iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 25/04/2026

As I move from Germany to New Zealand and look to start a PhD in Physics, I feel grateful I had the chance to support local science journalism, grateful my former #JHU students can carry it forward. Careful, honest science is the key to understanding (and holding onto) reality. #CitizenScience 🧪🔭⚛️

Allotsego.com, Letter from Ron Bishop, Kudos for Citizen Science Column. I applaud you all at Iron String press for continuing your column series Citizen Science. I have greatly appreciated the insights of Jamie Zvirzdin these last 3 years, and now look forward to more from Roberta McLain and the other two writers taking up the baton for the next months and years.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 04/02/2026

Have a little more faith in your own neural network. Learn to write well in science. We need honest, good science writing. Doesn't have to be perfect. All slides from the workshop "Psst . . . Your AI Is Showing: How to Put Your Own Voice in Scientific Papers" are here: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 🧪🔭⚛️

Slide from presentation by Jamie Zvirzdin, shows a white lightbulb on black background.
Our Own Neural Networks
Your brain is the ultimate multipurpose problem-solving machine:
-adaptable,
-fast (~1 exaFLOP*),
-robust,
-creative, and
-energy-efficient (20 watts vs. 20 megawatts).

Have a little faith in it when it comes to writing!

*1 exaFLOP = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 floating-point operations per second (FLOPS).

Links to NIST, PCMag, DOE, and Wikipedia

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 15/10/2025

A picture of this can be found on p. 47 here: archive.org/details/idea... I also recommend the 1st-place essay, about treating Google as God. Relevant still for these AI times.

Image of the urbs quadrata, a circle with a square cross in it.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 26/07/2025

I remotely operate sensitive cosmic-ray telescopes in the West Desert of Utah. Wild that we can pick up the light from this wildfire. Be safe, Sevier County! Select Band="Fire Temperature RGB" www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goes/wfo_ban... #Utah #UofU #TelescopeArray #highenergyastro 🧪

Satellite image of fire in Sevier County, Utah.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 23/07/2025

Word to the wise, this happened yesterday. I'm in Europe and move frequently for my husband's job. I value staying in touch with friends across the globe. But to be locked out of both Facebook and Instagram with NO warning made me realize I need to write down names/other contact info ASAP.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 05/06/2025

My Australian Shepherd is absurdly beautiful even when covered in mud after many miles of trail running with my husband. I will never get over how marvelous she is. Husband's pretty great too. 😂 #pets

Blue-merle Australian shepherd covered with mud sitting on a hiking trail.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 29/05/2025

This is Andrew being acted upon by the cat force, which is far more powerful than any other force in the universe. Dimensionally speaking, 😺 Force = (Mass of 🐈) * (Length of 🐈)/(Time the🐈decides to remain)^2 . . . * ♾️. It's a very positive force. 😹🩵 ⚛️🧪

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 27/05/2025

A room with a GREAT view. Currently waiting for lightning to clear up before we can open #UofU #TelescopeArray doors and capture ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray particles. Also studying for #JHU graduate course, Chaos and Its Applications. Also, cat. #highenergyastro #fundscience 🧪⚛️ #particlephysics

Picture of computer monitor with cosmic ray detection software, eyeglasses and the book Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos by Steven H. Strogatz in front of the computer keyboard, Jamie's cat's head in foreground.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 02/05/2025

My students are the bestest. #SubatomicWriting #scicomm #grammar #JHU @hopkinspress.bsky.social rappahannockreview.com/issue-12-2/i...

Interview with Trisha Steele describing where her literary piece originated, The graduate science writing class Subatomic Writing taught by Jamie Zvirzdin

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 16/03/2025

Finally had time today to turn a snake-mass of my old #karate belts into something I can hang on the wall. Just needed packing tape, twine, YouTube, and MacGyvery patience. Black belt is where it belongs: on me or on the shelf. I'm not really a crafter but this was worth it. #JissenKobudoJinenkan

Beginnings of braided karate belts. Packing tape and heavy objects help.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 16/03/2025

It's a fair warning that I appreciate. I'm already attached.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 04/02/2025

Tell your children & your students that science editors/writers/people like me can identify the linguistic patterns AI uses. It's blandly boring. If you want to publish and be taken seriously, use your own voice. Be proud of it. No need to be perfect. I enjoyed giving this talk! 🧪⚛️🔭 #scicomm #EduSky

The first slide of a interdisciplinary presentation given by Jamie Zvirzdin at the University of Delaware on January 27, 2025. At the top it says Prompt: create a Google slides background image for my presentation, "Psst . . . your AI is showing." Below, against the flashy futuristic image of a circuitboard, is the attempt to replicate the title of the presentation, which uses multiple dots for the ellipses and "AI.I."instead of "AI." In a normal text box that follows is the subtitle of the presentation, "How to Put Your Own Voice in Scientific Papers." In the corner are logos from The Telescope Array Project and the University of Utah. The slide encapsulates the gist of the presentation, which is that AI is flashy and visually appealing but still cannot write well and comes off, ultimately, as unprofessional, not to mention riddled with ethical challenges.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 31/01/2025

I flew over Greenland on my way to a physics ⚛️ conference. Some of my colleagues have #highenergyastro experiments going in peace and quiet, interrupted only by intermittent polar bears. Let's keep it this way. 🧪

Frozen landscape of Greenland taken from an airplane.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 31/01/2025

Just finished a fascinating and fabulous week with these fellow #highenergyastro physicists. Thanks to Frank Schroeder, Spencer Axani, Dawn Butler, and the #NSF for a superb conference on using #machinelearning to analyze cosmic particles. It is a privilege to talk and work with these people. 🧪⚛️

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 15/01/2025

My physics colleague is making faces at me as I try to work from home. Does anyone else have a similar problem? 🧪⚛️👩‍🔬 #highenergyastro #pets

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 17/12/2024

Had a remarkable time at Stonehenge today (We beat the solstice crowd by a few days, totally worth avoiding 10,000 visitors). I admire the engineering of late Neolithic folks and their interest in astronomy. "Know your place" has a much lovelier connotation in this context. 🔭

Picture of Stonehenge with a raven atop a lintel.

A poster at Stonehenge exhibit describing the major lunar standstill phenomenon.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 13/12/2024

Here I am with some of the equipment we fixed to help track the gamma rays that occur during lightning storms. The desert is an odd but beautiful place to do high-energy particle physics research. 💜

A woman in a cowboy hat, T-shirt, and jeans stands next to a fenced solar panel and antenna equipment in the Utah desert. Desert scrub surrounds them and clouds gather in the background.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 13/12/2024

Here's a 2018 photo I took of Dr. Belz when we went with Dr. Abbasi and others to set up equipment in the Utah desert.🌵 #TelescopeArray

A man wearing a hat talks on a cell phone next to a white vehicle parked out in the Utah desert.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 05/12/2024

Breaking personal news: Cat and Dog Willingly Snuggle in Son's Blanket Fort, My Brain Shatters from Preciousness #pets

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 29/11/2024

Coming soon to a University of Delaware near you. In-person only. We'll strengthen your own neural net capacities. See PDF here for sign-up link. events.icecube.wisc.edu/event/243/ 🧪🔭⚛️👩‍🔬 #highenergyastro #MLSky #AI #scicomm #publishing #TelescopeArray #subatomicwriting @hopkinspress.bsky.social

University of Delaware
Arts & Sciences
Department of Physics and Astronomy

Jamie Zvirzdin
University of Utah, Johns Hopkins University

Mini-Workshop
Psst . . . Your AI Is Showing:
How to Put Your Own Voice in
Scientific Papers

Monday. January 27, 2025
1:00 – 4:30 p.m.
In-person: Gore Hall

Register Here! (link on real PDF via event site)
Seats limited.

Want to publish your science article, submit your grant proposal, or receive top marks on a term paper? Think AI can easily write it for you?

You might want to think again.

Come hear a seasoned science editor and award-winning Science Writing professor at Johns Hopkins University give examples of how painfully obvious the AI voice is to editors, grant-givers, and professors.

Jamie Zvirzdin, who now builds neural networks to analyze cosmic-ray data for the Telescope Array Project, will show you how to identify your writing voice and leverage AI to produce outstanding scientific work that still retains your personal linguistic stamp.

This three-hour event (with breaks) will cover the main concepts of Subatomic Writing: Six Fundamental Lessons to Make Language Matter (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023).

See reviews for Subatomic Writing from NPR, NASA, MIT, and more at http://www.subatomicwriting.com.

Book signing to follow event.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 28/11/2024

A girl, her snoozing cat, and her library. This is the good life, and I want as many people who want it to have it. Giving thanks to all those who make books and cats and bookshelves. #books

Cat asleep on lap in a small personal library.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 27/11/2024

My sister sent this to me. It had the caption, "I think I'll try defining gravity." 😂 ⚛️

Isaac Newton with big hair and a green face, a quote above saying, "I think I'll try defining gravity."

