Britt Lundgren
@brittlundgren.bsky.social
Quasar gazer | data miner | science / education policy wonk | Associate Prof. of Physics & Astronomy at a public liberal arts college | Illinoisan
Pinned
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...
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
This essay by David Herzberg is worth your time.
Opinion | Our Deadly Fentanyl Delusion
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:03 PM
This essay by David Herzberg is worth your time.
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
This absolutely nuts.
I'm not sure there is a single scientist in the US who has not advised a Chinese graduate student in the past 5 years.
I'm not sure there is a single scientist in the US who has not advised a Chinese graduate student in the past 5 years.
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 1:07 PM
This absolutely nuts.
I'm not sure there is a single scientist in the US who has not advised a Chinese graduate student in the past 5 years.
I'm not sure there is a single scientist in the US who has not advised a Chinese graduate student in the past 5 years.
A 15 year old was an 8 year old only 7 years ago.
Megyn Kelly: "I know somebody very close to this case…Jeffrey Epstein, in this person's view, was not a pedophile…He was into the barely legal type, like he liked 15 year old girls…He wasn't into like 8 year olds…There's a difference between a 15 year old and a 5 year old."
November 14, 2025 at 4:28 AM
A 15 year old was an 8 year old only 7 years ago.
"According to project scientists working on NASA's next generation Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.. they were given only four days to empty a mission-critical laboratory." www.space.com/space-explor...
'This all must end now.' NASA lab closures at Goddard Space Flight Center under Congressional scrutiny
A congressional letter is putting NASA on blast.
www.space.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:17 AM
"According to project scientists working on NASA's next generation Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.. they were given only four days to empty a mission-critical laboratory." www.space.com/space-explor...
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
I’m going to think about watching this moment unfold in real time for a long time.
for all the horrors coming out of Chicago and its metro area, the principled courage of everyday people, in the face of such intimidation, never ceases to astonish. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/12/k...
for all the horrors coming out of Chicago and its metro area, the principled courage of everyday people, in the face of such intimidation, never ceases to astonish. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/12/k...
November 13, 2025 at 2:59 AM
I’m going to think about watching this moment unfold in real time for a long time.
for all the horrors coming out of Chicago and its metro area, the principled courage of everyday people, in the face of such intimidation, never ceases to astonish. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/12/k...
for all the horrors coming out of Chicago and its metro area, the principled courage of everyday people, in the face of such intimidation, never ceases to astonish. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/12/k...
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
November 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
NEW: @propublica.org investigated the Chicago apartment raid where kids were zip-tied and citizens detained for hours. They find:
- NONE of the arrested were criminally charged
- NO evidence the building was "filled with TdA terrorists."
- ZERO legitimate reason for DHS to rappel from a Blackhawk.
- NONE of the arrested were criminally charged
- NO evidence the building was "filled with TdA terrorists."
- ZERO legitimate reason for DHS to rappel from a Blackhawk.
November 13, 2025 at 2:08 PM
NEW: @propublica.org investigated the Chicago apartment raid where kids were zip-tied and citizens detained for hours. They find:
- NONE of the arrested were criminally charged
- NO evidence the building was "filled with TdA terrorists."
- ZERO legitimate reason for DHS to rappel from a Blackhawk.
- NONE of the arrested were criminally charged
- NO evidence the building was "filled with TdA terrorists."
- ZERO legitimate reason for DHS to rappel from a Blackhawk.
A story about a terrible leader, who starved his people through taxation and hoarding, and the rat that put an end to it. www.kaahelehawaii.com/how-%ca%bbio...
How ʻIole Saved the Hawaiian People
by Leilehua Yuenillustration: watercolor by Leilehua Yuen The Pleiades, though a tiny constellation, is striking in appearance. It is so noticeable t…
www.kaahelehawaii.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:33 AM
A story about a terrible leader, who starved his people through taxation and hoarding, and the rat that put an end to it. www.kaahelehawaii.com/how-%ca%bbio...
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
THE SITUATION ROOM
Q: "Why are White House officials…meeting with Rep. Boebert in an effort to try to get her to not sign this petition calling for the release of the [Epstein] files?"
Leavitt: "I'm not going to detail conversations that took place in the situation room."
Leavitt: "I'm not going to detail conversations that took place in the situation room."
November 12, 2025 at 7:01 PM
THE SITUATION ROOM
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
I like how this G4 solar storm, which has no expected effect on electricity supply to consumers, comes the week after NEMA did the first full practice exercise for a (100x more severe, for the exercise) solar storm www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3608...
Stuff
www.stuff.co.nz
November 12, 2025 at 8:27 AM
I like how this G4 solar storm, which has no expected effect on electricity supply to consumers, comes the week after NEMA did the first full practice exercise for a (100x more severe, for the exercise) solar storm www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3608...
👀
The G4 geomagnetic storm is having an effect on the New Zealand power grid. Transpower have issued a Grid Emergency Notice and have taken lines and transformers in Southland out of service.
#spacewx #solarstorm
#spacewx #solarstorm
November 12, 2025 at 5:56 PM
👀
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
I’ve seen this shared several times with the header and footer not visible, so you can’t see the artists’s name.
Credit: Leo the Alien — alienyrox on redbubble and other platforms.
Credit: Leo the Alien — alienyrox on redbubble and other platforms.
