Patchen Barss

@patchenbarss.bsky.social

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Journalist and author. Science, mathematics, emerging ideas. “The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius” now available for pre-order here: https://shorturl.at/ixUY9

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This will be good.

If you like to learn about the universe in ~5 minute videos, check out my new series!

Make a band more vegetable: The Beetles

They Might Be Jolly Giants

11-yr-old this morning channeling a science officer scanning a new planet: “I’m getting readings of poetry, signatures of contracts, and extreme levels of video games.” Feel like parenting is going pretty well.

What are you 🧪 science freelancers up to? Currently I'm working on: talk for the Penrose book; new book proposal about AI safety; PBS script about nervous system evolution; BBC piece on planetary tomography; interview with an expert in space law; and moderation prep for a genomics discussion.

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Patchen Barss

Please consider signing this letter to indicate your concern about closing the ON Science Centre. act.newmode.net/action/evide...

Save Ontario's Science Centreact.newmode.net The Ontario Science Centre (OSC) has been underfunded by the government for years. And now its very existence is under threat. The Government of Ontario plans to demolish the iconic, award-winning

This hateful decision is still reversible, but it will take a lot of public outrage to save the Ontario Science Centre. Please add your voice.

My entendre? Double. My carte? Blanche.

My Entente? Cordiale.

Make a band less mild: The Swingle Stingers

Make a band less mild: Durian Durian

I’m a science journalist and author. My greatest hits include: -if objects have a common shape or pattern, it probably means something. -flight evolved four times - seems kind of inevitable -journalism is event-based, research is process-based. Knowing that helps you tell better stories.

I am a political communication professor. My greatest hits include: -yes, that Trump tweet is ridiculous. -well it *would* be frightening if Cambridge Analytica had done that. But Cambridge Analytica is full of shit. -Elon Musk is a big dumb dummy. -“alright fine… here is the email.”

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Patchen Barss

Another great talk this afternoon at the SciCommCollider2 at Peremiter Institute, this time from @patchenbarss.bsky.social on how we, as science communicators, can work with and pitch to journalists to tell our science stories. Really enjoyed this session!

Happy #BlackHoleWeek to those who celebrate. Please consider marking the event by pre-ordering The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius, my biography of the mathematical physicist who proved the existence of singularities.

The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius: Barss, Mr. Patchen: 9781541603660: Amazon.com: Bookswww.amazon.com Buy The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

It’s pi-o’clock on May the fourth.

Hello, scientist community! I'm giving a talk next week to a group of scientists about strategies, approaches, opportunities, and pitfalls when speaking with journalists. If you were attending such a talk, are there any questions or issues in particular you'd want the presenter to touch on? 🧪

I've filed the last proofs for The Impossible Man! To celebrate, I'm sharing the US and UK covers. (My American friends seem to prefer the US cover, my British friends, the UK version. Seems someone knows what they're doing.) The book, now available for pre-order, is out Nov. 12. 🧪📚

You: Please act normal you need these people to like you People: Hello Patchen, nice to meet you. Me: Did you know orca whales are actually dolphins? BUT did you also know all dolphins are actually whales? So thanks to a little double-actually baking powder, it turns out orca whales are… whales?

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We are hiring a podcast editor for Scientific American's multimedia team. (Sharing again because weekends are a good time to think about a new job). Thanks for considering or sharing with anyone looking to join a creative, welcoming, humane & fun team careers.springernature.com/job/New-York...

Multimedia Editor, Audio, Scientific Americancareers.springernature.com Multimedia Editor, Audio, Scientific American

I'm considering putting together a talk on the theme of "Are Scientists Human Beings?" Does anyone have any favourite examples of egregiously passive language in papers that illustrates authors' misguided attempt to remove any sign of humanity from the research so as to establish objectivity? 🧪

I do not care for the passage of time. I do not care for mortality.

Sad news from the world of #philosophy — apparently Daniel Dennett has died. David Chalmers just shared the news with the audience at the NYU animal consciousness event. A tremendous loss. (There will be many, many tributes to come, I’m sure.)

I can’t remember - which way is jet lag supposed to be easier, going east or west? ✈️😩

Last breakfast in London. Enjoying all the visual cliches before I head to Heathrow.

I’ve cleared myself to fly home today. Had a couple of work-related restaurant meals while I’ve been here. Made them as safe as possible, and so far it looks like I’ve been fortunate again.

My editor asked today if I want to “audition” to read the audiobook of The Impossible Man. My instinct is to decline? Do most #authors want to read their own books? I quote a zillion people and I don’t do accents or voices. Feels like we need a professional. Is there any upside to me trying out?🧪📚

Is anyone within the sound of my voice of the age where they remember learning the vocabulary of climate change? Like, being taught the difference between "the greenhouse effect" and "global warming?" I can remember wrapping my head around these new terms, but I can't remember when. 🧪

I know Peter Higgs was an atheist, but in all fairness, I kind of feel they should hold a mass for him.

Alexandra Petri is funny every single time. This one is also just so bleak. What a talent.

That was supposed to be a gift link but this definitely is wapo.st/3PTDJ6Y

Opinion | The Time Travelers’ Wiveswapo.st “I must tell you my horrible secret: I travel into the past.”

I see a lot of glee in people’s responses to this review. I experienced more grim satisfaction. Regardless, this is pointed, devastating writing, full of knowledge, fact, insight, and principle, plus a perfect amount of constructive fury.

Here is is: my long-threatened tradwife piece. Come for my takedown of the tradwife as a fantasy of renouncing adulthood; stay for the inquiry into a very confused and sloppy pro-tradwife book, which appears to make a choice feminist case for lobotomies. www.bookforum.com/print/3004/l...

Wife Sentenceswww.bookforum.com Lisa Selin Davis’s confused history of homemakers – Moira Donegan

Well, I missed it, but my partner sent this picture from Hamilton. (You have to zoom in a bit to see how she captured it.)The clouds parted just in time for totality. My heart is full. 🧪

Whenever I arrive in London I stop by and say hello to this little guy.

Just want to wish everyone a happy eclipse day. Have fun everyone! I look forward to your accounts. 🧪

You know what I’m surprised by? I’m surprised the Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam song Moonshadow doesn’t get more play around eclipse time.