Physicists will spend $10 billion on a particle accelerator to understand why there is an "unnatural" hierarchy between the Planck scale and the weak scale, then insist that philosophy has no role and we should shut up and calculate.

Mindscape 327 | Cass Sunstein on Liberalism. He defines "liberalism" broadly, including folks from Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to Martin Luther King and Franklin Roosevelt. #MindscapePodcast www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025...

Nice advance in origin-of-life research: scientists get RNA and amino acids to spontaneously attach to each other (RNA aminoacylation). Also, @404media.co is doing good work! www.404media.co/scientists-m...

New black holes! Well, they're new to you. #physics ⚛️ 🧪

In an IEEE conference last week, NASA engineers explained how they fixed the Juno spacecraft’s failing JunoCam imager in late 2023 by heating and slow-cooling (annealing) its electronics. 👏 www.nasa.gov/missions/jun... More at fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1148... #PlanetSci

Very sad to hear. ⚛️

After a boring night shift yesterday, we are back to recording collision data at the LHC. We are still in this year's commissioning phase were we are not yet at full intensity with about 800 bunches circulating in both directions. So what does that mean? A short #SciComm thread 🧵🧪⚛️

If you want to irritate armchair physicists on Reddit, just tell them that length contraction isn't a visible effect. Are Bluesky physicists more open-minded? ⚛️🔭🧪 Explanation: You don't see an object's length (dist. between its endpoints at a fixed time). You see photons that arrive simultaneously.

Lots of ICE in Massachusetts these days. Saving, sharing, and spreading this information will help keep good people safe from masked kidnappings. Especially if you're not at risk yourself, use your voice and privilege to spread this knowledge. It will save lives.

ICE is running rampant in Massachusetts. Stay alert and support our neighbors.

Check it out I found an ant tending to its aphid farm! Ant friend is in the front keeping the farm clean and tidy and the aphid cow buddies are the black clustered at the base of the branch in the back. #entomology #ants #insects #inverts

I just created a quick map depicting which portions of the United States are now (as of today) or will imminently be (by early June) without 24/7 local National Weather Service coverage (per Washington Post reporting). #CAwx #CAfire #CAwater #ORwx #AKwx #WYwx #KSwx

We're seeing increased ICE presence in Massachusetts. ICE is kidnapping people off the streets, harassing bystanders, & terrorizing communities. The LUCE hotline has been doing amazing work to keep people alert and to document what's happening. Bookmark www.lucemass.org. What else can you do?

We’d love to find more #QEC experts here on BlueSky and have created this starter pack to help connect the error correction community. It’s just a start – if you’re working QEC, please follow this account and message us. We’ll happily add you to the pack! go.bsky.app/RiZfVco 🧪 🧵[2/2]

I noticed that the wild strawberries in my yard are starting to flower! Strawberry flowers are tiny but when you look close there's so much pretty detail. The local bunnies are feasting like kings! 🐇♥️🍓 #nature #springwatch #wildstrawberries #foragingfinds

NASA engineers are troubleshooting an issue with the solar electric Hall-effect thrusters on the Psyche spacecraft, which have shut down due to a drop in pressure in the line that feeds xenon gas to the thrusters. A backup fuel line is avail if needed. More @ fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1144... #PlanetSci

Another cool Martian cloud spotted by CNSA Tianwen 1... and yes, Mars does have clouds! Full size & info: flic.kr/p/2r2HXah Image Processing: Andrea Luck Raw data: CNSA/CLEP/PEC/MoRIC Mars, Protonilus Mensae - March 1, 2022 #planetsci 🧪

"Perhaps prison would have persisted this way forever. Perhaps our granite hearts and iron wills would have never crumbled. Perhaps the prison mentality, that we be cold and heartless, would have endured. Perhaps. But then there were kittens."

Lots of ICE in Massachusetts these days. Share and stay safe fellow Massholes. Check out the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network for resources www.lucemass.org

For 50+ years, #Landsat 🛰️ has captured the changing face of Earth, creating an #EarthObservation record that continues to provide countless #SocietalBenefits. How has Landsat benefited your community? #gischat #eochat ow.ly/oPQ050VBGwx

Light signatures can help astronomers deduce the atmospheric gases of planets circling stars many light years away. Determining the nature of these alien skies is one of the goals of the James Webb Space Telescope. 🧵1/5

Sea slug of support for anyone who needs. A nudi in fairytale forest. #Marinelife #inverts 🦑🐙🧪

Your aperiodic reminder that Mercury has a weirdly HUGE core for reasons we do not yet understand. It's less a planet and more a molten ball bearing wrapped in a thin blanket of rock.

