Dr Robin George Andrews
@squigglyvolcano.bsky.social
Award-Winning Science Journalist | Volcanology PhD | Stories in
@nytimes @sciam @NatGeo etc | Author: SUPER VOLCANOES 🌋 and HOW TO KILL AN ASTEROID 🚀☄️💥☠️
@nytimes @sciam @NatGeo etc | Author: SUPER VOLCANOES 🌋 and HOW TO KILL AN ASTEROID 🚀☄️💥☠️
Pinned
An inside look into NASA's next generation moon rovers
A retro-futuristic space truck. A nimble crustacean on wheels. A space-age dune buggy. One will win a multibillion-dollar prize to deploy on a future NASA Artemis mission. But first, we took a ride on...
www.nationalgeographic.com
NEW: Intuitive Machines, Astrolab, and Lunar Outpost have all built seriously cool, super-futuristic moon rovers. They’re competing to become the official mode of transportation for NASA’s Artemis astronauts.
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
NEW: Not long after Earth formed, it received a giant sucker punch when an object named Theia crashed into it, unleashing debris that made the Moon. But where did Theia come from—the outer solar system?
Nope. The Moon-making impact was an inside job.
Me @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/s...
Nope. The Moon-making impact was an inside job.
Me @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/s...
The Moon Was an Inside Job
www.nytimes.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:46 PM
NEW: Not long after Earth formed, it received a giant sucker punch when an object named Theia crashed into it, unleashing debris that made the Moon. But where did Theia come from—the outer solar system?
Nope. The Moon-making impact was an inside job.
Me @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/s...
Nope. The Moon-making impact was an inside job.
Me @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/s...
NEW: NASA may not have been able to speak about 3I/ATLAS during the government shutdown, but now that's over, they got to showcase a bunch of fantastic new shots of it.
Spoiler alert: it's still a comet. But it's also very cool, and robots on Mars saw it.
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
Spoiler alert: it's still a comet. But it's also very cool, and robots on Mars saw it.
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
NASA caught a view of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS from Mars
NASA released new images of 3I/ATLAS as it plunged towards the sun, captured by a host of the agency’s robots and probes.
www.nationalgeographic.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:43 PM
NEW: NASA may not have been able to speak about 3I/ATLAS during the government shutdown, but now that's over, they got to showcase a bunch of fantastic new shots of it.
Spoiler alert: it's still a comet. But it's also very cool, and robots on Mars saw it.
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
Spoiler alert: it's still a comet. But it's also very cool, and robots on Mars saw it.
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
NEW: Around Halloween, a Japanese astronomer caught two strange bright flashes on the Moon, one after the other. What were these spooky lights? Aliens having a rave?
Nope. They were asteroid impacts: a reminder that the Moon is a constant battleground.
@nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/s...
Nope. They were asteroid impacts: a reminder that the Moon is a constant battleground.
@nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/s...
What Were Those 2 Spooky Flashes That Lit Up the Moon?
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:57 AM
NEW: Around Halloween, a Japanese astronomer caught two strange bright flashes on the Moon, one after the other. What were these spooky lights? Aliens having a rave?
Nope. They were asteroid impacts: a reminder that the Moon is a constant battleground.
@nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/s...
Nope. They were asteroid impacts: a reminder that the Moon is a constant battleground.
@nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/s...
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
NEW: Intuitive Machines, Astrolab, and Lunar Outpost have all built seriously cool, super-futuristic moon rovers. They’re competing to become the official mode of transportation for NASA’s Artemis astronauts.
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
An inside look into NASA's next generation moon rovers
A retro-futuristic space truck. A nimble crustacean on wheels. A space-age dune buggy. One will win a multibillion-dollar prize to deploy on a future NASA Artemis mission. But first, we took a ride on...
www.nationalgeographic.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:52 PM
NEW: Intuitive Machines, Astrolab, and Lunar Outpost have all built seriously cool, super-futuristic moon rovers. They’re competing to become the official mode of transportation for NASA’s Artemis astronauts.
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
NEW: Intuitive Machines, Astrolab, and Lunar Outpost have all built seriously cool, super-futuristic moon rovers. They’re competing to become the official mode of transportation for NASA’s Artemis astronauts.
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
An inside look into NASA's next generation moon rovers
A retro-futuristic space truck. A nimble crustacean on wheels. A space-age dune buggy. One will win a multibillion-dollar prize to deploy on a future NASA Artemis mission. But first, we took a ride on...
www.nationalgeographic.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:52 PM
NEW: Intuitive Machines, Astrolab, and Lunar Outpost have all built seriously cool, super-futuristic moon rovers. They’re competing to become the official mode of transportation for NASA’s Artemis astronauts.
