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C.-A. Palma

@capalma.bsky.social
72 followers 160 following 56 posts

PI, CTO, Mentor, Student, Professor of Physics and Physical Chemistry @unistra | @mpi_polymer | @TU_Muenchen | @HumboldtUni – @PalmaLab.bsky.social

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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
If there is a stochastic engine operating within a very large semantic vector space, is it not expected that, when it outputs ~novels conflated ashuman-like behaviour, we will occasionally observe rare stochastic output? Honest question :) related to AI-regulation meetings in the EU
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
In the academic status quo, it can be unfortunately argued that if you haven’t had several “why would you ruin your career?” moments with powerful competitors over questions of attribution (aka ‘corresponding/last’ authorship), then the research probably hasn’t been competitive enough…
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
How to stop the monetizing of merit? Randomize your funding decisions (ignore metrics), outsource engineering to corporations instead of fund. research. Avoid choosing self-governing committees based on power. Choose humanity/excellence instead: Colleagues committed to scientific disruption & change
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The scientists vs OpenAI controversy is arguably an old tune: When in doubt *our own* academic self-governance decides on 'merit' attribution based on media attention & power dynamics. *Our* 2024 legitimation of companies as nobelprize.org laureates consolidated 'merit' as a commodity. It must stop.
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
T. Tao on modernity "the arguments are heavily AI-assisted…the authors have been working…to simplify and rewrite…“the worst writeup (they) had ever seen in the history of mathematics” into something readable… they were forced to release their preliminary preprints“ #scientificprecariousness
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Singular/smooth manifolds vs strict manifolds @ go.bsky.app/SZRnE9o ?
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A cone is not a manifold & calling it a tangent space could be equally prob. despite its Riemannian metric on C\{0}? In this strict sense, Physics‘ search for quantised holonomy groups is just reduced to finding non-manifolds? I would prefer smooth manifold distinctions here, @ 🦋math?
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Nice piece: It can be argued that Hilbert space is entry-level math for physicists and indeed the exciting problems are tied to the physical interpretation of its subspaces–PS: Relating Hilbert space to arcane math is a disfavor to infinitely many diverse vector/tangent manifold & arcane spaces ;-)
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
… or could there be eigenvectors proven to lie outside an additive/Hilbert structure? For instance, when exploring the chiral structure-electron parametrisation in these rel. new chiral molecular structures: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Carbon nanomaterials with atomic precision: A new twist
Nanoscale helicenes are a recent addition to the carbon nanomaterials family. Gui-Fei Hou and colleagues1 report an azahelicene with 43 fused aromatic…
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
As an example our lab asks not only if a spin transition is conserved or non-conserved, but if the states are even in the same coordinate TManifold (as commonly assumed). A related somewhat provocative foundational question: Is the manifold “only” a parametrisation?
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Reposted by C.-A. Palma
Jose Lado @joselado.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
"World of Quantum Materials", a role-playing game testing your knowledge about quantum materials. The mechanics, you are a quantum material battling others with quasiparticles, getting advantages by using quasiparticles others cannot host and answering physics questions. github.com/joselado/wor...
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Reposted by C.-A. Palma
Grill Lab @grilllab.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
We have an OPEN PHD POSITION! Please apply if you’re interested (or forward to anyone who could be)
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
One could argue that mostly well-off individuals eg a couple of billion in the global north, do no fund their research, while most of the world does pay for their research, confs, travel, etc. cf. studies re. low-income students becoming poorer in elite unis due to the hidden costs of belonging
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
🚩 “…understanding of nature is often referred to as Grand Unified Theory. 🚩However in smaller steps🚩, … the dynamic vacuum model is a possible illustration of expanding the Venn diagram…. 🚩(it) can explain harvesting energy from empty space in microscopic scale🚩”
patentimages.storage.googleapis.com
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
⚠️ Glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic” according to the World Health Organization www.iarc.who.int/featured-new... a recent 2025 *consensus* notes inconclusive evidence and formulation risks: js.ugd.edu.mk/index.php/YF.... Chemistry at 125 million kg/year should not be assessed nonchalantly
js.ugd.edu.mk
GLYPHOSATE TOXICITY: A REVIEW OF ITS PROPERTIES, EXPOSURE AND RISKS TO HUMAN HEALTH | Journal of Agriculture and Plant Sciences
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Unregulated academic self-governance is prone to monkey business™. In the EU, it led to a money first, job second scenario; the ERC being overburdened and research oversimplified is arguably by design, as the community is/was happy for the ERC to assume the burden of faculty search and gatekeeping
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Konkret: Können Imp.kon. Paradoxerw. die Forschung/Mobilität zw. den drei betroff. Ländern verstärken? Ist die aktl. Herausf. entstanden, als Trade vom Zweck entkpl. wurde? Die ob. Bemerk. dient nicht dazu, ein gewiss. Land auszuschließen, sondern langsam wieder die Koop. mit diesem zu ermöglichen
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Klasse News für #Automation #KI #Klima 🇩🇪 Forschung, auch pot. dank 🇨🇳 #H200 Imp.-Sit. Können 🇪🇺🇨🇳 Qtech-Imp.-Kon. 🇩🇪s Qtech stärken, indem dadurch die Zusammenarbeit wieder ermöglicht wird?
