iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 22/09/2026

Come and join us! We have cake (at a responsible frequency). You also get to work with me. Which I hope isn't excessively off-putting!

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 19/09/2026

I'll admit I'm a little intrigued as to how Meta AI intends to convert a photo of my thesis into a tarot card. But not intrigued enough to find out...

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 18/09/2026

I wrote a little bit about finishing the Munros, and what's next. Maybe what's next is being semi-consistent about writing? Who knows? uproute.substack.com/p/8421?r=2a2...

uproute.substack.com

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The end, and new Beginnings. Wherein I complete my first Munro round and muse on future plans.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 15/09/2026

One list I'm not unhappy to be on.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Happy publication day morning to me!! Dear friend @chrislintott.bsky.social said on record that it was "Truly unique! Sparkling with charm and interest & uncompromisingly clear". In person he said "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but it was surprisingly good" 🥳 Major compliment! 🤗🧪

"Sparkling with charm and interest".
Chris Lintott present of The Sky at Night
Catherine's book is below it, looking dark and moody, but with peachy-pink tones.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 10/09/2026

So giving everyone $5000 collected from general taxation, and... Redistributed...? I didn't see socialism being the big pivot Trump would make for the midterms.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 08/09/2026

Watching the trailer for the Ocarina of Time remake was nerve-wrecking. There are few things scarier, it turns out, than seeing a core part of your childhood being remastered in 4k. With voice acting.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 08/09/2026

8 September 2026. The day my kitchen appliances started making veiled threats against me by email.

Two consecutive emails, from hotpoint and beko, both with the subject line "Daniel, accidents happen..."

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 07/09/2026

I discovered that the acoustics of my new(ish) home office are surprisingly good today. Apologies to the neighbours.

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Christopher Berry @cplberry.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Preprint out today: A short review of science to come from GWTC-4.0 and GWTC-5.0 put together with @daniel-williams.co.uk arxiv.org/abs/2609.03859 Catch up on some of the recent advances in gravitational-wave astronomy 🔭☄️🧪⚛️ #GWTC4 #GWTC5

Timeline of LIGO Virgo KAGRA observing runs, showing the increase in detector range and increase in the number of detections

Comparison of our first detection GW150914 and recent loud detection GW250114. While the sources are similar, GW250114 is much louder because of advances in our detectors. This means that measurements of source properties are much more precise.

The inferred mass distribution of binary black holes from GWTC-3.0, GWTC-4.0 and GWTC-5.0. As we have built larger catalogues, the precision of the inferred distribution has improved.

Timeline of observing runs and data releases. GWTC-6.0 will release in December this year, so expect more science!

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 07/09/2026

Today's a rare and coveted double new paper day* for me. 📄What we've learned so far from the 2023-2025 observing run: arxiv.org/abs/2609.03859 📄Measuring the expansion of the Universe with black holes, better: arxiv.org/abs/2609.04991 * for me; I was on holiday the day the first one came out...

arxiv.org

Expanding the scope of dark siren cosmology: Inferring the population properties of gravitational wave-hosting galaxies

The field of gravitational wave "dark siren" cosmology is facing a number of challenges surrounding the way in which galaxy catalogue data is incorporated into the analysis. The three biggest challeng...

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 22/08/2026

Optimist: The cup is half full. Pessimist: The cup is half empty. Gravitational wave astronomer: *makes strange gesture with arms* the cup expands in one direction, contracts in another, but its volume remains constant as spacetime distorts.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 22/08/2026

Optimist: The cup is half full. Pessimist: The cup is half empty. Cosmologist: The cup is expanding in all directions all of the time. We don't know how fast it's happening, and our measurements all seem to contradict each other.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 21/08/2026

So Daniel, what's the best thing you've done to the flat since you bought it? Paint? New floors? No, I installed a sensor which would identify when my laundry had dried by the ambient humidity.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 03/07/2026

In a moment of peak adulting, I am disproportionately excited about having just had an induction hob installed in my kitchen.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 10/06/2026

Well, I certainly chose an interesting week to visit family in Northern Ireland.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 02/06/2026

Not to suggest that I approve in any way of embezzlement, but there are worse things you could have bought with the money...

