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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 6d

Wrote another blog post! Hoping that maybe some of the insights I've gained from getting better at understanding my brain will help others. In this case, thinking about our brains like they were computers.

#neurodivergence #adhd

kateyalatalo.com/blog/your-br...

Your Brain, the Computer

During my senior year in high school, I was at a crossroads, trying to decide if I wanted to go into a career in psychology, or keep going at the physics and astronomy that I loved so much. Obviously ...

kateyalatalo.com

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 12d

Southwest, thank you for letting me know that the gate has changed yet again for my late night flight tonight, but at the moment, I'm not sure it's pressing information.

Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 15d

I know that this is a little silly, but it GRINDS MY GEARS that the lies being spouted are not just lies, but ignoring that neurodivergence makes the world a richer place to exist.

Oasus Plainsview 🔜 MFF @itsoasus.com · 15d

The United States if Tylenol Actually Caused Autism

A map showing how a High Speed Rail System COULD look in the United States.

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 19d

Great job, Maryland!

www.thebanner.com/community/pu...

Maryland joins Northeastern group to help form regional public health policy

Maryland joined coalition of Northeastern states and New York City to protect “broad vaccine access,” among other public health initiatives.

www.thebanner.com

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 19d

I made a friendly wager with some friends in March about the trajectory of #genAI. And I have to say, I'm beginning to feel pretty confident that I'm going to be getting that box of cookies 😎

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 19d

I just can't stop watching it

I love how they blame "Wi-Fi"

and I like how they're pouring untold billions into "superintelligence," and their big bold idea of showing off progress is having it read a recipe in order

which it can't do

Shacknews @shacknews.com · 21d

LiveAI demo fails on the first prompt at Meta Connect 2025. #Meta #AI #LiveAI

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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 20d

Luckily, Sinclair has a helpful database of all their stations, so you can see if they're operating in your area and respond accordingly.

sbgi.net/tv-stations/

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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.

Adam Griffin @adamgriffin.bsky.social · 20d

Really tough time to be an adult who actually did all the assigned high school reading.

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 22d

Like the radio telescopes I used to observe at, brains also have varying degrees of limits. But some brains those limits are not wired very well. You can read more of my thoughts on it on my blog! #radioastronomy #adhd #blog

kateyalatalo.com/blog/limits/

Limits

A software limit that tells a person “oh, you’re getting near a danger zone friend. Maybe you want to eat something, or take a break.”, a hardware limit that says “you’re getting actively sleepy from ...

kateyalatalo.com

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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.

Museum of Science @museumofscience.bsky.social · 28d

Research shows that when people with different perspectives share ideas, it activates more creative neural pathways, fueling innovation across science, technology, and beyond.

Tag your go-to brainstorm buddy!💡

#Brainstorm #STEM

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Sep 7

Watching this video and immediately going @aussiastronomer.bsky.social did you get to show Josh Johnson around because he's doing ASTROPHYSICS and I love it! #joshjohnson #jpl

youtu.be/Q0pMHmzH52Y

The 10-Minute Mission: Katy Perry and the AstroNOTS

YouTube video by Josh Johnson

youtu.be

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Aug 31

A little blog I wrote about why we need dark skies
kateyalatalo.com/blog/why-we-...

#astrosky #darkskies #astronomy

Why we need dark skies

For anyone who has never lived outside of the city wouldn’t be able to understand the breathtaking wonder that the night skies can bring us.

kateyalatalo.com

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Aug 31

It was my middle school social studies teacher. He dressed up as different cultures and concepts he was teaching us about.

I still remember Mr. Sypniewski all these years later and how cool I thought he was. Thanks for being part of the 15%, Mr. Syp!

Tobias Wilson-Bates @phdhurtbrain.bsky.social · Aug 30

Concerned that we are losing the necessary ratio. 15% of teachers/faculty should be irretrievably strange eccentrics. Every learning experience should have some element where in later life you can reflect with former classmates about how bizarre at least one (1) class per year was.

Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Aug 31

Happy to be here! #sciencecommunity #sciencesky #astrosky

arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Bluesky now platform of choice for science community

It’s not just you. Survey says: “Twitter sucks now and all the cool kids are moving to Bluesky”…

arstechnica.com

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Aug 29

You ever get those little reminders that things you're now used to being 'second nature' from your job are actually pretty useful and valuable?

Because that happened today! Running reviews is a skillset that's now in my quiver and makes me so pleased to apply it!

#jobtalk

Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Aug 20

I also hate that "AI" means so many different things. Focused machine learning to identify useful proteins in medicine is different than "AI"/LLMs that are applying fancy statistics to the internet (and sometimes literally stolen copyrighted material), so I guess I'm antiLLM not antiAI

#antiLLM

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Aug 20

Am I an AI Luddite? Yeah, I am. I can't get over the mass IP theft that it took to make them. A lot of it feels like hype to me.

And in the limited use cases where it actually is effective, I can't help but think about the water I'm boiling just to get a silly acronym suggestion.

#antiAI #antiLLM

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Aug 20

I'd been getting tired of "according to CEO of OpenAI, AI is amazing!!!" articles out there, so it's nice to see something written with rigor.

tl;dr For 200 word summaries, LLMs are fine. 500 words? Danger zone. Science literature search? OH GIRL NO.

www.cjr.org/analysis/i-t...

I Tested How Well AI Tools Work for Journalism

Some tools were sufficient for summarizing meetings. For research, the results were a disaster.

www.cjr.org

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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.

Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · Aug 14

This administration has thrown literal grenades at the rickety foundations of American academia, and for some reason, neither the national media nor university administrations are actually talking about as the economic, social, political and cultural threat/crisis it is. What a terrible loss.

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Aug 14

The University of Chicago will pause admissions for “a small number” of Ph.D. and master’s programs across several schools amid mounting fiscal pressures.

University of Chicago to pause Ph.D. admissions across several schools

The University of Chicago will pause admissions for “a small number” of Ph.D. and master’s programs across several schools amid mounting fiscal pressures.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Aug 14

Who knew that revamping a professional website would be a LOT of work? But either way, I am super proud of it. Want to learn what I do or read bites of some of the papers I've worked on? Go take a look!

kateyalatalo.com
Come for the astronomy
Stay for the astronomy

katey's website

Dr. Katherine Alatalo's professional astronomy website

kateyalatalo.com

Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · Jul 15

My cartoon for this week's @newscientist.com

Title: Papers Released by the Influential Research Group

A graph with a Y axis labelled 'Citations' and X as 'Time'.

Hit Debut Paper (high up)
Difficult Second Paper (a bit lower)
Break-up Paper (lower still)
Unsuccessful Solo Papers (bobbing along the bottom)
Greatest Hits Paper (climbing back up)
Reunion Paper (high up, but still not as high as the debut)

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · May 13

Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume?

Astrophysicist: It's a new form of work called "dark work" that only interacts gravitationally.

Kate Montgomery @katemontgomery.bsky.social · May 13

Interviewer: can you explain this gap in your resume?

Me, a medievalist: ah, that would be the rodent damage.

Jeffrey Zuckerman @jmz.bsky.social · May 13

Interviewer: can you explain this gap in your resume

Me, a translator: The gap is also present in the original

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Feb 4

(Writing this on my personal computer, during my barely available spare time.)

For the foreseeable future, I will not be using this account to discuss issues related to the science community, because the place I work depends heavily on federal grants.

#myopinionsaremyown

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Jan 21

If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

#ihatethistimeline

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Jan 18

Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.

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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · Jan 17

There is no way to remove copilot prompts in Word on a Mac. So it appears the only way to remove copilot is to stop using Office. I like Pages but with is opened its data format so other programs could interact with it. #AIluddite #antiLLM

www.cnbc.com/2025/01/15/f...

From Gmail to Word, your privacy settings and AI are entering into a new relationship

If there were ever a time to understand your online data privacy settings, it's now in the AI era.

www.cnbc.com

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