iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Important thread. Potential TW (SA)

My daughter's school sent me a URL-shortened link to an "apptegy.me" page containing a link to a flyer, which is a Canva space, which tells me that there is a parent information session TOMORROW AT 4PM, and contains another URL-redirect link to the virtual meeting. Guys I wish I were making this up

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NSF-Simons AI Institute for Cosmic Origins (CosmicAI) @nsfsimonscosmicai.bsky.social · 20h

@aas.org Special Session - Advances in Foundation Models and Agentic AI for Astronomy January 13th, 2027 Salt Lake City Speakers: Francisco Villaescusa-Navarro Mike Smith Rachel Mandelbaum Eytan Adar cosmicai.org/events/aas-a...

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Angry at how true this is Alad, a good password manager + 2FA system will only partially restore sanity

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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 25/09/2026

So this story won't receive much attention, but... is kind of a big deal? It sure looks like the plaintiffs lawyers in the big copyright case against OpenAI/Microsoft did some seriously sketchy shit to manufacture evidence and sneak it into the case....

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

By popular demand: you can now filter out galaxies colored by missing values! In this case, I'm showing sSFR vs Mstar, colored [and filtered] by HI/Mstar. galaxy-manifold.github.io#p=ssfr&c=log... (Also, this is what it looks like on a desktop, not mobile.)

A computer-based browser view of galaxies in the specific SFR against stellar mass relation, colored by gas richness from blue (most gas-rich) to red (most gas-poor). It shows a smattering of points along the sequence of star-forming galaxies, and then a second small population of red-sequence galaxies at low sSFRs. There are very few at the bottom here because they are generally gas poor, and have thus been filtered out using the new capability on the web app.

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Built a thing that #aatrosky may enjoy: galaxy-manifold.github.io

The galaxy SFR - stellar mass sequence shown on a phone screen, with galaxy image cutouts as well as lines showing the relation for galaxies based on subselections in Dn4000 break strength. All from the web app.

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This is beyond stupid and even boosters know AI should not be used to review like this @ukri.org

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justine zhang @tisjune.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

they're saying the AI can do math and science again, so it's time to reread Thurston's On Proof and Progress in Mathematics, a lovely articulation of the social work of assembling understanding, i.e., the best reason to tackle hard problems. www.ams.org/journals/bul...

When I started as a graduate student at Berkeley, I had trouble imagining
how I could "prove" a new and interesting mathematical theorem. I didn't
really understand what a "proof was.
By going to seminars, reading papers, and talking to other graduate students,
I gradually began to catch on. Within any field, there are certain theorems and
certain techniques that are generally known and generally accepted. When you
write a paper, you refer to these without proof. You look at other papers in the
field, and you see what facts they quote without proof, and what they cite in
their bibliography. You learn from other people some idea of the proofs. Then
you're free to quote the same theorem and cite the same citations. You don't
necessarily have to read the full papers or books that are in your bibliography.
Many of the things that are generally known are things for which there may be
no known written source. As long as people in the field are comfortable that
the idea works, it doesn't need to have a formal written source.

At first I was highly suspicious of this process. I would doubt whether a certain idea was really established. But I found that I could ask people, and they
could produce explanations and proofs, or else refer me to other people or to
written sources that would give explanations and proofs. There were published
theorems that were generally known to be false, or where the proofs were generally known to be incomplete. Mathematical knowledge and understanding were
embedded in the minds and in the social fabric of the community of people
thinking about a particular topic. This knowledge was supported by written
documents, but the written documents were not really primary.

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Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Congrats to the whole PRIMA team on the selection of NASA's first Probe Explorer mission!!!!!! @caltechipac.bsky.social will be PRIMA's science center, and we look forward to working with everyone over the next decade on this exciting project! www.nasa.gov/news-release...

nasa.gov

NASA Selects Far-Infrared Telescope as First in New Mission Class - NASA

NASA announced Wednesday a mission to explore the history and evolution of the universe, PRIMA (PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics), is advancing to

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Gautam Kamath @gautamkamath.com · 16/09/2026

Nihar Shah did a heroic experiment for TMLR: he spent 20-25 hours over two weeks interviewing authors of seemingly low-quality submissions about their own papers. He confirmed what we all suspected: people submitting these papers have *no idea* what is going on in them.

