lecturer. Here is her story!
tinyurl.com/4jyxuttr
#WomenInSTEM #Physics 🧪
tinyurl.com/4jyxuttr
#WomenInSTEM #Physics 🧪
Water, Fire, and Lightning: The Life of Laura Bassi, the First Woman Professor of Science.
It's April of 1732, and the hot ticket in Bologna is not an opera, a play, or a beheading, but rather that most mundane of things: a lengthy thesis defense, in Latin. Routine stuff, except this time ...
tinyurl.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Physicist Laura Bassi was born 314 years ago today. Her thesis defense in 1732 was a major social event which led to her getting hired by the University of Bologna as a paid lecturer. Here is her story!
tinyurl.com/4jyxuttr
#WomenInSTEM #Physics 🧪
tinyurl.com/4jyxuttr
#WomenInSTEM #Physics 🧪
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
The illusion of illusions
One of the oldest myths in human history is that the Parthenon was cleverly built with curves so that it looks straight, to correct some visual illusions
In this paper I demonstrate that there are NO optical corrections in the Parthenon
arxiv.org/abs/2510.16831. [1/n]
One of the oldest myths in human history is that the Parthenon was cleverly built with curves so that it looks straight, to correct some visual illusions
In this paper I demonstrate that there are NO optical corrections in the Parthenon
arxiv.org/abs/2510.16831. [1/n]
The illusion of illusions: There are no optical corrections in the Parthenon
One of the oldest and most enduring myths in human history is the belief that the Parthenon was cleverly designed with various curved structures and sizes in order to correct optical illusions, and th...
arxiv.org
October 21, 2025 at 6:40 AM
The illusion of illusions
One of the oldest myths in human history is that the Parthenon was cleverly built with curves so that it looks straight, to correct some visual illusions
In this paper I demonstrate that there are NO optical corrections in the Parthenon
arxiv.org/abs/2510.16831. [1/n]
One of the oldest myths in human history is that the Parthenon was cleverly built with curves so that it looks straight, to correct some visual illusions
In this paper I demonstrate that there are NO optical corrections in the Parthenon
arxiv.org/abs/2510.16831. [1/n]
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
Dear all, A scientist from UNC Chapel Hill, Paul Maddox, is running for congress in NC for a seat currently held by a republican. If you care about science (and democracy) please consider donating to his campaign #Standupforscience secure.actblue.com/donate/paul-...
Donate to Paul Maddox for Congress in NC 11
Paul is running for Congress because there’s a sickness in Washington, and no one is working to cure it.
secure.actblue.com
October 20, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Dear all, A scientist from UNC Chapel Hill, Paul Maddox, is running for congress in NC for a seat currently held by a republican. If you care about science (and democracy) please consider donating to his campaign #Standupforscience secure.actblue.com/donate/paul-...
1) AWS outage takes down Canvas.
2) Hungry for news, I put "canvas" into the bsky search to see if anyone's talking about it.
3) I get no news about Canvas[TM], but instead discover a bunch of artists.
Truly the best of all possible outcomes!
2) Hungry for news, I put "canvas" into the bsky search to see if anyone's talking about it.
3) I get no news about Canvas[TM], but instead discover a bunch of artists.
Truly the best of all possible outcomes!
October 20, 2025 at 6:36 PM
1) AWS outage takes down Canvas.
2) Hungry for news, I put "canvas" into the bsky search to see if anyone's talking about it.
3) I get no news about Canvas[TM], but instead discover a bunch of artists.
Truly the best of all possible outcomes!
2) Hungry for news, I put "canvas" into the bsky search to see if anyone's talking about it.
3) I get no news about Canvas[TM], but instead discover a bunch of artists.
Truly the best of all possible outcomes!
Absolutely stellar essay on the current debate over Assembly Theory: what it achieves, where it falls short, and what remains to be done
As a promising avenue for unifying physics and biology, assembly theory (AT) has been subject of controversy, being both praised and refuted at the same time.
