Freya BlekmanJan 19

I heard last week that the physics teacher of the daughter of one of my colleagues told the daughter that girls who do their nails don’t do physics. Sigh.

So, here are the nails of an internationally leading particle physics professor. My nails.

Don’t believe the gatekeepers! #womeninSTEM

Show threadJules she/her
@freyablekman as you can see I am working very hard today
Jan 19 at 3:49pmWeb
Show threadFreya BlekmanJan 19
@afewbugs hehe so true. No nasty solvents for me. But I do have a fancy particle collider :)
Show threadnachtetJan 19
@freyablekman @afewbugs 😲
And that doesn't mess with nails?
Show threadAndrewJan 19
@nachtet @freyablekman @afewbugs someone design a nail polish that changes color when you bombard it with neutrons
Show threadJules she/herJan 19
@cinebox @nachtet @freyablekman I mean do we know for sure that regular nail polish doesn't change colour when you bombard it with neutrinos? Has anyone ever tried?
Show threadFreya BlekmanJan 19

@afewbugs @cinebox @nachtet every nail gets constantly bombarded with millions of neutrinos. So I'd say we're safe. (neutrons, on the other hand, only a few. but they would get stuck on top)

But nail polish with ground up/liquid scintillator in it would totally get me interested. And should not be *that* difficult. Probably biggest issue would be making it cosmetics-safe

Show threadBryan WrightJan 19

@freyablekman @afewbugs @cinebox @nachtet

Future headline:
"Dark matter particles finally detected by researcher's nail polish"

Show threadFreya BlekmanJan 19
@catselbow @afewbugs @cinebox @nachtet come to think of it, such a layer would make it possible to make 50-100 micron thick scintillators. There might be applications πŸ€”
Show threadLarge Format ProjectionistJan 19

@freyablekman @afewbugs @cinebox @nachtet

Dr, Blekman,
you need to contact #Sephora RIGHT NOW.
1) I'd imagine they'd help spread the word of nail products for physicists.
2) If anyone could make the scintilators safe, it'd be a multi-billion dollar makeup corporation.

I think we need t-shirts of your lovely manicure making clear that physicists dig shiny like the rest of us.

Show threadARGVMI~1.PIFJan 20

@cinebox

Problem: bombarding things with neutrons makes them radioactive. 😬 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_activation

@nachtet @freyablekman @afewbugs

Neutron activation - Wikipedia

Show threadARGVMI~1.PIFJan 20

@nachtet

I'm no particle physicist, but I'm fairly sure you're supposed to keep your hands away from the beam.

@freyablekman @afewbugs

Show threadOdradekJan 19

@freyablekman @afewbugs was about to ask - not that it matters for the point - whether you are theoretician, lab-rat or administrator

anyway1: gorgeous!!!

anyway2: don't forget the "philosophers" variations and replace philosophers with "gender-/queerstudies" ;)

Show threadFreya BlekmanJan 19
@Odradek @afewbugs started as a lab rat, now mostly administrator. I got my PhD over 20 years ago, the young peeps in my group are definitely hands on ofc but I now am proud when I can help them still when I have time. As is of course rather normal for academic career paths
Show threadOdradekJan 19

@freyablekman @afewbugs so no pauli-effect (lab equipment stops working when theoreticians are nearby) around you.

p.s.: a messuring-nailpolish-collection (magnetic fields, dosimeterpolish for ionizing radiation, younameit) … when?

Show threadFreya BlekmanJan 19
@Odradek @afewbugs it exists for sun burn already btw.
Show threadOdradekJan 19

@freyablekman I only knew about the sad/infuriating part: to detect certain narcotics

halt immer wieder: feminis-muss

Show threadFreya BlekmanJan 19
@Odradek interesting. Yeah I could see that could work. But also that likely could only be used in a super controlling way.
Show threadSteve GisselbrechtJan 19

@freyablekman @afewbugs

I'm a biologist and wear nail polish but I keep my nails short, so it doesn't add to material-under-nails risk.

Show threadΨ*ΨJan 19
@freyablekman @afewbugs This is so accurate! I stopped wearing nail polish for a few years working in organic chemistry labs. There was no point. The solvents always won πŸ˜”
Show threadJules she/herJan 19
@psistarpsiii @freyablekman you would think you could be very very careful and make sure that the solvents never went on your hands which after all isn't supposed to happen anyway, but no. The solvents always win.
Show threadnachtetJan 19
@afewbugs @freyablekman
I'm a hobby gardener and do my nails during season to hide the pathogenic material. 😁
Show threadJules she/herJan 19
@nachtet @freyablekman my most consistent period of nail polish wearing was about six months after I smacked my thumb with a mallet while putting up a tent, producing a horrible purply-green bruise under the nail. It was less effort to keep painting my nails than it was to keep answering the question "OMG what happened to your thumb?"
Show threadnachtetJan 19
@afewbugs @freyablekman 😁 Autschn, though! πŸ˜΅β€πŸ’«
Show threadDan HattonJan 19

@afewbugs @freyablekman

My physics PhD involved a fair amount of acetone and isopropanol (for cleaning traces of oils off of things that needed to go in ultrahigh vacuum), so not sure about the right-hand blue/yellow boundary there.

Show threadFreya BlekmanJan 19
@only_ohm true it depends on the sub-field, and the kind of work. At points of my career during experimental construction I have also worked with various fluids that would not be kind to nail varnish. But I would say that UV cured gel polish is much more robust :)
Show threadUsagiJan 20
@afewbugs @freyablekman Do you get tentacles growing from under your nails when doing biology? ​​