Matthias M. M. Meier
@mmmmeier.bsky.social
Meteorites, Museums, Mars, Mountains and many more things. Meteoriticist, Noble Gaser, Space Nerd, Family Man. Director of Naturmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland. Private account (en/de).
🇨🇭🇸🇪🇲🇫🇪🇺🇺🇦 orcid.org/0000-0002-7179-4173
🇨🇭🇸🇪🇲🇫🇪🇺🇺🇦 orcid.org/0000-0002-7179-4173
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
Look geologists, it's a ternary plot, but for energy pathways!
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NEW: India is avoiding the fossil fuel detour 🪝
Where China built first on coal and gas, India is taking a shortcut >>> read in 5 graphics🧵
Where China built first on coal and gas, India is taking a shortcut >>> read in 5 graphics🧵
January 24, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Look geologists, it's a ternary plot, but for energy pathways!
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Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
1. This short thread is about the issue that dominates almost every aspect of politics, and causes or exacerbates most of our problems: the extreme wealth of a small number of people. Here’s the amazing thing: almost the entire political class aligns with the ultra-rich against the rest. 🧵1/10
January 23, 2026 at 11:30 AM
1. This short thread is about the issue that dominates almost every aspect of politics, and causes or exacerbates most of our problems: the extreme wealth of a small number of people. Here’s the amazing thing: almost the entire political class aligns with the ultra-rich against the rest. 🧵1/10
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
NOT a giant mushroom!
Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi
Prototaxites fossils are distinct from Fungi, suggesting that they represent an extinct lineage of eukaryotic life.
www.science.org
January 22, 2026 at 1:53 PM
NOT a giant mushroom!
Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Prototaxites fossils are structurally and chemically distinct from extinct and extant Fungi | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
“The collapse of the AI bubble is going to be ugly…AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector & tech monopolists run amok.“
Read this article by @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy. Whether you agree with it all or not, it’s important.
Read this article by @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy. Whether you agree with it all or not, it’s important.
AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorow
AI is asbestos in the walls of our tech society, stuffed there by monopolists run amok. A serious fight against it must strike at its roots
www.theguardian.com
January 18, 2026 at 10:33 PM
“The collapse of the AI bubble is going to be ugly…AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector & tech monopolists run amok.“
Read this article by @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy. Whether you agree with it all or not, it’s important.
Read this article by @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy. Whether you agree with it all or not, it’s important.
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
January 20, 2026 at 6:37 AM
Built at the Trappist-1e shipyards... Nice! 😊
For the set dressing nerds among us, here's the dedication plaque of the USS Athena in clear view — it's an Academy-class starship (as we noted in our "Kids These Days" review, with a Socrates quote at the bottom: "Wisdom begins in wonder."
#StarTrek #StarfleetAcademy
#StarTrek #StarfleetAcademy
LLAP Jörg.
January 18, 2026 at 5:20 PM
Built at the Trappist-1e shipyards... Nice! 😊
Gotta make use of a beautiful day!
January 18, 2026 at 3:50 PM
Gotta make use of a beautiful day!
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
Great article on the cosmic shoreline. I was fortunate to have an office near Kevin’s for my 20 years at NASA Ames. He is the most creative planetary scientist I know.
How do planetary atmospheres form, and how are they lost? These two questions are carving out a new map of habitable alien realms.
The Road Map to Alien Life Passes Through the ‘Cosmic Shoreline’ | Quanta Magazine
Astronomers are ready to search for the fingerprints of life in faraway planetary atmospheres. But first, they need to know where to look — and that means figuring out which planets are likely to…
www.quantamagazine.org
January 17, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Great article on the cosmic shoreline. I was fortunate to have an office near Kevin’s for my 20 years at NASA Ames. He is the most creative planetary scientist I know.
This is nice! A new surface dating tool using cosmogenic crypton in zircons. What's not to love!? 🌌💥🪨🏞️
A 'cosmic clock' in tiny crystals reveals the rise and fall of Australia's ancient landscapes
Australia's iconic red landscapes have been home to Aboriginal culture and recorded in songlines for tens of thousands of years. But further clues to just how ancient this landscape is come from far b...
phys.org
January 14, 2026 at 7:55 PM
This is nice! A new surface dating tool using cosmogenic crypton in zircons. What's not to love!? 🌌💥🪨🏞️
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
The interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS has been stealing the spotlight lately. But it’s not the only comet capable of putting on a show!
Here you see C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), above Paranal early last year.
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2505d/
📷 Y. Beletsky (LCO)/ESO #flashback 🔭
Here you see C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), above Paranal early last year.
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2505d/
📷 Y. Beletsky (LCO)/ESO #flashback 🔭
January 13, 2026 at 8:01 AM
The interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS has been stealing the spotlight lately. But it’s not the only comet capable of putting on a show!
Here you see C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), above Paranal early last year.
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2505d/
📷 Y. Beletsky (LCO)/ESO #flashback 🔭
Here you see C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), above Paranal early last year.
