Robert Mills
@pier8bob.bsky.social
Freefalling in spacetime. 🇨🇦
Space without the space
December 24, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Space without the space
Another day, another minute of daylight.
December 23, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Another day, another minute of daylight.
Reposted by Robert Mills
“I’m imagining an instructor somewhere making a syllabus with ChatGPT, assigning reading from books that don’t exist. But the students don’t notice, because they are asking ChatGPT to summarize the book or write the essay.”
🧪
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
🧪
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:18 PM
“I’m imagining an instructor somewhere making a syllabus with ChatGPT, assigning reading from books that don’t exist. But the students don’t notice, because they are asking ChatGPT to summarize the book or write the essay.”
🧪
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
🧪
www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
Reposted by Robert Mills
American Scientist: “Some of the most elegant science communication in the book unfolds as Phillips walks us through what symmetry means in Noether’s theorem.”
americanscientist.org/article/hidd...
Learn about the hidden #history of #physics: amzn.to/3YZZB4W
americanscientist.org/article/hidd...
Learn about the hidden #history of #physics: amzn.to/3YZZB4W
Hidden Genius
EINSTEIN’S TUTOR: The Story of Emmy Noether and the Invention of Modern Physics. Lee Phillips. 368 pp. PublicAffairs, 2024. $30.00.
americanscientist.org
December 18, 2025 at 11:47 PM
American Scientist: “Some of the most elegant science communication in the book unfolds as Phillips walks us through what symmetry means in Noether’s theorem.”
americanscientist.org/article/hidd...
Learn about the hidden #history of #physics: amzn.to/3YZZB4W
americanscientist.org/article/hidd...
Learn about the hidden #history of #physics: amzn.to/3YZZB4W
Reposted by Robert Mills
Wow! Not only can we see the disks where planets are being born around young stars, now we can sense the pull of the worlds taking shape within.
Blue ovals show orbits of 31 newfound stellar companions. Bottom right: a simulation of our solar system at the same age. 🔭🧪
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Blue ovals show orbits of 31 newfound stellar companions. Bottom right: a simulation of our solar system at the same age. 🔭🧪
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
December 18, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Wow! Not only can we see the disks where planets are being born around young stars, now we can sense the pull of the worlds taking shape within.
Blue ovals show orbits of 31 newfound stellar companions. Bottom right: a simulation of our solar system at the same age. 🔭🧪
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Blue ovals show orbits of 31 newfound stellar companions. Bottom right: a simulation of our solar system at the same age. 🔭🧪
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Reposted by Robert Mills
So, today, December 17th, 2025, it is both winter & not-winter at the same time, depending on your definition.
We'll 'collapse the wave-forms' on the moment of the winter solstice, which is simultaneous but at different local times around the world.
Happy Schrödinger's Winter, y'all!
We'll 'collapse the wave-forms' on the moment of the winter solstice, which is simultaneous but at different local times around the world.
Happy Schrödinger's Winter, y'all!
December 17, 2025 at 1:20 PM
So, today, December 17th, 2025, it is both winter & not-winter at the same time, depending on your definition.
We'll 'collapse the wave-forms' on the moment of the winter solstice, which is simultaneous but at different local times around the world.
Happy Schrödinger's Winter, y'all!
We'll 'collapse the wave-forms' on the moment of the winter solstice, which is simultaneous but at different local times around the world.
Happy Schrödinger's Winter, y'all!
An excellent situation analysis.
December 14, 2025 at 5:55 PM
An excellent situation analysis.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to see what happens when the most important physical processes in black hole accretion are included accurately,” says Lizhong Zhang, lead author of the study.
www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/12/03/g...
www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/12/03/g...
Groundbreaking Simulations Show How Black Holes Glow Bright
Research by astrophysicists at the Flatiron Institute and the Institute for Advanced Study reveals how material flowing around and into black holes creates intense light shows.
www.simonsfoundation.org
December 14, 2025 at 2:10 PM
“This is the first time we’ve been able to see what happens when the most important physical processes in black hole accretion are included accurately,” says Lizhong Zhang, lead author of the study.
www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/12/03/g...
www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/12/03/g...
Reposted by Robert Mills
When the mercury plummets to -40° (where Celsius and Fahrenheit finally agree), most sensible creatures burrow inward. But not in the Yukon. Here, in this land where exhaled breath crystallizes mid-air and exposed skin stings within seconds, I found myself moved to dance Bhangra.
December 13, 2025 at 3:10 PM
When the mercury plummets to -40° (where Celsius and Fahrenheit finally agree), most sensible creatures burrow inward. But not in the Yukon. Here, in this land where exhaled breath crystallizes mid-air and exposed skin stings within seconds, I found myself moved to dance Bhangra.
Reposted by Robert Mills
December 6, 2025 at 12:54 PM
The natural world is full of the kinds of continuous symmetries that Lie groups capture, making them indispensable in physics. Gravity, electromagnetism, and the forces that hold together atomic nuclei — are all defined by Lie group symmetries.
www.quantamagazine.org/what-are-lie...
www.quantamagazine.org/what-are-lie...
What Are Lie Groups? | Quanta Magazine
By combining the language of groups with that of geometry and linear algebra, Marius Sophus Lie created one of math’s most powerful tools.
www.quantamagazine.org
December 5, 2025 at 2:04 PM
The natural world is full of the kinds of continuous symmetries that Lie groups capture, making them indispensable in physics. Gravity, electromagnetism, and the forces that hold together atomic nuclei — are all defined by Lie group symmetries.
www.quantamagazine.org/what-are-lie...
www.quantamagazine.org/what-are-lie...
NASA’s planned Habitable Worlds Observatory should make this possible, but only if the associated technologies, including an all-important coronagraph, can reach an unprecedented sensitivity.
New discovery sets humanity up to image “alien Earth”
Yes, astronomers are preparing to directly image Earth-sized worlds around Sun-like stars for the first time.
Here's how the biggest "missing piece" for getting there just fell into place.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #exoplanets
Yes, astronomers are preparing to directly image Earth-sized worlds around Sun-like stars for the first time.
Here's how the biggest "missing piece" for getting there just fell into place.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #exoplanets
New discovery sets humanity up to image "alien Earth"
Finding alien Earths requires seeing Earth-sized planets at Earth-like distances from Sun-like stars. A new discovery completes the roadmap.
bigthink.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:48 PM
NASA’s planned Habitable Worlds Observatory should make this possible, but only if the associated technologies, including an all-important coronagraph, can reach an unprecedented sensitivity.
Reposted by Robert Mills
The roughly 15,000 satellites in space are already a nuisance to astronomy research. It could get a LOT worse.
www.cbc.ca/news/science...
www.cbc.ca/news/science...
Launching hundreds of thousands of satellites will threaten space research, scientists warn | CBC News
We've all come to appreciate the beautiful images space telescopes provide us of galaxies, nebulas and more, but they also provide astronomers with important scientific information about our universe....
www.cbc.ca
December 3, 2025 at 9:24 PM
The roughly 15,000 satellites in space are already a nuisance to astronomy research. It could get a LOT worse.
www.cbc.ca/news/science...
www.cbc.ca/news/science...
Reposted by Robert Mills
Circling a martian butterfly www.youtube.com/watch?v=tibW... www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
ESA’s Mars Express takes us on a dizzying flight around a butterfly crater on Mars.
ESA’s Mars Express takes us on a dizzying flight around a butterfly crater on Mars.
December 4, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Circling a martian butterfly www.youtube.com/watch?v=tibW... www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
ESA’s Mars Express takes us on a dizzying flight around a butterfly crater on Mars.
ESA’s Mars Express takes us on a dizzying flight around a butterfly crater on Mars.
Jack Layton would roll over in his grave if he had witnessed the NDP leaders debate last Thursday in Montreal. The choice between bad French and no French is totally unacceptable for the leader of any national political party in Canada.
November 29, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Jack Layton would roll over in his grave if he had witnessed the NDP leaders debate last Thursday in Montreal. The choice between bad French and no French is totally unacceptable for the leader of any national political party in Canada.
Lightening on Mars? The Perseverance rover has detected electrical activity in Martian dust clouds.
