Neat writeup of the recent Dyson Minds workshop at MIT, co-organized by @pseticenter.bsky.social's own Olivia Curtis!

Experts Met at MIT to Discuss The Possibility of Alien Tech Around Black Holes. Here's What Was Discussed

Last June, while most of us were sweating it out and scrolling socials, more than two dozen of the best scientific minds in the world headed to MIT.

sciencealert.com

Ummm… I've looked at a lot of RV curves over the years and Figure 9 of this paper does not show any evidence of a giant planet/BD companion. At best, I'd say they've done a lot of work and done a good job to *rule out* giant companions at various periods and the remaining parameter space is small.

Meg Schwamb@megschwamb.bsky.social · 2w ago

Evidence for a giant companion orbiting Boyajian's Star arxiv.org/abs/2607.20643

On the contrary, this object is not just a moon, it is a moonmoon! Specifically, it is the moonmoon brown degenerate "star" CD-35 2722 Bb. The system is dynamically equivalent to the system in Figure 2 here: arxiv.org/abs/2303.18217

A Unified Nomenclature and Taxonomy for Planets, Stars, and Moons

I solve the problem of nomenclature of planets, stars, and moons, and in doing so repair two of the IAU's blunders. Drawing and improving upon foundational work by Chen & Kipping, I describe a single,...

arxiv.org

Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 2w ago

I find myself confused here. The new object is in orbit around a star. It’s a planet, not a moon. The fact that that star is in orbit around another star seems neither here nor there. 🔭

I testified before a PA House committee about the PSETI Center and got asked about inspiring a new generation of kids to be scientists: www.facebook.com/watch/?v=134...

1.3K views · 12 reactions | Today, the House Communications and Technology Committee held an informational meeting on how modern communications systems, data integration and sensor technologies improve our ability to identify and analyze anomalous signals and objects. During the hearing, I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Jason Wright, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State University, how we can inspire more young people to pursue careers in science, technology and space exploration. It reminded me of growing up and attending school with Col. Mike Fincke, whose journey led him to become a NASA astronaut. Encouraging the next generation to dream big and pursue careers in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) is critical to maintaining Pennsylvania's and America's leadership in innovation, research and discovery. | PA State Rep. Valerie Gaydos

Today, the House Communications and Technology Committee held an informational meeting on how modern communications systems, data integration and sensor technologies improve our ability to identify...

facebook.com

Missed this when it came out. A good article about the Kardashev Scale and its intersection with current ambitions to put a lot of computing power in space. www.cnn.com/2026/07/10/s...

Elon Musk’s plans refer to an idea conceived in the 1960s. What is the Kardashev scale? | CNN

A Soviet astronomer in the 1960s proposed a scale to classify hypothetical alien civilizations. Here’s why the framework is still coming up today.

cnn.com

There is a veterans memorial at Penn State that bears the words Ή ταν ή επί τας, “with your shield or upon it” supposedly what Spartan mothers would tell their sons, that. They should not to return home unless they have won the war or are dead.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 2w ago

I am endlessly fascinated by right wingers' obsession with Sparta. I can understand an initial vibes based appeal I guess - like if you opened the first page of a book on timocracy and were twelve. but the thing about history is you can find out what happened to those guys

Just found out that I lost one of my mentors last week. A lot of him as a scientist and parent is in me today. I’m grateful for what he taught me, and that he believed in and supported me when I was looking for the next step in my career. I’m glad I got to see him a few days before he passed.

EV owners: Charged my Kia EV6 at a ChargeSmart cabinet and got, by a factor of two, the fastest charge I’ve ever had. The native NACS plug was a plus. It was a hassle to get the charge to start (Tesla is still way ahead of everyone else here) but the speed was amazing once it started.

I was just wondering exactly this! Lucky me I have a world expert in atmospheric hazes in my feed…

Sarah Hörst@planetdr.bsky.social · 3w ago

If you, like me, just had a bunch of rain and your AQI didn’t go down as much as you maybe thought it would: AQI isn’t just particles, it is also a few gases. Rain is really good at removing particles, gases less so. Also if your rain came with lightning, it could’ve made more of the gases!

NYT games working very hard the past several days to break a lot of Wordle streaks! Still going strong following my Program over here!

Yup! In some ways I was pretty miserable my first two years until I really found my groove and confidence.

Jonathan Fortney@jjfplanet.bsky.social · 3w ago

18 months in, I thought that I'd made a terrible mistake. I wanted to just take my grant money, move to a soft money institute, and work by myself as long as I could. The first years are hard!

Oh yes, every summer with my daughter. It’s intense! There is a whole This American Life” episode (Notes on Camp) from decades ago on the camp intensity phenomenon. We listened to it in the car in the way home the first year with her.

