Sean McMahon
@seanhmcmahon.bsky.social
Astrobiologist & palaeobiologist @ Univ. Edinburgh / Co-director, UK Centre for Astrobiology / Director, MSc Astrobiology & Planetary Sciences / Deputy Chair, Council for the Defence of British Universities. https://www.astrobiology.ac.uk/mcmahon-group
Pinned
Sean McMahon
@seanhmcmahon.bsky.social
· Oct 25
Stories Gallery | CDBU
cdbu.org.uk
We need to begin to tell these stories about universities as well. So — what did university mean to you? Contact @cdbu.bsky.social at [email protected] with your story. You can read some previous submissions here: cdbu.org.uk/stories/
Big (moon) if true!
Thin layers of sedimentary rock on Mars suggest that the planet once had a moon much larger than the two that orbit it today. #AGU25
Sediments Hint at Large Ancient Martian Moon - Eos
Regular, alternating layers in Gale Crater may have been deposited as the result of tides raised by a moon at least 18 times the mass of Phobos, a study says.
eos.org
November 23, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Big (moon) if true!
It was a great pleasure this week to welcome renowned astrobiologist Dr Frances Westall back to her alma mater @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social to receive the honorary DSc degree in recognition of her many contributions to astrobiology (Photographs by www.andrewperry.co.uk).
November 21, 2025 at 1:23 PM
It was a great pleasure this week to welcome renowned astrobiologist Dr Frances Westall back to her alma mater @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social to receive the honorary DSc degree in recognition of her many contributions to astrobiology (Photographs by www.andrewperry.co.uk).
Looking forward to this important @cdbu.bsky.social event and very grateful to my MP @ianmurraymp.bsky.social for booking a room for us in parliament.
We are pleased to announce that the CDBU Code of Ethical University Governance will be officially launched by @profstevenjones.bsky.social on 4 December, at the House of Commons.
Prof Jones will be joined by an excellent panel of speakers.
There are limited spaces, so RSVP as soon as possible.
Prof Jones will be joined by an excellent panel of speakers.
There are limited spaces, so RSVP as soon as possible.
November 18, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Looking forward to this important @cdbu.bsky.social event and very grateful to my MP @ianmurraymp.bsky.social for booking a room for us in parliament.
My friend Alex Liu is offering TWO postdoc positions in #paleontology and #sedimentology at Cambridge focused on some spectacular new Ediacaran-age localities in southern Namibia... www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
November 15, 2025 at 11:45 AM
My friend Alex Liu is offering TWO postdoc positions in #paleontology and #sedimentology at Cambridge focused on some spectacular new Ediacaran-age localities in southern Namibia... www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
Amazing.
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 10, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Amazing.
‼️New PhD project in Edinburgh: "Animals, traits, and oxygen in the Ediacaran Nama Group, Namibia". Supervised by Rachel Wood (Amelia Penny and I co-supervising) — big UK+Namibian team — help us understand early animal evolution! Apply by Dec 14th #paleontology
e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...
e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...
November 9, 2025 at 8:16 PM
‼️New PhD project in Edinburgh: "Animals, traits, and oxygen in the Ediacaran Nama Group, Namibia". Supervised by Rachel Wood (Amelia Penny and I co-supervising) — big UK+Namibian team — help us understand early animal evolution! Apply by Dec 14th #paleontology
e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...
e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...
A university without arts and languages is not a university.
Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham
In a statement the institution also says it is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 4:18 PM
A university without arts and languages is not a university.
Reposted by Sean McMahon
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by Sean McMahon
We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.
November 1, 2025 at 12:31 AM
We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.
Why is life the way it is? It was a pleasure to share a stage with Nick Lane, @mamaphysikerin.bsky.social, and Cait MacPhee yesterday evening for the @royalsoced.bsky.social seminar event preceding Nick Lane's Gifford Lecture. You can watch the recording here: #astrobiology #evolution #biochemistry
Why is life the way it is?
