Statuses

Spending the day at the UK Cosmo meeting here at Imperial College, with excellent talks by young cosmologists from around the country. We’ll also be taking the opportunity to remember the great Tom Kibble, one of the founders of cosmology here at Imperial and throughout the UK (and the world).

Most ideas that disagree with the dominant scientific paradigm in any field are certainly wrong — even though the dominant paradigm is probably also wrong.

Water fountain water is the best water.

In honor of the coming vernal equinox, my first cycle ride into work since October.

Thanks to Richard Marshall — and a fantastic audience, especially! — for a great evening of cosmology, cosmological tensions, and beer @pubsci.bsky.social.

Off to The Old King’s Head for some cosmology.

Last day of regular teaching for the academic year — two hours of tutorials and the final lecture of my cosmology course (for the aficionados, we will be working toward the processed power spectrum of density perturbations).

Talking about The Random Universe and cosmological controversies at PubSci — Wednesday at the Old King’s Head near Borough Market in London. Come enjoy the beverages of your choice with some cutting edge science! (Latest — sold out! But you can join the waitlist.)

Preparing to go on stage for 12 Last Songs at Battersea Arts Centre.

Parliament seems to understand that the processes leading to the proposed cuts to particle physics, astrophysics, and nuclear physics — and the cuts themselves — are unacceptable.

The Random Universe reviewed in Nature:

“The sun and the stars and the edge of the Universe are inaccessible, but no more so than the interior lives of other people,” writes astrophysicist Andrew Jaffe in his intriguing book about epistemology, probability and cosmology.

Appearance: 12 Last Songs, Saturday, 14 March 2026 at Battersea Arts Centre: A live exhibition and performance “about work and how we spend time. Making a living. Finding your passion. Watching the clock.” It starts at noon with a midwife and ends at midnight with an astronomer (me!).

My kid took The Random Universe into school for International Book Day.

Maybe this Green victory will convince Labour that there is no point in pandering to the pro-Brexit anti-immigration right (who weren’t going to vote for them anyway)?

Officials targeted what they thought was a drug cartel drone, but turned out to be a party balloon.

Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence.

Great description of a big air snowboarder ignoring style and going for pure power: “CERN mentality”

Crusty.

The other problem with teaching at 5pm is that I spend the whole afternoon beforehand thinking about my lecture.

I’m on my colleague Brian Keating’s Into the Impossible podcast discussing The Random Universe. Please listen! (Apple Podcasts; YouTube; Spotify)

5pm Fridays is not the best time to lecture.

If you’ve read — and learned from — The Random Universe, please consider leaving a rating or a review at the site of your choice.

First undergraduate cosmology lecture in about 13 years. Too many slides today, but looking forward to 25 lectures of good old-fashioned chalk-and-talk.

We want to make sourdough. Should I buy starter, or try to make my own?

Podcast appearance: listen to me talk about The Random Universe (the book, and the Universe itself) on Sean Carroll’s Mindscape. We cover epistemology, probability, quantum mechanics, cosmology and more. Sean and I were cosmology grad students at the same time, and it was a pleasure and an honour to spend time with him online.