Lisa Will
@dustchick.bsky.social
Astrophysicist, educator, geek. She/her. Professor, Physics/Astronomy, San Diego City College. Resident Astronomer, Fleet Science Center.
😢
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
Lowell Observatory slashes research funding in the midst of financial struggle
Flagstaff’s Lowell Observatory plans to cut nearly all its research funding and reduce the number of paid science staff to just two positions next year.
buff.ly
November 11, 2025 at 1:02 AM
😢
Reposted by Lisa Will
You cannot separate the current nightmare we now inhabit from the collapse/crisis in how rich, powerful middle-aged men perceive masculinity, especially their own insecurities.
I’m sorry, but a goofy looking guy who grew up a privileged son of a pediatrician and has a phd in social theory from the university of Goethe and started in tech by investing an inheritance left to him by his grandfather talking about being a “dude” is very, very funny to me.
November 9, 2025 at 6:22 PM
You cannot separate the current nightmare we now inhabit from the collapse/crisis in how rich, powerful middle-aged men perceive masculinity, especially their own insecurities.
Reposted by Lisa Will
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Lisa Will
October 2025 was the 3rd warmest October on record for our planet, following 2023 (1st place) and 2024 (2nd place). This month was about 1.55°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average. The last 12-months have been about 1.50°C above it.
Summary of month: climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-... 🛠️🧪🌊
Summary of month: climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-... 🛠️🧪🌊
November 8, 2025 at 10:31 PM
October 2025 was the 3rd warmest October on record for our planet, following 2023 (1st place) and 2024 (2nd place). This month was about 1.55°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average. The last 12-months have been about 1.50°C above it.
Summary of month: climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-... 🛠️🧪🌊
Summary of month: climate.copernicus.eu/surface-air-... 🛠️🧪🌊
Reposted by Lisa Will
Hey babe wake up. New periodic table of the elements just dropped
please don't @ me like "actually cerium is unique among the lanthanides for its +4 oxidation state"
⚗️🧪 #chemsky
⚗️🧪 #chemsky
November 8, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Hey babe wake up. New periodic table of the elements just dropped
Reposted by Lisa Will
New photos of Jupiter from the #Juno spacecraft, including some from citizen scientists who who use JunoCam’s publicly available raw images to process into image products. #astronomy - www.popsci.com/science/jupi...
Jupiter stuns in new images
Say 'gas giant.'
www.popsci.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:12 PM
New photos of Jupiter from the #Juno spacecraft, including some from citizen scientists who who use JunoCam’s publicly available raw images to process into image products. #astronomy - www.popsci.com/science/jupi...
Reposted by Lisa Will
Holy moly did we get a close shave from an asteroid last week: it missed Earth by *230 km*! Barely above the atmosphere.
OTOH it was only about the size of a beachball, so no worries either way. Meet 2025 UC11.
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-wee-aste...
🔭🧪
OTOH it was only about the size of a beachball, so no worries either way. Meet 2025 UC11.
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-wee-aste...
🔭🧪
A wee asteroid came VERY close to us last week
Plus, Rubin is going to find a lot more
badastronomy.beehiiv.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Holy moly did we get a close shave from an asteroid last week: it missed Earth by *230 km*! Barely above the atmosphere.
OTOH it was only about the size of a beachball, so no worries either way. Meet 2025 UC11.
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-wee-aste...
🔭🧪
OTOH it was only about the size of a beachball, so no worries either way. Meet 2025 UC11.
badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/a-wee-aste...
🔭🧪
Reposted by Lisa Will
I will also just remind you that NASA used to have a bunch of advisory committees that all would have raised the red flag on this... But we were all disbanded, along with most advisory panels, in the spring.
November 6, 2025 at 3:51 PM
I will also just remind you that NASA used to have a bunch of advisory committees that all would have raised the red flag on this... But we were all disbanded, along with most advisory panels, in the spring.
Reposted by Lisa Will
What is happening at Goddard is absolutely devastating. We are losing history. We are losing an incredible amount of human talent, skill, and knowledge. Rebuilding it will be impossible same for same. Industry can not absorb the people or the equipment. This is undoing space science in the US.
Goddard spacecraft engineer: "I think it just kind of speaks to the atmosphere of the agency and the nation, where people are like, 'Well, laws don't matter for the people at the top anymore.'"
NASA is sinking its flagship science center during the government shutdown — and may be breaking the law in the process, critics say
"There is just a general acknowledgement that a lot of what is happening is illegal…"
www.space.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:43 PM
What is happening at Goddard is absolutely devastating. We are losing history. We are losing an incredible amount of human talent, skill, and knowledge. Rebuilding it will be impossible same for same. Industry can not absorb the people or the equipment. This is undoing space science in the US.