YouTube video by The Royal Society of Edinburgh
www.youtube.com
October 30, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Why is life the way it is? It was a pleasure to share a stage with Nick Lane, @mamaphysikerin.bsky.social, and Cait MacPhee yesterday evening for the @royalsoced.bsky.social seminar event preceding Nick Lane's Gifford Lecture. You can watch the recording here: #astrobiology #evolution #biochemistry
Congratulations to Ruby Allen-Brown for winning the UKCA-Harding Essay Prize 2025. You can read Ruby's winning entry at: www.astrobiology.ac.uk/opportunitie...
October 27, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Congratulations to Ruby Allen-Brown for winning the UKCA-Harding Essay Prize 2025. You can read Ruby's winning entry at: www.astrobiology.ac.uk/opportunitie...
Reposted by Sean McMahon
Yay. Priceless. The right column at the right time. And a gleefully English two fingers to the haters.
October 25, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Yay. Priceless. The right column at the right time. And a gleefully English two fingers to the haters.
So often universities are spoken about in instrumental language: as institutions that confer skills and training, and as engines of economic growth. Universities are both these things of course...
October 25, 2025 at 2:05 PM
So often universities are spoken about in instrumental language: as institutions that confer skills and training, and as engines of economic growth. Universities are both these things of course...
What a beaut!
#FossilFriday from these Tumbiana Formation stromatolites (~2.7 billion years old)!
Stromatolites have a distinct layered structure formed by microbial mats and sediment🦠
Found by Emeritus Professor Zheng-Xiang Li, Curtin University
#Stromatolites #ArcheanEra #AustralianFossils #AustralianGeology
Stromatolites have a distinct layered structure formed by microbial mats and sediment🦠
Found by Emeritus Professor Zheng-Xiang Li, Curtin University
#Stromatolites #ArcheanEra #AustralianFossils #AustralianGeology
October 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM
What a beaut!
Reposted by Sean McMahon
A mere 4 million years after an asteroid slammed into what is now Lake Lappajärvi 🇫🇮, microbes showed up to colonize the place.
A Flash, a Boom, a New Microbe Habitat - Eos
After an asteroid struck Finland long ago, microscopic life colonized the impact site within a few million years, new research reveals.
eos.org
October 20, 2025 at 3:33 PM
A mere 4 million years after an asteroid slammed into what is now Lake Lappajärvi 🇫🇮, microbes showed up to colonize the place.
Yet more lay-offs at JPL. MAGA = Making America Geocentric Again?
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers reut.rs/4302N2L
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to lay off about 550 workers
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Monday it will cut nearly 550 jobs as part of a restructuring, not related to the current U.S. government shutdown.
reut.rs
October 14, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Yet more lay-offs at JPL. MAGA = Making America Geocentric Again?
Reposted by Sean McMahon
October 11, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Really nice to see my work with Peter Vickers, Cyrille Jeancolas, Cat Gillen, and others make the cover of Sciences et Avenir :-). You can read the original paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
👽🛸 Sommes-nous seuls ? La quête d'une activité biologique extraterrestre fait désormais l'objet de recherches approfondies. Sur Mars, au cœur des lunes océans de Saturne et Jupiter, et au-delà vers les exoplanètes...
En vente jusqu'au 22 octobre 👉 https://l.sciencesetavenir.fr/QoH
En vente jusqu'au 22 octobre 👉 https://l.sciencesetavenir.fr/QoH
October 10, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Really nice to see my work with Peter Vickers, Cyrille Jeancolas, Cat Gillen, and others make the cover of Sciences et Avenir :-). You can read the original paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"Farewell to the NASA we knew, and to all the employees that made America the great place it was for so many decades. From here on out, things will never be the same." Just heartbreaking. bigthink.com/starts-with-...
