Nigel Goldenfeld
@nigelgoldenfeld
Theoretical physicist at UCSD researching condensed & living matter, fluid mechanics, statistical mechanics. Bad at staying in my lane. Interested in everything.
The great thing about surveillance capitalism is that when you get served adverts in YouTube, you know they will be personalized & fully relevant for your interests. So can someone explain to me why in my household we get this advert regularly? How many people even in San Diego impulse buy a sub?
OMB proposed revisions. So far 52,000 comments available for viewing, and total number of comments received is 341,699. Remember: OMB is legally required to review and respond to all comments, that are not duplicates.
@cdelawalla.bsky.social debunks the scientists need to be bipartisan politically myth to build greater trust. Meanwhile scientists are far more trusted than politicians. Why isn't there more public demand for certain politicians to be more open to science, facts, data?
Do people trust scientists? US politicians on majority side demonize scientists. Data: ~ 56% of respondents trust scientists. In fact, the three most trustworthy professions are doctors, scientists and teachers. Politicians are the least trusted, with ~15%. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Funding of NSF total number of grants over time showing that the number in FY2025 is far lower than in the previous 4 years starting in the end of January 2025 (check it out, they wasted no time to get this high priority sabotage done!) and is far worse for FY 2026.
Who cares? Understanding the behaviour of turbulent fronts is important for control & confinement of turbulent fusion plasmas in tokamaks. I started work on this type of problem 30 years ago with the late Russell Donnelly. We used superfluid helium not water. journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
🧪⚛️ Ever wondered what would happen if you thrashed around in a water tank, creating a blob of turbulence, and then watched it spread and gradually dissipate energy? So did we. But we did the experiment, now out in PNAS and on the cover! It only took us 7 years ... www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
@nytimes.com This is how you do it. Kudos to @theguardian.com
"But" --> and "a party" --> the Republican party "rebuilding" -->building "brand" --> fascist brand There. Fixed it for you @nytimes.com WTAF??
🧪 #evolution OTD 1977 Carl Woese appeared on the front page of the NYT in a story about the discovery of a "form of life that predates higher organisms" a 3rd domain of life. Here is a perspective on this groundbreaking discovery of the Archaea, made with George Fox. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
🧪 #standupforscience at UCSD! Standup for Science Education!Inspiring talks by students, researchers, even professors! @standupforscience.bsky.social
Some highlights. Funding rate will reduce to 6% from 26%. No. of people drops 73% Funding reduction by directorate: MPS: -67% Bio: -71%
Shame on @sandiegouniontribune.com for describing the #HandsOff March on Saturday as involving "more than 1000" people. The actual estimate is between 16,000 and 20,000. Yes 16,000-20,000 is technically more than 1,000 but this is misleading & bad reporting. Maybe provide full story coverage?
#HandsOff San Diego. Trains packed! A good sign ... and many more when we got downtown.
🧪 Advertising the UCSB #Standupforscience rally on Friday March 7 at noon on the Chem Lawn. Science is for everyone, and the sabotage of science is an attack on all of us. Part of a national movement organized by @standupforscience.bsky.social All locations shown at: standupforscience2025.org
🧪 Wonderful to see UCSD Academic Senate Chair Olivia Graeve encouraging the entire campus to #standupforscience at the rally next Fri March 7 2025 at 12 noon in front of the Geisel Library/Silent Tree! Stand up for science ... and all scholarship at universities. @standupforscience.bsky.social
Unfortunately these misconceptions are held by some funding agencies! Here's the NSF cyber-enabled discovery RFP from 2010, where proposals that promise paradigm shift in only one field of science are not competitive. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/solicitation....
Carl Woese on the front page of the New York Times OTD 1977. Here's a perspective I wrote on the tree of life with Norm Pace & Jan Sapp. www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Saw #Beat perform 80's #KingCrimson last night in San Diego. Incredible! Steve Vai did a brilliant job of interpreting Fripp, Danny Carey was amazing channeling Bruford. The concert got into high gear at Frame by Frame. Elephant Talk, Thela Hun Ginjeet etc just fantastic. They also played Red.
🧪 #entomology #whitefly I photographed this beautiful spiral on the underside of a leaf in my garden (in San Diego). I believe it is made from eggs laid by the "spiraling whitefly". Why is this pattern laid down, & why does this species choose to do this? Bluesky people: anyone know please?