Today, in the year of our lord two thousand and twenty-six, using electronic mail, did I just spend multiple exchanges with someone discussing today's date: "since the report is due today" "The expected due date is tomorrow the 20th" "Correct, the due date is the 20th and today is Wed May 20th" 🫤

Feeling overwhelmed? Need a break? (Yeah you do). Rest your eyeballs here: rockstarsmerch.printful.me We have shirts, mugs, etc! Why? Because I have many pretty logos for @hypatiacatalog.bsky.social and SAKHMET, plus a new RockStars design by Joe Schulze, and they need to be shared with the world.

Just released: "Mission Aborted: How NASA Illegally Implemented the President's Budget Request Without Congressional Approval" - Minority Staff Report Prepared for Members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, US House of Representatives democrats-science.house.gov/imo/media/do...

The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

Are you submitting an XRP this round? And are you afraid that the weekend snow storm will shut down your work, preventing your org from submitting your proposal? Me too! Orgs can email the PO ([email protected]) and [email protected] to make an official request that NASA delay the due date! So...

Thinking of my Tatertot (Tot) today, on what would have been her 19yr adoption anniversary. She passed in Dec at 20.3yrs old. I had her for nearly half of my life, she was my constant companion, my buddy. And now her absence is so loud. Miss you always, my babycat.

It's over. Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut. www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...

Why are planetary scientists, astrobiologists and and SETI scientists so negative (pissed off, even) about Avi Loeb’s repeated claims that 3I/Atlas may be an invading alien spaceship? 🧵 🧪🔭🛸 (1/7)

Abstracts submitted to LPSC 2026 are required to comply with White House (non-legally binding) executive orders forbidding mention of topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. At least USRA/LPI isn't hiding it. But is this what our community wants? Or deserves? I don't think so.

I'm finally getting a real* office at work! I'm looking for couch recommendations and links (note: internal rules say I have to buy through Amazon, sigh). Also, other recommendations for Things You Could Not Live Without are appreciated! *Current office is 6x9 ft and was meant for a postdoc. ☹️

Laypeople often learn about science from expert explanations & those explanations often contain JARGON. Does jargon make explanations better or worse? In a paper out today in Nature Human Behaviour, @cruzf.bsky.social and I find that jargon can support illusions of understanding...

From Skylar Grayson @skylargrayson.bsky.social : This post summarizes the proposed major cuts to NASA and the NSF and the impacts they would have, and provides resources to help fight back against this wasteful and unnecessary attack on science. 🔭✨☄️ astrobites.org/2025/06/02/b...

Don't miss our new NASA Science spending and economic impact resource at dashboards.planetary.org/nasa-science.html — see space science spending in every state and congressional district and custom reports for each region. A unique resource.

Astronomy is in trouble, but you can help! 🔭🧪 I made this video as part of the @aas.org #savescience week of action. Check out their resources on how you can help here aas.org/advocacy/get...

I know there are SO SO SO so sooo many things going on right now. But y'all, I went to the airport Baton Rouge TWICE today. 2 times, round trip. And I will still be sleeping in my own bed tonight. The storm in Dallas caused two of my flights to be cancelled. 🤬🚫✈️

NASA Is Terminating The GISS Lease In Five Weeks nasawatch.com/personnel-ne... "NASA’s lease of Columbia University’s Armstrong Hall in New York City, home to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, will end effective May 31, 2025."

