>10,000 STEM PhDs have left federal service over the past year (including 30% of the federal colleagues with whom I’ve worked closely). Those still left are holding federal science together with duct tape. What an extraordinary act of sabotage against the American people.

Wow... just wow. Dr. Gay's whole thread is very much worth reading. The stupid... it burns... "We choose to do these things, not because they are easy, but because we fired or drove out everyone who had a clue, and our heads are full of dead insects and sometimes worms".

Words cannot express just how impossible this is. It sounds like a bad sci-fi movie plot that failed to consider the input of actual scientists and engineers.

For some context how wild this ride is, for SHERA we would be buying an off-the-shelf spacecraft and it’s still a push to schedule launch by 2031.

NASA will not review the AXIS probe concept study report that we spent a year preparing, but they will somehow launch a fission-powered spacecraft (see Project Orion from 1950s-60s) in two years to go to Mars? Nope nope nope.

If you haven’t already, might be a good idea to prepare to have your electronics seized and copied.

In addition to sharing that I was rejected by eight PhD programs >20 years ago, I will add that I would *never* get into any grad programs now based on today's impossible standards.

I really, really need academic organizations to think more critically about travel (conferences, talks, and meetings) during the Trump administration. Sadly, most are not.

#arXiv, the granddaddy of #preprints servers, has announced it’s splitting from Cornell U., its long-time host institution. Leaders there explain why. #OpenAccess #ScholComm @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

NEW: The Trump administraiton has lost more than 7,000 immigration detention cases in recent months. Increasingly, DOJ is telling judges they have no argument to present or couldn't get facts from ICE to present in court. A look at this emerging trend. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

For those (like me) who need a pick-me-up today, here is the new baby Masai giraffe born at the Columbus zoo on March 10! He is not named yet, but some are vying for Mario (Mar10)!

Many things have impacted American astronomy over the past few years. The peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The collapse of Arecibo. The rise of megaconstellations. But the federal destruction and dismantling of research, NASA, NSF and more from 2025-present has killed jobs like nothing else.

The statement by Dolores Huerta is wrenching 💔: "I have never identified myself as a victim, but I now understand that I am a survivor — of violence, of sexual abuse, of domineering men who saw me, and other women, as property, or things to control." medium.com/@dolores_hue...

I have an astronomy joke, but it is not about aliens, because it is _never_ about aliens. 🔭

The Denver international airport is experiencing power outages, so the trains to the gates and between terminals are not running. 😱

Had fun at #APSSummit26 receiving the 2026 Edward A. Bouchet Award, celebrating with the other APS awardees, attending the @rescorp.org reception, and meeting the 2010 APS Bouchet awardee, Dr. Herman White! 🔭🧪

This is the first time that a Concept Study has been killed due directly to the actions of the government that commissioned the study in the first place.

NASA’s next X-ray mission, AXIS, has been killed Did you think that the cuts to NASA made in 2025 had all been reversed, and everything is now fine? Think again. NASA's AXIS mission, on account of that 2025 bloodbath, is now dead. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #NASA #AXIS #Xray

It’s been a heartbreaking few weeks 💔, but I’m glad the broader community can now understand what happened with AXIS. I learned so much being part of the team, and I truly hope the X-ray community gets a new high-resolution imager one day. #XraysAreTheBestRays

Hello, imposter syndrome! Good to see you, old friend! Sit and stay awhile for my prize talk at #APSSummit26 today. 🔭🧪

My 3yo has autism, & in parent support groups, many parents think they caused their kids' autism w/ vaccines or won't vax their other kids out of fear it will cause autism again. Misinformation causes so much damage & heartache, & it is unclear how to reach people if they don't trust science. 😞

Here's the whitepaper:

They accepted Carter's resignation on Sunday, and the Board announced a new (not interim!!) president on Thursday. By rushing the process & not consulting faculty staff & students, the Board of Trustees totally undermines any confidence and trust in Bellamkonda.

A dyslexic student wants speech-to-text software they need to read scientific books & papers. OSU says they won't reimburse the student until the software company changes their terms & conditions. Here's an example of the changes OSU requires, which seem to be auto-replaced and/or done by AI. 🫠

The trustees deciding to appoint a new permanent, not-interim Ohio State University president with zero input from faculty, staff, and students is bad, regardless of whom they picked. Bellamkonda is going to have an uphill battle to win the trust of all the people who had no say in his selection.

