mastodon 4.7.2Head of Content at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup developing fusion power plants for clean, affordable, zero-carbon power. Former science and technology journalist at CNET.
Just look at all the fricking galaxies in this JWST photo. I mean yay they found a new oldest galaxy, but look at all the rest, then extrapolate. It fills me with awe.
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/webb-galaxy-mom-z14
#universe #space #JWST
Ten years later, MIT's Alcator C-Mod tokamak is *still* of use. I see new research papers circulating that include what we learned on C-Mod. For example, you can validate computer models to see if your simulations match actual results recorded on C-Mod.
Here's a blog post I wrote about the 10th anniversary of the final day of operations at C-Mod, the progenitor to CFS's SPARC and ARC tokamaks.
https://blog.cfs.energy/how-the-alcator-c-mod-tokamak-blazed-the-cfs-trail-to-fusion-power/
I'm pretty good about using a chinstrap with my hat when it's windy, but I confess that seeing all the lens caps retrieved out of Yellowstone makes me pretty nervous.
https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/environment/yellowstone-geysers-record-trash-cleanup-2026/
#Yellowstone #trash
I just saw a guy ride past my hotel on a penny farthing in Manhattan. Pretty fat tire on such a big wheel! Only one speed though! #bicycling
Ground truth still matters.
copycat crimes
It's fair to ask whether fusion energy will be economical/competitive. The progress we've made nailing the physics and engineering fundamentals is what makes that discussion about commercialization worthwhile.
"The symbolism of Apple tackling the problem of trust in the visual record is significant. The problem of fake content is no longer a minor issue when one of the largest tech companies in the world decides to get into the game."
–Hany Farid, longtime expert in this domain, re. Apple iPhone camera's new "reference mode." https://www.axios.com/2026/09/10/apple-ambient-ai-hardware-event
This is always cool. Pumping a lot of power out of our home battery onto the grid during a three-hour virtual power plant event. Very hot temperatures in California today, so lots of air conditioning running. We get paid for this power.
Of course my question is whether we'll see substantial improvements to the iPhone camera hardware. Vs what's so common these days, a half-assed upgrade that recycles 2 or 3 of last year's phone's cameras. I understand incremental progress has prevailed in phones for better than a decade and RAM prices are making everything look more expensive, but fingers crossed we'll see something good.
A quintet of California quail dropped by the house over the weekend — a first, though I've seen them in the neighborhood before. They're very round! And usually pretty hard to see lurking in the underbrush. But for about 5 minutes some of them perched in a nearby oak at a spot where I could point my lens through the foliage.
#birds #birding #telephoto #California #NaturePhotography
Whale watching in Monterey Bay last weekend. Three moms and their calves form pod CA51, plus Jimmy from CA50 hanging around, showing off a huge dorsal fin. The moms would surface and then the calves would surface right next to them. I found the calves chubby and cute (caveat: I'm not a sea lion).
#NaturePhotography #California #Orca #Whale #PacificOcean
Some of the 27 Hudsonian whimbrels I saw yesterday at Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove, California. There used to be just whimbrels, but ornithologists split them into Hudsonian whimbrels (Americas) and Eurasian whimbrels (Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia) in 2025.
I set my alarm for 3 a.m. to photograph the blood moon (lunar eclipse) but alas, it clouded over. The good news is that my test shots from before I went to bed came out. An eerily flat moon — no shadow contours except a smidgen at the lower left because the sun was directly behind me as I shot.
1/400 sec, f13, 1120mm, ISO 200
#Moon #Astrophotography #Photography #Telephoto
I washed the solar panels after sunset tonight. The colors show why people on movie sets water down the roads for night scenes.
