Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 18h

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

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 23h

@tanyaofmars.bsky.social @caseydreier.bsky.social

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 23h

The world's premier space agency isn't exempt from the U.S. government shutdown. "You can't just sit in your lab and think that this doesn't impact you, because it's very clear now that it does,” says one planetary scientist. 🏛️ ❌ Read more in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/26e5h4d2 #nasa

NASA Faces Government Shutdown, Funding Fears Rise

While civil servants are furloughed or working without pay, funding for NASA remains uncertain.

tinyurl.com

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 13d

Cooling 1 data center's electronics and venting the heat 💻 = 40,000 U.S. households' energy 🏠. New research suggests a way to waste less power with the help of solar—even as the U.S. moves away from renewables.☀️🔌 #solar #ai

@science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

A ‘solar bump’ could help data centers recover wasted energy

Solar water heaters could recoup 8% of the electricity needs of AI computer farms

www.science.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 18d

The 2025 Ig Nobel-winning research was as wacky as ever. But wars, visa restrictions, Trump's border and research policies, and even an all-too-frequent airplane incident kept nearly half the winning teams from traveling to Boston @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

The Ig Nobels are science’s most lighthearted event. This year is ‘not typical’

Amid Trump research cuts, visa restrictions, and international conflicts, some winners sit out the celebration of whimsical science

www.science.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Aug 25

I got to tell the inside story of NASA's historic DART mission for Popular Mechanics and Apple News+. 🛰️☄️As one source put it, “The probability is low that an asteroid will hit us. But at the same time, it is the only natural disaster that we can predict and act against.”🌍 tinyurl.com/2xvskbuh #nasa

Inside NASA’s Wild Space Mission to Defend Earth Against a Planet-Killing Asteroid

A mighty, cosmos-altering rocket could be the only thing that saves humanity from extinction.

www.popularmechanics.com

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Aug 18

Somewhere, over the space rainbow...🪨🌈 @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #space #nasa

Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Might Have Weird “Space Rainbows”

Scouring old data from NASA’s Cassini mission revealed puzzling atmospheric stripes that could help probe Saturn’s icy moon.

skyandtelescope.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Aug 15

Is BlueSky toxic? Maybe - but there's no algorithm to blame. Read more in @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Don’t blame the algorithm: Polarization may be inherent in social media

In simulations, AI-generated users of stripped-down social media without content algorithms still split into polarized echo chambers

www.science.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Aug 14

"Like trying to build a house without a two-by-four" - Trump leaves NASA missions on the table, but guts the fuel needed to get there. Read my first story for @sciam.bsky.social : www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum... #nasa #trump #space #astronomy

NASA Budget Cuts Could End U.S. Exploration of the Outer Solar System

The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years

www.scientificamerican.com

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Reposted by Hannah Richter

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · Aug 14

The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years

Trump Cuts Could End U.S. Exploration of the Outer Solar System

The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years

www.scientificamerican.com

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Reposted by Hannah Richter

Lee Billings @leebillings.bsky.social · Aug 14

Now on @sciam.bsky.social: While the Trump administration is ordering NASA to build a lunar nuclear reactor, it's also proposing cuts that'd end NASA's nuclear-powered exploration of the solar system. Will Congress push back? By @hannah-richter.bsky.social

www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

Trump Cuts Could End U.S. Exploration of the Outer Solar System

The U.S. planetary science community is sounding the alarm about plans to discard a nuclear technology that has powered dozens of NASA missions over the past 50 years

www.scientificamerican.com

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jul 28

More budget chaos—and an "aggressive interpretation of executive authority"—before the scientific futures of NASA, NOAA, and the NSF are settled 🛰️🔬☁️. Read my update today in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #trump #nasa #science #noaa #nsf #congress

Congress’s NASA and NSF Budgets Counter Trump, Fund Science

The House and Senate bill drafts keep NASA near current funding levels, but the Trump administration is nevertheless readying the agency for heavy cuts

skyandtelescope.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jul 11

An important step to using clean, natural hydrogen fuel⛽ ? Figuring out how it rises tantalizingly close to Earth's surface in "fairy circles"🪨. Read about a new theory in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...

How hydrogen-leaking ‘fairy circles’ might form

Understanding the origins of mysterious seeps could help prospectors extract natural hydrogen fuel

www.science.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jul 10

Trump’s first administration established a program to prevent satellite collisions. His second administration wants to dismantle it. 🛰️ 💻 "We will see, frankly, a more dangerous space environment," said an industry leader. Today for @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Proposed NOAA Budget Kills Program That Was Designed to Prevent Satellite Collisions

Trump’s first administration helped establish the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). His second administration wants to dismantle it.

skyandtelescope.org

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Reposted by Hannah Richter

David Grimm @david-grimm.bsky.social · Jun 27

When exposed to UV-C, the most radiation-resistant life form on Earth died in less than a minute. Not so for a hardy black lichen known as Clavascidium lacinulatum. It just kept going and going, even when scientists continued to blast it for moths. Really cool story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social

UV-C light kills nearly everything—except this unusual organism

Built-in Sun protection might be a blueprint for surviving in space

www.science.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jun 27

UV-C light is a go-to sterilizer for hospitals and labs. 🦠🔬 Why can this dark desert lichen survive a "mind-blowing level of UV-C harshness" - and could it provide clues to life on other planets? 🌱 🪐 Today for @science.org #astrobiology #biology www.science.org/content/arti...

UV-C light kills nearly everything—except this unusual organism

Built-in Sun protection might be a blueprint for surviving in space

www.science.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jun 16

The Trump admin has called for shutting down 1/2 of the Nobel Prize-winning LIGO facilities that detect gravitational waves - a sign they "probably didn’t have a deep understanding of the science behind LIGO." Read more in
@skyandtelescope.bsky.social #trump #nsf skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

“Shattering” NSF Budget Proposal Threatens Gravitational Wave Science

One of two Nobel Prize-winning Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) sites is on the budgetary chopping block.

skyandtelescope.org

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Reposted by Hannah Richter

Kev Abazajian @abazajian.net · Jun 11

Abazajian "can't help but draw comparisons to... the Soviet Union when it collapsed." Sky & Telescope Magazine covers the enticement of Europe of US scientific talent ⚛️ 🧪 🔭 - great article by @hannah-richter.bsky.social for @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Amid U.S. Science Funding Cuts, Europe Seeks Top American Talent

European nations and universities are pledging more than $850 million for international scientists, as U.S. chops federal science spending.

skyandtelescope.org

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Reposted by Hannah Richter

Samaya Nissanke (she/her) @samayanissanke.bsky.social · Jun 11

Great chat with the fantastic @hannah-richter.bsky.social on the proposed USA funding cuts & the impact on global science for Sky & Telescope magazine 👇🏾

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jun 11

For a UCI cosmologist, America's science perils remind him of his childhood in the Soviet Union, when top scientists fled the collapse to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Will Europe be the next landing destination? #trump #science @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Amid U.S. Science Funding Cuts, Europe Seeks Top American Talent

European nations and universities are pledging more than $850 million for international scientists, as U.S. chops federal science spending.

skyandtelescope.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jun 11

(Thank you @samayanissanke.bsky.social @abazajian.net)

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jun 11

For a UCI cosmologist, America's science perils remind him of his childhood in the Soviet Union, when top scientists fled the collapse to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Will Europe be the next landing destination? #trump #science @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Amid U.S. Science Funding Cuts, Europe Seeks Top American Talent

European nations and universities are pledging more than $850 million for international scientists, as U.S. chops federal science spending.

skyandtelescope.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jun 3

Thanks to @mmacgreg.bsky.social @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social @caseydreier.bsky.social @georgewhitesides.bsky.social

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · Jun 3

The White House's proposed budget for NASA is "a whole new level of horror," according to one planetary scientist. 🚀❌ Read how the space science community is reeling and dealing in my new story for @skyandtelescope.bsky.social #nasa #trump skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Proposed NASA Budget Would Gut Space Science, Jobs

With more than 40 missions on the chopping block, the space community is holding on to hope that the budget is “dead on arrival” in Congress

skyandtelescope.org

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · May 21

Last January, I met Kevin Liévano-Romero at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Manter Laboratory of Parasitology.🪱🦇🦠 His unconventional path to science and love for creatures creepy and crawly stuck with me, so I'm thrilled I got to feature his story with @nature.com! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Before studying parasites, this PhD researcher was their host

Kevin Liévano-Romero abandoned a veterinary career in Colombia to move to the United States, where he studies feared but fascinating creatures.

www.nature.com

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · May 19

For my first story with Sierra Magazine of @sierraclub.org, I got to answer a nagging question: Should we be supporting zoos in 2025?🐼🦧🦜 www.sierraclub.org/sierra/do-zo...

Do Zoos Have a Place in 2025?

The ethics, conservation, and human entertainment are all part of the equation

www.sierraclub.org

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