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Chris Lintott

@chrislintott.bsky.social
16K followers 1.6K following 2.9K posts

Astronomer, writer and zookeeper. Oxford, Gresham and the Zooniverse. The human half of the Dog Stars podcast. New book: 'Our Accidental Universe' (UK/rest of world) and 'Accidental Astronomy (US) now out.

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 12h
As expected, the Prime Minister's promise to sort out the mess of funding for Jodrell actually meant nothing - it seems the government would like it to be some sort of heritage theme park when you can go and see where we used to do science. 🔭
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Talked about this to the Oxford astro ML journal club today - great stuff.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
My guess is at least some of them are just asking LLMs for a candidate rather than doing a systematic search.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Indeed, so it's not clear how useful it is to say 'I found one thing via some hidden process'.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Valid is complicated. A few have made it through. None can easily explain how they came to work on that particular star.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Yeah, we're getting a lot of these papers.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Ranked responses to winning the Nobel: 3. Anne Carson (see below) 2. Peter Higgs (Went for a walk in order to hide) 1. Doris Lessing www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBO...
youtube.com
British author Doris Lessing reacts to Nobel win
YouTube video by ReutersLC
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Sarah Kendrew @sarahkendrew.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
ESA is hosting a hackathon event following the first big Euclid data release will n November, on our Datalabs platform. Follow @davidoryan.bsky.social for more info!
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Yeah, this seems like the same tool did the same thing for different people, right?
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
^ @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Yep, we match standards in the subfield, so Lab Astro tends to get more reviewers than other parts of the journals.
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Emily Lakdawalla 🏳️‍⚧️ Uranus Expert @elakdawalla.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Holy shit you guys there are so many things to see in this video. My favorite detail is one I recognize from studying Curiosity’s landing sequence. The vehicle rolls alternately left and right to control its lift as it enters the atmosphere in order to target its landing range
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Most of it will be chaff, too, submitted too soon by those who don’t understand the output
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Strong @aussiastronomer.bsky.social vibez here.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This is thoughtful as you might expect. And exactly why I’m worried. 🧪
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Nature @nature.com · 07/10/2026
None of this year's science Nobel Prizes have gone to women. The number of these prizes to go to women remains at 27 out of more than 600. See how many you can name in our quiz: www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This was excellent. More in due course.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
None of you will guess, sorry.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Off to do secret fun thing.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Amazing choice! Excellent to see a Nobel for an astrophysical mystery - we don’t know where these high energy neutrinos are coming from. 🔭
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
If so, so far so good!
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The audio book of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. The giant space squid. Terrifying in the dark when I was listening when I was supposed to be asleep.
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
🔊Alright #London! Some Queens & Kings from BlueSky 🔭Astro are coming to visit y'all next week! #NewScientistLive 😎 Sa 10 Oct: @chanda.blacksky.app & @chrislintott.bsky.social 😎 Su 11 Oct: @dreochapman.bsky.social, @jimalkhalili.bsky.social et moi 🤗 ℹ️: live.newscientist.com/2026-talks-p...
New Scientist Live "One week to go"
10-12Oct 2026, Excel London and online
A man looking slightly nervous in goggles and a microphone is experimenting with a large flame of fire.Join me at New Scientist Live
The Universe: Reality or Simulation?
Catherine is looking unusually glamorous while laughing at the camera.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If you fancied publishing that analysis, it would make a good RNAAS
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It’s the cover!
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Riding With Robots @ridingrobots.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Happy New Years from Mars. It's the first day of the new Martian year, which lasts 687 Earth days. According to the internationally adopted timekeeping system, this is Mars year 39. The Curiosity rover sent down this view from Gale Crater today.
Black-and-white photo of a rocky desert landscape with hills of layered rock.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Astronomers applying to use JWST (& leaving everything to the last minute) have crashed the tool used to apply. I know at least two people who will use any extension to throw in a new proposal…
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Science Magazine @science.org · 30/09/2026
“I don’t use [generative AI] when I write grants or papers. … So I don’t particularly want them reading my work either.” scim.ag/46Qiqv3
scim.ag
U.K. funder uses ‘AI triage’ to reject grant proposals—leaving researchers dismayed
The AI-based assessment, which wasn’t explicitly described in the funding call, has raised privacy and fairness concerns
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Actually, I reckon a different instrument would be better? Can you switch? You’ve got 6 hours so I think that would be easy. Oh, and please include three figures from my unpublished paper draft.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Yes, I think so. The intent here is I think care needed to get quality, no?
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This is gorgeous!
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Amazing how comments on how to think about AI resonate across fields. This is from drama/comedy but could equally be science: The barrier to access to doing astronomy isn’t technology or money (any more). It’s care. (& having the space to give that care and attention, of course) 🧪
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Thank you. Four charges went through late last night. Sorry for the hassle.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
For my part, if it’s on arXiv it’s public and can be reported. Science say you can post on arXiv but prefer media wait, but there’s no obligation to do so on a reporter.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
@leadmojo.co.uk I’ve just been charged, I think, for pledges on your Smelt crowdfunder. Does that mean shows are happening?
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Nicole BOO-liucci 🎃 @noisyastronomer.com · 29/09/2026
Oooooh more historical space weather fun! By @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Oh no. I bet that’s going to happen more.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I enjoyed an extensive correspondence with someone who was insistent that seasons weren't caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My time is oversold as it is. At least one person has offered to pay, though...but not enough.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I wonder if there's a 'Shakespeare was an alien' corner of conspiracy space somewhere...
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
In your case, for the usual fee I would be delighted to consider them.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The worst are the people who want me to sign a NDA before I can hear their ideas.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yeah, lots of the stuff in here made me think of the start. Will be interested in what you think when you’ve had a chance to read.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I miss getting radical theories of cosmology in mad pamphlets via the post. Now it's all AI-generated email offering me the chance to coauthor the manuscript of the century or - this seems new - insisting I make time to meet with the author to discuss their ideas.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
New @zooniverse.bsky.social paper out: a study of neurodiversity in online citizen science led by the amazing Alisa Apreleva and a host of volunteers. Wonderful stuff: theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/articles/10....
theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org
Framework for Neuro-Inclusive Digital Citizen Science: Results From the Neuro(Minorities)Science Collaboration | Citizen Science: Theory and Practice
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
!!!!!
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Surely not the *first* coffee powered spectrograph?
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Was sad to miss the talk but delighted that we could have @ankahajkova.bsky.social at Gresham. Hope the lecturn has recovered from misbehaving last week.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Do feel free to say no! We like people who say no quickly. My guess is that you’re doing a great job, hence the requests, but do feel free to say no.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It is a good state subsidy for firms that mostly do military stuff, too. A sweetener to get them to maintain facilities and capability.
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