iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Emily McPike

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

and we have never had a real tree since! the end 🎄

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

the couches, the rug, the ornaments, the walls—FLOODED with little mites. my poor mom, alone, with her open wound on one side and a baby on her other hip, had to battle back the biblical swarm with a vacuum for hours.

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

she loads my sister and i onto the bus. she walks home. she opens the door. she screams. the entire living room is COVERED in little black bugs that have awakened from their slumber in the tree. the real tree has betrayed her.

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

my mom LOVED getting the real trees. she loved the smell and the cheer it brought to the house. she insisted on getting a real one every year. we had just decorated our beautiful, real tree that weekend.

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

she was on bed rest most of the time but insisted on walking my sister and i up the street to the school bus stop in the morning. she had my baby brother, 1 year old at the time, in bed at home. my dad was on duty at the fire house.

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

the week before christmas 2009, my mom was recovering after a full mastectomy to remove her breast cancer. she had an open wound in her chest and a fluid bag attached to her.

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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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Emily McPike @astrowithemily.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

a sweet treat! my go to recently has been a double dark chocolate magnum mini ice cream bar with a swipe of creamy peanut butter☺️

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Reposted by Emily McPike

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

this is derogatory and an attack towards CVS

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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

As a final, final note: this change in policy is a disservice to all second-year graduate students and to the scientific community at large. Please reach out to grfp@nsf.gov to advocate for second year graduate students everywhere, and especially bridge program students!!

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

(9/9) In effect, the policy undermines the very mission of the GRFP by narrowing the applicant pool and excluding innovative, hardworking scientists the program is meant to support.

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

(8/9) since they aren’t guaranteed admission into the CUNY PhD directly after completing the MS. With this eligibility change, bridge students are now barred from submitting a competitive application before they have had the chance to complete, or even begin, a substantial research project.

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

(7/9) My program is funded by the Simon’s Foundation, so if a 1st year were to be awarded the fellowship, it would be unable to be applied. Even if it were able to be, the remaining 2 years of the fellowship would be unable to be applied,

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

(6/9) To then require students to develop a three-year research proposal just months after entering graduate school and essentially within a month of starting a research project is unreasonable.

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

(5/9) In my program, the CUNY GC Masters in Astrophysics, a two-year bridge program, students are not even matched with research projects until October of their first year.

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

(4/9) My story is echoed in my peers’ experiences. In this way, I cannot emphasis enough how this change in policy is a disservice to students who do not come from R1 institutions, and/or take a nontraditional route to a PhD — like students in bridge programs.

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

(3/9) I can speak from my own experience: I didn’t know what the NSF GRFP was until my senior year of undergrad. It was not because I couldn’t have prepared or couldn’t have written a good proposal — these resources were just not circulated in my department.

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

(2/9) In my eyes, bridge programs stand out as a tremendous effort to retain students who have non-traditional backgrounds. The path to a PhD is complex and difficult to navigate, especially for students who attend undergrad institutions w/o access to significant research funding or infrastructure.

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

(1/9) Generally, bridge programs are designed to provide critical training, resources, and support for students who are preparing to enter PhD programs. Terminal masters programs and bridge programs typically consist of ~2 years of course curriculum and research.

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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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Reposted by Emily McPike

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

among a myriad of other broken things and landlord specials of course. looking for an apartment here is exhausting🥲

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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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