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
And for NatGeo, I test drove all three. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
Hey there astronomy community! If anyone has any information or new footage of that impact flash on the Moon, please let me know—I’d love to see it/hear about it.
📸: @dfuji1.bsky.social
📸: @dfuji1.bsky.social
November 1, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Hey there astronomy community! If anyone has any information or new footage of that impact flash on the Moon, please let me know—I’d love to see it/hear about it.
📸: @dfuji1.bsky.social
📸: @dfuji1.bsky.social
Hey there astronomy community! If anyone has any information or new footage of that impact flash on the Moon, please let me know—I’d love to see it/hear about it.
📸: @dfuji1.bsky.social
📸: @dfuji1.bsky.social
November 1, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Hey there astronomy community! If anyone has any information or new footage of that impact flash on the Moon, please let me know—I’d love to see it/hear about it.
📸: @dfuji1.bsky.social
📸: @dfuji1.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
NEW: The interstellar object named 3I/ATLAS is many things: a time capsule from an ancient star, an effervescent icy voyager, a clue to the earlier days of the Milky Way.
You know what it absolutely, definitely isn’t? An alien spacecraft.
Me @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
You know what it absolutely, definitely isn’t? An alien spacecraft.
Me @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
Sorry, but interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS really is a comet, not aliens
Interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS are exciting, but there is no reason to claim that they are evidence of alien spacecraft – sometimes a comet is just comet, says Robin George Andrews
www.newscientist.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:39 PM
NEW: The interstellar object named 3I/ATLAS is many things: a time capsule from an ancient star, an effervescent icy voyager, a clue to the earlier days of the Milky Way.
You know what it absolutely, definitely isn’t? An alien spacecraft.
Me @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
You know what it absolutely, definitely isn’t? An alien spacecraft.
Me @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
NEW: Hurricane Melissa was such a monstrous tempest that it was literally shaking the Earth as far away as Florida, where seismometers picked up its stormquakes.
Here’s how seismometers can also shine a light on hurricanes long gone.
Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/seis...
Here’s how seismometers can also shine a light on hurricanes long gone.
Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/seis...
Hurricane Melissa Literally Made the Earth Shake Hundreds of Miles Away
Seismometers picked up the ferocious winds and waves of Hurricane Melissa, showing how the tools can be used to better understand storms today and those from the past
www.scientificamerican.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:28 PM
NEW: Hurricane Melissa was such a monstrous tempest that it was literally shaking the Earth as far away as Florida, where seismometers picked up its stormquakes.
Here’s how seismometers can also shine a light on hurricanes long gone.
Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/seis...
Here’s how seismometers can also shine a light on hurricanes long gone.
Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/seis...
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
NEW: Some alien worlds orbiting right next to their stars seem to have a lot of water—but how?
A new study, using lasers and diamond anvils, has a wild answer: they are making all that water themselves by mixing hydrogen skies with magmatic hearts.
Me @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
A new study, using lasers and diamond anvils, has a wild answer: they are making all that water themselves by mixing hydrogen skies with magmatic hearts.
Me @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
Alien worlds may be able to make their own water
Ocean planets could arise from rocks reacting with thick hydrogen atmospheres, lab experiments show
www.science.org
October 29, 2025 at 7:13 PM
NEW: Some alien worlds orbiting right next to their stars seem to have a lot of water—but how?
A new study, using lasers and diamond anvils, has a wild answer: they are making all that water themselves by mixing hydrogen skies with magmatic hearts.
Me @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
A new study, using lasers and diamond anvils, has a wild answer: they are making all that water themselves by mixing hydrogen skies with magmatic hearts.
Me @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
NEW: The interstellar object named 3I/ATLAS is many things: a time capsule from an ancient star, an effervescent icy voyager, a clue to the earlier days of the Milky Way.
You know what it absolutely, definitely isn’t? An alien spacecraft.
Me @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
You know what it absolutely, definitely isn’t? An alien spacecraft.
Me @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
Sorry, but interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS really is a comet, not aliens
Interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS are exciting, but there is no reason to claim that they are evidence of alien spacecraft – sometimes a comet is just comet, says Robin George Andrews
www.newscientist.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:39 PM
NEW: The interstellar object named 3I/ATLAS is many things: a time capsule from an ancient star, an effervescent icy voyager, a clue to the earlier days of the Milky Way.