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Transactions on Machine Learning Research @tmlrorg.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

TMLR has faced a deluge of submissions, necessitating stricter desk rejection policies due to limited reviewer capacity Co-EiC Nihar Shah reached out to authors of 10 papers slated for desk reject. Could they answer questions about their *own* submission? medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...

medium.com

Asking Authors About Their Own Papers

By Nihar B. Shah

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Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The state of public AI benchmarking is dire and is undermining our ability to understand how good AI is now Most famous measures are maxed out, and, as this paper shows, the non-saturated benchmarks are riddled with so many errors that they vastly underestimate AI abilities arxiv.org/abs/2609.13009

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Matthew Kenerly @mattk-fs.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

For the Baitmore Bluesky folks: If you like the idea of volunteering a couple hours of your time in exchange for multiple free beers, then do I have the event for you.

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Matt Henderson @matthen.com · 14/09/2026

chaos from bouncing a ball in a circle- at each point, I simulate a bunch of futures with slightly different velocities- showing how predictable the system would be with measurement error. The system seems to move between Stable Eras and Chaotic Eras, where it is hard to predict four bounces ahead

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 12/09/2026

The US President's new proposal to tax international students has been approved by the White House for release this week. It's an unprecedented $100,000 tax on int'l grads who stay to work after graduation on Optional Practical Training (most grads do), a crucial bridge to remaining by any channel.

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Heads up: the 4th Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Scientific Publications, spearheaded by ADS will be on Nov 9, 2026. It's still accepting submissions -- see the website here: ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/WIESP/2026/

ui.adsabs.harvard.edu

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

"These are the times you never get back", I say to myself as my toddler, sick and home from school, throws up on the changing mat as I'm switching out a poopy diaper.

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Jessica Hullman @jessicahullman.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm getting asked to review a LOT of heavily AI-written sloppy papers. Very often from top general science journals. Most have policies to ensure author accountability. They don't seem to be working. Reviewers can incentivize better policy by temporarily creating friction. 1/

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Jayke Samson Nguyen @jayke.io · 10/09/2026

Hot off the press! Via the magic of differentiable forward modeling and of non-redundant masking on JWST we may have found a new exoplanet! One of the most challenging papers I've written, but I'm glad its finally out! Submitted to AJ, pending peer review. arxiv.org/abs/2609.10507

arxiv.org

A Candidate Innermost Fifth Planet In the HR 8799 System Revealed By JWST NIRISS Aperture Masking Interferometry

We detect a candidate fifth planet in the HR 8799 system, directly imaged with the JWST/NIRISS Aperture Masking Interferometer (AMI). The detected source lies just above a $3σ$ contrast curve at a con...

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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The editor in chief or the publications committee. Though I’m sorry to say that (some) referees were using these tools anyway and I am not convinced a blanket ban is policeable given the current level of tech.

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Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This is seismic news for fisheries scientists. Northern cod is *the* iconic symbol of total fisheries collapse due to overfishing (and other factors) *and* the iconic symbol of a complete failure to recover for decades afterwards. This is like announcing the complete recovery of bison on land.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Attention Philadelphia! We're hosting a rally to demand that Drexel University maintain The Academy of Natural Sciences Museum open to the public. Join us on Tuesday morning at 10am in front of the academy. Please spread the word, we need all hands on deck! RSVP here: luma.com/1qwnrqz2

A dinosaur on a white background with the text SAve the academy of Natural sciences museum rally Tuesday Sept 8 10am in front of the academy 1900 ben Franklin Parkway. "Tell Drexel University "Keep the museum open!" with the logos for Philly Science Action, Skype a Scientist, and Green Philly

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

While you were out partying, I studied blender

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Alex Ji @alexji.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

@spacewsarah.bsky.social : stellar streams probe DM with subhalo perturabtions, host halo shapes, and stream frequency. Perturbations to globular cluster streams is one of the most exciting topics because it could probe star-free DM halos. #KICPDM

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Important for #astrosky: Overleaf seems to upgraded to TeXLive v2026 in the past few days, and as a result, your aastex v7 / aasjournal v7.1 might be broken. To fix it, go to Overleaf's File > Settings > Compiler > TeX Live version > [select 2025] www.overleaf.com/blog/tex-liv...

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Is it just me or did Overleaf suddenly break all aastex/bibtex?

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 01/09/2026

Three thoughts on this news item: 1. It's just one data point and not at a level of statistical significance for certainty. 2. Octavia Butler said count on the surprises, and this may turn out to be one of them! 3. Made possible by a global team using funding infrastructure that Trump is destroying.

sciencenews.org

Have scientists glimpsed the first dark matter particle?

