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Leila Belkora PhD, astrophysics

@leilabelkora.bsky.social

Science writer. Roots in US (NE/CO), Morocco, Switzerland. She/her. Current project: poet Robert Frost as amateur astronomer, to come from Clemson @cupress.bsky.social Agent Henry Thayer at Brandt & Hochman.

1519 Posts2717 Follower2014 Folgt
A. E. Stallings@aestallings.bsky.social · 7h ago

A reminder that in Greek, the Trojan Horse is the Wooden Horse. And that in Greek folk song, a "wooden horse" is a coffin. Folk memory of the destructiveness in the myth? Or maybe the original wooden horse is itself a kenning? (Horse thoughts.)

Leila Belkora PhD, astrophysics@leilabelkora.bsky.social · 23h ago

Great sound effects in this story. I plan to research who to write to, to try to avert the loss of protections. apps.npr.org/troubled-wat...

These are some of the last pristine ocean ecosystems. Now, they're losing protections

The largest conservation areas in the U.S. are in the Pacific Ocean, where tiny islands are epicenters of biodiversity. The Trump administration is now opening their waters to commercial fishing, spar...

apps.npr.org

Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · last wk.

Meet the team of interviewees, fighting to #SaveJodrellBank on BBC Breakfast this morning.💪 L:Dr David Williams-Baldwin @davidw-b.bsky.social top black hole expert, linking the smallest to the supermassive C:Simon Garrington - Prof Boss! R:Phoebe Ryder - amazing PhD student imaging space debris 🥳🔭

Four people standing in what looks like an empty swimming pool, but it's not. It's the disk of a massive radio telescope. Catherine (in sunspecs) is particularly excited to be there.
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans@astroroyalscot.bsky.social · last wk.

Did I travel all the way to #JodrellBank this morning for a 5min TV interview? Yes reader, I did. Did I then persuade the fab e-MERLIN Director Simon Garrington to let me climb inside the Lovell Telescope? Well, if you can't flex a Royal title occasionally, then what is the point of having it? 😇🔭🧪

Riding With Robots@ridingrobots.bsky.social · last wk.

The Deep Space Network is one of the wonders of the world(s). Our underfunded ear to the skies, kept alert by dedicated, often unheralded teams of engineers and technicians on three continents. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, in September 2025.

Under a cloudy sky at dusk, a large antenna dish points skyward. Venus and a crescent Moon above the horizon. Photo: NASA/Bill Dunford
Jonathan Serrie@jonathanserrie.bsky.social · 2w ago

Wildfire forces evacuation of international radio antenna facility in Spain that provides communications for NASA’s deep space missions. Potential damage has yet to be assessed. A NASA spokesperson says the agency has maintained uninterrupted spacecraft comms through a facility in California.

NASA spokesperson: "The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC), located in Robledo, Spain, about 37 miles (65 km) west of Central Madrid was evacuated on July 24, due to ongoing wildfires in the region. All personnel were safely evacuated. The wildfire has passed through the MDSCC. Any potential damage will be assessed when it is safe to do so. NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program is closely monitoring the wildfire activity in coordination with local authorities and the U.S. Embassy. In the meantime, the agency has seamlessly transitioned support for mission operations to the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California, ensuring continuity of service and uninterrupted support for spacecraft communications."NASA spokesperson: "The safety and well‑being of our personnel is our highest priority and our thoughts are with the families and neighbors who are also experiencing the impact of the wildfires in the surrounding communities. We will provide updates as conditions evolve."
Naomi Oreskes@naomioreskes.bsky.social · 2w ago

Overall, this settlement seems decent, but I still can't believe that the judge ruled that chewing up entire books is "fair use." How does that make sense, when as an author and teacher I can only use small portions of other's work in my work? apnews.com/article/ai-a...

Judge approves a $1.5B Anthropic settlement over pirated books used to train the Claude chatbot

A federal judge has approved a $1.5 billion copyright settlement involving AI company Anthropic. The company will pay thousands of authors about $3,000 per book for using pirated copies to train its C...

apnews.com

JSTOR@jstor.bsky.social · 2w ago

What can a digitized archive reveal? This month’s JSTOR Stewardship update introduces the Rollerena Fairy Godmother Collection, which documents the life of a beloved queer New York icon, alongside The Jewish Gazette, a rare record of 1930s Jewish life in Belfast. Explore: https://bit.ly/4ysrQcN

Black-and-white photograph of a person in a flowing dress, hat, and cat-eye sunglasses moving toward the camera on a city street. They hold a thin baton or wand, with buildings, a parking sign, and scaffolding in the background.
Leila Belkora PhD, astrophysics@leilabelkora.bsky.social · 2w ago

I have a few old books, e.g. autobiographies by mid-20th C people, that were self-published. News that A.I. companies are buying up everything for their models makes me feel, peevishly, like hoarding these, just so they can’t be put behind an exorbitant paywall.

Samara Rafert@rafertess.bsky.social · 2w ago

I have definitely noticed an uptick in deep backlist sales from the OSU Press list. It's not the perpetual bestsellers but one-offs from decades ago that even I, after seven years at the press, have barely heard of. www.404media.co/ai-companies...