You know what it absolutely, definitely isn’t? An alien spacecraft.
Me @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
You know what it absolutely, definitely isn’t? An alien spacecraft.
Me @newscientist.com www.newscientist.com/article/2502...
Update: it happened!
Editors: if you let me write a story that’s essentially called “It’s a fucking comet, people. It’s just a comet” about 3I/ATLAS, with exactly that tone, I will basically write it for free.
Quite the battle royale here.
October 30, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Update: it happened!
NEW: Hurricane Melissa was such a monstrous tempest that it was literally shaking the Earth as far away as Florida, where seismometers picked up its stormquakes.
Here’s how seismometers can also shine a light on hurricanes long gone.
Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/seis...
Here’s how seismometers can also shine a light on hurricanes long gone.
Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/seis...
Hurricane Melissa Literally Made the Earth Shake Hundreds of Miles Away
Seismometers picked up the ferocious winds and waves of Hurricane Melissa, showing how the tools can be used to better understand storms today and those from the past
www.scientificamerican.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:28 PM
NEW: Hurricane Melissa was such a monstrous tempest that it was literally shaking the Earth as far away as Florida, where seismometers picked up its stormquakes.
Here’s how seismometers can also shine a light on hurricanes long gone.
Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/seis...
Here’s how seismometers can also shine a light on hurricanes long gone.
Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/seis...
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
A fascinating new piece for @sciam.bsky.social by @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social about Hurricane Melissa being picked up by seismographs. Because the seismic record began long before the satellite era, we may be able to use older seismograms to learn more about past storms. 🧪
Hurricane Melissa Literally Made the Earth Shake Hundreds of Miles Away
Seismometers picked up the ferocious winds and waves of Hurricane Melissa, showing how the tools can be used to better understand storms today and those from the past
www.scientificamerican.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:24 PM
A fascinating new piece for @sciam.bsky.social by @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social about Hurricane Melissa being picked up by seismographs. Because the seismic record began long before the satellite era, we may be able to use older seismograms to learn more about past storms. 🧪
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
So proud of this AMAZING new package up on @technologyreview.com today all about CONSPIRACIES. Helmed/conceived by @asilverman.bsky.social it covers everything from medical conspiracies, to the Simpsons, to Fruit of the Loom and much more. Dive in and enjoy! www.technologyreview.com/supertopic/t...
The New Conspiracy Age
There’s never been a better time to be a conspiracy theorist. An MIT Technology Review series The New Conspiracy Age Everything is a conspiracy theory now. Conspiracists are all over the White House, ...
www.technologyreview.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:08 AM
So proud of this AMAZING new package up on @technologyreview.com today all about CONSPIRACIES. Helmed/conceived by @asilverman.bsky.social it covers everything from medical conspiracies, to the Simpsons, to Fruit of the Loom and much more. Dive in and enjoy! www.technologyreview.com/supertopic/t...
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
Editors: if you let me write a story that’s essentially called “It’s a fucking comet, people. It’s just a comet” about 3I/ATLAS, with exactly that tone, I will basically write it for free.
October 30, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Editors: if you let me write a story that’s essentially called “It’s a fucking comet, people. It’s just a comet” about 3I/ATLAS, with exactly that tone, I will basically write it for free.
Editors: if you let me write a story that’s essentially called “It’s a fucking comet, people. It’s just a comet” about 3I/ATLAS, with exactly that tone, I will basically write it for free.
October 30, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Editors: if you let me write a story that’s essentially called “It’s a fucking comet, people. It’s just a comet” about 3I/ATLAS, with exactly that tone, I will basically write it for free.
My favourite 3I/ATLAS conspiracy idea is that it hid behind the Sun during its closest approach, perfect timing so that Earth couldn’t see it.
Yeah, except for like the time both before and after this where astronomers can clearly see it. Good stealth there, aliens!
Yeah, except for like the time both before and after this where astronomers can clearly see it. Good stealth there, aliens!
October 30, 2025 at 12:09 AM
My favourite 3I/ATLAS conspiracy idea is that it hid behind the Sun during its closest approach, perfect timing so that Earth couldn’t see it.
Yeah, except for like the time both before and after this where astronomers can clearly see it. Good stealth there, aliens!
Yeah, except for like the time both before and after this where astronomers can clearly see it. Good stealth there, aliens!
NEW: Some alien worlds orbiting right next to their stars seem to have a lot of water—but how?
A new study, using lasers and diamond anvils, has a wild answer: they are making all that water themselves by mixing hydrogen skies with magmatic hearts.
