iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Today I have a paper out with a fun result: the largest ever detection of intrinsic gravitational shear! arxiv.org/abs/2609.21839 If you’re not quite sure what this means, or you would just rather see a summary with cartoon cats, click here: cmlamman.github.io/doc/MIA-DR2-...

arxiv.org

Intrinsic Tidal Shear at the Largest Scales: Galaxy Multiplet Alignment in DESI DR2

We measure the intrinsic alignment (IA) of galaxy multiplets with the large-scale tidal field traced by galaxy positions in DESI Data Release 2. Using the BGS, LRG, and ELG samples spanning $0.01 < z ...

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SciComm Excellence @scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org · 03/09/2026

This week, we're going behind-the-scenes with cosmologist @clairelamman.bsky.social. 🔭 Take a sneak peek #BTS: at the Mayall Telescope on Kitt Peak, working on a planetarium film, conducting research at Harvard, and introducing her cat, Phlox, to a gingerbread Voyager spacecraft that she baked.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

A cake to celebrate the outgoing CCAPP director, John Beacom! John is a special person who has built a warm, welcoming environment and we all love him so much. Good science happens within good communities :) He also fills the department with happy plants, so I was quite excited to make this.

A cake decorated in tiny, colorful potted plants sits on a sunny table. Behind and next to it are real-life versions of the plants. The cake reads "thank you for helping us grow".

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

I know there is a lot going on, and not all of this is new, but numerous aspects of this OMB proposal are highly alarming and would, if enacted, effectively force American scientists receiving federal funding (which is...most of them in some capacity or another) to stop engaging with the public.

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 29/05/2026

This is bad. Bad for researchers. Bad for science. Bad for universities. Bad for professional associations. For example: 1. Every award would be vetted by political appointees, who could overrule peer reviewers and deny the award if it doesn't advance the president's priorities. 1/🧵

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Another excellent full-paper doodle annotation. This one is beautiful. Congratulations Jayde!!

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

This was a great opportunity! Thank you to the organizers. If you are an early-career scientist who is interested in how astronomy is organized at a high level, I highly recommend applying next year!

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

My favorite fact about this image: Light from the furthest galaxies shown is 11 billion years old by the time it reaches Earth. It left those galaxies when the universe was just ⅕ its current age and ⅓ its current size.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

My visualization of @desisurvey.bsky.social data is NASA's APOD! 🔭🌌 apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropi...

A large teal hour-glass shape made of many tiny points. An enhanced central region shows how the points outline a sponge-like structure.

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DESI Survey @desisurvey.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

🌌 Major milestone for DESI: full originally planned survey footprint was completed on April 15, ahead of schedule! 47M+ galaxies & quasars mapped → the largest 3D map of the Universe ever made. Keep posted: Observations continue through 2028. More: tinyurl.com/Y5DESI #DESI

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Sesh Nadathur @seshnadathur.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

An exciting astronomy milestone was hit last night, as DESI completed its original 5-year survey mapping 40 million galaxies in the night sky! DESI continues operation, now aiming for an 8-year survey and ~60 million galaxies. 🔭🧪 #cosmology newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/04/15/d...

newscenter.lbl.gov

DESI Completes Planned 3D Map of the Universe and Continues Exploring

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has completed its originally planned five-year mission and will continue.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

DESI finished its originally planned survey last night!! ..and will keep going :) I made a cake to celebrate. 🌌🔭 @desisurvey.bsky.social

A black, single-layer cake. The top is decorated with a pastel-rainbow telescope and galaxy map behind it.

A different view of the cake, showing the galaxy map spilling over the side.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

New paper on the arXiv today!! We discover constellations in DESI’s galaxy map and explore their cosmological implications. Here’s a thread of the key results. 🧪🔭 Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2603.29912 Website where you can find your own galactic constellations: cmlamman.github.io/galactic-con...

arxiv.org

Galactic Constellations in DESI DR1 and the Scales of Cosmological Homogeneity

We present galactic constellations: charming shapes in large cosmological surveys. By exploring a dense subset of DESI's first data release, we discover distinctive constellations including "Pisces Gr...

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

So happy to finally share this: I made a long-form comic about Hawking radiation for Physics Today! Although it's a short read, I hope it sucks you in ;) physicstoday.aip.org/features/bla...

physicstoday.aip.org

Black holes aren’t black

A half century after the discovery of Hawking radiation, we are still dealing with the quantum puzzle it exposed.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I had a joke about a light cone but you had to be there to get it.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

This year's gingerbread is the Vera Rubin Observatory! @vrubinobs.bsky.social

A large gingerbread structure of Rubin Observatory. It's nestled in a frosted, gingerbread-dusted hill and the tiny gleam of a mirror peaks out from inside the dome.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Thread of my Christmas gingerbreads 🌌⬇️

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The Open Journal of Astrophysics @ojastro.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

New Publication at the Open Journal of Astrophysics: "Optimal intrinsic alignment estimators in the presence of redshift-space distortions" by Claire Lamman (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), Jonathan Blazek (Ohio State U.) and Daniel J. Eisenstein (Northeastern U.) doi.org/10.33232/001...

doi.org

Optimal intrinsic alignment estimators in the presence of redshift-space distortions | Published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics

By Claire Lamman, Jonathan Blazek & 1 more. Estimators for quantifying intrinsic alignments in large spectroscopic surveys intended to inprove the constraints they provide for weak lensing and other c...

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Another full paper annotation! I LOVE this one - be sure to read through the end. The drawings of a star trying to make a hole in the nebula cracked me up👷

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Even in the middle of Columbus ❤️

Faint but unmistakable pink sky with green low on the dark horizon

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SciComm Excellence @scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org · 31/10/2025

Halloween is also #DarkMatterDay! 🎃🌌 Celebrate the invisible forces that shape our universe with @zacksavitsky.bsky.social, @clairelamman.bsky.social, and @sanjanacurtis.bsky.social. Studying the origins, elements, and mysteries of the cosmos — connects us all: youtu.be/xbrom_qFwsA #scicomm 💫

youtu.be

Cosmology: Our Quest to Understand the Universe

YouTube video by SciComm Excellence

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SciComm Excellence @scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org · 23/10/2025

Congratulations to the 2025 winners of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications given by @nationalacademies.org in partnership with @schmidtsciences.bsky.social ! Learn more about the winners: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10... #scicomm

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Another full paper annotation, done in TWO languages!! Really nice job @astroaure.bsky.social !

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Emily J @emexastris.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Are you from one of these states? Then we need your help to save American science! The Senate Appropriations Committee will be marking up the President's Budget Request for science on Wednesday. People have been saying the proposed cuts "decimated" US science, but that's wrong: they are apocalyptic

A map of the US with the states the republican senators are from marked in red and states the democratic senators are from marked in blue:
Senator Susan Collins (Republican - Maine)
Senator Mitch McConnell(Republican - Kentucky)
Senator Lisa Murkowski(Republican - Alaska)
Senator Lindsey Graham(Republican - South Carolina)
Senator Jerry Moran(Republican - Kansas)
Senator John Hoeven(Republican - North Dakota)
Senator John Boozman(Republican - Arkansas)
Senator Shelley Moore Capito(Republican - West Virginia)
Senator John Kennedy(Republican - Louisiana)
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith(Republican - Mississippi)
Senator Bill Hagerty(Republican - Tennessee)
Senator Katie Britt(Republican - Alabama)
Senator Markwayne Mullin(Republican - Oklahoma)
Senator Deb Fischer(Republican - Nebraska)
Senator Mike Rounds(Republican - South Dakota)
Patty Murray(Democrat - Washington)
Richard Durbin(Democrat - Illinois)
Jack Reed(Democrat - Rhode Island)
Jeanne Shaheen(Democrat - New Hampshire)
Jeff Merkley(Democrat - Oregon)
Christopher Coons(Democrat - Delaware)
Brian Schatz(Democrat - Hawaii)
Tammy Baldwin(Democrat - Wisconsin)
Chris Murphy(Democrat - Connecticut)
Chris Van Hollen(Democrat - Maryland)
Martin Heinrich(Democrat - New Mexico)
Gary Peters(Democrat - Michigan)
Kirsten Gillibrand(Democrat - New York)
Jon Ossoff(Democrat - Georgia)

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Happy 4th! I made a patriotic pie, celebrating America's leadership in space sciences (historically).

A pie with a dark berry filling. It's decorated with what can generously be described as an art-deco JWST.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Someone please talk me out of this impulse buy so I can view the @vrubinobs.bsky.social images.

A mildly convincing fake TV ad for a 734" TV, shown next to two American football fields and a tiny tiny person for scale. Text reads: Big screen for big data. The only way to view images from the world's largest camera. Equivalent of 400 4k TVs. 25 tons. Make sure to measure your living room first. For the low price of $42! (42 factorial)

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

My article was just published! A few people have already told me how much they appreciate seeing a change from the local narrative. Major kudos to the McClintock Letters organizers for a well-coordinated and impactful program. www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2025/06/13/c...

canoncitydailyrecord.com

Cañon City High School graduate Dr. Claire Lamman: Cuts to science hurt Cañon City residents

My time in Cañon started me on a path that led to the forefront of science. But this path and the research that benefits our community are collapsing. I was 7 when I first saw the dinosaur tracks o…

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

This is an excellent high-impact initiative! All scientists should consider sharing their stories in hometown papers.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Just finished 22nd grade :)

$Smiling girl in crimson PhD robes in front of an old telescope dome (CfA's Great Refractor).$

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Science news outlets need cartoons.

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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Every single one of you reading this have benefitted from publicly funded science in a thousand ways. This cannot be the end. Carl Sagan called science a "candle in the dark." It is up to all of us to make sure that candle does not go out.

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DESI Survey @desisurvey.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

🚨 DESI High is back! 🚀🌌 High school students in Mexico & Spain recently explored the universe using real data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. 🔭💻

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Friends, I am defending tomorrow!! Anyone is welcome to watch the public talk, which will be streamed here at 1pm EST (May 2): youtube.com/live/Kybv2Zs...

youtube.com

Claire Lamman

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

A short, fun video about my science communication. I'm considering using only edible chalkboards in the future...

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

I have a paper out today! I'll be honest, this one is really aimed at a handful of people in my field. But I did manage to make a paper annotation that a wider audience might enjoy (linked in the arXiv comments section). arxiv.org/abs/2504.16076

The first page of a scientific paper, slightly faded and covered in cartoons and annotations. Text embedded in the version linked in arXiv.

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Week 30: I think my defense will be a natural end to these weekly jokes. So... only 2 more left!!

One of the earliest records of an astronomer frustrated with poor seeing is the song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

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Karen James @kejames.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Free idea: a website where you enter the name of your disease/injury/condition/procedure and get shirts, stickers, signs, etc. with “NIH grant number X saved my life.”

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Sam Gregson @badboyofscience.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Fantastic time discussing whether the latest blockbuster cosmology results really do show that Dark Energy is evolving! Brilliant explanations from @clairelamman.bsky.social , @tamarastro.bsky.social and @justshaun.bsky.social Check it out! Full talk: youtu.be/reNicLW2vpY?... 🧪⚛️

youtu.be

Is Dark Matter Evolving? Cosmologists Explain

YouTube video by Bad Boy of Science

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

DESI's DR2 BAO results are out!! TL;DR... 1/n @desisurvey.bsky.social

A blocky lambda symbol crumbles as it is pulled apart by creatures representing Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, the Cosmic Microwave Background, and supernovae. Caption reads "something has to give..." Credit: Claire Lamman

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Héctor Gil Marín @cosmonautico.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

LCDM doesn't seem that robust anymore. Is it a problem with the model? Is it a problem with the data? Why does LCDM seem to break in this funny degeneration precisely crossing LCDM? Interesting times ahead!! Looking forward to new @desisurvey.bsky.social releases. Credit: @clairelamman.bsky.social

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SciComm Excellence @scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org · 28/02/2025

Submissions are being accepted until March 31 for the awards for excellence in science communication given by @nationalacademies.org in partnership with @schmidtsciences.bsky.social which honor science communicators, journalists, and researchers. Apply now: www.nationalacademies.org/awards/excel...

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

This is devastating. I am a scientist because of the REU program. It gave me a chance to experience what it was like to be a researcher, and to show myself and others that I was good at it!

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Claire Lamman @clairelamman.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

DESI is on bluesky now!! Follow to get the latest on dark energy and making the largest map of the Universe 🔭🧪

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