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
What can be done to combat fraud and impunity, is to consider issuing a correction to this interesting piece mentioning/referencing this growing problem of (low-key) scientific misconduct via LLMs referencing (c.f. nature.com/articles/420253a in @philipcball.bsky.social nature.com/articles/420594a)
nature.com
Soft responses to misconduct - Nature
The Federation of American Scientists for Experimental Biology and the Association of American Medical Colleges lead the 'heads-in-the-sand' school on the scientific misconduct issue.
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Analysing wording is foundational in academia. But do you think it’d be ever beneficial for journalists (esp. NCS+ Journals) to dismiss billionaire statements strictly as signaling aimed at moving markets in their direction? It’s challenging to find examples whereby billionaires don’t exploit media
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Reposted by C.-A. Palma
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft @dfg.de · 09/02/2026
Interessiert an einer Informationsreise nach China? Die DFG und das Chinesisch-Deutsche Zentrum für Wissenschaftsförderung in Peking fördern einen Aufenthalt für Postdocs aus den Bereichen Physik und Chemie im Herbst 2026, u.a. mit Universitäts-Besuchen und Konferenzteilnahmen. Mehr: sohub.io/6y5x
sohub.io
Informationsreise zu herausragenden Forschungseinrichtungen in China im Herbst 2026
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Assuming sophisticated PhD theses, it is surprising to learn that 86% are (still) able to cope with incompetence. My wishful thinking is that those who remain are serving as beacons, keeping our/the world’s boats afloat while we all weather this storm.
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
„Verantwortung ist jedoch nicht dasselbe wie Schuld. Diejenigen, die sich nicht schuldig fühlen nicht schuld sind, können sich gleichwohl nicht den Konsequenzen einer Politik entziehen, der sich ein allzu großer Teil desselben Volkes bereitwillig angeschlossen hatte“ WB #HessenData #Gotham #VeRA
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
Each org is responsible for implementing trade law according to DE export law. DE just “supports you in implementing foreign trade law” www.bafa.de/EN/Foreign_T... Working with BAFA/Foreign Off. toward ~asylum fellowships might be poss. & challenging, benefiting from political/social media leverage
bafa.de
Export Control and Academia
Professors, scientists and scientific staff at universities and non-university research institutions as well as representatives of these organizations working in the field of “export control and resea...
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Great sentiment, but challenging to implement: US export policies prevent researchers from working in the US and DE, as DE implements US export policies. Eg DE Foreign Office may not issue visas to researchers with ties to countries that are flagged by US export control, eg Iran, China, India, etc
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
AI slop is terribly jarring—yet in this case it simply seems to rephrase the abstract in www.nature.com/articles/s41... or am I missing something?Theres much effort in routinely correcting paper misconceptions so maybe is OK to let anything pass which tries to engage an audience/not factually wrong?
nature.com
Universality in quantum critical flow of charge and heat in ultraclean graphene - Nature Physics
Critical behaviour is expected in graphene when the carrier density is tuned to the Dirac point. Now, universality associated with the critical point is observed in electronic and thermal transport.
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Could it be that the expectation that societies and govs will make difficult decisions on our behalf should change? Would it make sense at this point, to take difficult decisions upon ourselves, such as stop publishing in the Royal Society and watching FIFA?
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Or, forgive the double-pun, maybe it’s nontrivial (product space) after all 😆
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
+Professionalizing dissident scientist networks within scientific self-governance is essential for legitimizing similar career paths, as such last-resort has often been assumed to reflect unprofessional conduct rather than raise concerns re. institutionalized authoritarianism. Fingers crossed, U.S.
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Reposted by C.-A. Palma
PalmaLab @palmalab.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
*apparent height in a scanning tennisball microscope #STM #SurfaceScience #CondensedMatter xkcd!
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
How do the ultra-wealthy restock during the programmed recession? How do they acquire liquidity in the context of bailouts? The problem is that not everyone sees it, and we need to be well informedwhen the bailouts begin.
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
💯—Except that Research is not an Industry, is a resource. Without regulation, Journals do what anyone would do with a free resource: Profit. It’s time to stop holding journals/editors accountable whose jobs are to be profitable, and begin making policy makers accountable—whose jobs are to regulate.
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
“Imagine if a book publisher demanded that authors write books for free and, instead of employing in-house editors, relied on other authors to edit those books, also for free. And not only that: The final product was then sold at prohibitively expensive prices”
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
“Every industry has certain problems universally acknowledged as broken: In academia, it’s publishing. Academic publishing is dominated by for-profit giants like Elsevier and Springer. Calling their practice a form of thuggery isn’t so much an insult as an economic observation.”
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Great work, everyone www.reuters.com/world/europe...
reuters.com
Germany updates US travel advice after citizens detained
Germany updated its travel advisory for the United States to emphasise that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry for its citizens after several Germans were detained at the border recently, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
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Reposted by C.-A. Palma
FX Coudert @nanoporous.net · 19/03/2025
French researcher, going to a conference in Houston, was forbidden entry to US; his work and personal electronics were both confiscated. Why? Because a “random search” of his cell phone revealed a negative personal opinion on Trump and the Trump administration. www.lemonde.fr/internationa...
lemonde.fr
Etats-Unis : un chercheur français refoulé pour avoir exprimé « une opinion personnelle sur la politique menée par l’administration Trump »
Le ministre de la recherche a dit sa « préoccupation », mercredi, après cette décision des autorités américaines. Le chercheur du CNRS aurait subi un contrôle aléatoire à son arrivée, avant que son or...
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
The corresp. 1969 piece is a brilliant account of experimental physics & highlights tenacity as a key quality for scientists iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... (Though I ignore whether being laughed at by teachers is a rite of passage for all scientists or just those in sci. underdev. environments)
iopscience.iop.org
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Bis zu 700 Spitzenwissenschaftler könnten auf eine dringende außerplanmäßige Finanzierung für ihre Forschungsprojekte in Deutschland angewiesen sein fyi @BMBF_bund @oezdemir.de
fulbright.de
About Fulbright Germany
Fulbright Germany awards up to 700 scholarships yearly for study, research, teaching, and continuing education in the US and Germany.
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Curious how this graph will look like in 4 years www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Source: Nature Index 2022. Data analysis: Catherine Cheung; infographic: Catherine Armitage, Bec Crew & Tanner Maxwell
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
@johncarlosbaez arguments are specially relevant this week. One cannot help but wonder if the whole US Tech and @bluesky will eventually share a scorched-earth mindset to progress. Any tips on how to use @Mastodon efficiently, starting with how to follow across servers?
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
My heartfelt condolences to family and friends
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Truly heartbroken by the passing of my dear colleague, Rudi. For a time, it felt like we were the only two intl. physics faculty in Beijing, and I am at a complete loss…
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Thank you MK, for being an inspiring mentor and supporting my applications. I would've loved to have more opportunities to discuss—alas, time goes by unjustly fast. My condolences, dear Marci and family.
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
What about experiments? We haven't been able to fund experiments in this direction, so progress is slow, but we hope to catch a break! If you liked this story stayed tuned for more spin-chain logic arxiv.org/abs/2407.20996 & (super)conductivity www.nature.com/articles/s41... stories next year! 7/7
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C.-A. Palma @capalma.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Bc single ligands in axial-coordination lattices can be manipulated by STM to pattern circuitry, our next step is to simulate fully-atomistic phonon circuitry together with the thermal memory and a logic gate. Logic operations will be holonomic arxiv.org/abs/2411.15038, a story for another time...
arxiv.org
Geometric phase and holonomy in the space of 2-by-2 symmetric operators
We present a non-trivial metric tensor field on the space of 2-by-2 real-valued, symmetric matrices whose Levi-Civita connection renders frames of eigenvectors parallel. This results in fundamental re...
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