Me @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
A new study, using lasers and diamond anvils, has a wild answer: they are making all that water themselves by mixing hydrogen skies with magmatic hearts.
Me @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
Alien worlds may be able to make their own water
Ocean planets could arise from rocks reacting with thick hydrogen atmospheres, lab experiments show
www.science.org
October 29, 2025 at 7:13 PM
NEW: Some alien worlds orbiting right next to their stars seem to have a lot of water—but how?
A new study, using lasers and diamond anvils, has a wild answer: they are making all that water themselves by mixing hydrogen skies with magmatic hearts.
Me @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
A new study, using lasers and diamond anvils, has a wild answer: they are making all that water themselves by mixing hydrogen skies with magmatic hearts.
Me @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
Seismologists! If you're using seismometers to track Hurricane Melissa, get in touch ASAP. It's for a story. I'd love to chat!
a national geographic photo of a hurricane
ALT: a national geographic photo of a hurricane
media.tenor.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Seismologists! If you're using seismometers to track Hurricane Melissa, get in touch ASAP. It's for a story. I'd love to chat!
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
Thanks to @bmcnoldy.bsky.social & @drkimwood.bsky.social for help with this story. We were all struggling to find sufficient words.
“It’s this frustrating combination of, scientifically speaking, we know this is possible, but as humans we are flabbergasted at seeing manifest in this way.” -Kim 🧪
“It’s this frustrating combination of, scientifically speaking, we know this is possible, but as humans we are flabbergasted at seeing manifest in this way.” -Kim 🧪
The Science of How Hurricane Melissa Became So Extreme
A nearly perfect alignment of factors has enabled Hurricane Melissa to become one of the most intense Atlantic storms ever recorded
www.scientificamerican.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Thanks to @bmcnoldy.bsky.social & @drkimwood.bsky.social for help with this story. We were all struggling to find sufficient words.
“It’s this frustrating combination of, scientifically speaking, we know this is possible, but as humans we are flabbergasted at seeing manifest in this way.” -Kim 🧪
“It’s this frustrating combination of, scientifically speaking, we know this is possible, but as humans we are flabbergasted at seeing manifest in this way.” -Kim 🧪
NEW: The clean rooms where NASA and ESA build spacecraft aren’t as clean as you think. And a new study shows that one kind of bacteria can even “play dead” and camouflage itself so that scientists can’t even detect it. 🦠
So: maybe it hitchhiked to Mars. 😅
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
So: maybe it hitchhiked to Mars. 😅
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
NASA discovered a bacteria that can ‘play dead’—and might have accidentally sent it to Mars
In 2013, NASA discovered a bacteria evading its most stringent disinfections. Scientists just figured out how it does it.
www.nationalgeographic.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:19 PM
NEW: The clean rooms where NASA and ESA build spacecraft aren’t as clean as you think. And a new study shows that one kind of bacteria can even “play dead” and camouflage itself so that scientists can’t even detect it. 🦠
So: maybe it hitchhiked to Mars. 😅
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
So: maybe it hitchhiked to Mars. 😅
www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Dr Robin George Andrews
I did a brief writeup on known space debris reentries on Oct 16, none of which match the UA1093 airliner incident
planet4589.org/space/misc/u...
planet4589.org/space/misc/u...
Reentered over Canary Is. circa 16W 28N at 0157 UTC, reentry observed from ground. Space Force confirms reentry on Oct 16 but with no TIP reentry data. 3) WHSJW 6-01 (63428, 2025-067A) Reentered over Sakhalin 143E 49N at 1700 UTC based on Space Force TIP reentry data on space-track.org.
planet4589.org
October 20, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I did a brief writeup on known space debris reentries on Oct 16, none of which match the UA1093 airliner incident
planet4589.org/space/misc/u...
planet4589.org/space/misc/u...
Hey space community! Can anyone help with this story? Something — possibility a bit of space debris possibly a meteorite — just smashed through the windshield of a passenger jet. Does anyone know (especially with the shutdown) how any info could be verified here? avbrief.com/united-max-h...
United MAX Hit by Falling Object at 36,000 Feet - AvBrief.com
'Space debris' was suggested in the extremely rare event.
avbrief.com
October 19, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Hey space community! Can anyone help with this story? Something — possibility a bit of space debris possibly a meteorite — just smashed through the windshield of a passenger jet. Does anyone know (especially with the shutdown) how any info could be verified here? avbrief.com/united-max-h...