Hey, so...Covid rates have gotten real high. Maybe change your behavior to fit this new risk profile? Stop eating indoors at restaurants, mask on mass transit, that kind of thing?
Planetary science • Astrobiology • Complex systems • Public health advocacy.
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Hey, so...Covid rates have gotten real high. Maybe change your behavior to fit this new risk profile? Stop eating indoors at restaurants, mask on mass transit, that kind of thing?
“…authoritarians…fear science in part because its feats — unlocking the universe, ending plagues, saving millions of lives — can form bonds of public trust that rival or exceed their own.” Historians See Autocratic Playbook in Trump’s Attacks on Science www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/s...
bsky.app/profile/astr...
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been…nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” –Isaac Asimov
Our new study finds that the upper atmosphere is becoming more sheared and less stratified because of climate change. Both these changes are making the atmosphere less stable and more conducive to turbulence. Covered by the BBC here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Mammoths in Mexico? Huge bone trove reveals giant beasts thrived in warmth, too | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
COVID-19 is spreading in California. Getting the 2024/2025 COVID-19 vaccine while pregnant is safe, effective & protects you & your developing baby from getting very sick. 📲Talk to your prenatal care provider or visit MyTurn.ca.gov to schedule your vaccine appointment.
Here is the official statement from the American Meteorological Society on the "foundational flaws" of the Department of Energy’s recent attempt to deny the reality of #climate change. www.ametsoc.org/ams/about-am...
“This planet is run by crazy people. Remember what they have to do to get where they are. Their perspective is so narrow, so…brief… They care only about the time they are in power”. - Carl Sagan, Contact
“…the discovery of an extended CO2 coma and the abundance of ice water shows that 3I/ATLAS may not be so different from the comets that formed around our Sun”. spherex.caltech.edu/news/3i-atla...
El asteroide Bennu tiene materiales de miles de millones de años del Sistema Solar y de más lejos. #Latinus #InformaciónParaTi latinus.us/estilo-de-vi...
Is this agency-wide? Just wondering what the situation is for SMD (and particularly for Planetary Science)…
This is a shocking executive order that undermines the very idea of open inquiry. It turns federal grants into dispensations, subject to arbitrary and capricious withdrawal should the recipient say or believe the wrong things. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Actually, the best protection is to *combine* vaccines with N95-wearing, indoor space ventilation and indoor air filtration. All of those things will reduce your risk of developing Long COVID, which can damage your heart, brain and other organs.
Dr. Woodrum’s story is inspirational. It reminded me why space is worth exploring: love.
5 big unanswered questions about the origin of life It's 2025, and Earth is still the only example we have of a planet inhabited by life. Here are 5 big questions we're seeking to answer about how it came to be, as well as finding life elsewhere. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #life #astro
#WallpaperWednesday: #RubinFirstLook edition 🤩 Need a new phone background? Loved the first images from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory? We've got you! Save one of these to use, set it, and enjoy the cosmos captured by Rubin every time you use your phone 🌌🔭🧪
The Planetary Society will provide a NASA budget briefing on Thursday, June 12, at 12pm ET! We'll answer the top-rated scientific community questions, share everything we know, and give you our expert perspective on what's going on. Register for free here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
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
National Institutes of Health employees have had enough. Impressive showing of more than 300 staffers ask leaders to "return the NIH to its mission and abandon the strategy of using NIH as a tool for achieving political goals" in their Bethesda Declaration. www.cnn.com/2025/06/09/h...
And to think that the distance between those two points is the farthest humans have traveled from Earth.
New model helps to figure out which distant planets may host life
And also humans of other (albeit now extinct) species.
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.
The President's budget request would be devastating to NASA science and our quest for life beyond Earth. But there's still time to act, and your voice matters.
COVID virus levels in Austin, TX, as of 30 May, 2025. Data from covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t...
Help save NASA science funding.
