alexwitze.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Is NASA really going to send humans to Mars? Its budget plans released last week suggest it may be serious. So I wrote about why that’s hard. 🧪

submitted 7 hours ago • 4 comments

We have NASA's proposed budget for FY26, and it is brutal to science. Earth science would be cut by more than half. Astrophysics (like JWST, Hubble) by nearly two-thirds. Full details at www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budg...

submitted 5 days ago • 9 comments

The marathon livestream of weather & climate scientists talking about their research, and its importance, continues. Drop in anytime through the weekend for learning opportunities. I just heard a discussion about what everyone's favorite cloud is! #wx wcstreamathon.netlify.app

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Weather and climate scientists determined to resist funding and program cuts in the geekiest way possible - with a 100-hour livestream of science presentations www.cnn.com/scientists-r...

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

this one's for the weather nerds out there i know you're out there #wx #severewx #wxsky ❄️🧊🧪

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Ready for the latest K2-18b drama? Madhusudhan is claiming even stronger evidence of DMS after analysing both near-infrared and mid-infrared JWST data. But another study finds no evidence at all. Read on for a quick update on everyone's f̶a̶v̶o̶u̶r̶i̶t̶e most newsworthy exoplanet. 🧵 #exoplanets 🔭

submitted 15 days ago • 6 comments

Sworn testimony of NIH officials and internal emails reveal just how much DOGE is calling the shots in killing peer-reviewed biomedical research grants. More bombshell reporting from @maxkozlov.bsky.social in @nature.com:

submitted 14 days ago • 3 comments

JWST breaks its own record with new most distant galaxy MoM-z14 There's a new cosmic record-holder in town, coming to us from when the Universe was only 282 million years old: 2.0% of its current age. Here's what we found, and why it matters so much. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astronomy

submitted 14 days ago • 3 comments

"US scientists who are abruptly unemployed are turning desperation & defiance into coping strategies & advice. But 1 thing is clear: whether they move abroad, pivot to other research areas or leave science, their deep expertise is likely to be lost." By @virginiagewin.bsky.social in @nature.com 🧪

submitted 14 days ago • 8 comments

There's a fascinating feature out in @nature.com today from @davidmjourno.bsky.social, on whether and why scientific breakthroughs are getting harder to achieve. It's a narrative being discussed by some of the most powerful science officials in the world, such as OSTP director Michael Kratsios. 🧪

submitted 14 days ago • 3 comments

“Our results confirm that there is no statistical significance for DMS or DMDS in K2-18 b's atmosphere. … we estimate that ~25 more MIRI transits would be needed for a 3-sigma rejection of a flat line relative to DMS/DMDS features ….” arxiv.org/abs/2505.13407

submitted 14 days ago • 2 comments

Are you a student who's interested in science writing as a career? Sign up ASAP for the opportunity to be paired with a virtual mentor (like me!) this summer through @sciencewriters.org.

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

My latest: It's long been held that weather becomes inherently unpredictable after 2 weeks, defeated by chaos and the rapid growth of small errors -- the butterfly effect. But new work using AI weather models suggests that may not be the case -- and forecasts could theoretically go a month or more.

submitted 16 days ago • 2 comments

New Harvard grant terminations in the geosciences (plus others - geosciences are just my jam) are up at grant-watch.us/nsf-data.html. They include work on tracking mercury pollution in the Arctic; the longterm atmospheric impacts of 2022's Tongan eruption; and how earthquakes rupture the ground. ☠️

submitted 20 days ago • 4 comments

New: We have the list of ~190 Harvard NSF grant terminations from internal agency sources. About $148 million intended funds killed. Over 1/3 are from the MPS directorate—roughly 75 math and physics grants.

submitted 20 days ago • 8 comments

“This no longer feels like the right place to raise a family and pursue a research career“ We spoke to five US-based researchers who are seeking, or moving to, jobs abroad because of the drastic changes imposed on US science by the Trump administration https://go.nature.com/4mwfevl

submitted 22 days ago • 2 comments

Significant insight into the ongoing dismantling of the NSF from a top Biden science advisor ⬇️⬇️

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Planetary scientists have been really, really mad about DEI-related conference abstracts being taken down from LPI meeting sites. I wrote about it: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

submitted 26 days ago • 3 comments

This is the NSF's plan for the fact that it didn't have money to support anywhere near the amount of graduate research fellows this year as they usually do: They are asking business and philanthropy to fund NSF fellows, because the NSF can't afford it.

submitted 28 days ago • 2 comments

At LSSW, Nicky Fox said they evaluated the proposals from industry for getting VIPER on the Moon & are continuing to explore alternative approaches. On the VIPER blog, it clarifies they ARE NOT going with any of the industry proposals and canceled the solicitation. www.nasa.gov/blogs/missio...

submitted 28 days ago • 1 comment

"This is not just a little haircut for a large federal agency—it’s grabbing the scissors and stabbing the agency through the heart." - Eric Morgan & Ralph Keeling (yes, that Keeling)

submitted 29 days ago • 4 comments

Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

submitted 29 days ago • 709 comments

Over on the space side of things, many abstracts related to past DEI-related talks at the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference have been removed in recent days from the archival conference websites. Asked for an explanation, USRA (the conference organizer) told me it had "no answers."

submitted 30 days ago • 3 comments

In which the Senate-confirmed director of the National Institutes of Health - talks down to the highly experienced @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social - says "it's not me personally" who cancels agency grants - claims @nature.com is spreading rumors, hours before he confirms said rumors

submitted 30 days ago • 28 comments

Three week climate journalism internship available in London

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Trump proposes unprecedented budget cuts for US science in next fiscal year NASA cut by 24% NIH cut by 40% EPA cut by 55% NSF cut by 56% Analysis from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @dangaristo.bsky.social @alexwitze.bsky.social and @nature.com team www.nature.com/articles/d41...

submitted 33 days ago • 20 comments

How scientists are fighting back after Trump gutted two landmark environmental reports. 🧪 Words by me, photo selection by Nature's ace photo team: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments