Harry Baker

Martian meteorite that fell to Earth is full of ancient water, new scans reveal A new study has revealed that the iconic Black Beauty meteorite contains much more hidden water than previously suspected. The rock, which fell to Earth from Mars, could reveal clues about the Red Pla...

"Many tiny specks of ancient water are locked within one of the oldest and most famous Martian meteorites ever to fall to Earth. The surprising discovery reveals more clues about the Red Planet's watery past."
🌌🪐☄️🪨🔬 #Meteorites #Mars #Water #Science #Space #Research

By @harryjpbaker.bsky.social 👏🏽

A big day for space weather, with the BBC reporting that a Mexico-to-USA flight in October experienced a 'sudden drop in altitude', likely caused by *solar energetic particles* from the Sun. Here is an explanation and some thoughts as a solar astrophysicist (a thread): 1/8

When a galaxy is pulled apart Studying what's left can tell us about dark matter.

What's left after a large galaxy tears apart a small one? And how can that help in the search for dark matter? three-alpha.space/p/when-a-gal... 🔭🧪

The stranded Chinese astronaut saga has finally come to an end! 👨🏽‍🚀🚀

I’ve been covering this story all month and while I am glad that the Shenzhou-21 crew has a new return capsule, I still find it crazy that they were seemingly left without a safe way home for over a week

2 'new stars' have exploded into the night sky in recent weeks — and both are visible to the naked eye Astronomers have spotted another never-before-seen "nova" blaze to life in the night sky. This may be the first time that simultaneous stellar explosions have been visible to the naked eye in recorded...

A second "new star" has unexpectedly appeared in the night sky, less than two weeks after a near-identical point of light first burst into view without warning.
www.livescience.com/space/astron...

Quadruple volcanoes on secret Soviet military base linked to climate-altering eruption 200 years ago — Earth from space A 2024 satellite photo shows four end-to-end volcanoes perfectly spaced out along the Russian island of Simushir. One of these peaks was the site of a surprise eruption that temporarily cooled the Nor...

Quadruple volcanoes on secret Soviet military base linked to climate-altering eruption 200 years ago - @harryjpbaker.bsky.social @livescience.com

www.livescience.com/planet-earth...

Inspired by @jtuttlekeane.bsky.social and @ohdearz.bsky.social, here's what the White House proposed budget cuts to NASA would do to the entirety of the agency's Science Mission Directorate.

Bloodbath is right.

These strange, hybrid Earth lifeforms could survive on Mars, new study hints Researchers bombarded these hybrid lifeforms with a year's worth of Martian radiation in just 5 hours — and they survived, hinting that they could potentially live on the Red Planet.

Survival on Mars - a promising new study has revealed that lichens can withstand the intense ionizing radiation that hits the planet's surface buff.ly/Hs0Dfgb

An interesting report @harryjpbaker.bsky.social @livescience.com
#Mars #Space #SpaceExploration #Science

Water Balloons xkcd.com/3061

The Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) is a second generation instrument in development for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It is a panoramic integral-field spectrograph operating in the visible wavelength range. It combines a wide field of view with the improved spatial resolution provided by adaptive optics and covers a large simultaneous spectral range.

This is the device (the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer on the Very Large Telescope) used to discover a 3-million-light-year long filament linking two distant galaxies.

Exploring the hidden universe ain't easy! 🧪🔭

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I’d also like to shout out some amazing illustrations & diagrams in both stories from another of my fantastic colleagues @marilynperkins.bsky.social!!

'Let's just study males and keep it simple': How excluding female animals from research held neuroscience back, and could do so again Neuroscience research has only recently begun to prioritize the inclusion of both male and female lab animals in studies. Could we see that shift reverse?

In this accompanying piece, Nicoletta also explains how Trump’s recent executive orders on gender identity & DEI initiatives could be about to endanger neuroscience research in a big way 🚨

www.livescience.com/health/neuro...

My incredibly talented colleague @nicolanese.bsky.social has just published this outstanding feature on the differences (+similarities) between the male & female brain. It is expertly written, well sourced, insightful, extremely timely & well worth a read 🧪🧠✍️

@livescience.com

Check it out!! ⬇️

Trending BETA What people are posting about. CDC Layoffs Texas Outbreak

This is not a good combination of trending topics 😬

'Stranded' NASA astronaut Suni Williams photographed from Earth during record-breaking spacewalk. Can you spot her? A photographer on Earth has captured an incredible telescope image of NASA astronaut Suni Williams outside of the International Space Station, as it passed by roughly 250 miles overhead.

An amateur photographer on Earth has captured an extremely rare photo of "stranded" NASA astronaut Suni Williams floating outside the International Space Station (ISS) as it passed overhead.
www.livescience.com/space/space-...

Thanks @laurageggel.bsky.social!!

Parisian photographer produces phenomenal, perfectly-proportioned 'planetary parade' portrait A French astrophotographer recently snapped shots of the moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in a single evening, and rearranged them to create a striking composite image. Each "pla...

Hats off to @harryjpbaker.bsky.social for this alliterative headline that's also a tongue twister.

The risks of ‘space junk’ are clear: what goes up, might well come back down on top of you | Patrick Schröder As commercial space activity ramps up, detritus from launches poses a risk to active satellites and those of us down on Earth Last month, people in a small village in Kenya looked to the sky and saw a red glowing ring slowly descending. The half-tonne…

The risks of ‘space junk’ are clear: what goes up, might well come back down on top of you | Patrick Schröder

'Marsquakes' may solve 50-year-old mystery about the Red Planet Data collected by NASA's InSight lander suggest that ancient internal processes are responsible for the "Martian dichotomy" that splits the Red Planet into two distinct halves.

Data collected by NASA's InSight lander suggest that ancient internal processes are responsible for the "Martian dichotomy" that splits the Red Planet into two distinct halves. #Mars #PlanetaryScience 🧪

by @harryjpbaker.bsky.social for @livescience.com

X-class solar flares hit a new record in 2024 and could spike further this year — but the sun isn't entirely to blame, experts say There were significantly more X-class solar flares in 2024 than any other year for at least three decades. The arrival of solar maximum was a key reason for the spike, but other factors were also at p...

There was a (modern) record number of X-class solar flares in 2024! While solar max is largely to blame, researchers told me we may also be getting better at spotting these supercharged outbursts. Experts also predict the number could rise further in 2025 ☀️💥📈

www.livescience.com/space/the-su...

We, uh, may have had a different angle 🍆
www.livescience.com/animals/hump...

My first weekly roundup for @livescience.com is live 🤩🧪

An astronaut standing on the surface of the moon. An American flag is placed behind him on the left side of the photo, and an antenna dish attached to the lunar rover is visible to his right. The astronaut's reflective visor is down; it is a golden-copper color. The suit is white and has an attached pack on the astronaut's back. A small series of gray hills are visible in the background. The surface is gray, as well, and dusty.

A color photo of the Apollo 17 lunar rover driving near the edge of a crater. The surface is gray, as are the hills in the distance.

A photo of the lunar lander, one of the astronauts, and the lunar rover, taken from a distance, The sun is behind the astronaut taking the picture; their shadow is visible near the bottom of the photo.

One of the Apollo 17 astronauts driving the lunar rover. It is very spare to reduce the weight that needed to be transported.

The last moonwalk began #OTD in 1972.

No one has set foot on the Moon since Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, 52 years ago today. 🧪 🔭 🧑‍🚀

Images: NASA

A blurry photo of a man wearing 3D glasses in a planetarium

I got taken to the planetarium for my birthday last week (by ‘taken,’ I mean I dragged my wife along)

It was a lot of fun & confirmed for the 1,000th time that I am definitely in the write job 🔭✨🪐

This was the only photo either of us took & I love how janky it is!

Whatttt

We recently launched a new series on @livescience.com highlighting interesting case reports!

If you ever see/write a report you think we should cover, drop me a line

(email in pinned post)
🧪💉🩺💊

Had a lot of fun writing this one (& choosing the picture hehe)

If you divide 1 by 998,001 you get all three-digit numbers from 000 to 999 in order, except for 998.

A display of green auroras with a large luminous letter E (circled)

Can’t stop looking at this awesome photo I wrote about yesterday — a ‘letter E-shaped’ aurora in Alaska created by rare black ‘anti-auroras’ that shoot electrons out of the atmosphere 🤯

📸 Todd Salat/aurorahunter.com

www.livescience.com/space/the-su...

Screencap of a post: Firstasatragedy • 170d •*• • SPOILER The Paradox of Gilmore Girls and the Sopranos Media In Season 6, episode 4 an episode of the Sopranos, an episode of Gilmore Girls is playing on TV. In Season 7, episode 17 of Gilmore Girls, Richard is wearing a tracksuit. Lorelai makes a joke about it by asking if he's having lunch with Tony Soprano. So obviously this means that both the Sopranos and Gilmore Girls exist as television shows in the other's respective universe. B ut more alarmingly, this means that each universe has now become a televised universe of itself within their own universes. When the Gilmore Girls watch the Sopranos, they will see themselves in the show. Likewise, when Tony Soprano watches Gilmore Girls, he will witness a direct reference to himself. It's like the effect of two mirrors facing each other: the universes of the Gilmore Girls and the Sopranos are infinitely replicated all the way down.

This is the kind of paradox I live for