Thousands of NASA employees to bid farewell to the NASA they knew
As October begins, thousands of longtime NASA employees are leaving the agency. 4000+ will exit by January 9, 2026, changing NASA forever.
bigthink.com
October 3, 2025 at 9:54 AM
"Farewell to the NASA we knew, and to all the employees that made America the great place it was for so many decades. From here on out, things will never be the same." Just heartbreaking. bigthink.com/starts-with-...
Reposted by Sean McMahon
Today's Defenders Day in Ukraine.
Our defenders are addressing the world to remind everyone what Ukraine is fighting for: a safe childhood for children, peaceful land, internationally recognized borders, justice for every innocent victim, and a free, independent Europe.
Thank you, Heroes!
Our defenders are addressing the world to remind everyone what Ukraine is fighting for: a safe childhood for children, peaceful land, internationally recognized borders, justice for every innocent victim, and a free, independent Europe.
Thank you, Heroes!
October 1, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Today's Defenders Day in Ukraine.
Our defenders are addressing the world to remind everyone what Ukraine is fighting for: a safe childhood for children, peaceful land, internationally recognized borders, justice for every innocent victim, and a free, independent Europe.
Thank you, Heroes!
Our defenders are addressing the world to remind everyone what Ukraine is fighting for: a safe childhood for children, peaceful land, internationally recognized borders, justice for every innocent victim, and a free, independent Europe.
Thank you, Heroes!
Another great study from Khawaja and colleagues. www.nature.com/articles/s41.... Tantalising clues here that Enceladus might actually be doing stuff, not just spitting out the same comet-like organic molecules it contained when it formed. But more data needed! #astrobiology #originoflife
Detection of organic compounds in freshly ejected ice grains from Enceladus’s ocean - Nature Astronomy
Fresh ice grains from Enceladus’s plume were analysed during the highest-speed fly-by of the Cassini spacecraft. Organic compounds with a range of chemical structures were discovered, suggesting comprehensive subsurface chemistry on Enceladus.
www.nature.com
October 1, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Another great study from Khawaja and colleagues. www.nature.com/articles/s41.... Tantalising clues here that Enceladus might actually be doing stuff, not just spitting out the same comet-like organic molecules it contained when it formed. But more data needed! #astrobiology #originoflife
I am once again asking NASA to find a way of launching Trump into the Sun. He'll finally get the tan he's always wanted.
“The Destruction of NASA’s Mission” Whistleblowers reveal OMB’s Unconstitutional Plot to Gut the Agency
New from Committee on Commerce, Science, Transportation Ranking Member Maria Cantwell.
NOTE: This is indeed what I have seen going on inside NASA.
🧪🔭
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...
New from Committee on Commerce, Science, Transportation Ranking Member Maria Cantwell.
NOTE: This is indeed what I have seen going on inside NASA.
🧪🔭
www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...
September 30, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I am once again asking NASA to find a way of launching Trump into the Sun. He'll finally get the tan he's always wanted.
Reposted by Sean McMahon
Beautiful #Ediacaran fossil light on the E surface at Mistaken Point 🤩
September 20, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Beautiful #Ediacaran fossil light on the E surface at Mistaken Point 🤩
Reposted by Sean McMahon
We are pleased to share this letter written by one of our members, Professor Leo McCann 👏https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/16/how-ai-is-undermining-learning-and-teaching-in-universities
How AI is undermining learning and teaching in universities | Letter
Letter: Prof Leo McCann and Prof Simon Sweeney say student misuse of generative artificial intelligence is widespread and we must be sceptical of its usefulness
www.theguardian.com
September 25, 2025 at 5:57 PM
We are pleased to share this letter written by one of our members, Professor Leo McCann 👏https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/sep/16/how-ai-is-undermining-learning-and-teaching-in-universities
Reposted by Sean McMahon
We are pleased to publish our Position on the Unsustainability of UK University Funding Models. Visit our website to read it in full:
The Unsustainability of University Funding Models | CDBU
cdbu.org.uk
September 22, 2025 at 8:06 PM
We are pleased to publish our Position on the Unsustainability of UK University Funding Models. Visit our website to read it in full: