The only thing I can add to Hogg’s insights is that the LLM writing papers (for science journals, education) is solvable by government regulation. OpenAI has already admitted they could watermark all text, but are afraid of losing users to competitors.

This is why I think schools should say no to AI

David Hogg has written a white paper on doing astrophysics in the age of LLMs. It looks to be thought-provoking. My initial reaction is that either LLMs will destroy the field or they will force a reckoning with and re-imagining of the current system that often prioritizes output over quality. 🧪

Very happy to advertise a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Exoplanet Science position with me and Christian Schwab at Macquarie University in Sydney. We'll be working on applying machine learning & differentiable physics models to extremely precise radial velocity surveys.

starship self destruct mechanism forgot password

Congrats Sam Darnold!

That was awesome. Bad Bunny.

Another year of watching the Super Bowl without stress. Thank you New York Jets. But rooting for Darnold to win.

These Peacock captions when the song is in French or Italian are hilariously bad

So nice to see the skaters do their best at the big moment.

Wow, one thing after another at Rubin Observatory. All solvable problems. Glad they send out weekly updates.

Greece! #openingceremony

Last weekend I visited the Louis Armstrong House museum in Corona, Queens, where he lived with his wife Lucille for nearly 30 years. What a gift to walk through a home where so much joy, genius and soul lived on!

🚀 Reminder: The Roman Cycle 1 Call for Proposals is OPEN! Now’s the time to propose new science with the WFI - data analysis, theory and lab work, and new observations. Check the Late Breaking News section for important updates to the call. 📅 Deadline: Mar 17, 2026 (5 PM PDT) 📝 bit.ly/4q3jbbL

Just circling back on this one. Anybody?

Announcing the 8th Other Worlds Laboratory (OWL) Exoplanet Summer Program, Aug 10-27, 2026. We wish to foster new and existing research collaborations by outstanding visitors, with stays of 1 to 3 weeks at the beautiful UC Santa Cruz campus. Applications accepted Feb 5-March 5. owl.ucsc.edu/summer/

After a year of protests from astronomers, authorities have abandoned plans for a giant, light-polluting renewable-energy facility in Chile’s Atacama Desert

The Royal Astronomical Society is gravely concerned at the drastic cuts to support for UK astronomy outlined by the Science and Technology Facilities Council. Read our statement 👉 ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...

Hey, that's a neat transit! There's something weird with the x-axis though. Wait, how long was this transit? *rubs eyes, cartoon style* *looks again* EIGHT MONTHS?!?!?!? iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

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...

I really hope — as both a Jets and Trojans fan — that Darnold wins this game .

Alex from our time working together, while he was in nursing school. Later, he moved to ICU, working as a nurse to support critically ill Veterans. He had such a great attitude. We’d chat between patients about trying to get in a mountain bike ride together. Will never happen now

Netflix has a Hallmark movie where the Prince disguises himself as an astronomy PhD student. 10/10 stars obviously.

Can you tell the difference between a hydrometer & a hygrometer? A Leyden jar & a Crookes tube? An armillary sphere & an equatorial ring? Then you should follow @sis-instrument-soc.bsky.social for updates concerning the history of scientific instruments! #histSTM #histsci #histtech #FollowFriday 🗃️

My kind of training

Americans are realizing that unfettered federal power to detain and arrest is a very dangerous thing. I learned that lesson as a child when they put us into internment camps just for looking like the enemy. Don’t go further down this road.

Gas giants are dead! Long live ice giants! (at a bus stop in Edinburgh) @jjfplanet.bsky.social @markmarley.bsky.social

Isn’t it kind of weird that the last two Star Trek shows have crews of superheroes? Do the writers discuss this choice anywhere?

I am looking for someone who successfully fought tenure denial at the dept level for a friend (NOT ME!!). If you have time and resources to help a friend of mine, please message me. #AcademicSky #AcademiaSky

That was incredible. bears!

just asked the ASU Gemini app that I am "encouraged to incorporate into my curriculum" for an illustration to explain why a third-quarter moon rises at midnight. It gave me this. How many things do you see wrong with this image?

The Week 12 report for Rubin LSST is very interesting. community.lsst.org/t/2026-01-16...

Astronomer here! Are you an undergrad student interested in astronomy (or know one) wanting to do a paid summer research experience this year? Here are some slides I made up for my class detailing REU programs! (both NSF and not-NSF funded, including stuff abroad and for non-US citizens) 🔭🧪🎢

I noticed that at the end of last year that I was no longer seeing Yukon Gold taters, so today I went and looked for some to make this dish. No dice. Found a bunch of different yellow taters and these are good, but not the same. Turns out, they’re going away. 🍽️🍜 www.seriouseats.com/yukon-gold-p...

This is great, but I’m going to specifically praise the units of Janskies per square kiloparsec. We optical astronomers have to step up our units game.

What can history teach us about what happens when a populist strongman with an idiosyncratic taste for low interest rates undermines central bank independence?

i think powell's response here is a demonstration of the folly of the idea that democratic accountability requires presidential control. what if the president is not acting in the public interest? you want independent agencies to be able to push back and pursue their *congressional mandate*

“You have to think about physics”. This is excellent Peacock coverage of figure skating.

Applications for the Newton Postdoc Fellowship are due in March. This is for early career researchers to come do a 2-year postdoc fellowship in the UK. If you're interested in coming to Queen's University Belfast to do solar system science/planetary astronomy, please do get in touch. 🔭🧪

🔭☄️ #extragalactic #exoplanets

Today in 1958, Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” cartoon strip addressed a subject on the minds of many Americans. Ten months later, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union entered into a mutual moratorium on nuclear testing as they endeavored to negotiate an end to all such tests.

Looking for tips to modify my approach to teaching a 200-level scientific writing course so it discourages AI use. I prefer to not spend my semester being the AI police. How are others adapting their courses? #scicomm #help #undergrads

This is like announcing details of how the U.S. occupation of Japan is going the day after the Doolittle Raid. Seriously what the heck?

I participated in 2025, and I can’t recommend this enough. To any astronomer reading: please apply, we need your voice in DC. 🔭

Powerful Christmas Day winds gusting up to 114 mph severely damaged UC Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, forcing the nearly 140-year-old facility to close while officials headquartered at UC Santa Cruz assess structural damage and begin repairs expected to take months.

Physics, as if it weren’t frightening enough already.

A nice overview from our media folks of the theoretical and observational work our team has out so far on interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS ☄️

Terrible news about Rob Reiner.

Ah, so there was a program continuously writing an error message to a log file. Over 10% of my disk space.

It’s curious that my wife’s campus had a major IT outage due to hardware failure, and within days the same thing happened at mine. Well, as they say, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.