Britt Lundgren
@brittlundgren.bsky.social
2.5K followers 1.2K following 1.2K posts
Quasar gazer | data miner | science / education policy wonk | Associate Prof. of Physics & Astronomy at a public liberal arts college | Illinoisan
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brittlundgren.bsky.social
My article on the likely influence of the experiments of polymath Thomas Young on the early abstract art of Hilma af Klint is now published & open access at Leonardo / MIT Press 🎉 direct.mit.edu/leon/article...
brittlundgren.bsky.social
"The wind points out of the plane of the galactic disk at a 45° angle and spans a length of about 3 light-years. That angle also implies that Sgr A* is spinning out of alignment with the orientation of the galactic plane, the researchers say."
hannah-richter.bsky.social
For essentially every supermassive black hole that astronomers have studied, they've spotted powerful winds blowing out from the event horizon to shape the surrounding galaxy. Except for the one in the Milky Way. 🌟 ⚫ 🌬️

The case may now be closed. @science.org tinyurl.com/5y99b7az #space #astronomy
Missing wind from Milky Way’s giant black hole finally found
Astronomers may have glimpsed a long-predicted wind of gas blowing out from Sagittarius A*
tinyurl.com
brittlundgren.bsky.social
Scrolled past an article that I don't want to share about people using AI to create deepfake videos of Stephen Hawking being physically attacked. This is the tech most folks' retirement savings are now deeply invested in.
brittlundgren.bsky.social
Can confirm that Rockford is the gateway to the upper midwest.
williamhazen.bsky.social
This is the most accurate depiction of the Midwest to date. Wichita has always felt like the last Midwest city while also being the first plains city.
Cultural Regions of the US
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
himself.bsky.social
"It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
natematias.bsky.social
It’s hard not to see tools like this as a strong threat to the common human decency that I have spent the last 15 years working for. So I would genuinely like to know what public goods are worth all this.
brittlundgren.bsky.social
"At Powell Elementary.. across the street from the raid, children share a similar fear. A source who requested anonymity because they work at Powell described the predominantly Black school as welcoming to new arrivals. While there are language barriers, he said the children support each other."
dlknowles.bsky.social
Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...
Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children
Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.
southsideweekly.com
brittlundgren.bsky.social
Maybelle Blair, a former pitcher for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, spoke yesterday at the groundbreaking for a new stadium on the site of the Rockford Peaches' baseball field. (I'm pleased to see my old elementary school, still standing in the background! ❤️)
Maybelle Blair, a former pitcher for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, spoke yesterday at the groundbreaking for a new stadium on the site of the Rockford Peaches' baseball field
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social
eventually politicians need to start advocating for criminal and civil penalties for people involved in fabricating stories to get citizens incarcerated.

or, put another way: a society that would like to keep functioning has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities
brittlundgren.bsky.social
Oregon Republican Party’s X account replied: “We’re not reporters, just bad memers.”

There are no lies. Only meme.
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
“.. On closer inspection, however, it turned out that the image was not a photograph of a real event in Portland, but instead a fabrication created by combining two photographs of scenes that unfolded in South America nearly a decade apart ..”

@theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
paulguinnessy.bsky.social
Physics students are told their degree is a ticket to anything but during their time at university, it's rarely elaborated on. So Toni Feder has gone out and interviewed physicists with varied careers away from the field (Posts the physicist whose job title is digital experience director...)
What can physicists do?
Interviews offer a glimpse of how physicists get into—and thrive in—myriad nonacademic careers.
pubs.aip.org
brittlundgren.bsky.social
brb - off to write a white paper for $1B and control of all the world's telescopes outside of any formal solicitation.
brittlundgren.bsky.social
Refusing to provide this info in any additional language is a tell.
samthielman.com
At the Asheville regional airport. Fuck these people.
A “self-deportation” sign
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
cristianfarias.com
This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
govpritzker.illinois.gov
This evening, President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.
brittlundgren.bsky.social
Errands done, heading home.
brittlundgren.bsky.social
New baby raccoon neighbors 🥰
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
dansolomon.com
really trying to manifest making just being out and about in a city feel as dangerous as they think it is
clancyny.bsky.social
Logan Square neighborhood, Chicago. Man wearing a balaclava in a white, unmarked vehicle, pulls the pin on a tear gas canister and tosses it in the road.

"Just trying to grab some lunch and these fucking losers showed up. FUCK ICE!"
source: www.reddit.com/r/LoganSquar...
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
eric-reinhart.com
ICE just blatantly violated the law and arrested sitting Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes while seeking to illegally arrest a patient in a hospital. Fuck these fascists.
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
maaloufmd.bsky.social
My husband was detained by ICE today

Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away

I have had zero contact or updates since

#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
clancyny.bsky.social
Logan Square neighborhood, Chicago. Man wearing a balaclava in a white, unmarked vehicle, pulls the pin on a tear gas canister and tosses it in the road.

"Just trying to grab some lunch and these fucking losers showed up. FUCK ICE!"
source: www.reddit.com/r/LoganSquar...
brittlundgren.bsky.social
Some top-notch AI. Not even close to my subject matter expertise, but they've made a 5min AI-generated audio summary for me already. No one wants this stuff!
Unsolicited mail from Academia.edu, reading: "Dear Dr. Lundgren, Based on the papers you've authored, we think you might be interested in this recently published article from Academia Biology: Redistribution of wintering bird communities after wetland loss in Purba Medinipur, West Bengal India." Followed by a link to a 5min AI audio summary of the paper.