#solar #sunset #California
"Model collapse isn’t a theoretical risk for some distant future generation of AI systems. It’s a process already underway, driven by the quiet accumulation of synthetic data across the web."
https://cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/model-collapse-is-already-happening-we-just-pretend-it-isnt/
Terence Tao on AI solving mathematics problems: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01246-9
Interesting work in lithium refining. Demo refinery set to make 1,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year in British Columbia starting in the second half of the year. https://spectrum.ieee.org/mangrove-lithium-refining-ev-bottleneck
#EV #chemistry #startup
Sharing this in part because of the delightful term "presumed egg"
Northern California’s first condor egg in 100 years reported in redwood tree https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/california-condor-21951147.php
I'm so old I remember thinking 200-amp electrical service to a house was big. Now people increasingly are going with 400A. https://emp.lbl.gov/publications/characterizing-electrical-panel
Georg Cantor, pioneer of the mathematical concept of infinity —and plagiarist. How many of us have heard of Richard Dedekind? https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-man-who-stole-infinity-20260225/ #math
As long as we're talking about em dashes and AI — can the Google Gemini team please put spaces on either side of them? I know it's a styling choice, but I find it visually easier to parse with the spaces.
"system efficient enough—to keep that heat"
vs
"system efficient enough — to keep that heat"
How long for a protein to fold? 1 to 4 microseconds. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00755-x
Google Gemini success: constructing regular expressions to get what I wanted out of Google Docs search & replace. Though \t doesn't insert tabs in Google Docs — copying a tab character from a doc and pasting it into the replace field worked instead.
#AI #TechSupport
Nvidia trying to add some privacy and security guardrails to OpenClaw with NemoClaw. I'll pass on being the guinea pig on this one. https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-nemoclaw
#AI #agenticai #security
Props to my home state for stepping up. https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/signs-of-hope-as-measles-spread-new-mexico-vaccinations-surged-55/
Today was Reddit AMA day with our Chief Science Officer and Co-founder Brandon Sorbom — lots of good questions and interesting answers. Tritium, supply chain, AI, magnets, plasmas, antennas... and of course tokamaks. https://www.reddit.com/r/fusion/comments/1ra1oxm/hi_rfusion_im_brandon_sorbom_chief_science/ #FusionEnergy
John Kerry on the "sovereignty premium":
"Policymakers, corporate boards, and investors must internalize what we might call a sovereignty premium. Every unit of energy produced domestically carries a strategic value that goes well beyond its levelized cost. That value is resilience."
https://www.semafor.com/article/05/05/2026/the-largest-energy-crisis-in-modern-history-is-only-beginning
Strong recommend: The Rest Is History's 4 podcasts on the Islamic Revolution in 1970s Iran. Laid the foundation for the present Iran situation. One closing point: the Russian Revolution is much better known, but the Islamic Revolution is vastly more relevant to world affairs today.
1 Fall of the Shah https://therestishistory.com/episodes/fall-of-the-shah-part-1
2 Rise of the Ayatollah https://therestishistory.com/episodes/rise-of-the-ayatollah-part-2
3 The Hostage Crisis https://therestishistory.com/episodes/the-hostage-crisis-part-3
4 Death in the Desert https://therestishistory.com/episodes/death-in-the-desert-part-4
Got this poll about AI today. Kind of engagement bait, but also thought-provoking.
#AI
Huh, Google is getting into neutral atom quantum computing, too, in addition to its earlier superconducting qubit approach.
https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/research/neutral-atom-quantum-computers/
#QuantumComputing #Google
For @mwichary@mastodon.online: Designing unusable keyboards day 3
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTUmKcPSs/
RE: @arstechnica@mastodon.social
I found it pretty cringe too. Uncanny valley. Didn't like the unmodified video either for the most part, either.
FYP stands for:
#disambiguation
University of Arizona making more noise about commercial fusion energy. https://research.arizona.edu/news/powering-future-u-accelerates-fusion-energy-commercialization
#FusionEnergy #Arizona
DOF stands for:
This glosses over a lot of important points (regulations, camera-only sensor suite...) but has some interesting technical details about Tesla's Cybercab that I wasn't aware of. https://austinvernon.substack.com/p/an-ode-to-teslas-cybercab
My MacBook (latest MacOS Tahoe) no longer remembers window positions when I connect my external monitor, so I have to manually drag my app windows to the second screen. It used to remember my dual-monitor arrangement. Anybody have any advice or pointers? #TechSupport #MacOS