A list of objects purchased by Peter Murrell, including a telescope and a coffee machine.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 26/05/2026

It's results day at the gravitational-wave factory! We have an exciting treasury of new events: from three events a decade ago to almost 400 to date.

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Christopher Berry @cplberry.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Nice seeing gravitational waves highlighted as driving technological innovation. As well as advances in optics and photonics, technologies have been applied to help grow bone tissue and to monitor the performance of retinal scanners. Investing in fundamental research can lead to surprising benefits

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LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · 14/05/2026

"On the application of astrophysical signals to gravitational-wave detector calibration" — an artistic interpretation of our latest science with #GW240925 and #GW250207 by @asleepywanderer.bsky.social 🔭🧪⚛️🐡

A poster in the style of an old Victorian science book showing depicting how we use astrophysical calibration to tune our detectors. The poster shows binary black holes (the source of our signals), illustrations of the gravitational-wave signals, the laser between our mirrors of our interferometer with a scale bar indicating the precision over which they need calibrating (they are really, really, really precise).

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UofGNews @uofgnews.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Gravitational wave researchers at @uofgphysastro.bsky.social and @uofgravity.bsky.social, working as part of the LVK collaboration, have found a way to tune their detectors using a process akin to the pitch-correction used in music production. Read more here: www.gla.ac.uk/news/headlin...

A visualisation of gravitational wave detectors at work. Image credit: Carl Knox, OzGrav / Swinburne University of Technology

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 09/05/2026

You know what, I should start doing the lottery.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 08/05/2026

Great Britain. A modern advanced economy. Where, when I move house, I need to fill in one form to update the address on my Driving Licence, another to update the address on my car logbook, and then phone someone to update my car tax details. The second form is only available during work hours...

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Glasgow Science Centre @glasgowscience.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Celebrate 10 years of gravitational wave astronomy with a family lecture in The Planetarium! Discover how ripples in space reveal black holes, exploding stars and the secrets of the Universe, led by experts from @uofgravity.bsky.social 9 May | Ages 8+ | No experience needed bit.ly/3P61Dih

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 09/04/2026

What an excellent evening! Many thanks to the ARC at @glasgow.ac.uk for hosting and giving me the chance to geek-out about black holes. (For anyone who missed it, this is said book by the way)

A copy of Gravitation by Misner Thorne and Wheeler.

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Lord Arse! 🕹️ @lordarse.com · 04/04/2026

SUPER NINTENDO CHALMERS

Custom Super Nintendo console with a cartoon character in a suit painted on a blue surface. Two yellow controllers are placed nearby on a reflective black surface.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 31/03/2026

Science is a precious thing. It's powerful, but we do it no service by failing to accept its limitations. A swab cannot define someone's gender; it cannot reliably define someone's sex. Using science as a crutch in this argument is wrong. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympi...

bbc.co.uk

Women's Olympic sports limited to biological females from 2028 - IOC

The women's category of Olympic sports will be limited to biological females from 2028, says the International Olympic Committee.

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Alice Averlong 🏳️‍⚧️ @alice.averlong.com · 31/03/2026

Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility! We're everywhere and we're cool. Here's the trans pride flag 🏳️‍⚧️ on a mid-90s Pentium running DOS.

A CRT on top of a 90s PC (with floppy disk) showing the Trans Pride Flag

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 30/03/2026

Don't know your wormholes from your black holes? I'll be giving a 20 minute masterclass in all things gravitational before the film next week. Don't rely on special relativity to buy more time: there are *only a few tickets left* 👀.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day 🪐 @apod.shinyakato.dev · 26/03/2026

🔭 Black Holes and Neutron Stars: 218 Mergers and Counting Image Credit: Ryan Nowicki, Bill Smith & Karan Jani Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II) ap260326

218 plots shown on a grid represent all of the mergers
of black holes and neutron stars detected in gravitational waves
and reported to date.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 27/03/2026

Do you like organ music with a little sprinkling of physics? I've got you covered. Black holes and blockbusters. 9 April. Glasgow. Tickets are selling like things with extremal thermodynamic properties, or so they tell me.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 27/03/2026

In a city where empty office buildings are becoming tinderboxes, it's really incomprehensible why the council is trying to squeeze vibrant organisations out of city property. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

'We feel betrayed' - the bitter rent row in Glasgow's art scene

Seven organisations that use the Trongate 103 building were informed last month their rent was to increase by four times the current amount.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 25/03/2026

What do you mean, you don't post your latest papers on Tinder?

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 25/03/2026

What can colliding black holes tell us about the nature of the Universe? That's the question three new papers from the LVK set out to answer, by testing General Relativity, our best theory of gravity. 🔭 arxiv.org/abs/2603.19019 arxiv.org/abs/2603.19020 arxiv.org/abs/2603.19021

arxiv.org

GWTC-4.0: Tests of General Relativity. I. Overview and General Tests

The worldwide LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA network of gravitational-wave (GW) detectors continues to increase in sensitivity, thus increasing the quantity and quality of the detected GW signals from compact binar...

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The Shire-Reckoning @shire-reckoning.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Gollum bites off Frodo’s finger. Holding both finger and Ring aloft, he squeals, ‘My Precious!’ Stepping back, he falls with the Ring into the chasm. Fire leaps up. Sam carries Frodo out. As they watch, the shadows around the distant Barad-dûr lift, then the tower crumbles.

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Al Yankovic @alyankovic.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

We’ve told all the casting agents that the Weird Al biopic sequel is currently on hold, but they just keep sending in headshots.

Just-released photo of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson from the live-action Moana

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 23/03/2026

Friends fear he has written a Bayesian Scotish election prediction code.

A table of predicted seat shares for the 2026 scottish parliament elections.

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The Shire-Reckoning @shire-reckoning.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Frodo and Sam leave the road. No longer needing any disguise, Frodo takes off his orc-gear. Sam drops his beloved cooking pans into a fissure. They carry only food, water, Sting, and the Lady’s gifts as they start hiking south across the plain of Gorgoroth toward the Mountain.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 18/03/2026

Despite the excellent advocacy from other MPs my own has remained completely silent on the matter despite having one of the country's largest physics departments in his constituency.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 17/03/2026

I believe this is what they call erasure.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 17/03/2026

Interstellar is quite possibly one of the finest ever film adaptations of a book. "But Daniel, which book?" you ask. Well, find out on 9 April as I discuss the science of Interstellar as part of the CinemARC spring festival. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cinemarc-i...

eventbrite.co.uk

CinemARC: Interstellar

Join us for this special screening of Interstellar and hear from researchers about the science of the movie.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 17/03/2026

I can't remember the last time I was still up after midnight, but 0630 Sunday starts are where it's at.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 16/03/2026

Yes, "Project Hail Mary" is quite good, so far, but nobody warned me it was horror rather than sci-fi. In the opening chapter an astronomer distributes data in an excel workbook.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 15/03/2026

Genuinely embarrassed that someone has let the cat out of the 4km interferometer here.

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Daniel Williams @daniel-williams.co.uk · 14/03/2026

Please remember to consult your nearest Glaswegian when naming something...

A sign on an aircraft seat advertising "BAWi-Fi"

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Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

STFC boss Michele Dougherty admits UK will lose postdocs through physics cuts. Meeting minutes also show appetite within UKRI to move grants programme to alternative research council. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

researchprofessionalnews.com

STFC boss admits UK will lose postdocs through physics cuts - Research Professional News

Meeting minutes also show appetite within UKRI to move grants programme to alternative research council

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