Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · 2d

Berry-poaching is treated very seriously up there!

Reposted by Joe O'Rourke

Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦 @watershedlab.bsky.social · 8d

🚨FOUR tenure track positions in my dept @ucalgary.bsky.social @ucalgaryscience.bsky.social in applied & computational geophysics, subsurface geochemistry, sedimentary geology, and sustainable soil science. careers.ucalgary.ca/search/jobs?...

(please reskeet widely!) #academicsky 🧪⚒️🇨🇦

Opportunities matching 'earth'

Search 4 Careers available at University of Calgary.

careers.ucalgary.ca

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · 9d

The funding preference is diluted to ~zero as colleges sign, but the costs and partisan political control always remain. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Joe O'Rourke

Caroline Morley @astrocaroline.bsky.social · 10d

UT Austin Astro is hiring! It's an open call, but definitely interested in getting another exoplanet person! Feel free to reach out with any questions about the department or living in Austin! aas.org/jobregister/...

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position in Astronomy | American Astronomical Society

The Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position at the Assistant Professor level to begin in August 2026. We welcome applicati...

aas.org

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · 11d

You are loved. You are valued. You are invited to the 48th semi-annual conference on AI in recycling management in Estonia.

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Reposted by Joe O'Rourke

Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 11d

👏 stop 👏 requiring 👏 recommendation letters 👏 in 👏 the 👏 first 👏 round 👏 of 👏 academic 👏 job 👏 applications

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Reposted by Joe O'Rourke

Mike Brown @plutokiller.com · 12d

Hey planetary science PhD graduaters: I know thinking about applying to postdocs this year seems daunting, so I am here to remind you that we have some REALLY GOOD prize fellowship at Caltech. Come work with me. Or Katherine. Or Heather. Or Konstantin. Or someone. Seriously. These are good. 🔭🪐

Postdoctoral Positions

From the Caltech Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences

www.gps.caltech.edu

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · 17d

Waiting for the @agu.org website to stop crashing so I can congratulate my PhD student for winning a section award 🏆

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · 19d

Our new survey of parabolas on Venus, and evidence for True Polar Wander at ~1°/Myr is now published! (TLDR @jtuttlekeane.bsky.social was right. nananana BAT region) agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Sketch by JT Keane of a talk at 2025 LPSC (True Polar Wander of Venus as an explanation for misaligned parabolas). Impacts on Venus loft material into the atmosphere. As the material falls back through the atmosphere, winds push it downrange — forming a parabola. This parabola should point west... but old parabolas aren't. Perhaps Venus reoriented! Parabolas are effectively paleo-west indicators. Old, misaligned parabolas might record TRUE POLAR WANDER.

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · 26d

wow this is really escalating!!!!!!

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · 26d

Just calling it like I see it, without any ability to interpret context or nuance 😀

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · 26d

Says the guy who literally just wrote “colloquia is singular” 😛

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Reposted by Joe O'Rourke

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 29d

Venus is a Solar System enigma.

Although Venus is similar in size and distance from the Sun to Earth, it has evolved very differently from our planet.

Our #Envision mission will aim to solve some of the puzzle by thoroughly studying our closest neighbour.
www.esa.int/Science_Expl... 🔭

Top five Venus mysteries Envision will solve

Venus is a Solar System enigma. Similar in size to Earth and orbiting the Sun at a similar distance, it is remarkable how the two planets evolved so differently. While conditions on Earth allowed life...

www.esa.int

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Sep 8

Where does this hotel keep the coffee mugs? All I see at this buffet are tiny thimbles. #EPSCDPS

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Sep 7

Let’s go, baby, I’m taking the safeties off my thermal evolution models 👊🏻🔥🇺🇸

NBC News @nbcnews.com · Sep 6

It's full steam ahead for NASA, according to Sean Duffy, the agency's acting administrator. During an internal employee town hall, Duffy warned of "letting safety be the enemy of progress" when it comes to winning the space race, according to a recording obtained by NBC News.

Interim NASA head tells agency that it will beat China back to the moon

Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy also told agency employees not to let "safety be the enemy of progress."

nbcnews.to

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Sep 5

At least he used the logo to cover the lightning in the original image.

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Sep 3

People gotta start collecting on these "I wouldn't bet my house but I would bet X" bets! 💸

Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Sep 3

Very interesting article, and I thought it was fun that the kicker quote is almost exactly what I said about Venus lightning at AGU 2023, haha: eos.org/articles/lig...

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Sep 2

Attend more / a broader range of seminars 👂

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Aug 22

Venus lightning digression 👍🏼

Steve Desch @deschscoveries.bsky.social · Aug 22

I would stop, but I have to put in a good word for NASA and how it selects and funds science. I'm starting to think maybe Avi Loeb doesn't know what he's talking about?
medium.com/@steve.desch...

Science goals and science teams

After having scored all the goals for the faculty in the first half of our annual soccer game against the graduate students, I decided to…

medium.com

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Reposted by Joe O'Rourke

Dr Robin George Andrews @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social · Aug 20

NEW: The White House wants to kill off Juno, NASA's mission to uncover Jupiter's secrets. Fortunately, its legacy is clear.

Juno's a scientist, but also an artist: it revealed Jupiter as a living van Gogh painting hanging in the sky.

Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

Say Goodbye to Juno, NASA’s Groundbreaking Mission to Jupiter

The Juno spacecraft has rewritten the story on Jupiter, the solar system’s undisputed heavyweight

www.scientificamerican.com

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Aug 20

No laws on Ceres, just yummy electrons. (>2 Gyr ago, maybe.) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Core metamorphism controls the dynamic habitability of mid-sized ocean worlds—The case of Ceres

More than 2 Ga, metamorphism of Ceres's rocky interior released hydrothermal fluids that could have fed microorganisms.

www.science.org

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Aug 6

📣 PAPER ALERT. Title says it all. I've been super excited about this project for years 🌋😍https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw1621

The importance of carbonatite lavas in outgassing Venus’ modern-day atmosphere

The erosion of canali on Venus by carbonatite lavas transformed Venus’ atmosphere within the recent past.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Joe O'Rourke

Sarah Hörst @planetdr.bsky.social · Aug 5

I am community sourcing a list of people who are actively in search of MS/PhD students in planetary science/astrobiology/exoplanets for Fall 2026. If you are such a person, please fill out the following google form:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Planetary Science MS/PhD Positions for Fall 2026

Crowd sourced list of people who are looking for MS/PhD students to help connect prospective students with advisors so we can do even more fabulous planetary science! (Submitting a response indicates ...

docs.google.com

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Joe O'Rourke @geojgo.bsky.social · Jul 31

Yep I should’ve googled further before posting! It took 30 seconds to catch the scent; another 2 minutes to solve the mysterious mystery!

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