Head of Comp Sci at Radley College. Robots. STEM and occasional nonsense. VEX evangelist. MIE. Ex-palaeoclimatologist. Photography on IG @augustvisual
Joined February 2017
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Alastair Vaan retweeted
In fact programming is particularly good at teaching you how to think. Programs are literally built out of ideas. Which is one reason it's still a good idea to study CS in the AI era. It's still important to be able to think well.
Alastair Vaan retweeted
Want to make a difference and help inspire the next generation of STEM leaders? 🤖 Volunteer for VEX Robotics Competitions through the @REC_Foundation! Check out what roles are available and see how you can bring your skill set to your local competitions: buff.ly/OJIel7z
ALT A volunteer checks the size of a VEX IQ robot.
Alastair Vaan retweeted
Our breakthrough work on an analog optical computer points to new ways to solve complex real-world problems with much greater efficiency. Super to see this published today in @Nature. news.microsoft.com/source/fe…
Alastair Vaan retweeted
ICYMI: Earth’s sea ice reached a new low in 2025. 🌊🧊
Arctic sea ice cover reached its lowest annual maximum on record and Antarctic sea ice cover was the second-lowest on record in March of 2025. go.nasa.gov/3Y7fZQX
Alastair Vaan retweeted
A couple weeks ago, 150 VIQRC & V5RC teams competed at the UK National Championship in Telford, England! 🌟 These teams showed the high caliber of robotics excellence in the United Kingdom! @VEXRoboticsUK
We look forward to greeting some of you at #VEXWorlds this May! ✈️🤖
Alastair Vaan retweeted
2/2
Further reading, images, and references
➡️en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lo…
➡️en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Note_G
Alastair Vaan retweeted
Reminder that AI is still not the best source for accuracy. In this case, listing a number of reasons an authentic photo was fake. The photo in question is a photo from a climate satellite- which is not only real, but illustrates a number of things we know about the moon to be true, in size, color, luminosity, distance, etc.
I’ve also analyzed the photo and saw artifacts consistent with the type of camera used on satellite, something that would be unlikely to show up in a fake.
I don’t mean to single out Grok here. But if Grok is trained on people that are skeptical of this photo, there’s a chance some of their logic could be reflected in the output. I’m not actually sure how that works as I’m not an LLM expert, I just know the photo is certainly real, as odd as it may appear!
Read about the photo and see the full sequence of photos here: nasa.gov/solar-system/from-a…
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Alastair Vaan retweeted
ESA's Euclid space telescope is assembling the largest 3D map of the universe ever made.
The first section is now complete. Take a look at what happens when you zoom in...
esa.int/Science_Exploration/…
Alastair Vaan retweeted
Saildrone video today in Milton (SD-1083)… about 40 nautical miles from the eye of the hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico.
Alastair Vaan retweeted
Unfollowing toxic social media influencers makes people less hostile!
In 2 large field experiments, unfollowing a few extreme influencers:
-Reduced partisan animosity by 24%
-Increased satisfaction with Twitter/X
-Led people to share higher-quality news
Effects persisting for 6+ months and most people choose not to refollow the influencers after the study was over.
Read the full paper here: osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/ac…
Alastair Vaan retweeted
Taking part in the #V5RC this season?
Check out the Radley Robot Rumble Regional 👀
Early Bird is already open with Standard sign-ups opening on 6th October
🗓️ Sunday 17th November
📍 Radley College, Oxfordshire
🕘 9am - 3:45pm
🎟️ 6 spots open
🔗 buff.ly/3ZNLEZ5
#VEXUK #roboticscompetition #edtech #teachertwitter
Alastair Vaan retweeted
ICYMI @cs50 is now available @UniofOxford via @OxfordConted.
This version is ideal for anyone that wants to take the course, but needs that extra bit of motivation via a weekly deadline, and a 2-hour live online class with an Oxford tutor ready to answer all of your questions.
Plus, I'll be in your cohort... Enrol here: cs50.uk
Alastair Vaan retweeted
Parts of Earth's jet stream have shifted toward the poles over the past several decades, likely in response to climate change. This was long forecast to happen, but has only now "emerged from the noise" says Thomas Keel @UCLgeography. New in @NewScientist:
newscientist.com/article/244…
Alastair Vaan retweeted
This was so fascinating. I had a teflon knitting needle on @ISS and charged it by rubbing with my Russian fur boots. Then I directed water droplets from a syringe towards the charged knitting needle and this is the resulting dynamics. The droplets, due to charge forces, go into a crazy orbit around the knitting needle. If planets were cylindrical this would be the orbit of its moons due to gravity. Canon G1 video camera, Expedition 30, 2012.
Alastair Vaan retweeted
So my legend of a cousin Lorcan just realised he was kind of important to the creation of @foofighters @FooFightersUK He saw a video by Dave Grohl talking about why he got back to work after a visit to Ireland. Lorcan was out hitchhiking wearing his nirvana top when Dave stopped
ALT Lorcan Dunne wearing the nirvana top that influenced Dave Grohl to create The Foo Fighters