iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Barry McKernan @bmckastro.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Our friends in LVK @ligo.org @egovirgo.bsky.social have released a fresh new installment of merging binary black holes throughout the Universe! arxiv.org/abs/2605.27226 This is great! tl;dr: AWESOME, we can FINALLY start constraining things! 1/n

arxiv.org

GWTC-5.0: Population Properties of Merging Compact Binaries

We present the population properties of merging compact binaries inferred using 267 mergers from the cumulative Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalog 5.0. As this data set contains no new sources with ...

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👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Are you in NYC looking for a fun this Wed April 29?!? Do you want to see me & a bunch of friends being absolutely hilarious & ridiculous in musical karaoke skits around dinosaurs? Most importantly: DO YOU WANT TO VOTE FOR US IN THE FINALS TO DEFEAT OUR RIVALS? Grisly Pear, midtown, 7:30pm

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Karaoke - Grisly Pear

Weekly Karaoke League at The Grisly Pear Midtown! Come join in the fun and open mic at the end of each night.

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Sarah Jane Cervenak @sjcerv.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.” James Baldwin

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Interested in AGN disk-embedded binary black holes? Check out how we’re modeling electromagnetic counterparts to BBH mergers in AGN disks @ my #AAS247 iPoster (for AAS folks — 5:30pm, 1/6), linked here! + Keep an eye out for the paper, coming soon… 👀 aas247-aas.ipostersessions.com/Default.aspx...

aas247-aas.ipostersessions.com

aas (iPosterSessions - an aMuze! Interactive system)

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

I’m at my FIRST ever AAS Meeting! 🥳 🙌 If you’re in Phoenix for the 247th AAS Meeting, let’s get coffee :) I’m presenting my iPoster TUES 1/6 @ 5:30 — come visit my poster, let’s chat about electromagnetic flares from AGN disk-embedded binary black hole merger remnants!🕺🏻🌌

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

i just saw this. i need to share my mom’s christmas nightmare with the people.

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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Sexual harassment is a productivity tax on women in STEM

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

i made a leek and mushroom quiche with black truffle gruyère cheese in a twice baked potato crust. i am so pleased with myself and so full

A quiche in a copper colored dish. The quiche has a golden brown crust, and rings of leeks decorated on top.

A quiche in a copper colored dish. The quiche has a golden brown crust, and rings of leeks decorated on top. (Zoomed out slightly so you can see a bit of the background stove)

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

i just cast my vote for Zohran! early voting has started nyc friends :) get out and vote!!

hand holding an I voted early sticker and pen up against a street backdrop

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👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Oh I forgot: I voted (Zohran) today! If you know who you’re voting for & strongly support them, one thing you can do to help that campaign is to VOTE EARLY! The campaigns know who has voted (& who hasn’t) & will spend resources contacting their likely voters until Election Day OR until you vote!

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

when will the scourge of AI voice bots end when will we be able to just call other human beings

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

i have spent every weekend since i turned 24 in bed knitting + nursing a mug of peppermint tea. i am grandma but i am free

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Jason “Obstacle to Progress” Williams @jasonwilliamsny.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment. The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

jasonjwilliamsny.github.io

An Open Letter to U.S. STEM Leadership on the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

🧵 Thread about how the NSF GRFP eligibility policy change is bad for science, but especially bad for bridge program students:

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Jake Postiglione @jakepost.tech · 25/09/2025

My first 1st author paper is published! Explainer thread from when it originally went live on arXiv quoted! 🔭🧪 Evolution of LISA Observables for Binary Black Holes Lensed by a Supermassive Black Hole doi.org/10.3847/1538... via @ioppublishing.bsky.social

doi.org

Evolution of LISA Observables for Binary Black Holes Lensed by a Supermassive Black Hole - IOPscience

Evolution of LISA Observables for Binary Black Holes Lensed by a Supermassive Black Hole, Postiglione, Jake, Ford, K. E. Saavik, Best, Henry, McKernan, Barry, O’Dowd, Matthew

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

today in nyc: another tropical downpour. soaking wet and a bit irritated 😒 but my day has been slightly improved by my rain-induced tastefully messy, wavy hair 😏

