I'd been meaning to par down my streaming subscriptions. Disney made it easy to pick the loser.

"We use the updated values." But what are the updated values? Where did you get them from?

Should I spend Sunday working on this grant proposal or should I take a nap?

I recently got to talk to Space about a new JWST MINDS paper led by Maria Morales-Calderón! 🧪🔭 www.space.com/astronomy/ja...

Academics, this is your periodic reminder to maintain a personal webpage with an up to date email address.

I recently did an interview on the origins of life that is 100% alien-spaceship free. You can read about it here: open.substack.com/pub/storiesf... 🧪🔭

1/ Heute, 12.8., ist um 13 Uhr der ehemalige MPIA-Direktor Thomas #Henning live auf Ö1 zu hören. Grundlage ist unsere Nachricht zu präbiotischen Molekülen in der Scheibe ✨ um V883 Ori. Aber es wird generell über den #Ursprung des Lebens gesprochen. #Astronomie #Leben @oeaw.bsky.social 🔭

Another MINDS JWST paper! We explore the stark transition from H2O-dominated spectra in Sun-like systems to the carbon-rich chemistry seen for low-mass objects. We don't know exactly what is driving this trend, but we explore the possibilities that may be acting in concert. arxiv.org/pdf/2508.04692

New MINDS paper from Nicolas Kurtovic, focused on binary systems. Spectra, extended emission, variability, multi-observatory analysis -- there's something for everyone! arxiv.org/pdf/2508.02576

New research suggests that the building blocks of life may not be formed locally, but could be widespread throughout the universe. Complex organic molecules are inherited and developed in protoplanetary discs, paving the way for life's origins. 🌍✨ #SpaceScience #OrganicMolecules 🔭

ALMA found evidence for complex organic compounds, such as sugars & amino acids, in a protoplanetary disc. Thus, discs may inherit these complex molecules from interstellar clouds. More in this press release by @mpi-astro.bsky.social : https://www.mpia.de/news/science/2025-05-v881-ori 🔭 🧪

Antifreeze? In MY planet-forming disk? It's more likely than you might think.

My student Abubakar Fadul's most recent paper is now on arXiv! He found evidence of ethylene glycol (aka antifreeze) and glycolonitrile in a protoplanetary disk. If confirmed, these will be the most complex organics seen in a disk! 🔭🧪☄️ arxiv.org/abs/2507.14905

How to comment on paper drafts:

🧪 BREAKING (good news): Senate subcommittee says NO! to Trump's proposed slashes to NASA & NSF funding. Today, the subcommittee said to keep NASA + NSF funding at $33.9 billion, the same as in FY24. See 7:15 below. Full Senate appropriations committee meets tomorrow about it. 🧵 1/3

Closer science ties across the Atlantic: the Max Planck Society has just launched its new #Transatlantic Program to boost collaboration with top U.S. institutions & open up more chances for researchers at every level - from #PhDs & #postdocs to directors!🌍🔬 www.mpg.de/25034916/max...

It is with great pleasure that I share MAXMINDS 2.0, a new Max Planck program to support scholars in danger of displacement by war or natural disasters, and who have limited access to resources and institutional support. If you know affected scholars, please share. www.maxminds.mpg.de

Celebrating Independence Day by doing the most American thing I can think of: working during vacation because I don't have job security and am terrified of unemployment.

Twelve ALMA/AGE-PRO papers just out! Exploring how gas and dust evolve in disks 🌟🌀 — Congrats to all authors! 🎉 NRAO press release: public.nrao.edu/news/alma-pl...

Our global petition to save NASA science closes this Thursday, and we’re just shy of 15,000 signatures! Every name counts, this petition will be hand-delivered to members of Congress. Add yours today, Save NASA Science. planet.ly/petition

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.

An easy thing you can do to support NASA, even if you are not American.

Now would be a great time to start advocating for science funding. @planetarysociety.bsky.social has some great resources 🔭🧪 www.planetary.org/save-nasa-sc... Save NASA Science - Action Hub | The Planetary Society

Are you a PI of a federal grant cancelled by the Trump administration? Please share your info with the Democratic Staff of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, who launched this portal yesterday to track funding cancellations 🔭🧪 forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Done. Super easy!

Useful resources for US folks. www.savensf.com/take-action

Yup, as a junior American scientist in Europe I have seen nothing about retaining early career folks. We will just be gone.

There goes my best chance of not being unemployed come September 🔭🧪 pcos.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/2025/56...

✉️ It's time to speak up for science! Kick off our Week of Action by writing to your members of Congress. Urge them to robustly fund space science in FY 2026 & beyond. Every letter makes a difference! You can use our prompts for inspiration. #WeekOfAction aas.org/advocacy/get...

A little color in a dark time. ❤️ My neighborhood. Translation: With the campaign "We are colorful!" we oppose hatred, incitement, and exclusion in our society. We stand up for democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, an open, solidarity-based society.

BREAKING: NSF has frozen all grant funding, as of yesterday. It's unclear when they will resume funding awards, or why the pause has been put in place. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Keep pushing back! -HHS Walks Back “Autism Registry” Plans - autisticadvocacy.org/2025/04/hhs-...

An anti Trump/Musk protest in Heidelberg today 😍

Personally, I was hanging on by a thread. With this, I am done. No way I'll be able to find a job in the US.

🚨House Republicans just passed a bill that would disenfranchise 70 million married American women. Under the SAVE Act, women who took their spouse’s last name and don't have an updated passport or birth certificate would be turned away at the polls.

My student Abubakar Fadul's FIRST EVER paper has been accepted and is on arxiv today! In an ALMA Band 7 spectral scan of the FUor V883 Ori he identified 27 molecules, including several never before seen in this protoplanetary disk! arxiv.org/abs/2504.06005 🧪🔭

We're living through a nightmare. (Yes, this is authoritarianism.) www.freep.com/story/news/l...

Hundreds of international students have just received an email telling them their visas have been revoked. The ‘justification’ is campus activism or social media posts. timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/hun...

Anyone else look at their own lecture notes to remember how to do basic things?

SCOOP: As the Trump administration continues its efforts to slash the US federal workforce, the team responsible for publishing data used in advanced research in astrophysics, nuclear fusion, and other fields appears to be on the chopping block.

NASA started terminating grants :(

I stand with NASA employees, who are being villainized across the board by this Administration and facing threats of unjustified layoffs. I'm proud to introduce the Saving NASA's Workforce Act with Ranking Member Lofgren to prevent these workforce reductions. foushee.house.gov/media/press-...

It's 11 am and the grocery store is giving out free beer because Germany.

The atomic spectral lines in this app come from the NIST atomic spectroscopy group, which has provided the world with spectroscopic measurements for 120 years. Today we got word that the federal government is laying off the entire group. 🔭🧪

So on March 9, a French scientist, on a visa to attend a conference in Houston, was denied entry to the US and subsequently expelled because his phone had messages decrying scientific policies put forward by the Trump administration: www.lemonde.fr/internationa...

"Why does my stomach hurt?" I wonder after having chocolate chip cookies and a liter of coffee for breakfast.

I've been in a despair pit today. This helped. statuskuo.substack.com/p/is-somebod...

If you’re a federal govt employee targeted for leave or termination on the basis of your DEI work, please file an EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) complaint & retain legal counsel. I’m a former NIH PI. Happy to refer you to a law firm that has successfully sued the govt many times! Pls repost 🙏❤️

Guys when Chris Rufo and Trump say "We're destroying DEI, we're salting the earth underneath it" and they're talking about regulations that reach back to 1965, they're not talking about corporate diversity trainings. They are talking about civil rights