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Mark Mitchison

@mitchison.bsky.social
372 followers 558 following 95 posts

Theory of Controlled Quantum Systems | @royalsociety.org University Research Fellow @ King’s College London | Editor @quantum-journal.bsky.social & New Journal of Physics | He/him | posts ≈ 60% science/30% politics/11% nonsense

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Reposted by Mark Mitchison
Daniel Moser @dmoser.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.
Map showing Lower Pollution levels in London after 10 years of advancing sustainable transport.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
The idiom "like a moth to the flame" dates to at least the 12th century, to Persian love poem "Layla and Majnun". Shakespeare references it in "Merchant of Venice." But here's the thing. Moths DON'T fly to flames. And we're just now understanding that. Let's talk about dorsal light response.
media.tenor.com
a picture of a mosquito killer hanging from the ceiling with the caption i can 't help it it 's so beautiful
Alt: a picture of a mosquito killer hanging from the ceiling with the caption i can 't help it it 's so beautiful
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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 13/08/2026
Academia was so much better before Woke. Sure, David Hume was never able to secure an academic job because he might have been an atheist. But at least no one made him use the singular "they"
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Alexander Schuckert @schuckert.org · 02/08/2026
I have PhD and postdoc positions available to join my group at ENS Paris, centered on designing algorithms for quantum computers in the early fault-tolerant era and sitting at the interface of theory and experiment. One position starts already in the fall of this year!
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Robin Wilde @robinwilde.me · 30/07/2026
I actually know the answer to this and it's slightly insane. Google pulls from Wikipedia to determine if a place is a city, town, neighbourhood, whatever. Brighton's first line describes it as a "seaside resort" so Google Maps thinks it's a neighbourhood and doesn't display it in the "city" font.
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Caroline Ball @heroicendeavour.eurosky.social · 29/07/2026
Reading articles on the amounts HE has spent in APCs over the last 5-10 years, and slowly watching my blood pressure rise. Millions upon millions, on something WE CAN ABSOLUTELY DO OURSELVES FOR A FRACTION OF THE COST - what universities couldn't do with that kind of money now... 😠 And breathe...
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maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I respect France's commitment to not working on a holiday.
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
On my way, Clacton.
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John Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 01/07/2026
England hasn't attacked this ineffectually on 1st July since The Somme.
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
At today's UKRI board meeting, the fate of UK particle physics and astronomy will likely be decided. Have we done enough to convince the powers-that-be to halt the proposed funding cuts? 🤞 Read Prof. Hiranya Peiris in Nature today eloquently explaining why these cuts are wrong.🧪🔭⚛️ 📖: rdcu.be/friwM
Restructuring research funding as a choice between discovery and application gets the economics wrong, the evidence wrong and the people wrong.

