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Alexandra Witze

@alexwitze.bsky.social

19K followers 1.6K following 570 posts

Science journalist and correspondent for Nature (she/her). Reach me at alexwitze.01 (Signal), witzescience (@gmail.com), or awitze (@protonmail.com).

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · Apr 7

Nature reporters' ongoing coverage of Trump 2.0 impacts on science and scientists is collected here: www.nature.com/collections/...

Reach me at alexwitze.01 on Signal, or witzescience[at]gmail.com, with tips, feedback, follow-ups, anything we should be covering, etc.

How Trump 2.0 is reshaping science

Since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, his team has made major changes to the federal government that have disrupted research and ...

www.nature.com

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 1d

You scientists always looking for explanations

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 1d

IT’S OVER don’t parse it

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 1d

(Data analysis was for science prizewinners only: medicine, physics, chemistry, from 2000-2025.)

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 1d

Of course, the international flow of scientists this year is different. Grant cuts and immigration restrictions in the US "will slow the rate of highly novel research, period," sci/tech expert Caroline Wagner told @jennaahart.bsky.social.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 1d

You've probably heard how a high percentage of #Nobel laureates are immigrants. The US in particular has benefited from the influx of bright minds.

@jennaahart.bsky.social ran the data for this century's Nobel prizewinners — and shows more than 30% immigrated. 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

More than 30% of this century’s science Nobel prizewinners immigrated: see their journeys

The most common destination for eventual Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry and medicine since 2000 is the United States, Nature has found.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Alexandra Witze

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

It seems there are two main reasons things haven’t gone completely to shit in the US: 1. Lawyers and the courts; 2. Journalists and the media. Most of us can’t do anything about the first, but we can support journalism. Stop complaining about paywalls and subscribe to news & donate to public media.

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 2d

At 15, @theopennotebook.bsky.social is indeed old enough to drink, as we're the leading online resource for training & educational resources for journalists who cover science.

Every story is a science story: www.theopennotebook.com

The Open Notebook

The Open Notebook is a nonprofit organization that helps journalists who cover science improve their skills.

www.theopennotebook.com

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 2d

Are you going to #SciWri25 in Chicago in November? IT'S PARTY TIME! Come wish @theopennotebook.bsky.social a happy 15th birthday on Saturday 11/8, 7-10 pm, at the Harp & Fiddle pub in Uptown Park Ridge, ~2 miles from the meeting hotel. Details are under 'meet-ups' in the conference Whova app. 🎂🎉

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Reposted by Alexandra Witze

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · 3d

See that small, moving splotch?

That's 3I/ATLAS, a comet that formed in a different star system, photographed from Mars orbit by the ESA Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter.

A comet from a DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEM photographed by a ROBOT ORBITING MARS

last Friday

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Reposted by Alexandra Witze

Margaret Harris @drmlharris.bsky.social · 4d

Ahead of tomorrow’s #NobelPrize announcement, I went on a deep dive in search of the most obscure physics Nobel Prizes in history. That means it's time for a thread on...🧵

PHYSICS NOBEL PRIZES YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF – PART 1

(1/n)

A photo of the Matterhorn rising above an Alpine landscape. The colours are a little washed out, but do not appear artificially tinted

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 4d

what a most spectacular chonk 🤩

Reposted by Alexandra Witze

Jenna Ahart @jennaahart.bsky.social · 4d

Happy Nobel week to you and yours!🏅

In the latest from @nature.com: Could AI take home a science Nobel—no human needed?

Some say yes, and soon. 🧪

For more: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Will AI ever win its own Nobel? Some predict a prize-worthy science discovery soon

Other researchers question whether autonomous AI scientists are possible or even desirable.

www.nature.com

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

We can’t even get a rock back

How are we gonna mess it up

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

it’s not my fault your planetary priorities are so messed up

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

Would have asked you about your favorite planet, but was afraid you would say Mars www.nature.com/articles/d41...

These alien planets are astronomers’ favourites: here’s why

Space scientists look back on 30 years of exoplanet discoveries — from rows of massive ‘super-Earths‘ to worlds with perfectly synchronized orbits.

www.nature.com

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

I was interning at Sky & Telescope around the time of the pulsar planet discovery. Look at us now, indeed! Holy wow 6,000+ worlds.

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

and why do you love those?

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

You can have a WHOLE SYSTEM yes

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

💪

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

actual lol

LOVE THAT SYSTEM

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

Thirty years ago Monday, astronomers announced the first planet around a Sunlike star. Since then they have cataloged more than 6,000 alien worlds.

I asked a bunch of astronomers what their favorite exoplanet is, and wrote about it for @nature.com. What's yours?

🧪 #astronomy

These alien planets are astronomers’ favourites: here’s why

Space scientists look back on 30 years of exoplanet discoveries — from rows of massive ‘super-Earths‘ to worlds with perfectly synchronized orbits.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Alexandra Witze

Max Kozlov @maxkozlov.bsky.social · 8d

EXCLUSIVE: In her first interview all year, Susan Monarez, CDC director for only 29 days, tells me why Trump/RFK fired her and where this is all headed.

The CDC director is an “inherently political position, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be politically compromised”, she tells @nature.com.

Exclusive: ex-CDC director talks about why she was fired

“I would never do that, as a scientist,” Susan Monarez says of being asked to approve changes to vaccine recommendations without knowing the details.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Alexandra Witze

Nature @nature.com · 8d

Jane Goodall, known for her pioneering work with chimpanzees, has passed away aged 91

go.nature.com/46K10ja

Jane Goodall’s legacy: three ways she changed science

The primatologist challenged what it meant to be a scientist.

go.nature.com

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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 9d

arnold schwarzenegger is displayed on a screen with the words tu te casses sur mars

Alt: arnold schwarzenegger is displayed on a screen with the words tu te casses sur mars

media.tenor.com

Reposted by Alexandra Witze

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 9d

In which the inestimable @dangaristo.bsky.social explains why this US government shutdown is different, and what it means for science: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🧪

(Free access, it may ask for your email address but it's not paywalled)

This US government shutdown is different: what it means for science

President Trump’s budget office lays out guidelines for mass lay-offs across the federal government.

www.nature.com

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