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👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Hey folks! I promised some comments on GW231123 (the most massive BBH merger detected in GW so far!) a few weeks ago. Well, here are my comments, in whole paper form, led by the fabulously amazing multitasking @xevra.world (who put this out WHILE MOVING INTERNATIONALLY!), with usual collabs… 🔭⚛️🧪

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Barry McKernan @bmckastro.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

So, @xevra.world leads a great paper out today on arXiv arxiv.org/abs/2508.13412 on how the recent event GW231123 detected by @ligo.org @egovirgo.bsky.social could've happened in an AGN. With @saavikford.bsky.social @spacekaila.bsky.social @astrowithemily.bsky.social @jakepost.tech & McFACTS crew!

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👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

If you wanna know why the AGN Channel folks are VERY EXCITED about today’s LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (gravitational wave, binary black hole merger) announcement, read this thread 🧵:

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LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · 14/07/2025

We are excited to announce the discovery of #GW231123, a gravitational-wave signal from the merger of two high-mass black holes to form one about 190–265 times the mass of our Sun ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k... #O4IsHere 🔭🧪☄️

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

i miss climbing so much but i cannot fork over a oodles of money/month for a climbing gym membership here in nyc </3

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

in regular nyc apartment hunting fashion, the broker pushing us to sign this lease argued that the toilet seat that is completely detached on one side (and also, not the right size for the toilet), which swivels in a full 180 degree range of motion, was a “design feature” of the toilet seat🙄

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Simons Foundation @simonsfoundation.org · 02/07/2025

#FlatironCCA researcher Carrie Filion makes galaxies sing. As part of our Symbiosis program, Filion worked with filmmaker Em Oliver to create the short film "Did You Know That Space Can Sing?". Watch full video here: www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/07/02/w... #science #astrophysics

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

carrie filion mention!! that’s my career mentor!!

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Stone Cold Jane Austen @abbyhiggs.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

It’s a good thing Congress isn’t alive to see this

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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

It’s blindingly clear at this point that the protestors in Los Angeles are in fact helping to prevent a fascist takeover, and the pundits who suggested that protest is counterproductive were being either stupid or actively malicious.

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Shirin Zaidi ✨ شيرين زيدي @shirinzaidi.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

got my ms degree in astrophysics. this is a dream come true — for Shirin in 2015, who started in physics, for Shirin in 2017, who switched to planetary science due to harassment, for Shirin in 2019, who realized she wanted to do nothing but research forever.

Shirin holding her graduation cap with a cross-stitched piece that says, “Free Palestine”, while wearing her graduation gown.

A meme of a wizard that says, “I Lowkey have A Master’s Degree”.

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👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

I did it! I gave a plenary and everyone* had to listen to me! I’m going to post some of my fav pics! *ok not everyone but kinda a good fraction of the meeting?

Me, a middle-aged white woman, dressed like the head of a magical school, in front of a wall sized projector with a slide reading, ‘Things in Disks: Towards a New Understanding of Galsctic Nuclei’

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mensrea @mensie.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

LAPD when they think nobody is watching

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Secrets and Laws @secretsandlaws.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Reposting today for no particular reason.

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

i was thrilled + honored to present preliminary results of my master’s thesis project at the Dynamix conference hosted by @cambridgeastro.bsky.social this week! hope i can get back to Cambridge soon :)

White woman with cream sweater and blue dress standing in front of a chalk board with a slide projected above it. Slide contains a picture of galaxy M77 and an inset emanating from the central region of the galaxy that shows a cartoon of an AGN disk and NSC.

White women in cream sweater and blue dress standing in front of a chalk board. Above the board is a projection of a slide stating “Monte carlo For AGN Channel Testing and Simulations. Open source population synthesis code. N-body code predicting AGN disk BBH mergers detectable by LVK”

A white woman with brown hair wearing glasses, a cream colored sweater, and a blue colored dress standing in front of a chalk board. Above the chalk board, a slide is projected onto a screen. On the slide is an illustration of two black holes embedded in an AGN disk and text reading “McFACTS: Modeling EM Counterparts for Binary Black Hole Mergers in the AGN Channel” in bold white, with “Emily McPike; City University of New York Graduate Center; Advisors: Barry McKernan and Saavik Ford” in gray.

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Shirin Zaidi ✨ شيرين زيدي @shirinzaidi.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

my brother, my parents, and my bestie are all flying in for graduation and this is the most excited I’ve been in a minute!! I didn’t get to celebrate my undergrad graduation (2020… oops!) so getting to celebrate my masters in nyc is bringing me so much joy

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

after ~14 hours of travel i am unbelievably happy to be in my apartment unpacked, showered, and now eating thai red curry!! :)

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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 31/05/2025

Under Trump’s budget, NASA would face its lowest funding in over a decade, and its most ambitious science missions would be canceled. Davinci+, Veritas, Mars Sample Return? Gone. If Trump gets his way, the future of U.S. space science will die on the launchpad. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Universe’s mysteries may never be solved because of Trump’s Nasa cuts, experts say

‘Extinction-level cuts’ to space agency’s spending means labs will close and deep-space missions will be abandoned

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Shirin Zaidi ✨ شيرين زيدي @shirinzaidi.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

this is a nightmare. Telescopes aside, funding woes are so bad that people like me trying to get into phds are facing great difficulty even breaching the acceptance threshold — it’s been exhausting as someone who first applied in 2020!

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

I'm coordinating a How to Read a Paper workshop for undergrads i and was wondering if people have any resources they have found helpful for outlining readings/building that skill? Any resources or advice help!

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👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

If you passed thru JHU astronomy in a certain period, you know Kathy Ziolkowski as a kind, generous person who went out of her way to settle in (esp foreign) postdocs & grad students. She was also a great community builder & a miracle worker with paperwork. She’s the one who needs our help now:

gofund.me

Donate to Support Kathy's Healing and Family Needs, organized by Saavik Ford

I'm Saavik Ford, a longtime friend of Kathy Ziolkowski, who is in need of help du… Saavik Ford needs your support for Support Kathy's Healing and Family Needs

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

four years ago I failed calc 2 and was told to reconsider my physics major. today I received an A+ in radiative processes and finish my first year of my masters program with a 4.0🥲😭 excuse me while i cry a little bit

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

everyday i dream of having a stand mixer. i could make so much bread. i could make so many treats💔

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

ATTENTION: NSF GRANT RECIPIENTS We received a heads up from a trusted source that you should proactively download/print/screen shot any documentation on research.gov pertaining to your NSF awards, both those that are current and any that have closed in the last 5-6 years. 1/n

media.tenor.com

a cartoon of a man holding a frying pan and a spoon with red alert written above him

ALT: a cartoon of a man holding a frying pan and a spoon with red alert written above him

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Eoin Brodie @elbrodie.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

US students. Looking to apply to graduate school? Had an offer rescinded recently? The University of British Columbia in Canada will re-open the application portal in some departments for US students from April 14-18. Details: www.grad.ubc.ca/us-applicant... #ubc #AcademicSky #PhDSky #ScienceSky

grad.ubc.ca

US Applicant Week

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👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

My McFACTS colleagues got me get-well-soon flowers!!! 🥹 @spacekaila.bsky.social @jakepost.tech @emilymcpike.bsky.social @xevra.world … anyone else on Bsky? Shawn? Harry? Richard? Rosalba? Austen? Rachel?

A large multi-color bouquet with hot pink roses, a green pouffy looking flower, light pink gerbera daisy, green & purple orchid, orange lilies, tall purple spiky flowers, pinky-purple snapdragons and MORE! 🤩

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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

how am i already fighting for my life to avoid White Lotus spoilers! the finale just came out last night pls💔

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Mahmoud Khalil's new op-ed from detention— "Faced with a movement for divestment they couldn't crush, your trustees opted to set fire to the institution they're entrusted with…History will redeem us, while those who were content to wait on the sidelines will be forever remembered for their silence."

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gina ✨ @astrogina.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

DAMN that is way higher than I thought it was 😤😤

Bucking the national trend, grad workers' unionized ranks increased 133 percent from 2012 to the start of 2024. Roughly 38 percent of them are now unionized. That's according to a report released last year by Herbert's collective bargaining study center at Hunter College; Herbert said the share of unionized grad workers is even greater today, but he didn't have an updated figure.

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