There are reports The White House is considering a 50% cut to NASA’s science programs, and 25% of its overall budget, which would be catastrophic for both current and planned missions. But, there is still time for the administration to reconsider. Read our full statement ⬇️

Truly sad to see, although not unexpected. I was able to do 2 REUs, UMich and UCLA, which was incredibly important coming from a small undergrad (Oberlin). I often credit the REUs as giving me the varied research understanding/skills that I needed to get into and later use in grad school. 💔🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️🚀🔬

Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an Antarctic balloon mission! www.forbes.com/sites/bruced... Thanks to @bdorminey.bsky.social for talking with me about my team's high res, near infrared spectrograph proposal to measure M-dwarf compositions for planets and galactic chemistry! 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️🚀🔬

All of the new data, upgrades, and changes from beta have been pushed to the main website: hypatiacatalog.com! So, if you go to the "new" page, it will either redirect you or give you a certificate warning. Thanks to all of our users and for the great feedback. 😃 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️🚀🔬

✨ You Too Can Database: A Roadmap for Creating Specialty Databases & Web Portals ✨ Creating astro databases is like building higher and higher stories in a castle which can eventually reach the castle towers, or NASA observatories, which can see the furthest! 🤩 bit.ly/41gkxGI 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️🚀🔬

Science friends -- here are some great ways to make data more available and accessible! 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️🚀

Has this ever been you: You have a bunch of stars you want to understand, but the data is scattered making it hard to cross-correlate, so you think, "Wow, I really wish there was a database for this." Well now you can make your own niche database! arxiv.org/abs/2411.13308 1/5

Hello! I was born in 2010 and now, thanks to a lot of time, effort, and self-care, I am here for your stellar elemental abundance needs! 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️🚀 I am the bringer of stellar compositions, compiler of SO much data, plotter of all the things, illuminator of planetary interior makeup! hypatiacatalog.com

Hello friends!👋 If you're excited about stars, planets, & their insides, then you're in luck 'cause that's most of what I think about. Also cats, scifi, traveling. Plus I run the Hypatia Catalog (@hypatiacatalog.bsky.social) which has just had a major, glorious update! 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️🚀 new.hypatiacatalog.com

The Hypatia Catalog has had a major overhaul! 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️ new.hypatiacatalog.com We updated services, improved features, faster views, new datasets (keep 'em coming), and a brand-spankin' new API! Info at: hypatiacatalog.com/hypatia/defa... Why wait -- come check us out! You know you wanna. 😉

Ya know what's great about stellar abundances in the Hypatia Catalog...a fresh beta-release! new.hypatiacatalog.com Like the adorable Moo Deng, sink your teeth into updated services, improved features, faster views, and a brand-spanking new API! Info at: hypatiacatalog.com/hypatia/defa... 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️

Please join me in wishing Tatertot a very Happy 19th Birthday! She loves chicken, only 2 people in the world, and screaming heinously when her pet-quota is short. She is not as graceful as she used to be, but can still be surprisingly spry. She is my loud babycat. 😻

You know what time it is? Time to register for an amazing interdisciplinary workshop....that comes complete with ✨travel support✨! To apply for funding, fill this out forms.gle/F8QkqKuPhqCT... by June 23 for full consideration. Workshop registration deadline is July 1, 2024. 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️

Is your brain ready for a LOT of interdisciplinary exoplanet knowledge! You know it is! 🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪🛰️ 🧵In Jan 2021, Keith Putirka, Siyi Xu, and I joined forces to put together 15 chapters (and a workshop!**) written by experts in their field, where the core of each chapter was:

Chandra, the space-based observatory that brings us incredible x-ray images of the most extreme environments in the cosmos, is at risk of cancellation. It’ll be a huge loss to astronomy if the mission ends prematurely for budget reasons. Go to www.savechandra.org to find out how to help #SaveChandra

Exoplanets! Formation! Evolution! And you! Participate in a great interdisciplinary workshop with talks+discussions from experts in astronomy and geology to bridge the gap in exoplanet characterization. 🛰️🧪👩🏻‍🔬🪐 Aug 17-18 in Chicago, right before Goldschmidt2024 tinyurl.com/Goldschmidt24Exoplanets

🪅Happy Mardis Gras, all! 🪅I'm hiring an Interdisciplinary Postdoc for Star-Planet Chemical Interplay to work with me in my group at LSU! I'm interested in a wide variety of topics and people. See below for details or reach out to me with questions. 😃🛰️🪐👩🏻‍🔬🧪 jobregister.aas.org/ad/b4d744ca

This semester I am teaching the same students as the fall. But over the weekend, LSU somehow deleted my class. Like, the whole thing. My students were like, "There's no way she'd cancel class and not tell us." Y'all. They thought I died. One student even looked up my obituary. 😵😂 🔭🧪👩🏻‍🔬🪐🛰️

I'm not going to say that this is 100% the ✨most adorable✨ (and educational) recursion photo series you've ever seen.... but I'm also not NOT going to say that. 🥹 You have been warned. Presenting: Lasagnas and the Sun.

Who is excited for a major update? Everyone!! Introducing the newest changes and upgrades that you've come to know and expect from the ✨Hypatia Catalog✨ Thanks so much to all of our amazing contributors and users. We couldn't do it without you! 💜👩🏻‍🔬🛰️🧪 hypatiacatalog.com

I've counted at least 4 proposal calls that are "not solicited" this year. To say nothing of the VERITAS soft cancellation. NASA, you okay? [No, the answer is definitely that they are not okay.] 🔭🧪👩‍🔬

Astronomy, exoplanet, planet, or moon-themed cocktail recipes please -- GO! 🧪🛰️👩🏻‍🔬

In Jan, I submitted a book chapter to a pretty big geochemistry series which is supposed to be published early next year. I've been anticipating getting the referee report for months now...👩🏻‍🔬🛰️🧪 I have a TONS of travel coming up in Oct, I'm willing to take bets it shows up then. Who wants in? 😉

4 years ago I started weight lifting as a new way for me to exercise and an outlet for my thoughts/feelings. Today was the first workout in the new place and even though being a new professor is 100% KICKING my ass (only 4 weeks into the semester), I'm feeling WAY better about things. 🔭🧪👩‍🔬

Realized that I was going to finish class a little early today, so I decided to explain the heat death of the universe (which oddly made sense in context). I watched their brains melt and then they had ALL the questions. So we ended on time! Win. 🧪🛰️👩🏻‍🔬

I did it! I taught my first class (on planetary astrophysics) as an assistant professor with no major catastrophes! And now I would like to pass out please. 🛰️🧪👩🏻‍🔬

🎶 On the second day of classes, my new school gave to me: A massive power outage (from a down transmission line) and everything is now cancelled! 🎶 Good thing I built some "slip days" into my syllabus. Weeee!! 🙃

Ah, the first day of classes -- a day for new experiences and meeting new people. A day to get back to teaching and kick off this wild journey. A day to have a three hour orientation on job benefits. A day to be told I don't have insurance until Oct 1.

Guess who is starting her first day as an assistant professor at LSU? Hint: It's me.

Is Lasagna wearing a little fur hat made of his own fur that I brushed only today because that's how fluffy he is? Yes, he is. Happy Sunday from a dapper Lasagna.

I wanna know the results of the Pioneers proposals!! 4 weeks ago there was a rumor we'd hear "any day now." No word. So do we get $20M to build and fly an IR spectrograph on a balloon around Antarctica to get M-dwarf abundances (the SAKHMET mission)? Or are we reapplying in March? 🔭🧪

I'm sure this is the hottest take to hit this site yet but.... Moving really sucks. Like super dooper pooper scooper bad. Especially when the paid packers do such a bad job (large boxes of all books, fragile things not wrapped AT ALL, shoes on formal clothes) that most of it has to be redone. 🤬

Finally (shakes fist at storm 🤜⛈️) landed in Baltimore for the "Science with the Habitable Worlds Observatory and Beyond" conference. My talk is tomorrow morning on ✨open questions about exoplanet host stars.✨🪐 Who is gonna be there? Anyone I get to meet IRL for the first time? 🧪🛰️

Okay, so new social media platform. New job: switching from SwRI to LSU. New city and new house. New chapter all around. And with these changes -- some more than others -- the ability to talk more freely about my life, my family (Caleb, Lasagna, and Tatertot), and my thoughts. I'm excited. 😃