The 2025 Ig Nobel-winning research was as wacky as ever. But wars, visa restrictions, Trump's border and research policies, and even an all-too-frequent airplane incident kept nearly half the winning teams from traveling to Boston @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

I got to tell the inside story of NASA's historic DART mission for Popular Mechanics and Apple News+. 🛰️☄️As one source put it, “The probability is low that an asteroid will hit us. But at the same time, it is the only natural disaster that we can predict and act against.”🌍 tinyurl.com/2xvskbuh #nasa

Somewhere, over the space rainbow...🪨🌈 @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #space #nasa

Is BlueSky toxic? Maybe - but there's no algorithm to blame. Read more in @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

"Like trying to build a house without a two-by-four" - Trump leaves NASA missions on the table, but guts the fuel needed to get there. Read my first story for @sciam.bsky.social : www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum... #nasa #trump #space #astronomy

The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: While the Trump administration is ordering NASA to build a lunar nuclear reactor, it's also proposing cuts that'd end NASA's nuclear-powered exploration of the solar system. Will Congress push back? By @hannah-richter.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

More budget chaos—and an "aggressive interpretation of executive authority"—before the scientific futures of NASA, NOAA, and the NSF are settled 🛰️🔬☁️. Read my update today in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #trump #nasa #science #noaa #nsf #congress

An important step to using clean, natural hydrogen fuel⛽ ? Figuring out how it rises tantalizingly close to Earth's surface in "fairy circles"🪨. Read about a new theory in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump’s first administration established a program to prevent satellite collisions. His second administration wants to dismantle it. 🛰️ 💻 "We will see, frankly, a more dangerous space environment," said an industry leader. Today for @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

When exposed to UV-C, the most radiation-resistant life form on Earth died in less than a minute. Not so for a hardy black lichen known as Clavascidium lacinulatum. It just kept going and going, even when scientists continued to blast it for moths. Really cool story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social

UV-C light is a go-to sterilizer for hospitals and labs. 🦠🔬 Why can this dark desert lichen survive a "mind-blowing level of UV-C harshness" - and could it provide clues to life on other planets? 🌱 🪐 Today for @science.org #astrobiology #biology www.science.org/content/arti...

The Trump admin has called for shutting down 1/2 of the Nobel Prize-winning LIGO facilities that detect gravitational waves - a sign they "probably didn’t have a deep understanding of the science behind LIGO." Read more in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social #trump #nsf skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Abazajian "can't help but draw comparisons to... the Soviet Union when it collapsed." Sky & Telescope Magazine covers the enticement of Europe of US scientific talent ⚛️ 🧪 🔭 - great article by @hannah-richter.bsky.social for @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Great chat with the fantastic @hannah-richter.bsky.social on the proposed USA funding cuts & the impact on global science for Sky & Telescope magazine 👇🏾

For a UCI cosmologist, America's science perils remind him of his childhood in the Soviet Union, when top scientists fled the collapse to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Will Europe be the next landing destination? #trump #science @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

The White House's proposed budget for NASA is "a whole new level of horror," according to one planetary scientist. 🚀❌ Read how the space science community is reeling and dealing in my new story for @skyandtelescope.bsky.social #nasa #trump skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Last January, I met Kevin Liévano-Romero at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Manter Laboratory of Parasitology.🪱🦇🦠 His unconventional path to science and love for creatures creepy and crawly stuck with me, so I'm thrilled I got to feature his story with @nature.com! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

For my first story with Sierra Magazine of @sierraclub.org, I got to answer a nagging question: Should we be supporting zoos in 2025?🐼🦧🦜 www.sierraclub.org/sierra/do-zo...

Could astronomers have found the elusive Planet Nine - or accidentally disproven it?🪐 Find out in my story for @science.org! www.science.org/content/arti...

Worried about tariffs? So are astronomy companies 🔭 . Read my new @skyandtelescope.bsky.social piece about how businesses from major telescope distributors to boutique American manufacturers are dealing: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

@hannah-richter.bsky.social did a phenomenal job reporting this story out:

As NASA comes under DOGE's knife, details are opaque - including to affected scientists. Read more in my story for @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Notable to include grants specifically supporting STEM education & research in Native American & Black communities. Good comments from @planetdr.bsky.social. Feeling really sad for all those affected. 🔭https://www.science.org/content/article/confusion-and-worry-doge-cuts-hit-nasa

The DOGE cuts at NASA include funding for science curricula for students in the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw nations; for a meeting of the National Society of Black Physicists; and a Columbia center to combine sat data with social science, among others. @hannah-richter.bsky.social is on it.

We have a @science.org @eos.org Armageddon/Deep Impact situation with WATER IN THE MANTLE TRANSITION ZONE studies. First, there's @hannah-richter.bsky.social on the idea that the MTZ can drive rifting -- and even plate tectonics.

Could plate tectonics have started deep inside Earth🪨🌍? Read my latest in @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

First story for @sciencenews.bsky.social 🔭🌌 www.sciencenews.org/article/citi...

New for @arstechnica.com 🧊🌍🔬 arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Curious about habitable worlds?👽✨ @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Today for @science.org 🌎https://www.science.org/content/article/earth-s-inner-core-might-harbor-volcanoes-and-landslides

A new class of hypersoft x-ray objects may represent long-sought intermediate-mass black holes. scim.ag/4ghsYWd

I met lots of cool people and learned about amazing science at this year's American Astronomical Society conference in National Harbor, MD! Check out some of my articles for @science.org and @skyandtelescope.bsky.social 🔭☄️ : tinyurl.com/846ys76a, tinyurl.com/2s4enzvk, tinyurl.com/bddaxtyf