🎤Grâce à son micro conçu à Toulouse, et installé sur l'instrument SuperCam, le rover Perseverance a détecté, pour la première fois, une activité électrique dans l'atmosphère de Mars. 🧵👇
https://f.mtr.cool/jbwdqitema
https://f.mtr.cool/jbwdqitema
November 29, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Lightening on Mars? The Perseverance rover has detected electrical activity in Martian dust clouds.
Reposted by Robert Mills
Please enjoy my cartoon in today's Toronto Star
November 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Please enjoy my cartoon in today's Toronto Star
Reposted by Robert Mills
Props to Macy's for their bold Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon choice this year. Brave, indeed.
November 27, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Props to Macy's for their bold Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon choice this year. Brave, indeed.
Reposted by Robert Mills
Hear What the Language Spoken by Our Ancestors 6,000 Years Ago Might Have Sounded Like: A Reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European Language
Hear What the Language Spoken by Our Ancestors 6,000 Years Ago Might Have Sounded Like: A Reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European Language
As scholars of ancient texts well know, the reconstruction of lost sources can be a matter of some controversy.
www.openculture.com
November 28, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Hear What the Language Spoken by Our Ancestors 6,000 Years Ago Might Have Sounded Like: A Reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European Language
Your intuition says No Way! But Meat Cove Mountain in Cape Breton has an elevation of 277 metres, while Cape Ray in Newfoundland has an elevation of 400 metres. The distance between the two is 118 kilometres. So yeah, maybe.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Can you see Newfoundland from Cape Breton? Online photo sparks debate | CBC News
An online photo has sparked a passionate debate about whether or not it's possible.
www.cbc.ca
November 26, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Your intuition says No Way! But Meat Cove Mountain in Cape Breton has an elevation of 277 metres, while Cape Ray in Newfoundland has an elevation of 400 metres. The distance between the two is 118 kilometres. So yeah, maybe.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
According to the Siebel Institute, “recent regulatory changes in the U.S. have made it much more challenging for international students, who have become the majority of the school’s student body, to attend classes in person.” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Prestigious Chicago brewing school relocating to Montreal amid U.S. regulatory changes | CBC News
The Siebel Institute of Technology, North America’s oldest brewing school, is moving from Chicago to Montreal in January 2026. The relocation is aimed at improving accessibility for international stud...
www.cbc.ca
November 25, 2025 at 5:14 PM
According to the Siebel Institute, “recent regulatory changes in the U.S. have made it much more challenging for international students, who have become the majority of the school’s student body, to attend classes in person.” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Reposted by Robert Mills
In the newspaper business everyone knows there's the news that's printed 'above the fold', and the news that's printed 'below the fold'. Nobody ever gives much thought to the fold itself.
Quite interesting, however, if you're into math and physics. #IntrinsicVersusExtrinsicGeometry
Quite interesting, however, if you're into math and physics. #IntrinsicVersusExtrinsicGeometry
November 24, 2025 at 2:24 PM
In the newspaper business everyone knows there's the news that's printed 'above the fold', and the news that's printed 'below the fold'. Nobody ever gives much thought to the fold itself.
Quite interesting, however, if you're into math and physics. #IntrinsicVersusExtrinsicGeometry
Quite interesting, however, if you're into math and physics. #IntrinsicVersusExtrinsicGeometry
Reposted by Robert Mills
Up to now, all attempts to turn gravity into a quantum field theory have failed miserably, prompting researchers to take a new look at an approach first suggested in the 1970s: quadratic gravity.
www.quantamagazine.org/old-ghost-th...
www.quantamagazine.org/old-ghost-th...
Old ‘Ghost’ Theory of Quantum Gravity Makes a Comeback | Quanta Magazine
Has the secret to understanding gravity been hiding in plain sight for nearly 50 years?
www.quantamagazine.org
November 22, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Up to now, all attempts to turn gravity into a quantum field theory have failed miserably, prompting researchers to take a new look at an approach first suggested in the 1970s: quadratic gravity.
www.quantamagazine.org/old-ghost-th...
www.quantamagazine.org/old-ghost-th...