Reposted by Lisa Will
The hed now reads "Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace" and the dek reads "And if so, can conservative feminism fix it?"
✌🏾Conservative feminism✌🏾 is an oxymoron.
✌🏾Conservative feminism✌🏾 is an oxymoron.
November 6, 2025 at 1:50 PM
The hed now reads "Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace" and the dek reads "And if so, can conservative feminism fix it?"
✌🏾Conservative feminism✌🏾 is an oxymoron.
✌🏾Conservative feminism✌🏾 is an oxymoron.
Reposted by Lisa Will
🌕💥 DOUBLE LUNAR IMPACT!
Two asteroids slammed into the Moon last week—both caught by Japanese astronomer Daichi Fujii. Traveling at 60,000 mph, the space rocks left fresh craters in the lunar soil, a reminder our serene neighbor is constantly under fire.
🔗
Two asteroids slammed into the Moon last week—both caught by Japanese astronomer Daichi Fujii. Traveling at 60,000 mph, the space rocks left fresh craters in the lunar soil, a reminder our serene neighbor is constantly under fire.
🔗
2 Spooky Flashes Lit Up the Moon. Here’s What Made Them.
A Japanese astronomer captured a pair of objects slamming into the lunar surface in recent days.
tinyurl.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:00 PM
🌕💥 DOUBLE LUNAR IMPACT!
Two asteroids slammed into the Moon last week—both caught by Japanese astronomer Daichi Fujii. Traveling at 60,000 mph, the space rocks left fresh craters in the lunar soil, a reminder our serene neighbor is constantly under fire.
🔗
Two asteroids slammed into the Moon last week—both caught by Japanese astronomer Daichi Fujii. Traveling at 60,000 mph, the space rocks left fresh craters in the lunar soil, a reminder our serene neighbor is constantly under fire.
🔗
Reposted by Lisa Will
We’re now watching the murder of space sciences in America. Unless someone can stop this, this is the beginning of the end.
The brain drain will accelerate until there’s nothing left to stay for. 🧪🔭
The brain drain will accelerate until there’s nothing left to stay for. 🧪🔭
Most of the Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt Campus is planned to be demolished by March 2026, if not sooner.
www.space.com/space-explor...
www.space.com/space-explor...
November 6, 2025 at 2:36 AM
We’re now watching the murder of space sciences in America. Unless someone can stop this, this is the beginning of the end.
The brain drain will accelerate until there’s nothing left to stay for. 🧪🔭
The brain drain will accelerate until there’s nothing left to stay for. 🧪🔭
Reposted by Lisa Will
📷 This shimmering view from the ESA Euclid mission shows the dark cloud LDN 1641. Though nearly invisible to the human eye, Euclid’s infrared vision uncovers a rich landscape of gas, dust and dozens of newborn stars🧪🔭
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
@science.esa.int @ec-euclid.bsky.social
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
@science.esa.int @ec-euclid.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 3:53 PM
📷 This shimmering view from the ESA Euclid mission shows the dark cloud LDN 1641. Though nearly invisible to the human eye, Euclid’s infrared vision uncovers a rich landscape of gas, dust and dozens of newborn stars🧪🔭
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
@science.esa.int @ec-euclid.bsky.social
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
@science.esa.int @ec-euclid.bsky.social
Reposted by Lisa Will
Reposting to correct an error: trump admin is quietly gutting 13 buildings and about 100 laboratories at Goddard campus that has been instrumental to Hubble and James Webb telescope missions. Staff say they’ve be locked and told to move equipment. Anything left behind will be thrown away.
NASA may be quietly gutting an iconic campus with what it calls strategic closures, workers fear
(CNN) — Alarm is growing among federal workers at NASA’s iconic Goddard Space Flight Center’s main campus in Greenbelt, Maryland — the nerve center for groundbreaking missions like the Hubble
www.wkow.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposting to correct an error: trump admin is quietly gutting 13 buildings and about 100 laboratories at Goddard campus that has been instrumental to Hubble and James Webb telescope missions. Staff say they’ve be locked and told to move equipment. Anything left behind will be thrown away.
Reposted by Lisa Will
Maybe pundits should spend more time in densely packed, left leaning urban areas where the "real Americans" live
November 5, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Maybe pundits should spend more time in densely packed, left leaning urban areas where the "real Americans" live
Reposted by Lisa Will
Breaking: It’s a yes for Prop. 50. California voters approved the measure to temporarily suspend the state’s nonpartisan citizens redistricting commission until 2030. bit.ly/3WAJfhI
📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social& @jeannereporter.bsky.social
📸 Ted Soqui
📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social& @jeannereporter.bsky.social
📸 Ted Soqui
November 5, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Breaking: It’s a yes for Prop. 50. California voters approved the measure to temporarily suspend the state’s nonpartisan citizens redistricting commission until 2030. bit.ly/3WAJfhI
📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social& @jeannereporter.bsky.social
📸 Ted Soqui
📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social& @jeannereporter.bsky.social
📸 Ted Soqui
Reposted by Lisa Will
At some point, one of these dipshit billionaires is going to run the numbers and realize the gaping hole they're trying to fill with money and can instead be filled with the ecstatic love of millions by backing enormous wealth taxes that would still leave him richer than 50% of the world's nations.
