Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 20hThere's a new version of Black Hole Hunters! Check it out below 🔭🧪 183
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 01/10/2026It's unsettling that I can't actually tell at a glance that the text is LLM-generated. I suppose if you're receiving lots of them it's obvious, but if a bot sent me a single LLM scam email I'm not confident I could tell. I guess I just can't trust email from people I don't know anymore. 010
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 01/10/2026I had two children during mine, which enforced a lot of these rules for me. There may be easier ways though... 010
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 29/09/2026Trying to set the precedent that the government can decide what things are called/what words mean 010
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 29/09/2026There's a good chance meeting in person was the LLM's idea! 120
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 28/09/2026LBC appears to think Apple is run by Mark Zuckerberg www.lbc.co.uk/article/appl...lbc.co.ukApple ordered to pay £4.3bn over claims it used vibration technology without permission | LBCMark Zuckerberg’s company insisted it had not used the audio firm's vibration tech and would appeal the jury’s verdict. 000
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 24/09/2026Why won’t someone stop us fighting in here? This is the war room! 010
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 24/09/2026The passage of time is an affront to all of us and this will not be tolerated 020
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 24/09/2026There's an extra "very" there, but you know what, it's so uncertain at this point it actually is very potential 000
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 24/09/2026Having a day where I found something very potentially very interesting and dropped everything to look into it. Probably nothing 100
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 23/09/20266G will be "designed to be AI native" whatever that means. Maybe they should add blockchain too?theconversation.comIn the race to roll out 6G, the UK and Europe are caught between technology’s superpowersFor the UK and Europe, the rollout of 6G is creating a geopolitical dilemma. 220
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 23/09/2026I'm excited that this is out, the self-lensing binary model we're using to search for black holes orbiting stars 🔭🧪 www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/coba...twelvemountains.comCOBALT-BLUE: A Fast and Accurate Model for Gravitational Self-Lensing Binary Systems - Twelve MountainsIt hasn’t been reviewed yet, but we have a new paper out on the arXiv led by my colleague Danny Dixon: We present COBALT-BLUE, a fast public model for the... 010
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 22/09/2026The 1054 supernova (Crab Nebula) may have killed a bunch of people with radiation 🔭🧪 www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/did-...twelvemountains.comDid the 1054 Supernova Cause a Plague? - Twelve MountainsAn interesting idea. If the supernova that created the Crab Nebula also created a gamma ray burst, that could explain apparent widespread radiation sickness... 0112
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 22/09/2026They are also publishing a growing number of single-author "white papers" (opinion pieces) on the use of LLMs in astronomy. That's not necessarily bad, but they are not research and it's inconsistent to publish those while rejecting actual research for being too succinct. 000
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 22/09/2026Meanwhile they accept dozens of April Fools jokes. Sure some of them are worth a chuckle, but I often just skip the arXiv on 1 April because I don't want to waste the time. 130
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 22/09/2026This was rejected by arXiv for being too short. "This particular submission was found to not meet the moderation standard for a complete, self-contained research article of archival interest." I expected that as it's not the first time, but it's still irritating. 🔭🧪 151
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 21/09/2026New research from me (well, actually, from my PhD thesis). HD 38451 is a star which inexplicably changed colour in the 1850s. It is known to be rapidly rotating, based on spectroscopy. It turns out the TESS light curve shows a tiny rotational modulation too 🧪🔭 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...iopscience.iop.orgPhotometric Colors and a Rotational Modulation of HD 38451Photometric Colors and a Rotational Modulation of HD 38451, McMaster, Adam, Norton, Andrew J., Dickinson, Hugh J. 062
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 20/09/2026He has the bullshitting ability of a toddler edition.cnn.com/2026/09/20/p...edition.cnn.comTrump says proposed triumphal arch will double as military complex | CNN PoliticsPresident Donald Trump on Sunday provided a new reason behind his proposal to build a 250-foot triumphal arch directly across Arlington National Cemetery, saying the structure would double as a “top g... 000
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 19/09/2026When they suggest making it a crime to stop refugees from drowning, this is exactly how they intend to pick and choose who lives and dies. Putting aside how morally reprehensible it is to selectively allow certain people to die, there is no way to tell who is a refugee *before* you rescue them. 000
Reposted by Adam McMasterJay Hulme @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Got incredibly bored and read up on the Falkland Islands and their entire history of settlement and like... What do you mean? We are? Actually in the right? On this one??? This is an unfamiliar feeling as an Englishman. I don't know what to do about it. 1776695
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 18/09/2026The US has a history of starting wars based on false intelligence, so that part isn’t new. What’s new is the way the intelligence was fabricated edition.cnn.com/2026/09/18/p...edition.cnn.comExclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN PoliticsThe episode shows the risks of using this new, relatively poorly understood technology in the middle of the Iran war 000
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 18/09/2026They're trying to imply that it happened so quickly they couldn't have done anything about it, relying on the layperson knowing nothing about how software is designed or tested. 000
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 18/09/2026In over two decades of working as a programmer, this is the first time I've ever heard someone quantify an error by the *length of time* it took to execute. That's not a thing. 110
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 18/09/2026A bug that "happened in the space of a millisecond" and was limited to "a specific part of our flight data system, that we have traced to a small subsection of coding". All complete bollocks that tells you nothing about what went wrong or whether it should have been avoidablenews.sky.com'Millisecond' software error caused air traffic outage that grounded thousands of flightsNATS, the UK's major provider of air traffic services, said the software defect led to corrupted data which affected flight data updates, requiring restrictions. 120
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 12/09/2026Was it the military aircraft that created an air traffic control system with insufficient input validation and error handling? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...theguardian.comMilitary aircraft reportedly blamed for UK air traffic control outageMeltdown that grounded thousands of flights caused by ‘spurious’ flight data being entered into system, report says 000
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 11/09/2026Fallacy Friday: Argument from Authority www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/fall...twelvemountains.comFallacy Friday: Argument from Authority - Twelve MountainsWe’re going with a classic this week, the Argument from Authority: An argument from authority … is a form of argument in which the opinion of an authority... 000
Reposted by Adam McMasterYgrene @ygrene.bsky.social · 11/09/2026it will be really frustrating if ai does destroy civilization after we've worked so hard to do it ourselves 9349114
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 11/09/2026Why should we do our own thinking about our scientific results? It has nothing to do with whether LLM-generated research is really research. It's about what makes humans human. "Everything we do ... is an attempt to make sense of things, and if we hand that over to machines, then who are we?" 🧪twelvemountains.comWhy Would You Let an Agent Do Your Research? - Twelve MountainsThere’s a recent article by Natalie B. Hogg, Agentic research is oxymoronic, arguing that research is only research if the interpretation of the results is... 021
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 10/09/2026Neutron Star + Dark Matter Halo = Neutron Star Inside a Black Hole? 🧪🔭 www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/neut...twelvemountains.comNeutron Star + Dark Matter Halo = Neutron Star Inside a Black Hole? - Twelve MountainsAn interesting idea. A neutron star surrounded by a dark matter halo which is dense enough (but not too dense) could form an event horizon while staying a... 030
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 09/09/2026Hey hey, you know how computers have notoriously never worked as intended? Well, wouldn't it be great if they could also do absolutely anything, fully autonomously, with no oversight? 020
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 09/09/2026What to Do with Politicians www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/what...twelvemountains.comWhat to Do with Politicians - Twelve MountainsAlfredo Carpineti makes the bold argument that we should not fire them into the Sun: It is not surprising to see people wishing to catapult those... 010
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 08/09/2026Apparently the Prime Minister has committed to saving Jodrell Bank. I don't believe he cares about science, but I do believe he cares about Manchester 🧪🔭 www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/jodr...twelvemountains.comJodrell Bank Saved by Man from Manchester - Twelve MountainsI missed this in the news until it was posted by Peter Coles: Three days ago the latest Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Andy Burnham, gave a... 040
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 08/09/2026Hawking: You don’t have to be great to be famous 🧪 www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/hawk...twelvemountains.comHawking - Twelve MountainsDespite the public persona, Hawking was not a nice person. The Guardian has a review of a recent book which has more details and is worth reading. I found... 081
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 04/09/2026Trying something new on my blog: It's Fallacy Friday! Starting with the historical fallacy. E.g. “They got a lot of attention for how they were dressed, so they dressed that way to get attention.” www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/fall...twelvemountains.comFallacy Friday: The Historical Fallacy - Twelve MountainsI’m trying something new. A different logical fallacy every Friday. Let’s start with the historical fallacy, which applies any time someone interprets the... 010
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 04/09/2026Swift is going to keep sciencing as long as it can www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/swif... 🔭🧪twelvemountains.comSwift: Sciencing Until the End - Twelve MountainsThe Swift spacecraft is unlikely to make it to the end of the year, but that’s not stopping them from carrying on with their work: NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift... 064
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 04/09/2026AI agents are emailing Bruce Schneier without being asked to www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/ai-a...twelvemountains.comAI Agents Have Started Emailing Bruce Schneier with Their Security Findings - Twelve MountainsThey haven’t been instructed to do this. Wild: I received the two emails below earlier in the month. They’re vaguely coherent. I suppose I shouldn’t be... 100
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 03/09/2026Apparently you can use muons as a random number generator 🧪 www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/rand...twelvemountains.comRandom Muons - Twelve MountainsGenerating random numbers is a perennial problem in computer science. Apparently muons could be a good source of entropy for this: We demonstrate, for the... 000
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 02/09/2026As someone who works on stellar photometry, what’s good for exoplanets is good for me 🧪🔭 www.twelvemountains.com/2026/09/what...twelvemountains.comWhat Roman Will Do for Exoplanets - Twelve MountainsAs someone who works on stellar photometry, what’s good for exoplanets is good for me: The Roman Space Telescope’s primary mirror is 2.4 meters (7.9 feet)... 031
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 27/08/2026Calling it “Lake America” implies he thinks Ontario is on par with the whole of America. 030
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 27/08/2026I've also been told informally that the JWST mirror unfolding in space was the first time it's been done *on a civilian satellite* 010
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 27/08/2026What do Roman and Swift have in common? I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you www.twelvemountains.com/2026/08/from... 🔭🧪twelvemountains.comFrom Spy Satellite to Space Telescope - Twelve MountainsThe Nancy Grace Roman space telescope is launching soon. Space.com has an article about the spy satellite origins of the satellite. I like this part about... 011
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 27/08/2026The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope: a NASA telescope named after someone who deserves it 🧪🔭 www.twelvemountains.com/2026/08/nanc...twelvemountains.comNancy Roman - Twelve MountainsReading the Wikipedia page for Nancy Roman, after whom the Roman Space Telescope is named: At a lecture by Harold Urey at NASA, Roman was approached by Jack... 040
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 26/08/2026How big would a rock need to be to make the same crater as the SpaceX rocket? Surprisingly small, actually www.twelvemountains.com/2026/08/the-... 🔭🧪twelvemountains.comThe SpaceX Lunar Crater - Twelve MountainsThe Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has photographed the crater created by SpaceX rocket: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) photographed the fresh... 173
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 24/08/2026Spot the drowning child. I’m confident you won’t be good at this and you probably should be www.twelvemountains.com/2026/08/spot...twelvemountains.comSpot the Drowning Child - Twelve MountainsEvery year some variation of the article Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning does the rounds at the start of summer. As useful as it is to know what it... 000
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 24/08/202620 years of wasting time with the Pluto thing 🔭🧪twelvemountains.com20 Years of Wasting Time on Pluto - Twelve MountainsIt was reclassified as a dwarf planet 20 years ago today: On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced it had re-classified... 063
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 22/08/2026I’m getting back into RSS feeds. What are your favourite personal blogs by astronomers? 🧪 081
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 20/08/2026This is sad. The attempt to rescue Swift has failed www.space.com/space-explor... 🔭🧪space.comPrivate mission to save NASA's Swift space telescope fails"This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting." 152
Adam McMaster @adammc.space · 19/08/2026Some days I could really use half an hour in the Cherenkov detector xkcd.com/3286/xkcd.comParticle Physics Equipment 020