iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I am quite late to the party, but I'm on Ch. 13 of Project Hail Mary and ... it's pretty good!!

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

my kid is trying to understand "To the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian" and ... hard stuff, y'all.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Wiring up my house today. I've never run Ethernet before. My brilliant self spent so much effort getting my technique right before reading the words "pass-thru" on the crimper and plugs, watching one more video, and ... so much faster 🤦‍♂️

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Helping my kids with geometry. I had forgotten how cool perpendicular bisectors are

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This is a really weird article in that it doesn't actually try to identify specific problems until the very end. Then, the closest it comes is the quote below, and ... I bet the union doesn't want to do what you think it wants to do. Also maybe don't lionize Watson so much?

Unions are about treating everyone, every problem and every circumstance exactly the same according to union rules. But the mentor-mentee relationship is the ultimate bespoke and personal relationship. What is passed from the mentor to the mentee is not something that can be codified or regulated—especially not by groups focused on hours of sick leave or retirement benefits.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Just introduced my children to “What would Brian Boitano do” Top 10 all time song

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I am getting a puppy. I want to name her after an unproblematic, powerful female icon. Looking for suggestions. Dolly Bark-ton? Rosa Barks?

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

OK, but why doesn't my CGU provide PoE?

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Sam Foley @samuelfoley.com · 06/07/2026

Is there a nice (standardized) way to indicate or hint at the integration measure of the functional when writing down a functional derivative? I find it annoying that I can't deduce the units of a functional derivative at a glance the same way I can for ordinary derivative expressions

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Titus Brown @titus.idyll.org · 16/06/2026

Does anyone have any recommendations physics and chemistry intro materials in Jupyter Notebook form? Simulations, dynamics, modeling, etc? Reliant only the core Python scientific computing ecosystem would be best (so it can work in JupyterLite). scipy, numpy, matplotlib, etc.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Ever since I turned 50, I've been receiving (no exaggeration) 5-13 spam calls a day about medicare. How do I make them stop?

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

The sky in rural New Zealand 🤩

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Markus Deserno @markusdeserno.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

📣 To celebrate Biophysics Week, the Membrane Structure and Function Subgroup (MSAF) of @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social will host a webinar on March 24 at 11am EDT. Our speakers are @mejohnson81.bsky.social, @ibudin.bsky.social, and Cecília Leal (not on 🦋). 🧪 👀 More info in the alt text! Please share! 🔄

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

My mom is so goddamn impressive. Grew up literally dirt poor. First woman to major in Engineering at the University of Colorado. Story I always heard was that she was an art major and one of her girlfriends dared her to take an engineering class, and she did it out of orneriness. Talk about (1/3)

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

NSF Update Funding curve overall. A little bit of progress in the past week, but only a little bit. Now by Directorate... 1/11

A line curve showing number of awards for fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal years 2021-2025 across NSF. The fiscal year 2026 curve lies well below curves for other fiscal years.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

I have now figured out how to make this in R with ggplot2. I feel very proud.

Plot of global temperature anomaly, using R, Hector, and ggplot2 with 5 different SSPs.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Tongariro Alpine Crossing. All the students made it in under 10 hours. Absolutely amazing.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Hey #Physics / #ITeachPhysics / #Biophysics / #Math friends: a math colleague has a student who took complex analysis last semester and who wants to practice using the residue theorem to compute *real things* instead of random toy problems. Do you have good examples? Surprisingly, I don't ...

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

I grew up with the In Living Color alt halftime show but ... dissertations are going to be written about NFL halftime shows now, right? 😻😻😻

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Big news time! After 15 wonderful years at Earlham, I'll be starting in July in the Smith College physics department!

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Well this looks really interesting

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

My favorite kind of sale. The 3rd bottle costs more than the first two.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Who doesn’t love a good diffusion paper

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

It's letter of recommendation season, but ... my goodness, do notes like this make it worth it!

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Here is a solid, thought-provoking post.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Lunchtime tart for the wife’s birthday! Quite pleased with how it came out.

Zucchini tart with scallions, eggs, crème fresh, fresh herbs

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Definitely wanted this to lead to some biophysical version of the Coriolis force.

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Markus Deserno @markusdeserno.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

I am honored and excited to present our recent work on mixed AND asymmetric membranes at @bppbseminar.bsky.social! 🧪 My online talk will be this Friday, 11/21/25, 11am US Eastern time. Many thanks to the organizers for putting this together! More details here: sites.google.com/view/bppb-se...

Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

I love having students work in groups to write sample exam problems in class. This time, I told them to take some existing problems and make them harder. It’s so cool seeing them dive into things like “well, we could give less information … what could we leave out?” #ITeachPhysics

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

I know this is not the question. But do we know the mechanism yet?

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

It's angular momentum day in my #Physics class, so of course we start with fidget spinners on their desks and Emmy Noether on the screen as they walk into the room :)

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Did you just give a #Physics exam where every problem had 67 either in the question, or as the answer? Because I just did.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

I asked what turned out to be a really hard question in my intro class. Build this circuit on a breadboard (easy). Measure the equivalent resistance of the two parallel resistors (easy). Measure I1, the current through R1 (whoa!). #ITeachPhysics a lot, and I was surprised by just how tough this was.

Simple circuit with a voltage source and two resistors in parallel.

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Markus Deserno @markusdeserno.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪 Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360 PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies! Let me briefly explain what we're looking for: 1/10

Tenure-track Position in Biophysics at Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Physics

Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Open Date: Sep 19, 2025

Description
The Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics. The appointment is intended to be at the Assistant Professor level, but exceptional candidates at a higher level may also be considered. We seek outstanding candidates with a strong record in cellular and subcellular biophysics. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, uncovering how key characteristics of living systems arise from the interplay between supramolecular cellular structures, how the emergent cellular circuitry defines goals and enables robust decision making, and how metabolic resources are allocated. This encompasses understanding of how information is learned, stored, transduced, and processed across subcellular structures. Applicants with theoretical, data science, or experimental backgrounds within biological physics are encouraged to apply. The ideal candidate will strengthen and extend research programs of current biophysics faculty in the Department of Physics and collaborate with broader life science activities across many departments at CMU and the wider Pittsburgh area.

More details on Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/174360

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

This may well be the most fascinating job post I've ever seen! A whole (short) thread worth reading, and getting excited about. Whether or not you're a relevant candidate.

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Markus Deserno @markusdeserno.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Major cool membrane conference coming up next week! The Biomembrane Days 2025, organized by an amazing team from the MPI for Colloids and Interface Science @mpici.bsky.social: Rumy Dimova (@dimovalab.bsky.social), Helge Ewers, and Thomas Weikl. I'm so very much looking forward to attending! 🤩 🧪

events.mpikg.mpg.de

Biomembrane Days 2025

Membranes form the intricately shaped compartments of life. The Biomembrane Days are a triannual workshop that highlights recent advances in understanding the morphology and molecular organization of ...

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Yet again, someone’s off leash dog attacked mine on a walk. Of course it had to be something as muscular as a pitt bull. Everyone’s fine. But I’m getting too old to throw my boat in the middle of dog fights.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

I love this question for intro physics

Projectiles 1 and 2 are launched over level ground with the same speed but at different angles. Which hits the ground first? Ignore air resistance. [Projectile 1 goes about twice as high as projectile 2, both in nice parabolic arcs.]

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Slightly late to this, but I’m watching the Fast and Furious movies for the first time. I’m on #3. The series seems to think we’re watching for Paul Walker. Are they serious?!

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Itay Budin @ibudin.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Tour de force on the kinetics and mechansms of lipid transport in cells through exquisite use of bifunctional probes by @nadlerlab.bsky.social and colleagues. Such an exciting time for the field. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Quantitative imaging of lipid transport in mammalian cells - Nature

Directional, non-vesicular lipid transport is responsible for fast, species-selective lipid sorting into organelle membranes.

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Lucy D’Agostino McGowan @lucystats.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

We are hiring into 3 (THREE!) tenure track lines this year at Wake Forest — if you’re looking please reach out, I love chatting about our department! We are a vibrant group that love & embrace the teacher-scholar model 👩‍🏫

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Found an old box of tapes. Now listening to the Soup Dragons.

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Reposted by Michael G. Lerner

Sam Wilson @samwilson.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Can’t wait to introduce bird-based storage into my backup system

A twitter post explaining how you can “save PNGs to birds” by converting a drawing of a bird into a spectrogram then playing it to a starling who sung it back, reproducing the PNG.

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

A friend has pointed out that “stare at it and be smart” is a very generally applicable method

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Michael G. Lerner @mglerner.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Middle-aged folks: how did you learn to factor polynomials like ax^2 + bx + c? My kids have learned the diamond and box methods. I'm pretty sure I just learned "stare it and be smart."

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