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Book-writing update: I hope y'all like physics
I mean, there is going to be a lot of physics. You are going to know SO MUCH PHYSICS after you read this book lemme tell you
In addition to SO MUCH PHYSICS my book contains:
* helpful evocative analogies
* jokes about time travel
* ultimate cosmic destruction
* amusing historical anecdotes
* existential terror
* humorous footnotes

(more info: astrokatie.com/book)
Some people have said to me, “maybe you should cut down on the physics; maybe there is too much.” To which I say NO. THE PEOPLE WANT PHYSICS AND BY GOD I WILL GIVE THEM PHYSICS
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Katie Mack
@AstroKatie
New paper on the arxiv today! 🎉With postdoc Weikang Lin and grad student Liqiang Hou, looking at whether or not the various measurements of the Hubble constant can be reconciled: arxiv.org/abs/1910.02978 [note: technical paper]

I’ll try to write an accessible summary soon.
Here's the key figure in the paper. It's a comparison of many different ways of measuring the Hubble constant (H0, the present-day expansion rate of the Universe) and the (present-day) matter density (Omega_m). The white circle is the region where most can sort of agree. A very complicated plot with a lot of contours on it showing the agreement/disagreement among different measurements. Unfortunately it would take WAY more than 420 characters to explain, but the point is there's a region (in a white dotted circle) where most can agree, and there's one (a yellow vertical strip) outside that region. That one is the local supernova measurement. Our point is that it is an outlier.
The main finding of the paper is that if you look at the constraints this way, instead of just comparing on H0 by itself, you can better see that most can be reconciled, but that the local measurement from supernovae can't be. And messing with the early universe doesn't fix that.
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Katie Mack
@AstroKatie
I am thrilled to see Jim Peebles honored today with a Nobel Prize. At the same time, I think the Nobel Prize is a bizarre, outdated, and extremely non-representative way to honor contributions to science. Especially in physics, where only 3 out of 212 awardees have been women.
(I am also happy for the other two winners of course! I only singled out Peebles above because I know him and his work.)
In any case, please don't get the impression that the Nobel Prize is a good way to determine who is contributing to science or how it's being done.
Read 3 tweets
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Katie Mack
@AstroKatie
An incident along these lines happened in my department earlier this week. xkcd.com/385/ I think the university handled it well -- they took seriously the reports from students & suspended the prof -- but this sort of attitude is shockingly common & damaging in academia Image from comic. In the left panel, two people are at a blackboard. One is solving an equation and produces the wrong answer. The other says,
A perception of belonging in the field is one of the things that keeps people in science. When you are an underrepresented minority & you're treated like an outsider, like not the "default," or like you must represent your whole demographic, that makes it an awful place to be.
I have massive respect & admiration for people who push through multiple layers of bias to keep doing science, & no less respect & admiration for those who choose to leave. Those of us in science who find it a relatively comfortable place need to work to make it better for all.
Read 3 tweets

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Ayla Ferrone
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Yoonkook au 💋

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🍍 why are humans?? 🙀
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#book

The Gift of Fear, by Gavin de Becker
"Predatory animals devour prey in order to convert flesh into fuel. Most human predators, however, seek power, not food. To destroy or damage something is to take its power. To push a pie into the face of the world's richest man is to take his power, if only for a moment."
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Holly Stallcup
@HollyStallcup
Saturdays are the hardest when you’re single. Sometimes it takes until 5:30 to shower & get out.

I drag myself to “my coffee shop.” I like having places that are mine. I don’t have a house or a husband but at least I have the tan couch at my coffee shop.

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