After rejecting multiple rare disease therapies that had clinical data, the FDA has approved leucovorin for a super rare kinda-related-to-autism disorder with...no clinical trial whatsoever. In related news, up is now down and down is up
Good words of warning here. AI models are generally designed to read and incorporate (and, in a sense, believe) virtually everything they find online, with very few guardrails. The information can get divorced from its original source, context, & rebuttals or retractions. That's a really big problem
Join us on April 13 for a free virtual event exploring the intersection of art and astronomy!
Link to register: forms.gle/k8Y5xd3NyAcN...
20yrs ago we knew of maybe a few thousand stellar rotation periods. Kepler/K2 was a massive step to about 50k. This is the next, and most dramatic leap in our understanding! Bravo!!!!
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. 🔭
Amazing set of preprints up today for everyone's favourite interstellar comet, 3I/ATLAS!
Three different teams use three different telescopes to measure 3I's composition in water, nitrogen & carbon. The isotope ratios suggest 3I comes from a truly ancient star 🧪🔭☄️
This represents wasting an astronomical (no pun intended) amount of work. IIRC Dragonfly’s CSR was almost 1000 pages and represented years of work from many people.
THIS PART.
When I graduated from high school my counselor (who was great) told me it was good I wanted to be a physicist because I'd never be a great writer. I was also the worst writer in my frosh expos course.
I am now an award-winning writer. BECAUSE I PRACTICED!!!!!!
Today on the #arXiv:
Chow et al. 2026, "Predictions of Imminent Earth Impactors Discovered by LSST" - arxiv.org/abs/2603.05587.
Detailing how @vrubinobs.bsky.social will double the discovery rate of very small asteroids before they make harmless fireballs.
Accidentally timely given Koblenz‑Güls.
The U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office.
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies. Read more: https://scim.ag/4boPkq8
I'm super excited to share a HUGE paper out from Young Worlds Lab team member Andy Boyle.
I present for you, ~900,000 rotation periods from TESS!
🤯🔭🧪⭐ #exoplanets #stellarrotation
arxiv.org/abs/2603.05586
Anyway, on this International Women’s Day, thinking of the millions of women and girls in Iran, Lebanon, and Palestine enduring bombardment, displacement, and the destruction of schools, hospitals, and homes. Their lives, safety, and futures deserve the same urgency and solidarity as any others.
I’ve always had good luck with OtterBox cases! They’re pretty plain but really sturdy!
I hope everyone who checked out @hogg.bsky.social’s white paper on the implications of LLMs in astronomy and shared it across slack channels similarly perused and amplified this white paper of best practices for broadening participation in astronomy!
So cute!!
Everyone give a HUGE congratulations to Naia for finishing her PhD in aerospace engineering! On my last visit to NASA Kennedy for the #ArtemisII rollout, I learned from her about the Super Guppy, and we dove in a little deeper to see what it's all about! Have some fun and laughs with us!
The reason I fight so hard for trans kids is because I was a trans kid myself. I knew who I was in the year 2000, 12 years old, behind my computer, using the name Erin. I wanted puberty blockers so badly. My body shifted and changed in horrifying ways that I suffered for 15 years over.
Astronomy PSA: Please be patient as our team of orbital mechanics perform Earth's twice-yearly rotational adjustment tonight. You may find your clocks are not set to the time your body feels. This is perfectly natural and will slowly ease as Earth's spin rate slows back down to what it was before.
You try to move one asteroid, you end up moving two. www.iflscience.com/its-official...
Elon Musk has already started plans to launch a million satellites.
Yes. A MILLION.
This is a colossally bad idea, and it's not too late to make your voice heard. I explain everything:
www.scientificamerican.com/article/ramp...
🔭 🧪
The American Astronomical Society has a page with more info and how you can submit comments to the FCC to stop this travesty. Hurry though; submissions end today.
aas.org/action-alert...
I do have a list of book releases in 2026 that I think you should be buying/borrowing and reading, many of them non-fiction, all of them available through your local indie bookshop.org/lists/exciti...
Often in a poor job market, college grads will choose to continue their education into grad school.
But with federal funding being gutted, a lot of grad programs are recruiting fewer students, or none at all. Leaving less opportunity for our young adults and putting more pressure on the job market.
JOB OPENING! If you want to work as a reporter with Nature's US news team, this is a VERY RARE opportunity. The beat is physical sciences/energy & environment/technology. DC or NYC location. Deadline 3/27. Join our awesome team! #journojobs
springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/es/SpringerN...
Hey AstroSciCommers!
Great news! Physics Girl is making videos again!
Bad news: Attacks on science are so bad I need to talk at a rally on Saturday.
Interesting news: We need to find more near-Earth asteroids.
And it's all here!
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/standing-u...
🔭 🧪
The painting "Night in the Steppe" shows a vast plain under a bright full moon, the light being distributed over the landscape and the water in an almost magical way.
This work is made by the renowned Ukrainian artist Ivan Marchuk, who invented the unique painting style called "plyontanism" (from the Ukrainian word plyontaty, meaning "to braid"). This technique consists of hundreds of fine, intertwined lines that create depth and an almost textile-like texture.
