Entering the grand halls of the NAS I felt a potent mixture of awe and fury. Science is so amazing. Not just for its material discoveries, but also for what it reveals about human values and our ability to know the world *together*. Shame on everyone who is complicit in this crisis. >>

Wait, is that the Moon out beyond the Moon? And is the ISS out in lunar orbit or something?! Man, fire your AI provider... bsky.app/profile/redd...

Well, isn’t this a sight for sore eyes! 😍 Our beloved Hubble appears in this amazing image from one of Vantor's WorldView Legion satellites. It was 36 years ago today that Hubble was launched in the bay of the Space Shuttle Discovery from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Vantor.

Today is a good day to remember that Carl Sagan was as outspoken about the dangers of war and nuclear weapons as he was an advocate of space exploration.

#NoKings #Toledo #Ohio

This is one of a series of prints of Opabinia, 🧪🐡 an extinct prehistoric creatures which lived during the Cambrian geological time period, carved by hand in linoleum, printed onto lovely white paper with bark inclusions and collaged with Japanese papers in different colours and patterns, 🧵

Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, was discovered on March 25, 1655, by Christiaan Huygens. More than 350 years later, it remains a key target for exploration. Launching in 2028, NASA’s Dragonfly mission will investigate the complex chemistry of this ocean world. https://dragonfly.jhuapl.edu/Why-Titan

Tonight in 1983 in the Oval Office, President Ronald Reagan called on “the scientific community in our country” to develop a defensive shield to render strategic nuclear ballistic missiles “impotent and obsolete.” More than $494 billion later (fiscal year 2026 dollars), his dream remains just that.

Star Formation xkcd.com/3222/

Xkcd does it again! m.xkcd.com/3221/

Looking at the AAS jobregister lately, it seemed to me that there are less positions available in all categories than in previous years. Wanting to quantify, I used the wayback machine to check on the number of postings in the January-March window and it is quite depressing.

I keep seeing versions of this post, which imply a bizarre misunderstanding of how we know the world. Do people really imagine that if we'd never observed galaxies or neutrinos or exoplanets or the cosmic microwave background, we could have *imagined* these things & that would be just as real? 🧪

I talked to a lead NSF program officer (PO) who’s considering quitting because everything’s terrible. This is part of the apocalypse. POs don’t just give out money. They keep up with their scientific field and everyone in it to ensure that there’s balance in who and what’s funded. It’s bad news.

mmm #arXiv is leaving Cornell university, becoming independent, and hiring a CEO. Should we worry? I'm already worried.

The world would be a better place if journalists and lawmakers can distinguish an ebike from an electric motorcycle.

A 2011 “close reading” of John Updike’s poem about neutrinos. Worth reviving for anyone who don’t know the poem, or had forgotten it. #sciart www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/febr...

Isotopic Evidence for a Cold and Distant Origin of the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS by @drcordiner.bsky.social et al. (feat. @javacitrus.bsky.social @megschwamb.bsky.social and @cathomas.bsky.social) JWST measurements of deuterium! Lots of deuterium!

The @axisprobe.bsky.social team learned that the phase A concept study report of AXIS (the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite) will not be reviewed because the lost personnel at NASA Goddard and government shutdown impacted our schedule and budget. 🔭 Here is the PI's e-mail with the explanation.

In Koblenz ist ein Meteorit in ein Hausdach eingeschlagen, auch im Hunsrück und in der Eifel hat der ehemalige Himmelskörper Schäden angerichtet. Augenzeugen berichten von einem hellen Flugkörper – verletzt wurde niemand.

Alerts from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory have been flowing for about a week...how many have there been?? 🚨 So far, Rubin has generated....drumroll please🥁 ~1.7 million world-public alerts! That's ~1.7 MILLION objects that changed in brightness or position in just seven nights 🤯 🔭🧪

Tonight in 1959, “The Twilight Zone” episode “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” (season 1, episode 22)—Rod Serling’s taut and unforgettable Cold War parable depicting the societal consequences of irrational fear and paranoia of communist infiltration—was broadcast for the first time on CBS.

Scientific American has updated the figure, now grouped into swimmers, fliers, walkers/runners, and vehicles. A person on a bicycle remains the most efficient way to travel, compared to all forms of biological locomotion and mechanical transport. www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...

Wowowow - our @science.esa.int Hubble's picture of the month for March is the Cat's Eye Nebula, from combined images of #Hubble and #Euclid. Euclid's wide field and low surface brightness sensitivity brings out an external shell. Incredible image. esahubble.org/images/potm2... 🔭

RAFGL 5180 - From Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2jcRWq8

Super Star Cluster M82-F - From Judy Schmidt (geckzilla.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/bUFygH

This seems like a wonderful idea, please support if you agree: beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

Ganymede Flyby - Nasa’s Juno PJ 34 - From Andrea Luck (andrealuck.bsky.social) - https://flic.kr/p/2mUN9EP

Coffee-growing countries becoming too hot to cultivate beans, analysis finds. Five countries responsible for 75% of world’s coffee supply record average of 57 extra days of coffee-harming heat a year www.theguardian.com/environment/...

80% of agricultural land is used for livestock (and textiles), yet this huge land use provides only 17% of our calories and 38% of our protein. 16% of the land used for crops provides 83% of our calories and 62% of our protein. It's past time we rethink what we eat.

NSF Update Funding curve overall. A little bit of progress in the past week, but only a little bit. Now by Directorate... 1/11

In Kopenhagen gibt es die Vorschrift, dass alle wichtigen Radwege bei Schneefall bis spätestens 08:00 Uhr morgens geräumt sein müssen, damit die Menschen sicher mit dem Fahrrad zur Arbeit fahren können. So sieht dass dann aus❤️😀

The full list of science activities paused is here. Includes stuff like Chandra, future missions to Venus, Habitable Worlds… nasawatch.com/space-scienc...

I like being able to see if my JWST observations succeeded by checking bluesky. 🔭,

White House Withholds Funding for NASA Science Missions Despite Recent Budget Bill gizmodo.com/white-house-...

Had a blast speaking to curler and geologist Derek Leung about the geology of curling rocks. 🥌 🧪

Mondays are better with an octopus squid 🦑💫⁠ ⁠ The octopus squid (Octopoteuthis deletron) is unusual among squids. Most squids have eight arms and two long tentacles, making a total of 10 appendages. As young Octopoteuthis mature, their two feeding tentacles are reabsorbed into their bodies.

EVs now represent more than 10% of new car sales in 39 countries, including Vietnam at 38% and Indonesia at 15%. In the U.S., that figure is less than 10%. The gap signals a competitive problem that goes far beyond climate – it's about who controls the future of automotive jobs. buff.ly/H5ETTBQ

One MILLION satellites www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-...

Enjoy a Medieval Cover of R.E.M.‘s “Losing My Religion” www.openculture.com/2026/01/enjo...

Dragonfly 😍 dragonfly.jhuapl.edu/Gallery/file...

The US government lost more than 10,000 STEM PhDs last year, according to an analysis by Science of newly released OPM data, with 11 departures for every hire. And many OPM calls "voluntary" separations were probably pushed. www.science.org/content/arti...

If you need some extra distraction from *gestures broadly at everything,* Kilauea is here to help. The next eruptive episode, episode 41, looks to be kicking off right now! Fountains are starting to grow in height. USGS LIVE stream here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXKu...

The Nesin Mathematics Village in western Turkey was dreamed up by award-winning mathematician Ali Nesin to engage his students

OTD five yrs ago, thanks to the dedication and hard work of @nuclearban.bsky.social, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force, making the development, testing, production, possession, stockpiling, and use—or threatened use—of nuclear weapons anywhere in the world illegal.

Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below! Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage

On the 25th anniversary of the Wikipedia, I wanted to express my gratitude to the writers of the Hydrogen Spectral Series page (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroge...). Great resource for me and the students I work with, and a great example of a useful and concise wikipedia page.

I tried to create a small video showing the orbit of the #AlphaCentauri binary star, the closest star system to our sun (without Proxima). Here is #Spitzer IRAC 4.5 Microns (infrared) with quite a gap between 2006 and 2016. The orbit between the two stars has i=79° (seeing the orbit on its side).

People will get sicker. More people will have heart attacks and lung disease and other health challenges because of pollution. People’s lives will get worse, and shorter. People you know. Maybe me. Maybe you.

Born on this day, January 9, 1944: Jimmy Page, legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist, here showing off his antique cargo trike. Happy #bicyclebirthday, Jimmy!