Profile picture
, 4 tweets, 1 min read
My Authors
Read all threads
4 years ago I got a 0 on a quantum physics exam. i met with my professor fearing i needed to change my major & quit physics. today, i’m in a top tier astrophysics Ph.D program & published 2 papers.

STEM is hard for everyone—grades don’t mean you’re not good enough to do it.
wow, this is taking off! im so glad the message is resonating.

for those new here, I’m a 26y/o astrophysicist researching supernovae. i’m also BRCA2+, & had a preventative mastectomy 2 weeks ago. I tweet about space, women’s health, & equity. if interested, feel free to follow☺️
i also use Instagram as a platform to talk about all things space and my journey as a breast cancer previvor. if you’re interested: instagram.com/starstrickenSF
i am so inspired by everyone sharing their own stories. y’all are absolutely incredible— thank you for sharing your journeys ♥️
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Enjoying this thread?

Keep Current with Sarafina Nance

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @starstrickenSF see all

Profile picture
Sarafina Nance
@starstrickenSF
I’m a few days late, but I want to tell my story for #WorldMentalHealthDay. I really struggled with whether I would share this. I’m still recovering &, to some extent, still fear retribution.

That being said, I feel I have a responsibility as someone with a platform to speak up.
When I was in college, I dated someone I thought was perfect. Everyone liked him. He was smart, kind, genuine. I hit the jackpot, I thought.

Just 1 month in, he started to change. In public, he was wonderful. In private, he was a different person.
As our relationship progressed, he got worse. He checked my phone for text messages; forbade me from seeing my friends; yelled at me for hours into the night.

Then, the death threats came.
Read 17 tweets
Profile picture
Sarafina Nance
@starstrickenSF
why is the sky dark at night?

the answer is actually pretty complex & relies on some of the coolest parts of our Universe—the expansion of space-time, the speed of light, & the Big Bang.

let‘s dig in.
first, let’s break down the question. why would we expect the sky to be bright?

let’s say the Universe is uniformly filled with stars. that means that whenever you look up, no matter which way, you’ll ALWAYS see something bright.
now, you COULD say that distant stars are fainter. brightness decreases with distance as 1/r², so maybe they’re just too dim.

but here’s the thing: the further out you go, the more stars you get! that # increases w/ distance as r², so those effects just cancel each other out!
Read 16 tweets
Profile picture
Sarafina Nance
@starstrickenSF
AAAHHHH!!!

astronomers have detected the MOST massive neutron star ever detected!!!!!

AAAHHHHH!!

neutron stars are the compressed cores of massive stars that have exploded as supernovae. this one is about 2.14x the mass of our sun, but only 15miles across.

THIS IS SO COOL!!!
the way that they discovered the neutron star is just so freaking cool.

this neutron star is a special type: a pulsar. these have extreme magnetic fields which are several BILLION times that of the Earth’s.
these magnetic fields build up near the poles and align with the star’s rotational period, allowing us to observe these pulses and earn the moniker “pulsars”. (like a lighthouse!)

now, let’s go back to this discovery. this particular neutron star has a white dwarf companion star
Read 8 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
Santa Fe Institute
@sfiscience
Today's Applied Complexity Symposium begins with a panel on Computation and Complex Economies, feat. Rob Axtell, Joshua Epstein, @C4COMPUTATION, Blake LeBaron, John Miller, & @MelMitchell1

(Follow this thread for live coverage all day...)

#complexsystems #economics
4 Principles of Collective #Computation:

1 Ground truth (objective reality)
2 Effective ground truth (what we agree on, whether or not it is accurate)
3 #Information can be collectively encoded in #networks
4 Outputs are a product of collective dynamics

@C4COMPUTATION right now
"I think #economics really needs to adopt a generative framework with agent-based models of cognitively plausible software people...[and] we don't choose to fear."

- SFI'S Joshua Epstein (@GeorgeMasonU) on modeling emotions at today's ACtioN symposium:
Santafe.edu/action
Read 44 tweets
Profile picture
Frankly Speaking
@occupiedbypak
Though #Pakistan was created on religious line, #Jinnah was most liberal Muslim who never wanted #Pakistan a religious firm!
Till 1977 , Religion was just a personal choice in #Pakistan , General #Zia not only pushed religion but also took country decades backward !
#SZAB
Zia knew he had zero support from People hence he decided to take support from Mullahs and he ensured that hardcore Islam penetrate each institution in #Pakistan including #Army & #ISI !
#Soviet invaded #Afghanistan in 1979, #Zia used this opportunity to the fullest .
#US wanted to work on Proxy war, Zia got excellent platform to build these Proxies in Madrassa's of Pakistan.
Read 279 tweets
Profile picture
Katia Moskvitch
@SciTech_Cat
So I wrote a story for @WiredUK on #quantum computing. Amount of hype & misconceptions around it is insane!

Here's my piece: wired.co.uk/article/quantu…

(huge thnx 🙌 to all who helped: @tim_weber, @jtemperton, @where_is_chris, @MJBiercuk, @strom_m, @fcacarminati, @preskill &more)
And here is a brief summary - and some myth busting:

1. Achieving quantum supremacy *won't* magically give us super powerful supercomputers that can do everything better than standard computers;
2. Quantum supremacy simply means a quantum computer will perform *one* single task - might not be a useful task even - better than a traditional computer.

And it doesn't mean anything for any other tasks, where standard computers might & likely will be better;
Read 19 tweets
Profile picture
Robert's Rules v2.4 🦋
@Pamacious
1/ #CNP Members and Organizations
"The Council for National Policy (CNP) is a body that mixes large numbers of ostensibly mainstream conservatives with far-right and extremist ideologues, mostly from the far fringes of the religious right...
splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016…
2/ "What follows is a list of 18 of the hardest-line #CNP members and links to information about them and their groups, when available, published in the past by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Groups designated by the SPLC as hate groups are marked with an asterisk (*).."
3/
Tony Perkins
*Family Research Council
Washington, D.C.
CNP Vice President

* Designated as hate group
#CNP
Read 205 tweets
Profile picture
Connor Ratliff
@connorratliff
45 Days Of @ElvisCostello: a twitter megathread in anticipation of the Oct 12 release date of LOOK NOW, the new LP by Elvis Costello & The Imposters

This is either a bright idea or a brilliant mistake, but this is only, this is only, this is only the beginning...
I did something similar to this 5 years ago, in anticipation of EC & @theroots' Wise Up Ghost LP, on tumblr.

(You can still find all those posts if you look, although a lot of the YouTube links etc are now dead ends. It was 40 Days Of EC then, so for 2018 I'm upping it to 45.)
Mostly I will be going chronologically from the early years right up to the present, but it feels right to start out with Costello's 2002 song, "45."

Music Video directed by @jessebdylan


(There's an alternate "diner" version I can't find anywhere online)
Read 2378 tweets

Trending hashtags

#Salahudeen #KamranAtif #PAEC #Talibans #Dominionists #Omar #Mujahideens #investigation #ISI #Editor #MicroTargeting #Army #RasoolKhan #Imran #MRC #algorithms #Quetta #Sudhan #Hintze #AhmedQudoos #SaudiArabia #QuantumPhysics #HumayanNiaz #MI6 #design
Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!