Dozens of active and planned NASA spacecraft killed in Trump budget request | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
BREAKING: The president's budget request just hit Congress, which could usher in a dark age for NASA space science. Congress has the final say, but you can help shape the outcome by adding your name to our global petition. This is just the start of our fight. Sign the petition: planet.ly/petition
raisonancenews.prowly.com/405145-raiso...
A French nasal vaccine project against COVID-19 blocks all transmission of the virus – another step taken url.inrae.fr/3tL2989
“Although debate continues over precisely how to measure disruption and novelty, the emerging consensus does seem to be that scientific innovation is getting more difficult to achieve.”
#JunoCam: Side-by-side comparisons of how different citizen scientists process the same images of #Jupiter. Interested in processing your own JunoCam images? Visit buff.ly/dCAW6H0 🧪 🔭 📸: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill / @tthomopoulos.bsky.social
Likely not. bsky.app/profile/dist...
Not that anyone asked, but during my tenure on the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board, under part of Obama-2 and all of Trump-1, we visited Military Bases domestically & abroad. At no time did any member of the Armed Forces I met say to me: “America needs less science funding.”
For decades, scientists have been puzzled by intriguing streak features down slopes on Mars 🤔 🧹 Something sweeping dust? 🌊 Underground water seeping out? 🌪️ Dust devils at work? @esa.int's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter helps find an answer: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Letter From Advisory Groups Regarding NASA Budget nasawatch.com/budget/lette...
Unprecedented cuts to the National Science Foundation endanger research that improves economic growth, national security and your life theconversation.com/unprecedente...
"If we were to decide not to return samples [from Mars], or to put it off to an uncertain future time to be returned by astronauts, we would be taking a major step backward in exploring the solar system."
bsky.app/profile/astr...
The sun is beautiful.
“…senior scientists must acknowledge the severity of the threats to the scientific and higher education communities from the administration’s actions and activate to support local and national efforts to counter the threat”. eos.org/opinions/sen...
“…an independent team using the same approach has identified other gases that explain the JWST data just as well—sometimes even better—without invoking biosignatures.” Claim of alien life on distant world meets swift scientific pushback | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
How little we’ve seen: A visual coverage estimate of the deep seafloor | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
“Just over half of the children born in 2020 will face unprecedented exposure to heatwaves over their lifetime”. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
-L. Wittgenstein
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen.
Measles was a solved problem.
Some would say a planet on its own right.
Possibly the worst news so far for US science from the current administration. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
This is from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson aired on May 20th, 1977. Carl Sagan says something very important, a strong message that didn't lose any validity since then.
Cutting federal funding for scientific research could cause long-run economic damage equivalent to a major recession, according to a new study from researchers at American University. #EconSky Story: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/b... Study: impa.american.edu/costs-of-cut...
Major industry groups, including the Commercial Space Federation, AIAA, and the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, signed on to a joint letter led by The Planetary Society calling out the consequences of reckless cuts to NASA science. www.planetary.org/press-releas...
Questions galore.
The rover and near-IR satellite spectroscopy analysis hadn’t found enough surface carbonate to support the theory that Mars once had an atmosphere thick enough to hold water. That is, until the discovery of siderite. 🧪 🔭 More: buff.ly/UFsVvmL 📸: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
“…to react to vaccine misinformation and scientifically unfounded vaccine decisions by the U.S. government”. Vaccine experts band together to counter U.S. government misinformation | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
“Convergent evidence” makes it clearer that it’s not the scientists’ opinion, but nature itself, that tells us what’s going on.
theconversation.com/granular-sys...
PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081
A new look at the ongoing K2-18b saga from @npr.org - includes a comment by our director @lkreidberg.bsky.social :-)
We had a visitor.
Is information a manifestation of emergence?
The evidence for biosignatures on K2-18b is flimsy, at best Last week, Cambridge scientists announced the discovery of DMS and DMDS on K2-18b: what they call a "surefire biosignature." Now, cut through the hype and get to the truth. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astronomy #science
Thought-provoking considerations regarding the hypothetical existence of extraterrestrial "technosignatures" in the solar sytem.
I think there might be a mix of reactions, from not caring at all to religious rapture. It would be a treasure trove of data for sociologists.
theconversation.com/scientists-f...
I’m concerned that, if and when we detect an unambiguous sign of extraterrestrial life, the public interest will be minimal due to exposure to previous overhyped claims by the media.
Neutralized Science Foundation.
This is not a discovery of alien life. It’s not even a strong hint. But it is a step forward in figuring out how we might one day make that discovery—and how to do it right. www.seti.org/biosignature...
science.nasa.gov/citizen-scie...
A team of scientists made headlines last night with claims that they had found the “strongest hints yet of biological activity outside the Solar System”. They have met floods of scepticism. https://go.nature.com/3Gsyr03
What’s your take on the DMS detection study?
PSI in the news: Jeffrey Kargel is one scientist to respond to a study published in PNAS that looks at global warming and the intensity of marine heatwaves. Read it here:
Glad to hear that Harvard, my Alma Mater, stood up to the Federal Government in defense of academic freedoms. It’s a start, but at least their latest declaration aligns with the school’s Latin motto for Truth: “Veritas”. Perhaps other institutions will follow.
Nature will never cease to be amazing.
"Disregard for disciplinary boundaries is essential for discovery". - C. Brandon Ogbunu
Despite what many outlets may have led you to think in the last couple of weeks, Einstein’s theory of relativity is alive and well. Also, this is one of the most stunning space images I have ever seen. Absolutely stunning.
Thank you for this. Will this document will be published in a particular outlet to make it visible to a wider audience? Or perhaps sent directly to members of Congress?
NASA Astrobiology Research Needs Your Support astrobiology.com/2025/03/nasa... This white paper is being circulated in the #Astrobiology community. Please read through it and consider signing so as to add your support to this immensely important multi-disciplinary, multi-national research.
The current model of scientific publishing isn’t sustainable. www.binghamton.edu/news/story/5...
“The team…became the first to investigate an area that had never before been accessible to humans.” schmidtocean.org/thriving-ant...?
A reminder that nature doesn’t care about our language limitations.
For U.S. climate scientists wanting to volunteer their time for the seventh IPCC report, a nonprofit coalition led by @agu.org is stepping in to forward nominations if the State Department fails to do so. (There's no indication it will act right now.)
A thread on how little we know about the universe – specifically, dark energy.
Water may be older than anyone thought. Almost as old as the Universe itself, in fact. The implications for life across the Universe are staggering. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fascinating. Trove of Ancient Axes Shows Early Humans Made Tools From Bones www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/s...
This is not law. It couldn’t withstand legal scrutiny. Don’t comply in advance university presidents. General counsel, don’t panic. Do law, not vibes.
Я підтримую Україну.
Image taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars. On the left: the moon Phobos. On the right: Earth. That little dot contains all of our species’ (pre)history, all the examples of life that we know of, and many secrets that perhaps will never be known.
'No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles, nor to prescribe ... the questions investigated.' -Richard Feynman #Feynman #Science #Physics
Key point: through the air. In other words, it can linger aloft even if no one is around.
AGU has issued a statement urging the Trump administration to renew a federal commitment to climate science. “Climate change is real. It is happening,” said AGU President Brandon Jones. “Climate science is real. It is necessary.” Read more: buff.ly/41zTkyC
www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-e...
thehill.com/opinion/ener...
theconversation.com/cdc-layoffs-...
“…gender-diverse teams produced more novel and impactful scientific works…” www.nature.com/articles/s43...
“Actions that limit who is included in science will also limit the quality and breadth of scientific information available to society. The more people who are trained to become scientists and science communicators, the more minds are available to tackle the many global challenges we face.”