A premise is gaining traction in science policy on both sides of the Atlantic: that fundamental and applied research are competing claims on the same budget, and that the balance must shift towards application. In the USA, the current administration has proposed cuts of billions of dollars to the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. In the UK, the national funding agency UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is restructuring its portfolio around government growth priorities, with curiosity-driven research nominally protected but the grant lines that actually fund investigators under severe pressure. The language varies — ‘doing fewer things better’, ‘aligning research with industrial strategy’ — but the underlying logic is the same. Fundamental science, the argument goes, is a luxury that becomes dispensable when budgets are tight. This premise is wrong, and the consequences of acting on it are already visible.
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M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
remember when they lost in Uxbridge and Keir Starmer leader of the opposition then told the mayor to “reflect” on this policy
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Heather Anne Campbell @heathercampbell.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
can’t believe a narcissist is being so publicly humiliated by a reflecting pool
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Leo Hickman @leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 24/06/2026
Letter in today's Times by climate scientist Sir Brian Hoskins: "The discourse around net-zero is increasingly decoupled from…science and our changing weather. "Net-zero is not an arbitrary slogan, rather it is dictated by the laws of physics."
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Matt Green @mattgreencomedy.com · 15/06/2026
Banning children from social media?
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Plague Poems @plaguepoems.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
When you see the story about how the world now has its first trillionaire, and when you see the story about how laboratories in Congo have run out of supplies to test for Ebola, it is important to understand that in many ways these are the same story.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 09/06/2026
"There was never an agreement to give the US sovereignty over the internet. We are still inside UK borders when we use the internet. The infrastructure is here. The revenue is made here. The internet is eminently governable."
jamesrball.com
A teen social media ban is an admission of total and utter failure to govern online spaces
The UK government is currently calling for steps that fall short of a teen social media ban. Here's why it shouldn't take the next step.
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Tyler K. Stroud @stroudarian.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
What you see in the Sun, is the Chicago skyline from the Indiana Dunes beach, across Lake Michigan. You can see it from 50 miles of distance due to a form of superior mirage, because the skyline is seen above where it's actually located. [📷 wesskywalker]
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QuOI Theory @quoi-theory.at · 18/05/2026
This has now been published in PRA! journals.aps.org/pra/abstract...
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Lucien Heurtier @lucienheurtier.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
🧾This open letter already collected more than 300 signatures and is going to be sent to policy makers on Monday🗓️. If you are a university student🎓 in physics 🧪🔭studying in the UK🇬🇧, you may consider signing it asap. Sign and share! ✍🏻🔄🌐 student-openletter-stfc.github.io
student-openletter-stfc.github.io
UK Students' Response to UKRI Investment Approach
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 12/05/2026
I'm not saying this because I particularly think he should stand for leader but it does feel Quite Interesting that Labour actually has this other mayor who's been successfully running a much bigger city for a longer period of time but for some reason no one's waiting for him to save the party
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Saulo Moreira @saulovmo.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Very happy to see the last work of Sindre Brattegard’s PhD out on arXiv! 🥳 Around 2 years ago, during a (mostly non-scientific) visit by my friend Stephanie Matern to Dublin, we asked the question of how finite reservoirs could be useful for thermometry 👇 arxiv.org/abs/2604.28155
arxiv.org
Optimal current-based sensing of phonon temperature using a finite reservoir
In realistic nanoscale transport set-ups, electron-phonon coupling leads to the exchange of heat between phonon baths and electronic reservoirs with finite heat capacities. Such exchange affects the f...
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Tamás Kriváchy @krivachytamas.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Minimal poster
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
"Photo 51" was the X-ray diffraction pattern that revealed the internal structure of DNA, produced by PhD student Raymond Gosling working under Rosalind Franklin's direction at King's College in London in 1952. Let's talk about how CORK & a PAPERCLIP played a central role in DNA's discovery.
Photo 51 showing the X-ray crystallographic image of DNA.  It's a blurry outer ring with four dots in the middle radiating out in an X-pattern.
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Significant day for UK trade policy. With the announcement of the EU-Australia FTA the UK now only has an FTA where the EU doesn't with Malaysia and Brunei as part of CPTPP. The EU meanwhile has a deal with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay that the UK doesn't.
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Robin Bisson @robinbisson.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Something of a Friday 13th for the science department today - Chi Onwurah has lambasted Patrick Vallance over "wholly unacceptable" physics cuts - The NAO has reported a £5.6bn repair backlog to uni infrastructure - MPs have said regional growth is suffering from poor data on R&D spending 🧵 ...
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Mark Mitchison @mitchison.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Whoa, big news for the most significant scientific dissemination platform in human history! On the face of it, setting up @arxiv.bsky.social as an independent non-profit seems like a good idea to me.
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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
I don't want to know what calls for quantum plumbing, but I guess I'm glad it's available if someone needs it.
A van has pulled up next to my parked car. It has a large "Quantum Plumbing" logo on the side, with the slogan "phenomenal service!" below, and a cartoon of a strange gnomish bearded man with white pair and pointed ears holding a wrench in one hand and a glowing atom in the other.
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Jake Xuereb @curlyqubit.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
The Qalypso School on Quantum Science in Malta returns for its 3rd edition Aug 31 - Sep 4 this year! 🏖️ We have a great line up of lecturers covering Quantum Optimisation, Quantum Thermodynamics and Quantum Gibbs Sampling. Pre-registrations opens today at forms.gle/3NkMJ3Br9V8b... Do Share!
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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Mathematician Georg Cantor was born #OTD in 1845. He is the founder of set theory and developed the concepts of cardinal and transfinite numbers. These shocking results led his former professor Kronecker to call him a "corrupter of youth." Image: Oberwolfach Photo Collection
A sepia toned, seated portrait of mathematician Georg Cantor in his early twenties. His wavy hair is swept back and he has a curly beard and thin mustache. Cantor wears a dark jacket and white shirt, with a tie in a bow at this neck.
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Mark Mitchison @mitchison.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
I am disgusted by the British government’s proposals to betray these people, after years of contributing to our society. I have so often heard right-wing voices moaning about “British values” of decency and fairness being eroded by immigration. A hypocrisy now laid bare.
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Mark Mitchison @mitchison.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
I am disgusted by the British government’s proposals to betray these people, after years of contributing to our society. I have so often heard right-leaning voices moaning about “British values” of decency and fairness being eroded by immigration — a hypocrisy now laid bare.
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Mark Mitchison @mitchison.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Very hard to believe that there was really no advance warning to certain parties, for a programme of this magnitude
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franz @franzanth.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
#InvertebrateShitposting as per @joabaldwin.com's request
6 bad doodles with text under each one.
horseshoe crab is literally the animal horseshoe crab.
shoehorse crab is a crab riding a shoe, cowboy style.
crabshoe horse is a horse wearing literal crabs as shoes.
shoecrab horse is a horse telling a crab to go away.
crabhorse shoe is a pair of shoes, left one crab shaped, right one horse shaped.
horsecrab shoe is literally the same pair of shoes, flipped.
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Nicolai Friis @improbabilitydrive.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
10 years after its founding, driven by the energy, enthusiasm, & dedication of the community @quantum-journal.bsky.social quietly published paper #2000 some days ago. At least I think this is a big deal, big shout out to the founders & all authors, reviewers, editors, board members & contributors!
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Mark O’Neill 🐻 @radiobeartime.com · 22/02/2026
www.deadlanguagesociety.com/p/how-far-ba... I cannot speak as to the accuracy of the piece yet I found it a fascinating exercise @adamroberts.bsky.social @drlauravarnam.bsky.social
deadlanguagesociety.com
How far back in time can you understand English?
An experiment in language change
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Jerad Walker @jeradwalker.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
What a great photo of Brazilian alpine skier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, the first South American to ever win a medal at the Winter Olympic Games.
Credit: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / Getty

Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, center, winner of an alpine ski, men's giant slalom race, jumps in celebration on the podium flanked by second placed Switzerland's Marco Odermatt, left, and third placed Switzerland's Loic Meillard, at the 2026 Winter Olympics.(AP)
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Ivan Palaia @ivnpla.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
I am recruiting a #PhDstudent in Computational #Biophysics at @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @kingslsm.bsky.social for October! Deadline February 28. Details 👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Please share with interested students! #PhD #PhDposition #PhDSky #AcademicSky #computationalphysics 🧪⚛️
findaphd.com
The physics of the cell surface: from molecular rules to cell-scale behaviour at King’s College London on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - The physics of the cell surface: from molecular rules to cell-scale behaviour at King’s College London, listed on FindAPhD.com
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QuOI Theory @quoi-theory.at · 27/01/2026
Hey quantum Bluesky! Allow us to reintroduce ourselves! You may know us as QuIT: Marcus Huber's Quantum Information and Thermodynamics group at TU Wien. But we're so much more than that, and it's time our name reflected it. So say hello to... 𝗤𝘂𝗢𝗜? quoi-theory.at
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BrooklynDad_Defiant! @mmpadellan.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
OOPS.
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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 17/01/2026
As someone who uses ChatGPT for zero things whatsoever, the fact that they're putting ads in it is extremely funny
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Physics World @physicsworld.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Researchers uncover a fundamental, universal limit to how precisely time can be measured in noisy, fluctuating systems. 🧪⚛️ physicsworld.com/a/cracking-t...
physicsworld.com
Cracking the limits of clocks: a new uncertainty relation for time itself – Physics World
Physicists uncover a universal limit on timekeeping precision, proving that anything from heartbeats to ocean waves can be a clock – but none escape the noise
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Saulo Moreira @saulovmo.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Our work modelling heat engines driven by finite reservoirs has been published in PRE! 
What I really like about this work is that the reservoir's entropic temperature takes centre stage to explain stochastic engines’ performance🔥 journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...
journals.aps.org
Steady-state heat engines driven by finite reservoirs
We provide a consistent thermodynamic analysis of stochastic thermal engines driven by finite-size reservoirs, which are in turn coupled to infinite-size reservoirs. We consider a cyclic operation mod...
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Chris Jackson @chriscjackson.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
I am tired of Earth. These people.
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Mark Mitchison @mitchison.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Merry Xmas BlueSky!! Breakfast today is chicken mappas and appam… They know how to celebrate in Kerala 🤩🎄
Chicken mappas (a kind of curry) and appam (a fluffy rice-based savoury pancake)
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Sergey Frolov🇺🇦 @spinespresso.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Hey! Our work made the list! Adding it to my CV
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Paul Fairie @paulisci.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
2025 Headline of the Year nominee (July)
Bitter fight over 2020 Microsoft quantum paper both resolved and unresolved
--The Register, 31 Jul 2025
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Paul Guinnessy @paulguinnessy.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Women made up 21% of faculty members in US physics departments in 2024, up from 16% a decade earlier. The percentage of women faculty members in the nation’s astronomy departments rose from 19% in 2014 to 25% in 2024. #academia #womeninscience #faculty
physicstoday.aip.org
Upward trend in percentage of women physics and astronomy faculty in US
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
If we are banning cell phones for kids we need to be talking about banning chatbots for boomers www.persuasion.community/p/my-chatgpt...
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Ross Duncan @rossquantum.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Enough of this finite initial segment nonsense. A number is even if there is no remainder when divided by 2. \Aleph_0 = 2 \Aleph_0, so by cardinality, there is an even number of naturals *and* an even number of integers. And even if there was one more, that would still be an even number!
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