I have been in the UK a couple of months now. Perhaps I was naive but I’m shocked how universal hate-fueled politics has become. I want to live somewhere that values compassion, tolerance and treating others with dignity. How did these messages of hate gain so much traction?

“If an explanation could easily explain anything, then it actually explains nothing. When theories are variable, experimental testing is useless. I call such theories bad explanations. Being proved wrong by experiment and changing to other bad explanations does not get one jot closer to the truth.”

New studies used JWST to probe TRAPPIST-1e, the most accessible potential Earth-like exoplanet. Data reveals the atmosphere is 1) Not hydrogen dominated (unsurprising)😌 2) Unlikely to be Venus-like🧐 3) Compatible with N2-rich😎 arxiv.org/abs/2509.05407 arxiv.org/abs/2509.05414

#CoolWorlds Podcast Episode 25 just dropped with PBSSpaceTime's very own Matt O'Dowd youtu.be/V7QjrsadlKQ

“It is fundamentally impossible to ever establish alien life at some threshold odds ratio, Ocrit, unless we deem the prior probability that some as-yet-undiscovered natural process could explain the event is less than 1/(1+Ocrit).” iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

In a culture that promotes the individual, we are comprised of various axes of identity, such as political ideology, nationality, race, even football team. I think it’s important to question in our modern society whether those differences are causes for celebration - or are wedges of division.

The biggest tip I have for scientists getting started in outreach is you have remember you’re speaking to the layperson, not your peers. It’s incredibly hard to get their imaginary gaze out of your head, but it makes you overly nervous, formal and distant if you try to do outreach for them.

New paper! Allow me to introduce TARS = Torqued Accelerator using Radiation from the Sun. TARS (yes inspired by Interstellar!) is a rotating light sail that's capable of launching chip sats into interstellar space using only radiation from the Sun, so let's dive into how it works.

Some personal news! Next month I will be moving to the UK for a year for a sabbatical. I plan to do some writing, recharge my batteries, build new connections and make some great videos. Looking forward to seeing many of my long list British colleagues!

Is the Universe finely-tuned for life? Geraint Lewis explains in our new Cool Worlds Podcast episode… youtu.be/OejwZqh-F9U?...

This paper is hard to parse. I don’t recognize the institution and its full of grandiose claims “This is indeed a paradigm shift”. It also lacks a single figure or code. But if true, it would be v useful…. 🤔 arxiv.org/html/2506.18...

It arrived!

It happened again arxiv.org/abs/2506.05392

*speechless horror* (Guys the NASA Exoplanet Archive is in this box. My job is in this box.)

Join me and @davidkipping.bsky.social tomorrow at @pioneerwork.bsky.social as we discuss... wait for it now... ALIENS. Yeah, the real super-cool science of Life in the Universe kind of aliens. Not the endless stupid conspiracy theory stuff. pioneerworks.org/programs/sci...

The Harvard visa ban is shooting ourselves in the foot. Harvard is a magnet of global talent. I was a predoc at Harvard & then a NASA Sagan fellow there before joining Columbia, so I am one of the many immigrants who was trained and drawn to the US by that incredible institution.

“we estimate that ~25 more MIRI transits would be needed for a 3-sigma rejection of a flat line relative to DMS/DMDS features” - wow, 25?! arxiv.org/abs/2505.13407

Abstracts for PSETI due May 31st - this is always a fascinating meeting!! #SETI sites.psu.edu/setisymposiu...

Come join us at Pioneer Works next week for Scientific Controversies: Aliens Adam Frank and David Kipping in Conversation with Janna Levin WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2025, 7:30PM @davidkipping.bsky.social @jannalevin.bsky.social pioneerworks.org/programs/sci...

The K2-18 Video You've Been Waiting For youtu.be/zjDUG1_jfXU?...

This video by @neildegrassetyson.com and @davidkipping.bsky.social gives an *excellent* overview of the recent claim of possible life on an exoplanet. If one makes a big claim one receives a lot of scrutiny! David plans a more detailed follow-up video on his @CoolWorldsLab Youtube channel.

It was fun to discuss Mars terraforming with @davidkipping.bsky.social ! Link: m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dae...

Figure 1 from my new paper (arxiv.org/abs/2504.13238)

It’s much harder to create something than destroy

Have any Harvard Astro grants been affected?

In Defense of Science youtu.be/ABU06LDZpfY

anti-DEI = Uniformity Inequity Exclusion, UIE

Folks always assume exponential growth in technology and scientific discovery. Surely growth begets growth. How would it ever stop they might say? This. This is how. Not by lack of ingenuity, but by deliberate dismantling of capability.

We’re living in the age of decline.

Is our human need for a distinct self-identity - to differentiate ourselves from others - the key to both our rise and fall as a civilization? It spurs innovation, creativity & advancement but costs us tribalism, polarization and fractured peoples. It may be humanity’s greatest gift - and challenge.

The human impact www.nature.com/articles/d41...

HAPPY PI D…. sorry I couldn’t even finish

The principles of a university are anti-institutional. It’s a place which explores controversial ideas, challenges dogmatic thinking and celebrates academic free speech. No wonder institutions don’t like them.

Cool Worlds Podcast #20 Natalie Batalha - Kepler Mission, Exoplanets with JWST, Future Imagers youtu.be/BCWd7NuTIcY

The Trump administration has terminated $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University, spurring the nation’s top spender on research and development to plan layoffs and cancel health projects

If you got bad JWST news today (on top of all the other bad news) then just wanted to say it’s not a reflection of the quality of your work and all successful proposals ride a bit of luck to get there.

Saddened and alarmed by what’s happening here recently

**This would end space science as we know it.** I’d probably be out of a job. Successful ongoing missions would be turned off. Future missions would be axed. Some research centers (NASA & non-NASA) would likely dissolve.

I’m sorry but I’m finding it really hard to be sympathetic to those who bought a certain car in the last couple of years and are only just now having an ethical crisis.

NYT

My hypothesis is that the majority of prominent anti-institutionalists are fundamentally driven by an emotional reaction to said institutions rejecting/criticizing/snubbing/mistreating them at some point, and thus are personal quests of retribution/I-told-you-so/burn-it-all-down/etc.

DOGE in practice: Disabled Army veteran who has 4 kids and did 3 tours overseas is fired from his job at Bronx VA hospital

Destroy US science leadership because…. eggs too expensive.

Doge is auditing NASA today. This is absurd. The owner of Space X should not be auditing NASA. It’s a massive conflict of interest.

Make no mistake. Academia is under assault.