BREAKING: Colorado voters approved a ballot measure that would raise state income taxes on higher-earning households to fund free meals for all public school students.
Follow AP for live updates.
Follow AP for live updates.
Live updates: US voters head to the polls in first general election since Trump's return to power
One year after Donald Trump retook the presidency, 2025 Election Day includes closely watched races for New York City mayor, New Jersey governor and California's Proposition 50.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 4:03 AM
At some point, one of these dipshit billionaires is going to run the numbers and realize the gaping hole they're trying to fill with money and can instead be filled with the ecstatic love of millions by backing enormous wealth taxes that would still leave him richer than 50% of the world's nations.
Hey, so happy for you, NYC!
November 5, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Hey, so happy for you, NYC!
Reposted by Lisa Will
This magazine just fired all of their politics staffers
We are honored to receive the @rooseveltinstitute.org's 2025 Four Freedoms Award for Freedom of Speech and Expression, and to be among a stellar class of laureates including @wck.org, @cvt.org, and more. Details: tnvge.co/ZMIUg7v
November 3, 2025 at 9:59 PM
This magazine just fired all of their politics staffers
🤬😢🤬😢🤬😢🤬😢🤬
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 10:40 PM
🤬😢🤬😢🤬😢🤬😢🤬
Watching students play with magnets in lab. Turns college students into playful kids instantaneously. One of the simple joys in my life.
November 3, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Watching students play with magnets in lab. Turns college students into playful kids instantaneously. One of the simple joys in my life.
Reposted by Lisa Will
The faculty who say we should use AI to grade/give feedback because it's a way for us to "reclaim our time."
Line in the sand.
It isn't our time. It's theirs. If you have such little respect for your students and their time, quit.
Disrespectfully, the rest of us.
Line in the sand.
It isn't our time. It's theirs. If you have such little respect for your students and their time, quit.
Disrespectfully, the rest of us.
November 3, 2025 at 6:43 PM
The faculty who say we should use AI to grade/give feedback because it's a way for us to "reclaim our time."
Line in the sand.
It isn't our time. It's theirs. If you have such little respect for your students and their time, quit.
Disrespectfully, the rest of us.
Line in the sand.
It isn't our time. It's theirs. If you have such little respect for your students and their time, quit.
Disrespectfully, the rest of us.
It’s the Winnieversary! We adopted this wild child one year ago today. Winnie came to us shy and skittish. It’s been fun watching her grow into a goofy, confident pup. Winnie is smart and athletic and energetic and clumsy. And she loves her sister, Amelia!
November 3, 2025 at 5:02 AM
It’s the Winnieversary! We adopted this wild child one year ago today. Winnie came to us shy and skittish. It’s been fun watching her grow into a goofy, confident pup. Winnie is smart and athletic and energetic and clumsy. And she loves her sister, Amelia!
Reposted by Lisa Will
3I/ATLAS is behaving just as a comet should. No shenanigans. Looking forward to the possibility of JUICE (a European spacecraft heading eventually to Jupiter) observing this object in the coming weeks!
I have just received from Kevin Walsh of SWRI a re-analysis of the PUNCH data for 3I/ATLAS, & have redone our gas and dust coma prediction models as a result. These new data agree well with the independent reductions of Thomas Lehmann and bode well for the Juice observations starting November 2nd.
October 31, 2025 at 3:28 PM
3I/ATLAS is behaving just as a comet should. No shenanigans. Looking forward to the possibility of JUICE (a European spacecraft heading eventually to Jupiter) observing this object in the coming weeks!
Reposted by Lisa Will
HiRISE 8K: The Vastness of the Dunes
This impressive observation is near the North Pole of Mars, in a region known as Vastitas Borealis.
Full cutout on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/2rC2F1c
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #NASA #science
This impressive observation is near the North Pole of Mars, in a region known as Vastitas Borealis.
Full cutout on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/2rC2F1c
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #NASA #science
October 30, 2025 at 8:06 PM
HiRISE 8K: The Vastness of the Dunes
This impressive observation is near the North Pole of Mars, in a region known as Vastitas Borealis.
Full cutout on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/2rC2F1c
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #NASA #science
This impressive observation is near the North Pole of Mars, in a region known as Vastitas Borealis.
Full cutout on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/2rC2F1c
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #NASA #science