Abby Beall
@abbybeall.bsky.social
1.1K followers 720 following 28 posts
specials editor at New Scientist
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
abbybeall.bsky.social
does this paper...make sense to anyone? "women’s menstrual cycles recorded before the introduction of LEDs in 2010 and the extensive use of smart phones significantly synchronized with the Moon, while those after 2010 coupled to the Moon mostly in January" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Synchronization of women’s menstruation with the Moon has decreased but remains detectable when gravitational pull is strong
In modern times, menstrual cycles run in synchrony with the Moon only during Perihelion and Minor Lunar Standstills.
www.science.org
abbybeall.bsky.social
in a few weeks I'll be hosting a special live episode of our @newscientist.com podcast "The world, the universe and us" at @royalsociety.org. it's going to be all about spaceflight and the human body, with some amazing guests!

sign up here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-world-...
The world, the universe and us: live
Join us for at Royal Society Lates - 2075: A space odyssey for a special live edition of New Scientist’s award-winning podcast
www.eventbrite.co.uk
Reposted by Abby Beall
rowhoop.bsky.social
How to build a telescope the size of the moon, a 🧵

Very-long baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a clever way astronomers combine inputs from radio telescopes to make a giant network of telescopes. It's how the Event Horizon Telescope imaged the black hole at the centre of our galaxy 1/5
abbybeall.bsky.social
excited to share that I will be starting in a new role when I come back to work @newscientist.com next month, as Specials Editor.

I've had a lovely year with my tiny human but I am very excited to get back to editing and commissioning, with a focus on our special issue packages!
Reposted by Abby Beall
chrislintott.bsky.social
An astonishing headline reporting on new observations from a team led to Nikku Madhusudhan claims they’ve found ‘hints of life’ on a planet orbiting a dwarf star some 124 light years away. What’s going on? (1/n) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 🔭 🧪
Promising hints of life found on distant planet K2-18b
Scientists find new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life.
www.bbc.co.uk
Reposted by Abby Beall
astrojonny.bsky.social
Ah yes, April Fool's day on arXiv. Enjoyed this one.

arxiv.org/abs/2503.22795
abbybeall.bsky.social
I can’t wait to listen to this but it might be torture for me at the moment 😂🫠😴👶🏻
Reposted by Abby Beall
danfalk.bsky.social
1/ Some things to keep in mind about the “planetary parade” that news reports breathlessly say is happening today: (1) The planets mostly move pretty slowly from day to day, so today's sky is pretty similar to a few days ago or a few days from now — except for Mercury (cont'd)
Reposted by Abby Beall
elisecutts.bsky.social
The FEP is one of those ideas everyone and no one seems to understand. I tried to wrap my head around it for New Scientist, but I feel like I barely even *found* the surface , let alone scratched it.

For those of you who enjoy tying your brain in knots:
shorturl.at/9wakH
The free-energy principle: Can one idea explain why everything exists?
What life is and how the mind works fall within the compass of one bold concept. But critics say that by attempting to explain everything, it may end up explaining nothing
www.newscientist.com
Reposted by Abby Beall
Reposted by Abby Beall
newscientist.com
There will be an extra 2.3 million temperature-related deaths in Europe's main cities by 2099 without more action to limit further warming and adapt to it, researchers predict - but colder countries like the UK will see fewer temperature-related deaths overall. www.newscientist.com/article/2465...
European cities face millions more deaths from extreme temperatures
In Europe as a whole, the increase in deaths from hot weather over the next century will outweigh the decline in deaths from cold weather, but in colder countries such as the UK, temperature-related d...
www.newscientist.com
Reposted by Abby Beall
spacemarschall.net
Tomorrow, Dec. 12, at 4:15 UTC, the Lucy spacecraft will make its closest approach during its 2nd Earth Gravity Assist (EGA), just 350 km above the surface. If you are in the Hawaiian Islands, Atlantic Islands, or West Africa, you might be able to see the spacecraft.

1/7 🧵
#planetsci #scicomm 🧪
A comic-style illustration of the Lucy spacecraft with two large yellow circular solar panels in front of the Earth. 
More details here: https://lucy.swri.edu/SpotTheSpacecraft-EGA2.html
abbybeall.bsky.social
a lovely surprise to turn on the tv and see a familiar face! @seismatters.bsky.social
Reposted by Abby Beall
willgater.bsky.social
Reports of a bright, blue-green fireball over the UK tonight around 7:30pm. Sightings from Aberdeenshire down to Surrey. If you saw or recorded something please submit a report/footage to: ukmon.imo.net/members/imo/.... @ukfall.org.uk
United Kingdom Meteor Observation Network Report a Fireball: it's fun and easy!
You saw something bright and fast? Like a huge shooting star? Report it: it may be a fireball.
ukmon.imo.net
Reposted by Abby Beall
rowhoop.bsky.social
“We’re thankful for zero gravity, it’s amazing” #thanksgiving on the ISS ❤️
Reposted by Abby Beall
statto.bsky.social
There’s more to rainbows than the human eye can see: here’s how a rainbow extends into the infrared and ultraviolet.

Photos:
1. Infrared
2. Visible (obviously)
3. Ultraviolet, and
4. A composite showing how UV is beyond the violet in a rainbow, and IR beyond the red end.

🧪 #photography
An infrared photo of a rainbow: a strange, ghostly-looking rainbow in a mostly black and white photo, with a faintly red outer edge and a cyan inner edge, and what look like a few even fainter ‘echo’ bows inside A regular visible-light pic of a rainbow An ultraviolet picture of a rainbow: a dark, foreboding landscape with a deep purple stripe emanating from it, and a grey stripe inside A composite of the three preceding photos, showing that the infrared bow is ‘outside’ the visible light rainbow, and the ultraviolet bow ‘inside’
Reposted by Abby Beall
hanaayoob.co.uk
ScienceWrite, a UK scheme for aspiring STEM writers from minoritised backgrounds, is open for 2025 applications!

The 3rd year @romatheengineer.bsky.social & I are running this, with support from @royalsociety.bsky.social & I am SO EXCITED

Deadline 3rd Jan #SciComm 🧪

www.sciencewrite.co.uk
abbybeall.bsky.social
a snowy beach walk to start the day 🥶
abbybeall.bsky.social
genuinely me right now 🫠