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 25/11/2024

of English—many of them really do improve how the reader understands and retains your information—and thanks for helping SW yet again hit the top bestseller book charts in "Science Education for Kids" and "Science for Kids," both wrong. 😂 Here's a screen shot of the paperback and Kindle rankings:

Best Sellers Rank: #436,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#57 in Technical Writing Reference (Books)
#82 in Academic & Scholarly Writing
#127 in Science for Kids
Customer Reviews: 4.7, 9 ratings

Best Sellers Rank: #368,109 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
#18 in Science Education for Kids
#39 in Nonfiction Writing Reference
#133 in Science for Kids
Customer Reviews: 4.7, 9 ratings

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 24/11/2024

One of nicest comments I received on Bluesky to date was that ChatGPT speaks highly of me. And, apparently, #SubatomicWriting. SW will help you write BETTER than #AI, and more importantly, in your own voice. www.subatomicwriting.com #authors #books #EduSky #WomeninSTEM #ITeachPhysics #scicomm 🧪🔭👩‍🔬

Screenshot of a ChatGPT conversation. ChatGPT answers the user question "Is Subatomic Writing a good book?"

Is Subatomic Writing a good book?

ChatGPT said:

"Subatomic Writing: Six Fundamental Lessons to Make Language Matter" by Jamie Zvirzdin has received positive feedback from both readers and experts. On Goodreads, it holds an average rating of 4.4 out of 5, indicating strong reader satisfaction.
GOODREADS

Notable endorsements include:

Mary Roach, author of "Fuzz" and "Stiff," describes the book as "a quirky, quarky, marvelously helpful, relentlessly readable guide to effective science communication."
AMAZON

Christopher Joyce, Science Desk Correspondent at NPR, praises it for linking "principles of physics with those of grammar and linguistics," serving as "a tasty guide to scientific thinking and writing."
AMAZON

Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer and director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT, calls it "smart, effective, and a whole lot of fun."
AMAZON

These endorsements suggest that "Subatomic Writing" is a valuable resource for those interested in enhancing their science communication skills.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 24/11/2024

Just got COVID and flu vaccinations for me and my son. Grateful to all health care professionals who make these vaccines possible. 🧪

Vial of medicine with a kissy face on it.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 23/11/2024

A lovely night for tracking ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays for the Telescope Array Project. I'm in Germany operating fluorescence detectors in the West Desert of Utah and talking to the on-site operator. To go to Mars and have better quantum computing, you first have to reckon with cosmic rays. 🧪🔭

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 10/03/2024

Tonight we also had an intruder alert at #TelescopeArray that caused an automatic emergency shutdown. Dave Steck went out to confirm, and I used our security cam to see red taillights in the distance. Dave came back in, sat down, and said evenly, "Now arming targeting lasers." 😂 #physics #funny 🧪

Security camera image with red taillights in the distance

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 10/03/2024

Stop everything. You guys, my dad (Dave Steck) and I are running ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray telescopes out in the Utah West Desert this weekend and he JUST CAUGHT A MOUSE WITH THE MOUSE PAD. Kids, this is why you should go into experimental physics. #TelescopeArray 🧪

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 16/01/2024

Last call for our DCSWA science writing/editing/publishing boot camp, starts Sunday! Register here, then grab your own copy of Subatomic Writing (JHU Press, 2023) from your library! Level up to stay competitive. dcswa.wildapricot.org/event-5514496 🧪⚛️🔬⚗️🔭 @dcswa.bsky.social @samjscience.bsky.social

Jamie Zvirzdin has written a quirky, quarky, marvelously helpful, relentlessly readable guide to effective science communication. Like particle physics, grammar and good writing are, at their core, a system of rules and relationships. Master these and the universe is yours!
―Mary Roach, author of Fuzz and Stiff

Woman with glasses signing the Subatomic Writing book, another copy with a library sticker on a stand nearby the book signing table.

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 10/01/2024

Of all problems to have, this is the nicest. JHU Press is already in the process of getting more books to Bookshop.org, but in the meantime, you can get #SubatomicWriting from the JHU Press website: www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

Subatomic Writing out of stock at Bookshop.org

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Jamie Zvirzdin @jamiezvirzdin.com · 10/01/2024

Happy New Year! If you want to write better this year, join us for a rigorous science writing/editing/publishing boot camp from January 21 to 28, hosted by Sam Jones and the DC Science Writers Association (DCSWA). Publishing's a game. I teach you how to play it. dcswa.wildapricot.org/event-5514496

DCSWA Professional Development Boot amp with Jamie Zvirzdin. (Virtual) January 21-28, 2024. Whether you're just starting out or need a jump-start to keep going, this eight-day informative boost, led by award-winning Johns Hopkins instructor Jamie Zvirzdin, will take you to the next level of professional writing, networking, and publishing.

The virtual course will run from Sunday, Januar 21st - Sundaty, January 28th, but will only meet on the first and last day. Register at DCSWA.org.
Image of woman with glasses below the textbook Subatomic Writing: Six Fundamental Lessons to Make Language Matter.

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