Just wanted to drop a little personal news and add it to my record of stuff: I was chosen to be a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer for 2026-2027! I had applied early last year and though I was chosen I wasn’t sure if something had happened to my selection since I hadn’t heard anything, but I checked recently and I’m on the list!

For those unfamiliar, Sigma Xi is the Scientific Research Honor Society founded in 1886. The society performs a lot of outreach to the public and supports scientific research in general, and I was happy to be nominated to be a member a few years ago.

The Distinguished Lecturer Program selects a number of lecturers every year who can be invited to speak at Sigma Xi Chapters, and I offered to talk about two of my classic broad appeal topics — falling cats and invisibility — as well as one I’ve been working on for a while: the history of conservation of energy in physics.

So if you know any Sigma Xi Chapters looking for cool lectures, send them my way!