Oh wow: ESA announces it has a positive detection of the SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage booster impacting the moon! I still haven't seen any images of a flash, but that's not surprising. It was faint. Here, they saw evidence of gas (vaporized material) in the impact plume by taking spectra.

ESO@eso.org · 2h ago

Earlier today, the discarded upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket impacted on the Moon. As part of a coordinated observing campaign, our Very Large Telescope detected spectral lines of sodium and lithium gas in the impact plume lasting for 5-10 minutes after impact. 🔭 🧪 📷 ESO/C. Schmidt et al. 1/4

Dass man Linksextremismus, den es aktuell kaum gibt, als Thema entdeckt, kennen wir von Trump. Der Kampf gegen einen imaginären Feind. Die bpb untersteht Dobrindt und die Regierung Merz beginnt gerade mit einem totalitären Staatsumbau nach US-Vorbild. Die bpb ist ein Baustein, die Aushölung der /1

Daniel Mullis@daenumullis.bsky.social · 13h ago

Bei der Ausrichtung der @bpb.de gegen Links frage ich mich ernsthaft, wer als Expert*in eingestellt wird, welche Bücher verlegt werden sollen, wer Bildungsangebote bestreitet? Im seriösen wissenschaftlichen Bereich gibt es da kaum wen und kaum Literatur, weil es aktuell schlicht kein Thema ist.

„Im Sommer war’s früher auch heiß.“ Ja, eh. Aber nichtmal annähernd so oft und so lang. Aus der ZiB1 vom 3.8.2026:

"Scheint die Abschottungspolitik in der Sache also mittlerweile europäischer Konsens, bleibt im Fall Ceutas dennoch überraschend, mit welcher emotionalen Kälte die EU-Staaten auf die Geschehnisse reagierten – immerhin sind laut offiziellen Angaben bis dato 72 Tote identifiziert."

Jens Best@jensbest.bsky.social · 3d ago

Hier wichtige 15min von Ezra Klein @ezraklein.bsky.social und ein geschenkter Zeit-Artikel von Nils Markwardt @fjmurau.bsky.social . Bitte beides nutzen und über die Woche darüber nachdenken. www.youtube.com/watch?v=livI... www.zeit.de/feuilleton/2...

The Swiss #Blackboard Mystery! We are still looking for someone in or near #Zurich who can lend us a portable big blackboard, for use in the 36th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony on September 3. Maybe you (or your institution) have one hiding in your basement, quietly yearning for stardom? […]

Thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence dating sound absolutely fake, but are real. "What do you mean you can bake sand and know how long it's been since it last saw sunlight?"

Richard Anthony D'Souza from the Vatican Observatory: the three basic questions of astronomy are - Where do we come from? - Where are we going? - Are we alone? It's the very human search for meaning and fundamental questions about ourselves. #astrodon #COSPAR2026

Schon gewusst? Finsternisse gibt es nicht nur bei Sonne und Mond sondern auch bei anderen Sternen und Planeten - und wir können dabei jede Menge über die beteiligten Himmelskörper lernen 🔭 Mehr dazu morgen im Forum am Park mit @astro-markus.eurosky.social: www.haus-der-astronomie.de/sofi2026-vor...

Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.

General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So it's farewell to the History subject area at the University of Hertfordshire, not the first nor the last to go. One of the best departments in the country, just extinguished like a snap of the fingers. Think of the waste. (1/2)

Hey, Escherich was an Austrian doctor who also a Doktor and Professor in #graz. Remember how important science informed health education is. "Durchfall-Sommer" Herrjeh!

c0nc0rdance@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 4d ago

The headlines are still covering the cyclosporiasis outbreak from lettuce, but let's talk about a different summer, long ago. The headlines in Bavaria would have called it "summer diarrhea" & it was killing babies. Enter our hero, Professor Theodor Escherich of the Julius Hospital, Würzburg.

Spanien hat jedes andere europäische Land bei territorialen Verletzungen/ Krisen unterstützt - Finnland gegen Russland, Dänemark als es um Grönland ging und Ost/Zentraleuropa bei den großen Fluchtbewegungen 2015. Und diese Länder hauen jetzt auf Spanien hin statt die Rolle Marokkos zu hinterfragen.

Queere Menschen sollten weniger sichtbar sein, weniger institutionellen Rückhalt bekommen und endlich aufhören, mit ihrer Existenz den angeblich neutralen Staat zu belästigen. Dann werden sie angegriffen. Plötzlich sind dieselben Menschen als Opfer politisch ausgesprochen nützlich.

This is my revenge on Andy Weir.

Michael Busch@michael-w-busch.bsky.social · 5d ago

Isn't Tau Ceti e the one that does not actually exist?

Die Wissenschafts-Mafia, die uns schon beim Klimawandel angelogen hat, behauptet ja auch, der Mensch müsse essen, um am Leben zu bleiben. Das ist völlig lächerlich. Leute, die verhungern, haben meist schwere Vorerkrankungen wie Vitamin- oder Proteinmangel und Muskelschwund. Wer bezahlt diese Lügen??

A time travelling pal just introduced me to the medieval Glimmingehus in Sweden and I'm obsessed. It looks like a superb building but there are also some fascinating and peculiar details. I'd like to know what you think. Let's take a look. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glimmin...

Mindestens 57 Menschen sind in dieser schlimmen Massenaktion auf dem Weg nach Ceuta gestorben. Wie unmenschlich die europäische Migrationsdebatte inzwischen läuft, sieht man auch daran, wie viele jetzt nach mehr Härte an den Außengrenzen rufen statt nach Mitleid und Anteilnahme mit den Angehörigen.

"Normal ist eigentlich auch nicht richtig, denn es wird kein neues normal geben. Wir leben in einer Welt, die sich rasant verändert. Wir könnten eigentlich hergehen und in Fünf-Jahres-Schritten das neue normal neu definieren." @kschwanke.bsky.social zur Einordnung der aktuellen Hitze. Danke dafür!

I love old astronomy books. Here they are in 1902 struggling with the identification of my favourite emission line, the 500.7nm emission from oxygen. It is a forbidden transition, so not seen in normal lab spectra; here it is speculated to be from an unknown element, “nebulum.” 🧪🔭

In this new paper we showed that interstellar objects can be captured as a byproduct of stars flying by each other in the Galaxy (no planets involved). It only works for strong-enough encounters, probably just a few for the Sun during its history. It means that all stars have (sparse) Oort clouds

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

Capture of interstellar objects during stellar encounters - Raymond et al (in press) arxiv.org/abs/2607.18551

This is all a crazy effort to rewrite the past, yes. But what's really terrifying is hearing these people tell us how badly they're going to fuck up the *next* pandemic they're now creating without that nerd Fauci holding them back.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Peter Navarro: "I had a million doses of hydroxychloroquine in warehouses as the defense policy coordinator that I was trying to distribute to hospitals. And Fauci got the FDA stop me from doing that."

Forget about learning and thinking: word vomit is enough to get a job as long as it has a uni credential. Just cut the pipeline already and habd over rich parents kid money for representing the upper class interest.

Charlotte Weatherill@ckweatherill.bsky.social · last wk.

Full of despair today. Massive lay offs in social sciences and humanities across the country, Burnham puts out a video saying 'AI can write an essay', and my university is busy integrating co-pilot into all staff and student computers. We are being told we're defunct and there's no resistance.

What? This goes beyond shooting yourself in the foot. This is bombing the whole limb off.

Suzanne Aigrain @airbornegrain.bsky.social · last wk.

It's not just radio astronomy though. Also "not prioritised for further funding" is HARPS3 - the brand new ultra-stable high-resolution spectrograph (+ polarimeter) for the Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma.

Nope. I don’t accept this position — that we are powerless to change the outcome of this mess. We have a small, time-critical window where we can collectively navigate through this. Also don’t forget, these are commercial entities that are selling products/services that are subject to laws.

Private companies could ruin the night sky for the entire world, and international law can't stop them

"The regulatory environment and regulatory framework has significant gaps and holes in it. Essentially, the technology is outpacing the regulatory environment."

space.com

Aboriginal rangers have wiped invasive fire ants off an Australian island. After 22 years, the Tiwi Rangers have eradicated tropical fire ants from Melville Island, hunting and baiting nests one by one, a feat one entomologist ranks among the top three ant eradications ever. The ants had been […]

The UK could fund this, and numerous other critical science programmes, if only the government would cancel the billion-pound boondoggle that is the ARIA agency. But rather than terminate it, under Starmer Rachel Reeves actually chipped in another £200 million.

I'm absolutely devastated for colleagues at Jodrell Bank who found out this morning that funding for the UK's e-MERLIN radio telescope array will be terminated. This is a short-sighted move, to save a tiny fraction of the overall UK science budget. #SaveJodrellBank 🔭🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Jodrell Bank's Lovell telescope faces axe in science cuts, BBC understands

Astronomers warn it would tear the heart out of UK science, and leave a generation untrained.

bbc.co.uk

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 3w ago

“What will the Lovell Telescope discover/enable 20 yrs from now? I can’t tell you, and that’s the point. It will either be something extraordinary that none of us can yet predict, or we will defund it and leave Cheshire with a rusting monument to unfulfilled potential and discoveries never made.” 🔭🧪

Menschlichkeit ist nicht tot ❤️ Direkt am Fluss Kolpa hilft Nada Šimunić seit Jahren Menschen auf der Flucht. Sie berichtet, dass wieder mehr Menschen die kroatisch-slowenische Grenze überqueren. IBAN: AT20 2011 1842 8097 8400 Kontoinhaber: SOS Balkanroute PayPal: team@sos-balkanroute.at

Es sind knallharte Neonazis (und mindestens ein Hauptmann der Stasi), die mit Ulrich-Siegmund zusammen in den Landtag einziehen wollen.

(S+) Sachsen-Anhalt: So extrem sind die AfD-Kandidaten

Stasi-Verstrickungen, Drogenprobleme, Rassistenrituale in der Altmark – der SPIEGEL hat die Kandidaten durchleuchtet, mit denen die AfD in Sachsen-Anhalt an die Macht will. Hinter der Wahlkampffassade...

spiegel.de

Not only is Kayla investigating brown dwarf atmospheres with me, she also developed a program for students in juvenile detention in Tucson.

UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory@uarizonalpl.bsky.social · 2w ago

LPL graduate student Kayla Smith is taking planetary sciences lessons to Pima County Juvenile Detention Center! www.kold.com/2026/07/23/j...