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Laura Lopez

@ohdearz.bsky.social

Professor of astronomy 🔭 at Ohio State. Co-chair of @aascsma.bsky.social. Alum of UCSC and MIT. She/her 🇲🇽

651 Posts4885 Follower1022 Folgt
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · 3w ago

This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days. ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.

Astrobites@astrobites.bsky.social · 2mo ago

As part of the BiA x Astrobites collaboration for Black Space Week, Astrobites would like to highlight those in the BiA community who will be attending AAS and presenting! To be considered, please fill out the Google form linked in the QR code. 🔭 🌌

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Sumitra Badrinathan@sumitra.bsky.social · 3mo ago

lots of discussion on how this will affect tech jobs, but once again this applies to academia also every professor you know on a visa will now have to leave the US for a green card, sometimes for multiple years. many will give up in the process. universities may not give them back their jobs.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 3mo ago

🚨 🚨 🚨 NEW: A shocking @USCIS memo seems to declare that hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in this country and applying for green cards must instead apply for visas abroad; which could MASSIVELY disrupt lives. 🧵 on what we know, and what we don’t.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services PM-602-0199 May 21, 2026 Policy Memorandum SUBJECT: Adjustment of Status is a Matter of Discretion and Administrative Grace, and an Extraordinary Relief that Permits Applicants to Dispense with the Ordinary Consular Visa Process Purpose This memorandum reminds officers and the public that adjustment of status under section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is a matter of discretion and administrative grace not designed to supersede the regular consular processing of immigrant visas. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reaffirms this consistent and longstanding approach and declares as a matter of general policy its intention to faithfully apply the statutes consistently with this understanding.
Laura Lopez@ohdearz.bsky.social · 3mo ago

As a Costco aficionado, I would like to share that a * on the top right of a Costco price display indicates the item will no longer be sold there once current stock runs out. The * is your secret cue to buy all of that thing if you love it/need it/want it.

Actual picture I took in Costco of the price display for laminate flooring. The price is in big black letters in the bottom right and above it is a discrete asterisk * in the top right that indicates the item will no longer be in Costco's inventory once the current stock is sold.
Kalvin the Reindeer@kalvinmacleod.bsky.social · 3mo ago

COSTCO: here, try this ME: oh yummy COSTCO: so you like it? ME: yes, it's delicious COSTCO: well, we don’t sell it anymore and you'll never see it again.

Adam Bonica@adambonica.bsky.social · 3mo ago

To understand what the Supreme Court is doing, you have to recognize that this is how authoritarians in Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela consolidated power. Scholars call it autocratic legalism. The Court isn’t complicit. It’s an active participant. Roberts is following a script.

The conservative majority has learned to use anti-discrimination language as the vehicle for preserving discrimination. Justice Kavanaugh’s suggestion that remedies for racism must have an “end point” inverts the logic of the Reconstruction Amendments. They were written to empower Congress to act against racial domination, not to set an expiration date on equality. This will be the Roberts Court’s legacy: using the Constitution not to expand freedom, but to protect established hierarchies. The Court has simply found a new minority to protect—not racial or religious minorities, but a political party whose power endures through structural advantage, even when it commands fewer votes.Where the Court has shown the greatest deference is to power itself, culminating in the decision granting Donald Trump sweeping legal immunity for “official acts”—a ruling that defies global democratic norms, where dozens of presidents and prime ministers have been prosecuted and convicted of crimes in recent years. The Court is thus working on two fronts: shielding the leader of the anti-democratic movement from accountability while simultaneously dismantling the electoral rules that allow the majority to vote his party out.
James Davenport@jradavenport.com · 3mo ago

I feel like we’re willing to make Pluto a planet again, at least provisionally, if they’re willing to fund astrophysics. I’d say $100 billion/year is reasonable But if you keep cutting our budgets, I swear we’ll keep eliminating them. Hope you like a three planet solar system!

Jeff Foust@jfoust.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Isaacman: very much in the camp of making Pluto a planet again. Working on some papers right now to escalate through the scientific community to revisit this. And that's it.

Jeff Foust@jfoust.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Rep. Dean (D-PA) asks who made the decision to omit the >50 science missions proposed for cancellation from the budget request. Isaacman doesn't clearly answer, but says other missions can fill the gap.

Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 4mo ago

⚛️🔭 Hey physics/astronomy science communicators: apply to come to @perimeterinstitute.ca for a workshop in October on how to engage the public in science! Anyone can apply, working in any kind of scicomm (video, audio, text, live performance, whatever it is you do). Check the link for more details!

Scicomm Collider 2026

The Scicomm Collider workshop will bring together a group of the most innovative science communicators helping to connect the public with topics in physics and astronomy for a three-day workshop aimed...

events.perimeterinstitute.ca

Kevin Anchukaitis@thirstygecko.bsky.social · 4mo ago

'The NSF has only committed $500 million of the $8 billion it was appropriated for the fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1. The NSF will lose the billions of remaining funding if it does not spend it by Sept. 30.' thehill.com/homenews/adm...

National Science Foundation’s future in limbo as Trump eyes cuts

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) future is in limbo as President Trump pushes for more budget cuts and his nominee to helm the research agency awaits Senate confirmation.  Since Trump’s retu…

thehill.com

American Astronomical Society (AAS)@aas.org · 4mo ago

🔭 Chief Executive Officer Search The AAS seeks a strategic, mission-driven CEO to serve as an inspiring advocate for the discipline, the Society, and its members. Full job description: aas.org/jobregister/...

Chief Executive Officer | American Astronomical Society

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION Founded in 1899, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) is the leading professional organization for astronomers and astrophysicists in North America, dedicated to advancing th...

aas.org

Astrobites@astrobites.bsky.social · 4mo ago

From Tori Bonidie and Skylar Grayson: The president’s budget requests for NASA and the NSF were released last week. We summarizes the major cuts and their impacts while providing resources to help fight back against this attack on science. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪 astrobites.org/2026/04/16/budget-request-fy2027/

Back to work to save science funding! All you need to know about the FY2027 Budget Request

The president’s budget requests for NASA and the NSF were released last week. We summarizes the major cuts and their impacts while providing resources to help fight back against this attack on science...

astrobites.org