NASA disqualifies X-ray telescope from Probe mission competition NASA has disqualified one of the two proposals for a large astrophysics mission, a decision the project’s leader blames on upheaval within the agency last year.

A mission competition going from two to one candidates directly because of NASA complying with the White House's Presidential Budget Request—which was ultimately ignored by Congress.

I want to emphasize that AXIS's demise largely arose from Goddard being forced to align with FY26 president's budget request (PBR) which zeroed the Probe program. Goddard lost SO MUCH following the PBR, even though the Congressional budget kept that funding! Remember that as FY27 PBR comes soon. 🔭🧪

oh my god while I was disappointed that AXIS was selected over STROBE-X, I would not have ever wanted their concept study not to proceed and this is a loss for the entire field and a sign of how much Donald Trump and his goons have damaged science in the United States and NASA in particular 🔭🧪

Just awful. AXIS would have provided the next step in the study of the high-energy universe. How stupid of NASA management to actively implement Trump's insane NASA budget cuts, which were eventually forestalled anyway in a burst of sanity by congress. Lots of eggs broken for no reason

The gutting of NASA Goddard has had a devastating effect on high energy astrophysics. The AXIS probe mission proposal was rejected without review. (The Goddard X-ray mirror lab was significantly impacted by shutdowns and pressured retirements, against the congress approved budget for NASA.)

For reference, without AXIS, the earliest that a high-resolution X-ray imaging mission can launch -- the successor to the Chandra X-ray Observatory -- is 2050s or 2060s. 🔭

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.

I have read many articles about Carter's resignation today, and every one talks about how he was awful for this university. I worry we will have someone worse next (I hope Santa Ono doesn't apply for the job 🤢)

OSU president Ted Carter resigned. Good riddance! www.dispatch.com/story/news/e...

Want to know more about the sweeping trend of state mandated taxpayer financed and hyper empowered civics centers, and the political project they embody, as in Ohio? See this excellent @theguardian.com article @osuaaup.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Bringing this skeet back up because the THREE $90M each ($270M total) F-15s shot down today by friendly fire in Kuwait could pay for FOUR Chandra X-ray Observatories at full operations. Let's remember that when the 2027 president's budget request comes out soon. 🔭

Follow-up comment on how bad it is on the ground at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. 🔭

Anonymized chat from a telecon right now on the scale of destruction at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and how the best news source about it is the volunteer Greenbelt News Review (www.greenbeltnewsreview.com). ☹️ 🔭

LOL. Conversely, I also found Hegseth calling MIT "woke" hilarious as someone who went there for undergrad and postdoc and saw my academic advisor and my hiring committee chair in the Epstein e-mails. 🫠

Check out @ohdearz.bsky.social great talk at the CfA colloquium on feedback and outflows from nearby galaxies at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Nh.... And thanks for the shout-out for the AtomDB CX model!

Astrobites is partnering with @blackinastro.bsky.social this year for Black Space Week! If you’d like to register to participate as a writer or interviewee you can fill out the Google Form below or in the QR code in the flyer! The deadline is Friday March 6th. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Harvard just announced they will be remote tomorrow, so I may do my colloquium remotely... from my hotel room in Porter Square? 🤣

LOLZ. This is going to be one of my "walking uphill in the snow to work both ways" stories in my life.

Central State University is one of two historically-black colleges & universities (and the only public HBCU) in Ohio, and alumni include the Columbus US congressperson Joyce Beatty. CSU will have lost 38 faculty in the last 3 years, which this Dispatch article says is 1/4 of their total faculty.

Cool cool. Just in time for my colloquium at Harvard this week! 🫠 Got the last flight out of Columbus this morning! All flights to the Northeast are cancelled the rest of today and all of tomorrow.

Got to celebrate the promotion of two colleagues today, always awesome to see great people leveling up. Congratulations to Keely Finkelstein (@astrokeely.bsky.social) and Danielle Berg! 🎉🔥🍾🫡🧪

One of our Republican Senators from Ohio, Bernardo Moreno, was born in Bogotá and immigrated from Colombia and became a US citizen at 18. He's pro-ICE and pro-tariffs and mispronounces his last name so conservative voters don't recognize he's a Latino immigrant.

The Dept of Ed isn't restricting DEI activities anymore, but does that apply to the 31 universities who signed agreements in the Fall saying they wouldn't participate in anything that may consider race? 🤔