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2505d/
📷 Y. Beletsky (LCO)/ESO #flashback 🔭
I went there when I already knew that von Dänikens claims are untenable - but I think reading some of his books, and the criticism of them, was one of the factors that brought me into skepticism and eventually, science. The park is still kinda open, weirdly deserted & strangely post-apocalyptic.
It is not surprising to me that Erich von Daniken (RIP, 1935–2026) found credulous readers for his crackpot astro/archaeology books. What is more surprising is that he also built a crackpot theme park in Switzerand and attracted >200k visitors a year (2003–2006)🧪 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungfra...
Jungfrau Park - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 12, 2026 at 6:48 AM
I went there when I already knew that von Dänikens claims are untenable - but I think reading some of his books, and the criticism of them, was one of the factors that brought me into skepticism and eventually, science. The park is still kinda open, weirdly deserted & strangely post-apocalyptic.
Slightly diminish a game.
Explorers of Catan.
Explorers of Catan.
Slightly diminish a game.
Penultima 3
Penultima 3
Slightly diminish a game.
Continuing Fantasy
Continuing Fantasy
January 11, 2026 at 8:41 AM
Slightly diminish a game.
Explorers of Catan.
Explorers of Catan.
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
Unhook ourselves from oil and gas and we unhook ourselves from dependency on dictators, autocrats and expansionist regimes all over the planet.
Renewables and other low-carbon energy sources are not just good climate sense. They are also good political sense.
Renewables and other low-carbon energy sources are not just good climate sense. They are also good political sense.
January 6, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Unhook ourselves from oil and gas and we unhook ourselves from dependency on dictators, autocrats and expansionist regimes all over the planet.
Renewables and other low-carbon energy sources are not just good climate sense. They are also good political sense.
Renewables and other low-carbon energy sources are not just good climate sense. They are also good political sense.
Since this story is making the rounds again: a reminder that the Chinguetti (mesosiderite) meteorite was analyzed for cosmogenic radionuclides and noble gases (by Welten et al. 2001), and everything in that analysis suggests it was once part of a ca. 1 m sized meteoroid that fell to Earth 18 ka ago.
January 2, 2026 at 12:52 PM
Since this story is making the rounds again: a reminder that the Chinguetti (mesosiderite) meteorite was analyzed for cosmogenic radionuclides and noble gases (by Welten et al. 2001), and everything in that analysis suggests it was once part of a ca. 1 m sized meteoroid that fell to Earth 18 ka ago.
Start of the new year. Just the northern slopes of an actively forming mountain range, ploughed by a fragment of an old continent drifting north, on a water-tripple-point planet with abundant indigenous life, orbiting a middle aged yellow dwarf near the corotation radius of its galaxy.
January 1, 2026 at 10:36 PM
Start of the new year. Just the northern slopes of an actively forming mountain range, ploughed by a fragment of an old continent drifting north, on a water-tripple-point planet with abundant indigenous life, orbiting a middle aged yellow dwarf near the corotation radius of its galaxy.
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
What do we want? USE!
When do we want it? NOW!
Sign the petition for a United States of Europe:
actionnetwork.org/petitions/un...
When do we want it? NOW!
Sign the petition for a United States of Europe:
actionnetwork.org/petitions/un...
December 29, 2025 at 12:18 PM
What do we want? USE!
When do we want it? NOW!
Sign the petition for a United States of Europe:
actionnetwork.org/petitions/un...
When do we want it? NOW!
Sign the petition for a United States of Europe:
actionnetwork.org/petitions/un...
I like "Solirad"! I also like that its suggested abbreviation (So) looks simliar to the S_0_ that has historically been used for the "solar constant".
Christmas on the archive!
@ericmamajek.bsky.social leads a paper with his usual precision, asking us astronomers (especially exoplanet folks) to clean up their jargon.
Introducing the Solirad: the nominal average flux the Earth receives from the Sun = 1361 W/m^2
arxiv.org/abs/2512.20126
@ericmamajek.bsky.social leads a paper with his usual precision, asking us astronomers (especially exoplanet folks) to clean up their jargon.
Introducing the Solirad: the nominal average flux the Earth receives from the Sun = 1361 W/m^2
arxiv.org/abs/2512.20126
The Solirad (So) as a Convenient Unit for Quoting Astronomical Irradiances for Planetary Insolations and Exoplanetary Instellations
Measurements of physical parameters for stars and (exo)planets are often quoted in units normalized to the Sun and/or Earth. The nominal total solar irradiance, ${S}^{\rm N}_{\odot}$, while based on a...
arxiv.org
December 24, 2025 at 8:38 AM
I like "Solirad"! I also like that its suggested abbreviation (So) looks simliar to the S_0_ that has historically been used for the "solar constant".
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
Shaping the future of research funding. 🧪
The @snsf.ch Swiss National Science Foundation is looking for new members for the Foundation Council. Application deadline: 30 January 2026.
www.snf.ch/en/Boii3zvoj...
The @snsf.ch Swiss National Science Foundation is looking for new members for the Foundation Council. Application deadline: 30 January 2026.
www.snf.ch/en/Boii3zvoj...
New Foundation Council members wanted
Help shape research funding! The SNSF is advertising mandates for the Foundation Council, its strategic governing body.
www.snf.ch
December 23, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Shaping the future of research funding. 🧪
The @snsf.ch Swiss National Science Foundation is looking for new members for the Foundation Council. Application deadline: 30 January 2026.
www.snf.ch/en/Boii3zvoj...
The @snsf.ch Swiss National Science Foundation is looking for new members for the Foundation Council. Application deadline: 30 January 2026.
www.snf.ch/en/Boii3zvoj...
Imagine what could be done at just one coffee a week...
December 21, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Imagine what could be done at just one coffee a week...
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
In most cases, we don't have the technology to directly see newborn planets orbiting baby stars. But the Gaia space telescope is so sensitive that it can measure the stars being yanked back & forth by the gravity of the hidden objects around them.
Full paper at link. 🧪🔭
arxiv.org/abs/2512.00157
Full paper at link. 🧪🔭
arxiv.org/abs/2512.00157
December 18, 2025 at 7:58 PM
In most cases, we don't have the technology to directly see newborn planets orbiting baby stars. But the Gaia space telescope is so sensitive that it can measure the stars being yanked back & forth by the gravity of the hidden objects around them.
Full paper at link. 🧪🔭
arxiv.org/abs/2512.00157
Full paper at link. 🧪🔭
arxiv.org/abs/2512.00157
Mozilla has been sendung me (and probably everybody else) messages with "Why we are asking for donations" recently. Well, Mozilla, here's your answer "why I won't be sending any donations" in your direction. Stop pushing the AI bullshit and we can talk.
Mozilla has a new CEO and he just announced that Firefox will evolve into a modern AI browser. This is a good example of how management doesn’t understand its own user base and why they go out of their way to install Firefox on Windows, Android, iOS and other devices blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/l...
December 17, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Mozilla has been sendung me (and probably everybody else) messages with "Why we are asking for donations" recently. Well, Mozilla, here's your answer "why I won't be sending any donations" in your direction. Stop pushing the AI bullshit and we can talk.
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
A new "crash clock" says Earth orbit is three days from disaster.
If all satellite lost the ability to maneuver (eg in a solar storm), it says collisions would be imminent.
Really interesting study this. Story by me in @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2508...
If all satellite lost the ability to maneuver (eg in a solar storm), it says collisions would be imminent.
Really interesting study this. Story by me in @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2508...
Crash clock says satellites in orbit are three days from disaster
Satellites in orbit would begin to collide in a matter of days if they lost manoeuvrability during a solar storm or other outage
www.newscientist.com
December 16, 2025 at 12:29 PM
A new "crash clock" says Earth orbit is three days from disaster.
If all satellite lost the ability to maneuver (eg in a solar storm), it says collisions would be imminent.
Really interesting study this. Story by me in @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2508...
If all satellite lost the ability to maneuver (eg in a solar storm), it says collisions would be imminent.
Really interesting study this. Story by me in @newscientist.com
www.newscientist.com/article/2508...
Reposted by Matthias M. M. Meier
Today in "Don't Trust AI to Tell You Facts": How several different "AI" programs messed up the simple fact of to whom I dedicated a book, and what that means for how much you should trust "AI" to tell you the truth about things (spoiler: not much at all):
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
“AI”: A Dedicated Fact-Failing Machine, or, Yet Another Reason Not to Trust It For Anything
I search my name on a regular basis, not only because I am an ego monster (although I try not to pretend that I’m not) but because it’s a good way for me to find reviews, end-of-the-yea…
whatever.scalzi.com
December 13, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Today in "Don't Trust AI to Tell You Facts": How several different "AI" programs messed up the simple fact of to whom I dedicated a book, and what that means for how much you should trust "AI" to tell you the truth about things (spoiler: not much at all):
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/13/a...
Last Tuesday, I went to the hospital with a dinosaur to get an MRI... Working in a natural history museum allows you to say the weirdest things! ☺️🦕🏛️
December 12, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Last Tuesday, I went to the hospital with a dinosaur to get an MRI... Working in a natural history museum allows you to say the weirdest things! ☺️🦕🏛️
That is an interesting idea: if the solar system's initial 26Al inventory was produced by cosmic-rays (from a ~1 pc supernova (SN); as opposed to being actual SN debris), you'd expect cosmic-ray effects in other elements too (e.g., Ne - and we see that, occasionally!), and perhaps a conc. gradient?
Cosmic-Ray Bath in a Past Supernova Gives Birth to Earth-Like Planets
A key question in astronomy is how ubiquitous Earth-like rocky planets are. The formation of terrestrial planets in our solar system was strongly influenced by the radioactive decay heat of short-live...
arxiv.org
December 11, 2025 at 6:51 AM
That is an interesting idea: if the solar system's initial 26Al inventory was produced by cosmic-rays (from a ~1 pc supernova (SN); as opposed to being actual SN debris), you'd expect cosmic-ray effects in other elements too (e.g., Ne - and we see that, occasionally!), and perhaps a conc. gradient?