Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Haley Wahl, PhD @hwahl16.bsky.social · 12h

Same here :)

Purple flowers with a monarch butterfly on them

Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

AAS SGMA @aassgma.bsky.social · 17d

🚨Call for Mini-Grant applications🚨
SGMA is looking to support 5 local, small scale events! Click on link for more information!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Application for a mini-grant

Sponsor your community building event with $100 from the AAS. We will particularly value creative ideas that build up communities that otherwise would not have a chance to meet or be supported.

docs.google.com

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 1d

Macroscopic quantum tunneling wins 2025’s Nobel Prize in physics

This year's Nobel Prize in physics was all about building the first sustainable macroscopic system to exhibit quantum behavior.

Here's the science behind the prize, and why it matters.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#physics #quantum

Macroscopic quantum tunneling wins 2025's Nobel Prize in physics

Quantum mechanics was first discovered on small, microscopic scales. 2025's Nobel Prize brings the quantum and large-scale worlds together.

bigthink.com

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Prof Anna Watts @profannawatts.bsky.social · 2d

Our annual PhD recruitment process @api.uva.nl is open!! Details of the process and projects are here, deadline November 3! 🔭 #astronomy #astrophysics

werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Vacancy — PhD Positions in Astronomy and Astrophysics

Are you passionate about astronomy and cutting-edge research?Join our dynamic team and explore the universe through multiple PhD positions now open! Work on a range of exciting research topics in a co...

werkenbij.uva.nl

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 2d

Today is the day!

The Grand Cosmic Story, my newest book (with Jon Lomberg, Mark Garlick, and Will Lidwell), from National Geographic, is released!

Get the history of the whole Universe, one page and 100 Myr at a time, today!
amzn.to/46GsS9d

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/789623...
#space #book

An inside look at four individual page spreads from the book The Grand Cosmic Story, featuring artwork, page titles, intricate text, and statistics about the Universe.

Cover image and a look at the introduction inside to the book The Grand Cosmic Story, telling our cosmic history 1 page and 100 million years at a time.

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Emily Hunt @emily.space · 3d

Oooh the Nobel Prize is out today, so it's time for my yearly round of ignoring that news and reading about many of the women who were snubbed of the prize in the past and who the Nobel Prize committee refuses to apologise for. 🧪🔭

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Margaret Morgan 🇳🇱🇦🇺🇪🇺 @margaretmorgan.bsky.social · 3d

"Fred Ramsdell was startled when his wife let out a yell. He feared she had spotted a grizzly bear, only to discover a far better surprise – he had won the Nobel prize in medicine."

Gorgeous.

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Scientist learns he has won Nobel prize while on digital detox in US mountains

Fred Ramsdell’s wife switched on her phone and screamed – it was full of messages congratulating her husband

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 5d

The Ig Nobel is incredible , one year an Indian guy won it for calculating the average surface area of an elephant and during his acceptance they had an elephant hold up a sign with the surface area of the scientist on it, they do showbiz better than the Oscars

Jeffrey J. Hall @mrjeffu.bsky.social · 21d

Video: a Japanese scientist was attacked by flies while giving the acceptance speech for his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research paper that proved painting Zebra-like stripes on cows led to a decrease in biting fly attacks.

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

AAS Nova @aasnova.org · 6d

AAS Nova turned 10 this year! For our 2,000th post, we’re looking back on the past decade of astronomy research. aasnova.org/2025/10/03/a... @aas.org 🔭🧪

AAS Nova Celebrates 10 Years of Astronomy Research News

AAS Nova turned 10 this year! For our 2,000th post, we're looking back on the past decade of astronomy research.

aasnova.org

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Amy Rae Hill @amyraehill.bsky.social · 6d

Art vs artist 🌌

Serving bowl featuring the Milky Way between a ring of trees that are filled with stars.

Selfie of me: white, dark blonde hair, glasses, tan sweatshirt.

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Peter McGill @astropeter.bsky.social · 7d

I'm hiring an intern for a 6-month research position related to the NASA Pandora SmallSat Mission, project and start date flexible. Must be a current astro PhD student :) www.llnl.gov/join-our-tea...

Pandora Research Graduate Intern

Join us and make YOUR mark on the World!Are you interested in joining some of the brightest talent in the world to strengthen the United States’ security? Come join Lawrence...

www.llnl.gov

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Eos @eos.org · 7d

Seismic data from the #NASA #InSight mission reveal a solid inner core at the center of Mars.

eos.org/articles/sci...

Scientists May Have Finally Detected a Solid Inner Core on Mars - Eos

Seismic clues from NASA’s InSight mission suggest that Mars hides a solid inner core, and raise new questions about why the planet’s magnetic field disappeared.

eos.org

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 7d

This week (!) is the 30th anniversary of the announcement of 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet found orbiting a star like our Sun - since then, we've found over 6,000!

