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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 10h

That's becasue it's an American thing, and they don't have undergrad law degrees.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 11h

The GRE is nonsense in many subjects, though, including my own. (Physics)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 15h

Gurdon had the answer. Pausing briefly, surveying his audience, he seamlessly made the turn from toad to statesman: 'And now, from one of South Africa's great national treasures to another....'. Magnificent. And very, very, English. (6/6)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 15h

This is the work for which he would later win the Nobel. Anyway, as he talked in the crowded hall, Mandela and assembled dignitaries listening, many of us were wondering how he was going to turn from his lecture on amphibian biology back to, you know, welcoming Nelson Mandela. (5/n)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 15h

The Xenopus toad (wikipedia: 'a rather inactive creature') is native to sub-Saharan Africa is a common lab animal, used in the mid-20th century for pregnacy testing. Gurdon had cloned the toad (which sounded fabulous in his plummy accent) in the 1950s, the first time such event in a vertebrate (4/n)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 15h

Declaring that he thought he might tell our distinguished guest something about South Africa he didn't know. He then proceeded to talk for what in my memory was quite some time about the Xenopus toad. (3/n)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 15h

This should have been the simplest job in the world as a public speaker. Stand up, say 'I'm delighted to be able to welcome Nelson Mandela'. Sit down. But no, Gurdon was made of stronger stuff than that... (2/n)

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 15h

Prof. Gurdon was Master at Magdalene when I was an undergraduate. I remember trying to make small talk while he had students over (generously) for Sunday lunch. But I also remember him making a magnificent job of introducing Nelson Mandela, who was being made an honorary fellow of the college..(1/n)

University of Cambridge @cam.ac.uk · 1d

It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social

Read our tribute to the visionary Nobel Laureate and watch an interview from 2012, just after he won: https://bit.ly/4mM8o3r

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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Peter Grindrod @petergrindrod.bsky.social · 1d

@chrislintott.bsky.social Got it!

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 1d

First images of comet #3I/ATLAS from Europe's Mars orbiters 😍

Observing the comet from 30 million km away, #ExoMars reveals the halo of gas and dust surrounding the comet's nucleus.

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭🧪

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 1d

Only for moving things. Else it’s a blob.

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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · 1d

See that small, moving splotch?

That's 3I/ATLAS, a comet that formed in a different star system, photographed from Mars orbit by the ESA Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter.

A comet from a DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEM photographed by a ROBOT ORBITING MARS

last Friday

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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 1d

🇬🇧 London friends! I will be in town later this week for a cool public event with @chrislintott.bsky.social (wegottickets.com/event/676292) and will be hanging out a few days. Come to the event and say hi if you can!

The End of the Universe

After a magnificent* 13.8 billion years** astronomer Chris Lintott (Sky at Night) and Steve Pretty (Hackney Colliery Band) lead a funeral and wake for the universe, as it sadly heads into heat death. ...

wegottickets.com

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2d

I don’t know if it’s the low point, but the demand for telescope time from someone who has never applied for any is quite a thing

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2d

Because we haven’t found enough of weird planets like warm Jupiter.

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2d

I do like a strong statement at the start of a talk. @exodransfield.bsky.social at the Oxford colloquium.

An enthusiastic speaker stands in a lecture theatre that says ‘discovering new planets still matters’

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2d

I completely agree with that statement. It's the next one - which implies either that phosphine can't be a biosignature in other places and temperatures, which isn't discussed here, or that it can't be here, where it's irrelevant. I can probably be less grumpy, I admit.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2d

But no-one (Are they?) is proposing that phosphine is a biosignature on Jupiter, Saturn or other brown dwarfs. It's like cautioning against the use of cheese as a hammer.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2d

That’s a ridiculous thing to say. Phosphine’s long been known in gas giant atmospheres, a fact that doesn’t influence at all the argument about its presence on Venus.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 3d

London! Next Friday! The Universe WILL end in the company of @astrokatie.com, Steve Pretty, many musicians and myself. Do please come join us wegottickets.com/event/676292

The End of the Universe

After a magnificent* 13.8 billion years** astronomer Chris Lintott (Sky at Night) and Steve Pretty (Hackney Colliery Band) lead a funeral and wake for the universe, as it sadly heads into heat death. ...

wegottickets.com

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 6d

This will be great - now to try and raise the money! It could be a front-door for #Oxford, right on the Broad.

Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 6d

Oxford’s History of Science Museum, the world’s oldest purpose-built museum building, is to be revived with a project for new exhibitions, a “welcome space”, and accessibility improvements. The improvements have received planning permission from Oxford City Council.

Artists’ impressions of new covered walkways at the History of Science museum

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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 7d

If you happen to be in London on October 10th, this will be a great time!

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics @perimeterinstitute.ca · 7d

Join @astrokatie.com and a host of other guests in London, UK on October 10th as they commemorate the universe.

“The End of the Universe” will be an evening of music and reflections on what the universe has meant to its recent inhabitants.

Get tickets: wegottickets.com/event/676292

The End of the Universe

After a magnificent* 13.8 billion years** astronomer Chris Lintott (Sky at Night) and Steve Pretty (Hackney Colliery Band) lead a funeral and wake for the universe, as it sadly heads into heat death. ...

wegottickets.com

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 7d

I think it failed because none of the people doing this route are high flying execs, but rather academics with grant money…

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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 10d

This is, incidentally, also true in physics

John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 10d

I tell people that the problem is not coming up with ideas, I think of a couple dozen of them a day. The real problem is knowing which of the damn things is any good for writing up. Most of them are junk. I have to let them roll around in my brain a while to find out which is which.

Kingfisher & Wombat @tkingfisher.com · 10d

Do you have a clever/pithy/useful answer when people ask where you get your ideas? If so, can I steal it?

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Reposted by Chris Lintott

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 11d

The fantastic UK network of science and discovery centres needs your help to survive and thrive! Sign this letter urging the UKGov to stop excluding science from the financial support that is available for other museums, art galleries & theatres 🙏🧪🔭👩‍🔬🎢

👉✉️: www.sciencecentres.org.uk/openletter20...

Catherine having a laugh at the Aberdeen science centre with three girls playing with a powerful fan.

Catherine chatting to an interested girl in front of an arch they've just built.

Catherine and two kids looking earnestly at some marshmallows in a glass jar that is about to become a vacuum.

Catherine looking through a giant lens. She has a mask on.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 11d

Wait, Pulp and LCD were the same show? Not two separate ones?

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