November 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM
I’ve seen this shared several times with the header and footer not visible, so you can’t see the artists’s name.
Credit: Leo the Alien — alienyrox on redbubble and other platforms.
Credit: Leo the Alien — alienyrox on redbubble and other platforms.
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
🆕 Astronomers have wanted to spot a 'coronal mass ejection', or CME, on a star other than our own for decades. And now they have! 👇
📣 For the first time ever, scientists have confirmed seeing a giant explosion on a star other than our own!
Our XMM-Newton observatory and the LOFAR telescope contributed to making this long sought-after discovery 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭 🧪 ☄️ ☀️ 1/
Our XMM-Newton observatory and the LOFAR telescope contributed to making this long sought-after discovery 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🔭 🧪 ☄️ ☀️ 1/
November 12, 2025 at 4:49 PM
🆕 Astronomers have wanted to spot a 'coronal mass ejection', or CME, on a star other than our own for decades. And now they have! 👇
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
One day the universe will contain only dark energy and JWST proposals.
STScI received a total of 2,935 #JWST proposals requesting almost 101,751 hours of observing time for GO, Survey, Pure Parallel, Archival Research, Target of Opportunity, and Joint programs, with an oversubscription rate of 13:1. Get the details: ow.ly/Fmiq50Xqy9Q
November 12, 2025 at 4:24 PM
One day the universe will contain only dark energy and JWST proposals.
Time to buy more whistles
SCOOP: ICE is allocating as much as $180 million to pay bounty hunters and private investigators who verify the address and location of undocumented people ICE wishes to detain, including with physical surveillance, according to procurement records reviewed by 404 Media.
ICE Plans to Spend $180 Million on Bounty Hunters to Stalk Immigrants
Newly released documents provide more details about ICE's plan to use bounty hunters and private investigators to find the location of undocumented immigrants.
www.404media.co
November 12, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Time to buy more whistles
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
November 12, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
A little less than a year ago, a large team of cosmologists reported evidence that dark energy (which drives the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe) evolves over time. This made a huge splash but has also been viewed with healthy skepticism. Today they report that evidence has weakened. 🧪
The Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program: A Reanalysis Of Cosmology Results And Evidence For Evolving Dark Energy With An Updated Type Ia Supernova Calibration
We present improved cosmological constraints from a re-analysis of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) 5-year sample of Type Ia supernovae (DES-SN5YR). This re-analysis includes an improved photometric cross...
arxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM
A little less than a year ago, a large team of cosmologists reported evidence that dark energy (which drives the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe) evolves over time. This made a huge splash but has also been viewed with healthy skepticism. Today they report that evidence has weakened. 🧪
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
Submit them to Aurorasaurus!!! They're an NSF funded project out of University of New Mexico that takes crowdsourced aurora observations for research purposes:
www.aurorasaurus.org
www.aurorasaurus.org
Aurorasaurus - Reporting Auroras from the Ground Up
Friends, see my real-time #aurora report on the aurorasaurus.org map! Follow us on www.facebook.com/aurorasaurus.org. Reporting #northernlights and #citizenscience from the ground up since 2012!
www.aurorasaurus.org
November 12, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Submit them to Aurorasaurus!!! They're an NSF funded project out of University of New Mexico that takes crowdsourced aurora observations for research purposes:
www.aurorasaurus.org
www.aurorasaurus.org
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
If you live anywhere in the North half of the US I don't think you'll even need to go outside smaller cities to see them. My partner can set them from inside Cedar Rapids! #aurora #northernlights
November 12, 2025 at 1:43 AM
If you live anywhere in the North half of the US I don't think you'll even need to go outside smaller cities to see them. My partner can set them from inside Cedar Rapids! #aurora #northernlights
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
"Scared of Charlotte" is a whole new level of "scared of cities" that I'd never even considered possible
Rep. Pat Harrigan: "I have asked Josh Stein, our governor, to consider working with President Trump to allow the National Guard to come into Charlotte ... use the National Guard as a force multiplier and they can a lot of load off the Charlotte PD."
November 11, 2025 at 2:44 PM
"Scared of Charlotte" is a whole new level of "scared of cities" that I'd never even considered possible
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
The Richard F Caris Mirror Lab in Tucson is actually attached to the UA football stadium, with some parts being below seats and extending eastward. There’s a giant red furnace below, and scaffolding holds up a 28-foot wide circular mirror.
Inside this stadium, UA is making large mirrors for the most powerful telescope to to be built
The Richard F Caris Mirror Lab in Tucson is actually attached to the UA football stadium, with some parts being below seats and extending eastward. There’s a giant red furnace below, and scaffolding h...
www.kjzz.org
October 31, 2025 at 7:29 PM
The Richard F Caris Mirror Lab in Tucson is actually attached to the UA football stadium, with some parts being below seats and extending eastward. There’s a giant red furnace below, and scaffolding holds up a 28-foot wide circular mirror.
Reposted by Britt Lundgren
Another Earth directed coronal mass ejection after an X1.2 flare eruption from sunspot region 4274. Arrival early on November 12 + strong geomagnetic storm expected.
November 10, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Another Earth directed coronal mass ejection after an X1.2 flare eruption from sunspot region 4274. Arrival early on November 12 + strong geomagnetic storm expected.