To celebrate, @alexwitze.bsky.social and @nature.com collected some astronomers' favourite planets:

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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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

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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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Anna Hughes 🍁 @annaghughes.bsky.social · 8d

I hope she continues to inspire people for generations to come, just as she did for me. ❤️

Jane Goodall, conservationist and chimpanzee researcher, dead at 91 | CBC News

Jane Goodall, the British conservationist and researcher renowned for her work with chimpanzees, has died at age 91.

www.cbc.ca

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 8d

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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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Sarah Kendrew @sarahkendrew.bsky.social · 10d

Astronomers have long been blessed by the existence of #ADS - excited for the new @scixcommunity.bsky.social platform, expanding to other disciplines - developed via NASA #openscience funding. Look forward to trying it out! 🔭🧪

Science Explorer (SciX) @scixcommunity.bsky.social · 10d

#SciX is created by the #ADS team & operates out of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under a NASA Cooperative Agreement. Created and developed by scientists, for scientists, SciX builds on decades of open research infrastructure and collaboration: https://bit.ly/CfASciXNews

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Clare Fieseler, PhD @fieseler.bsky.social · 10d

I wrote this gem of an article for @theguardian.com many moons ago and it finally published.

There is a 30 min companion documentary that is 2 years in the making that you absolutely must see 🪺 👇

www.theguardian.com/global/ng-in...

Anna Hughes 🍁 @annaghughes.bsky.social · 26d

This is beautiful. The salt marsh sparrow may well go extinct in a few decades, but these people are keeping them afloat for now. 🐦🪺

‘A little bit of joy’: can tiny rafts save endangered sparrows from rising seas?

In Rhode Island, a small team of researchers and volunteers is fighting, against the odds, to save saltmarsh sparrows from extinction as their chicks drown in ever higher tides

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Abbabadook 🎃 @abbiestev.bsky.social · 10d

If any of you fine folks are planetarians in (or want to be in) mid-Michigan, the Abrams Planetarium is hiring a full-time-staff position for the first time in 11 years!! Come work with the astro, scicomm, and informal ed folks at MSU!! 🔭 🧪 (reskeets welcome) careers.msu.edu/jobs/educati...

Educational Program Coordinator II - East Lansing, Michigan, United States

Position Summary The program coordinator will maintain the planetarium, present live shows, and create new planetarium visualizations. In addition, this position will assist customers, assist in educa...

careers.msu.edu

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Marina Koren @marinakoren.bsky.social · 10d

🤯

Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 10d

#NASAWebb has found the first direct evidence of potential moon formation around a giant exoplanet. The discovery is shedding light on how such systems evolve and why moons could be potentially habitable worlds: https://bit.ly/46xGodN 🔭 🧪

An illustration of a young planet with a surrounding disk of dust and gas potentially forming moons. The planet, which appears dark red, is shown at lower right, circled by a cloudy, clumpy reddish orange-colored disk. The host star appears at upper left, and glows yellow, with its own reddish disk of debris. The disk that surrounds the planet takes up about half the illustration. The black background of space is speckled with stars. At the bottom of the illustration, graphics of molecules are listed in the following order: Acetylene, Carbon Dioxide, Ethane, Benzene, Hydrogen cyanide. The words Artist’s Concept appear at upper right.

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 12d

It's Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) migration season in Texas. At least 90% of all southward migration passes through Texas, either along the coast, or through central Texas.

They'll overwinter in Mexico, then return.

Let's talk about the utter weirdness of generational migration.

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Lucas Brown @lucasb413.bsky.social · 13d

Have you ever wondered how we might go about finding microscopic black holes from the dawn of time?

Check out my new article for @supercluster.com — my first published piece of science writing outside of @astrobites.bsky.social! ✨⚫️🔭

www.supercluster.com/editorial/da...

Dark Matter Detectives Are Searching for Tiny Black Holes

It was first proposed that black holes could form directly from the small, random density fluctuations inherent to the chaotic primordial universe. The studies from which the idea emerged — pioneered ...

www.supercluster.com

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Laura Lopez @ohdearz.bsky.social · 13d

Astronomy 🔭 and physics ⚛️ GRFP applications are due Nov 14! Only seniors and 1st-year grad students can apply now (no second years).

Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 13d

New: After a long wait, the GRFP solicitation is live! Deadlines have been extended to early November, so applicants have a bit over a month to submit. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Ross Andersen @rossandersen.bsky.social · 15d

Wrote about some of my faves (black holes)

www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...

The Black Hole That Could Rewrite Cosmology

Astronomers see a mysterious object shining in the deep sky. It could be older than the stars.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Haley Wahl, PhD

Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 15d

Haverford News article about my recent grant funding success just posted. Odd time to be getting (three!) federal grants, but hopefully will give some hope that at least some things are moving (including all the galaxies!): www.haverford.edu/marketing-an... 🔭👩‍🔬🧪

Universal Collaboration

Three federal grants, Haverford students, and a host of citizen scientists aid Professor Karen Masters' investigation of the cosmos.

www.haverford.edu

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