Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · 11h

today’s Nobel honored three physicists who discovered two properties of quantum mechanics, the laws that rule the subatomic realm, could be observed in a system large enough to be seen with the naked eye:

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/s...

Nobel Prize in Physics Is Awarded for Work in Quantum Mechanics

www.nytimes.com

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · 5d

on a brown dwarf dozens of light years from us, astronomers have detected trace amounts of a molecule that, on this planet, is made by living things.

this discovery is not life. but it will help astronomers on their quest to find it elsewhere in the galaxy:

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/s...

What a Signal in a Failed Star’s Clouds Means for the Search for Life

www.nytimes.com

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SciComm Excellence @scicommexcellence.nationalacademies.org · 5d

@katrinamillerphd.bsky.social is a science reporter for @nytimes.com who writes about the universe and how the pursuit of understanding it impacts society.

We asked her about covering #astronomy and #physics, shifting from research to journalism, and more: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10...

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Till Eckert @tilleckert.com · 12d

1/ I’m Till Eckert, a ProPublica reporter. For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been going to the same NY immigration courthouse.

Nearly every time, I see ICE agents arresting immigrants. Today, a woman was slammed to the ground after begging officials not to take her husband away.

Thread 👇

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · 23d

thank you jeanne!!

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Jeanne Timmons @mostlymammoths.bsky.social · 23d

FASCINATING interview with @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social.

"I really wanted to reach people who had been let down by the education system. I tried to propose a liberal arts math class, but the university wouldn’t let me do it. So I thought, well, I guess I’ll write it." @dreugeniacheng.bsky.social

Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Sep 2

“I want people to be able to gaze at math,” she said. “You can still enjoy music, even if you can’t play.”

@dreugeniacheng.bsky.social spoke with me about her mission to bring math to the masses & the inspo behind her new book, Unequal:

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/s...

You Don’t Need to Be Good at Math to Enjoy It

www.nytimes.com

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WIRED @wired.com · Sep 3

Surrogate pregnancies are increasingly popular in tech circles, and the practice is expected to explode globally in the coming decade. It’s also shockingly unregulated. This is a story about what happens when it goes horribly wrong.

The Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It?

When her son died in utero, a venture capitalist went to extremes to punish her surrogate.

www.wired.com

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Sep 5

the dust-choked solar panels on NASA’s InSight lander prevented further operations in 2022. but the mission’s data continues to reveal new information about Mars, lately how its insides are both like & unlike Earth:

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/s...

Quakes on Mars Reveal New Features of the Planet’s Interior

www.nytimes.com

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Sep 2

“I want people to be able to gaze at math,” she said. “You can still enjoy music, even if you can’t play.”

@dreugeniacheng.bsky.social spoke with me about her mission to bring math to the masses & the inspo behind her new book, Unequal:

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/s...

You Don’t Need to Be Good at Math to Enjoy It

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Katrina Miller

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · Aug 26

Page One.

@chicago.suntimes.com

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Aug 25

astronomers discovered a quadruple star system: a brown dwarf dancing around another, locked in orbit with two brighter stars also circling each other 💫 the universe is so cool.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/s...

Scientists Find a Quadruple Star System in Our Cosmic Backyard

www.nytimes.com

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Dr Robin George Andrews @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social · Aug 20

NEW: The White House wants to kill off Juno, NASA's mission to uncover Jupiter's secrets. Fortunately, its legacy is clear.

Juno's a scientist, but also an artist: it revealed Jupiter as a living van Gogh painting hanging in the sky.

Me @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

Say Goodbye to Juno, NASA’s Groundbreaking Mission to Jupiter

The Juno spacecraft has rewritten the story on Jupiter, the solar system’s undisputed heavyweight

www.scientificamerican.com

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Aug 20

astronomers on tuesday announced that my favorite planet has a new moon! 🌌

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/s...

Uranus Was Hiding a Moon Outside Its Rings

www.nytimes.com

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Aug 8

There are a lot of details in yesterday's sweeping executive order, but the bottom line is that it gives political appointees immense power over scientific grants, which have until now been stewarded by career civil servants and experts.

My reporting:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Trump order gives political appointees vast powers over research grants

Researchers are alarmed that the move might upend a long-standing tradition of peer-review for grants.

www.nature.com

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Alan Burdick @alanburdick.bsky.social · Aug 5

I learned a lot about Fresnel lenses for this amazing series of lighthouse photographs by Michal Siarek: nyti.ms/41qkFCN

A Voyage to Bring Norway’s Lighthouses Into the 21st Century

More than 2,000 navigational beacons, big and small, oversee the nation’s 60,000-mile-long coast. Now they need an upgrade.

nyti.ms

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Aug 3

oh thank you!

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Aug 3

thank you!

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Jul 31

Breaking: NSF is suspending roughly 300 grants with UCLA, following a DOJ finding on Tuesday that the university violated Title VI by "creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students."

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Aug 2

a federal judge ruled against an order that would restore all of the funding terminated by the NSF. some context here:

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/n...

Judge Declines to Order Trump Administration to Restore Research Cuts

www.nytimes.com

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Aug 1

In 1976, Gaillard, Ellis, & Ross published a paper explaining how to search for gluons (then only theoretical) in e+e- collisions.

In 1979 gluons were discovered at DESY using their method.

"Dr. Gaillard left CERN in 1981 after she was passed over for a senior staff position."

Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Jul 31

Mary K Gaillard, a theorist who had a knack for telling experimental physicists where to look, died in her home on May 23 at 86.

Dr. Gaillard was an unpaid scientist at CERN for more than a decade, & the first woman physicist hired & tenured at Berkeley:

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/s...

Mary K. Gaillard, 86, Physicist Who Probed the Subatomic Universe, Dies

www.nytimes.com

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Aaron and the Hoskins Lab at UW Madison @uwmadisonrna.bsky.social · Aug 1

This is definitely worth reading

Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Jul 31

Mary K Gaillard, a theorist who had a knack for telling experimental physicists where to look, died in her home on May 23 at 86.

Dr. Gaillard was an unpaid scientist at CERN for more than a decade, & the first woman physicist hired & tenured at Berkeley:

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/s...

Mary K. Gaillard, 86, Physicist Who Probed the Subatomic Universe, Dies

www.nytimes.com

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Jul 31

Mary K Gaillard, a theorist who had a knack for telling experimental physicists where to look, died in her home on May 23 at 86.

Dr. Gaillard was an unpaid scientist at CERN for more than a decade, & the first woman physicist hired & tenured at Berkeley:

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/s...

Mary K. Gaillard, 86, Physicist Who Probed the Subatomic Universe, Dies

www.nytimes.com

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Jul 31

honeybees are harmed by a combination of factors: unpredictable weather, habitat loss, pesticides and disease. but another, potentially worse threat looms: Tropilaelaps, a parasite that could ravage a large part of our food supply. by me & @emilyanthes.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/s...

After Devastating Winter Losses, Another Threat Looms for U.S. Beekeepers

www.nytimes.com

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Michael Pusateri @cruftbox.com · Jul 22

A good NY Times article about beekeeping, Dr. Sammy, and the Tropilaelaps mites [Gift Link]

Written by @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social and @emilyanthes.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/s...

After Devastating Winter Losses, Another Threat Looms for U.S. Beekeepers

www.nytimes.com

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Katrina Miller @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social · Jun 2

if you are a federal or federally funded scientist interested in going on the record about losing your job and/or project funding, pls shoot me a DM. looking specifically for non-health scientists doing basic (non-applied) research. thank you!

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