What is its current status? Has it really quantified selection and evolution?/1
#complexitycat🐈⬛
amahury.github.io/posts/demyst...
What is its current status? Has it really quantified selection and evolution?/1
#complexitycat🐈⬛
amahury.github.io/posts/demyst...
Demystifying Assembly Theory
“It doesn’t make any difference how beautiful your guess is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are who made the guess, or what his name is … If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. That’s all there...
amahury.github.io
October 17, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Absolutely stellar essay on the current debate over Assembly Theory: what it achieves, where it falls short, and what remains to be done
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
Had never read Jane Goodall's original 1963 article in Nat Geo on the wild chimpanzees in Tanzania until now. It's a wonderful blend of science and journalism, and well worth your time.
www.nationalgeographic.com/pdf/jane-goo...
www.nationalgeographic.com/pdf/jane-goo...
October 1, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Had never read Jane Goodall's original 1963 article in Nat Geo on the wild chimpanzees in Tanzania until now. It's a wonderful blend of science and journalism, and well worth your time.
www.nationalgeographic.com/pdf/jane-goo...
www.nationalgeographic.com/pdf/jane-goo...
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
A simple way to help reduce obesity and stroke?
Stop the shifts in our clocks twice a year
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Stop the shifts in our clocks twice a year
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Circadian-informed modeling predicts regional variation in obesity and stroke outcomes under different permanent US time policies | PNAS
Seasonal changes in time policy, such as switching between Standard Time (SDT) and
Daylight Saving Time (DST), have been adopted by many countries,...
www.pnas.org
September 15, 2025 at 8:32 PM
A simple way to help reduce obesity and stroke?
Stop the shifts in our clocks twice a year
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Stop the shifts in our clocks twice a year
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Newport Jazz Festival, 1958 www.rirocks.net/Band%20Artic...
September 5, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Newport Jazz Festival, 1958 www.rirocks.net/Band%20Artic...
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
New: Judge Burroughs rules on the Harvard grant terminations and underlying agency guidance.
Takeaways:
-Big win for Harvard—$2 billion in grants will be reinstated.
-There is a (careful) path for district courts to rule on grant terminations
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Takeaways:
-Big win for Harvard—$2 billion in grants will be reinstated.
-There is a (careful) path for district courts to rule on grant terminations
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
September 3, 2025 at 9:15 PM
New: Judge Burroughs rules on the Harvard grant terminations and underlying agency guidance.
Takeaways:
-Big win for Harvard—$2 billion in grants will be reinstated.
-There is a (careful) path for district courts to rule on grant terminations
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Takeaways:
-Big win for Harvard—$2 billion in grants will be reinstated.
-There is a (careful) path for district courts to rule on grant terminations
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
Judge Issues Ruling Helpful to Harvard in Case Against Trump
www.nytimes.com
September 3, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
Gift link.
Harvard Secures a Court Victory in Its Fight With Trump
www.nytimes.com
September 3, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Gift link.
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
Defendants, their agents are permanently enjoined from implementing, instituting, maintaining, or giving any force to Freeze Orders orTermination Letters, or refusing to grant or to continue federal funding undertaken pursuant to the Freeze Orders and Termination Letters
September 3, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Defendants, their agents are permanently enjoined from implementing, instituting, maintaining, or giving any force to Freeze Orders orTermination Letters, or refusing to grant or to continue federal funding undertaken pursuant to the Freeze Orders and Termination Letters
Reposted by Rosemary Braun
The Court vacates and sets aside the Termination Letters as violative of Title VI. All terminations of funding to Harvard made pursuant to the Termination Letters are vacated and set aside.
September 3, 2025 at 8:39 PM
The Court vacates and sets aside the Termination Letters as violative of Title VI. All terminations of funding to Harvard made pursuant to the Termination Letters are vacated and set aside.