Shadowy dark matter has eluded scientists for decades. The LZ experiment may have spotted one particle, called a WIMP, but more data is needed to check.

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Dan Luu @danluu.com · 01/09/2026

How accurate have Ed Zitron's AI skeptic predictions been? danluu.com/zitron/

Feb 2024: "I believe we're reaching the upper limits about what generative AI can do and how accurate its outputs can be."
Wrong4
March 2024: "Have We Reached Peak AI?"; another prediction that hallucinations mean that AI progress is limited to then-current levels
Wrong
April 2024: "As I previously warned, artificial intelligence companies are running out of data ..."; another prediction that models can't improve because there's no more data
Wrong
June 2024: OpenAI growth is stalling (with the implication it will continue to stall), which will lead to some kind of collapse of OpenAI
Wrong (it could be the case that OpenAI will collapse but, if so, it won't be due to any kind of growth stall from 2024)
July 2024: "Generative AI, as I said back in March, is peaking, if it hasn't already peaked. It cannot do much more than it is currently doing, other than doing more of it faster with some new inputs"
Wrong
July 2024: "Generative AI models aren’t getting more energy-efficient, nor are they getting more “powerful” in a way that would increase their functionality, nor are they even capable of automating things on their own [July 2024]"
Wrong5
August 2024: "generative AI is a dead-end technology that has peaked”
Wrong
August 2024: re-iteration that the AI bubble has 3 quarters to prove itself (from March 2024) or there will be a collapse
Wrong6
September 2024: "o1 shows that OpenAI is both desperate and out of ideas", with a re-iteration of the idea that models can't improve due to lack of data
Wrong
Oct 2024: OpenAI's forecast of $3.7B revenue in 2024 and $11.6B in 2025 and $100B in 2029 are absurd, "a statement so egregious that I am surprised it's not some kind of financial crime to say it out loud"
Wrong (2025 goal exceeded, 2029 TBD but not an egregious financial crime level of implausible)
Oct 2024: "[OpenAI revenue] growth is already slowing…

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Neal Weiner @nealweiner.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

An interesting result out today from LZ. Definitely not a standard wimp, but maybe an inelastic scattering or momentum dependent scattering? (1/n) www.sciencenews.org/article/dark...

sciencenews.org

Have scientists glimpsed the first dark matter particle?

Shadowy dark matter has eluded scientists for decades. The LZ experiment may have spotted one particle, called a WIMP, but more data is needed to check.

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Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Another fantastic shot of the launch of the Roman Space Telescope images.nasa.gov/details/KSC-... #Roman 🔭🧪

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Launch
NASA ID: KSC-20260830-PH-SPX01_0006
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope rises to space atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. The milestone begins the observatory’s journey to explore the large‑scale structure of the universe. Roman will investigate dark energy and dark matter, conduct a statistical census of planetary systems, and enable a broad range of additional astrophysics research. Liftoff occurred at 7:26 a.m. EDT, from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Celebrating the Roman launch!

Selfie of me and my two kids, with all of our Roman Space Telescope swag, cheering on the Roman launch.

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janiceleeastro @janiceleeastro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

30 minutes to go until launch - GO #ROMAN! 🔭✨🧪☄️

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

We know how Boeing got ruined. 3M almost suffered the safe fate, due to the same guy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M...

en.wikipedia.org

James McNerney - Wikipedia

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David K Butler @davidkbutler.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Not to take away from this point, which is deeply important, but this reminds me of my life as a pure mathematician. There is magic inside your mind yet and we categorise things as worthy to think about based on how “useful” they are vs just letting people wonder about and have wonder in things.

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Booing your second year kicker in the preseason when you're up 24-0 because he missed two 50+ yd fg attempts is what a spoiled fan base looks like. Ravens fans have had it good for a while but golly gosh these fans are just pathetic.

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Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Final Call: PSA Outreach & Engagement Prize Nominations recognizing outstanding work of a scholar or team to engage members of general public about philosophy of science. Recipient will receive a $500 cash prize & recognition at #PSA26 Deadline: September 1, 2026 11:59 pm (anywhere) #philsci

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Daughter's first day of kindergarten. I'm just trying to keep it together... 🥲

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John F Wu @jwuphysics.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

If drinking Oktoberfest in August is wrong then I don't want to be right

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