The 11-year-old just came home from a week of sleepaway camp profoundly sad. He had the time of his life, feels like he finally found his people, and he’s desperate to go back. It’s really intense. I’ve never seen him like this. Have other parents experienced this with camp?

My view is this is a new and urgent manifestation of old problems in pedagogy: how to handle technology that can replace/speed up essential skills, and how to make sure students are actually developing those skills and not cheating.

Zach Weinersmith@zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 4w ago

Yeesh. arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/w...

I don’t usually strongly disagree with Dave, but speaking generally and not about Swift/Kelce: a wedding is almost definitionally a public performance! “Private“ ceremonies still happen in front of many others. Even getting married at the courthouse requires a witness!

David Roberts@volts.wtf · last mo.

I generally have not cared one way or another about Taylor Swift, but I will say, making your *wedding* into a giant public event is creepy to me. No matter how famous you are, being married is not a performance! Most of the time it's just going to be the two of you, with no one watching.

Spent the day in Harrisburg testifying before a PA House Committee about the @pseticenter.bsky.social and Penn State's strength is astrobiology and astrophysics! Thanks Rep. Waxman for the invitation! www.pennlive.com/news/2026/06...

Pa. House committee met to talk about aliens from outer space. Here’s why

“Why are we allowing unidentified objects to operate with impunity in our skies?” one expert testified Tuesday.

pennlive.com

Bonkers to me that the 14th Amendment's historical promise of birthright citizenship was only upheld 5-4. Alito and Thomas dissenting is disappointing but not surprising, but Kavanaugh and Gorsuch genuinely surprised me. A win is a win, though. We should celebrate it.

Yup. The long delay is also inconsistent with a bunch of outer solar system things. But the idea of a more violent stage of planetary migration is a decent one that probably has some truth to it.

And 1 reason it was accepted quickly was that it explained the late heavy bombardment, a thing that probably did not happen

(So it was a very good step in evolving our understanding of the early solar system, but that model not a correct picture of the early solar system)

Just because I can’t help myself, the original, specific “Nice model” turned out to be demonstrably wrong. But *apsects* of it provide good explanations for observables in the solar system.

Ooh I wrote an undergraduate honors philosophy of science thesis sort of on this. (Independent study on “philosophy of planetary science” 1982)

Also accurate opening hours including (ESPECIALLY) on holidays.

Rico, hausfatha of WAWG & short king CEO 🧞✨@epereza22.blacksky.app · last mo.

A restaurant not having their menu easily accessible on their website is crazy to me. Like, that’s the whole point of your business.

I was once the sort of the visiting neutrino-physics attendee at a deep earth geology conference and I was AMAZED how the geologists were confidently arguing for various opposing ideas, much like your description of the planetary scientists. I'd never seen anything like it at a physics conference.

🔭 AAS has partnered with @apsphysics.aps.org and other organizations to develop a tool to help you submit unique, personalized comments on harmful proposed changes to federal grants. Please submit a comment by 13 July! www.aps.org/initiatives/...

Bluesky Science (especially journalists): 🧪 I have the sense that there is a lot of variation across scientific fields in how willing their scientists are to fairly portray consensus theories and certainty in those theories, especially when they disagree with them. Does this ring true? 1/

I participated in a AAS Congressional Visits Day a long time back and it was a great experience! Highly encourage you to apply if you're interested in learning more about advocating for science in DC!

American Astronomical Society (AAS)@aas.org · last mo.

🔭 Every year the AAS brings volunteers to DC to advocate for their science and the priorities of the astronomical science community with members of Congress. Be an advocate and sign up for Congressional Visits Day (CVD) on 14–15 September. Deadline: 5 July by 11:59 pm ET aas.org/applications...

Hey everyone! Our AAS committee, SGMA, wrote a 'comment' article for Nature Astronomy -- now published just in time for Pride! You can access it free via this link: rdcu.be/fplJd We also wrote an accompanying Q&A article to profile a few of our committee members: rdcu.be/fpk42 🧪🔭🌈

Building a culture of inclusion and allyship for queer astronomers

Nature Astronomy - The American Astronomical Society (AAS) Committee for Sexual-Orientation and Gender Minorities in Astronomy (SGMA) is tasked with supporting the community and promoting...

rdcu.be

YES

Gef the Toking Mongoose@geftokingmongoose.bsky.social · last mo.

I was raised on these streets

As plausible as this is (and I'm not disputing it) it's also very plausible, given Trump's very particular and instinctive political genius, that he knows perfectly well what "asylum" means and is pandering to a base neither knows nor cares about that distinction. We underestimate him at our peril.

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · last mo.

Clearest proof we've seen that he thinks refugees claiming political asylum were refugees from an actual insane asylum. The leader of the United States is dumber than dirt but there's an entire cult enabling him and a corporate media too cowardly to call them out.