New LGR travel vlog over on Blerbs! www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzOW... This is the VCF East experience as it was for me in April 2025. Flying from NC to NJ, getting settled in, enjoying beachside pinball and InfoAge museums, lots of wandering the event itself, then flying back home and evaluating.

Moss and lichens growing on quartz in the woods. I love how colorful and vibrant this little ecosystem looks against the brown and bare forest floor. And yes, the adorable little moss mouse was as soft as it looks 😁 #nature #moss #lichens #lichenlovers

the worm festival is absolutely crunked

Wouldn't changing the status of thousands of legitimate living social security number holders to "dead" be fraud? Hmmm... So they know there's fraud in the social security department because they're the ones doing it. Right. Sing it with me folks, 🎵🎵 every republican accusation is a confession 🎵🎵

Just some eepy purring.

Ambassador Spock modeling the proper “fuck you, make me” response to intimidation tactics. Our current-day institutions could learn a lot from him.

Whoa: The European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter spacecraft got a spectacular view of Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) as it passed close to the Sun. Look at that enormous, splintered tail! This comet won't be seen again for another 600,000 years. 🧪🔭 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

On 19 March 2025, ESA’s Euclid mission released its first set of survey data, an event that marks a major step in the exploration of the dark Universe. Reference➡️ esa.int/Science_Expl... This release includes a preview of Euclid’s “deep fields”, three mosaics covering 🔭 🧪 #cosmology #Euclid 🧵 1/

Looks like a scene from a #scifi movie but no, it's science & engineering at work! This is the instrument enclosure of NASA's NEO Near-Earth Object Surveyor prepared for tests inside the historic Chamber A that was used for Apollo in Houston. Credit: NASA www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia26... 🧪🔭

Look I have zero excuses for this, but the idea popped into my head and now it's in your head, sorry

Today is the 1st day of early voting for the WI Supreme Court. Susan Crawford is running for this seat & will protect the basic rights & freedoms guaranteed to Wisconsinites under our constitution. Make your plan to vote for her. Go to vote.wisdems.org for more info on EV dates & polling locations.

The @esa.int Euclid mission has today released its first survey data, which include images of 26 million galaxies from three deep-field surveys. ⚛️ 🧪 🔭☄️ physics.aps.org/articles/v18...

This is the best map yet of what Antarctica looks like under the ice. Ice thickness shown at left; ice-stripped topography of the continent shown at right. Let's hope we never get to see what an ice-free Antarctica looks like for real. 🧪 www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/n...

some people draw such gorgeous art, i love art!! i love artists!!!!!

An international team of astronomers, using the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), discovered 128 new irregular moons of Saturn that now officially has 274 moons. Image source & description➡️ photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA2... Image Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech 🔭 🧪 #planetsci #galactic 🧵

10/n Martian Potato1 🧵 It's worth remembering that these are single shots taken by the spacecraft while focusing on Phobos, which I've colorized and processed. If you're curious about how those images are even possible @akasci.bsky.social shared this: fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1141...

1/n Martian Potato1 🧵 Phobos Over Mars: a time lapse from 2007 to 2021 Full size & info: flic.kr/p/2qREua9 🧪🔭 Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck CC BY 8 frames, captured by @esa.int Mars Express. It's stabilized on Phobos (Todd crater) to play with the disorienting effect. All images below ⬇️

The Rubin Observatory is getting ready! 🔭🧪⚛️ Isn’t it amazing how the camera looks like a giant DSLR? 🤩

We're now within 24 hours of my next pulsar observing session with Murriyang! 📡 Had a few folks send questions in, but if you (or your students) have more, send them through (here or DMs) and I will answer them best I can at tomorrow's observing session. Kicks off at 7am AEDT! #RadioAstronomy

I hear eggs are a hot topic these days, so can I interest you in some nudibranch eggs? These are all eggs I've found around Seattle. Each of these contains thousands of tiny eggs. #Invertebrates

#BlueGhost NASA Cameras on Blue Ghost Capture First-of-its-Kind Moon Landing Footage. The Stereo Cameras for Lunar-Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) 1.1 instrument took the images during the descent and successful soft landing. Credit: NASA/Olivia Tyrrell www.nasa.gov/general/nasa... 🧪🔭 #BGM1

Democratic Leaders Stand Real Still In Hopes No One Notices Them

Senate Dems need to ask themselves "What would prime time Mitch McConnell do if he were one of us?" and then do that thing. A culture of congenial cooperation only works when all parties buy into it. You can't wish the good old days back into existence. Be loud shitheads. Do it for democracy.

This is also why folks need to stay LOUD—make your opinions known. It’s making a difference.

There is a lunar eclipse visible in North America tonight if you're in an area with clear skies. Unfortunately, we are expecting about 80% cloud cover. ☹️ www.axios.com/2025/03/13/t...