Hannah Waters
@hanner.bsky.social
senior editor @quantamagazine.bsky.social covering biology | pitch me: hwaters@quantamagazine.org | quantamagazine.org/biology
Pinned
Hannah Waters
@hanner.bsky.social
· Sep 25
How We Came To Know Earth | Quanta Magazine
Climate science is the most significant scientific collaboration in history. This series from Quanta Magazine guides you through basic climate science — from quantum effects to ancient hothouses, from...
www.quantamagazine.org
Hii! Last week Quanta published a project I've been working on all year — a special issue about climate science, or what research into climate change is revealing about how our planet works www.quantamagazine.org/how-we-came-...
Research into how a father’s choices — such as diet, exercise, stress, nicotine use — in the weeks and months before conception may transfer traits to his children has become impossible to ignore.
Ending a year of Quanta biology with a bang: www.quantamagazine.org/how-dads-fit...
Ending a year of Quanta biology with a bang: www.quantamagazine.org/how-dads-fit...
How Dad’s Fitness May Be Packaged and Passed Down in Sperm RNA | Quanta Magazine
Research into how a father’s choices — such as diet, exercise, stress, nicotine use — may transfer traits to his children has become impossible to ignore.
www.quantamagazine.org
December 23, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Research into how a father’s choices — such as diet, exercise, stress, nicotine use — in the weeks and months before conception may transfer traits to his children has become impossible to ignore.
Ending a year of Quanta biology with a bang: www.quantamagazine.org/how-dads-fit...
Ending a year of Quanta biology with a bang: www.quantamagazine.org/how-dads-fit...
Reposted by Hannah Waters
This year, Quanta’s biology stories ranged widely, from ancient life’s relationship with plate tectonics, to the neurons that feel geological rumblings. 🧵
December 15, 2025 at 9:20 PM
This year, Quanta’s biology stories ranged widely, from ancient life’s relationship with plate tectonics, to the neurons that feel geological rumblings. 🧵
Reposted by Hannah Waters
In a recent study, the fitness of a father mouse at the time of conception was found to have metabolic and mitochondrial benefits for his offspring. Similar signatures were found in the sperm of well-exercised human men. @ivanamato.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/how-dads-fit...
How Dad’s Fitness May Be Packaged and Passed Down in Sperm RNA | Quanta Magazine
Research into how a father’s choices, including diet, exercise, stress and nicotine use, may transfer traits to his children epigenetically has become impossible to ignore.
www.quantamagazine.org
December 22, 2025 at 3:21 PM
In a recent study, the fitness of a father mouse at the time of conception was found to have metabolic and mitochondrial benefits for his offspring. Similar signatures were found in the sperm of well-exercised human men. @ivanamato.bsky.social reports: www.quantamagazine.org/how-dads-fit...
Reposted by Hannah Waters
This, too, is outrageous -- firing an immigration judge because he granted asylum to six people. Trump's folks have made clear they want "deportation judges." Just rejecting any semblance of due process. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
US army lawyer fired as immigration judge after defying Trump deportation agenda
Christopher Day was fired barely a month into the job after granting asylum to migrants at a high rate
www.theguardian.com
December 20, 2025 at 1:29 PM
This, too, is outrageous -- firing an immigration judge because he granted asylum to six people. Trump's folks have made clear they want "deportation judges." Just rejecting any semblance of due process. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Santa says Starbucks gift cards are a NO, NO, NO!
Baristas are striking because Starbucks refuses to remedy 100s of unfair labor practices and negotiate a fair contract.
Stand with workers by skipping Starbucks gift cards. #NoContractNoCoffee
solidaritywithbaristas.org
Baristas are striking because Starbucks refuses to remedy 100s of unfair labor practices and negotiate a fair contract.
Stand with workers by skipping Starbucks gift cards. #NoContractNoCoffee
solidaritywithbaristas.org
December 19, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Santa says Starbucks gift cards are a NO, NO, NO!
Baristas are striking because Starbucks refuses to remedy 100s of unfair labor practices and negotiate a fair contract.
Stand with workers by skipping Starbucks gift cards. #NoContractNoCoffee
solidaritywithbaristas.org
Baristas are striking because Starbucks refuses to remedy 100s of unfair labor practices and negotiate a fair contract.
Stand with workers by skipping Starbucks gift cards. #NoContractNoCoffee
solidaritywithbaristas.org
Reposted by Hannah Waters
"I refuse." This is it. There's no reason we should accept a narrative of an already settled future which marginalizes humans and individual agency. No one wants this. No one asked for it.
"This promise of an AI future, is really just a collective anxiety that wealthy people have about how well they're gonna be able to control us in the future."
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
- @tressiemcphd.bsky.social with an absolute mic drop moment about AI bullshit.
Incredible words.
Listen to all of it!
December 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
"I refuse." This is it. There's no reason we should accept a narrative of an already settled future which marginalizes humans and individual agency. No one wants this. No one asked for it.
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Space news is the best. Like, what do you mean there's a runaway supermassive black hole 10 million times bigger than the sun moving through space at 2 million miles per hour www.space.com/astronomy/bl...
James Webb Space Telescope confirms 1st 'runaway' supermassive black hole rocketing through 'Cosmic Owl' galaxies at 2.2 million mph: 'It boggles the mind!'
"The forces that are needed to dislodge such a massive black hole from its home are enormous."
www.space.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Space news is the best. Like, what do you mean there's a runaway supermassive black hole 10 million times bigger than the sun moving through space at 2 million miles per hour www.space.com/astronomy/bl...
Reposted by Hannah Waters
This is happening around the country and it's the new normal in immigration court — the creation of a "heads I win, tails you lose" system where the government is seeking to dismiss virtually EVERY SINGLE asylum claim through so-called "safe third country" agreements.
NEW: The Trump administration is stepping up its battle against NYC's immigrants—stopping their asylum cases and instead filing motions to send them to other countries across the world.
One Latin American woman was told this week she'd be sent to Uganda.
hellgatenyc.com/trump-asylum...
One Latin American woman was told this week she'd be sent to Uganda.
hellgatenyc.com/trump-asylum...
The Trump Administration Wants to Send NYC's Asylum Seekers to Uganda and Beyond
And other links to start your Thursday.
hellgatenyc.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:42 PM
This is happening around the country and it's the new normal in immigration court — the creation of a "heads I win, tails you lose" system where the government is seeking to dismiss virtually EVERY SINGLE asylum claim through so-called "safe third country" agreements.
Reposted by Hannah Waters
NEW: The Trump administration is stepping up its battle against NYC's immigrants—stopping their asylum cases and instead filing motions to send them to other countries across the world.
One Latin American woman was told this week she'd be sent to Uganda.
hellgatenyc.com/trump-asylum...
One Latin American woman was told this week she'd be sent to Uganda.
hellgatenyc.com/trump-asylum...
The Trump Administration Wants to Send NYC's Asylum Seekers to Uganda and Beyond
And other links to start your Thursday.
hellgatenyc.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:13 PM
NEW: The Trump administration is stepping up its battle against NYC's immigrants—stopping their asylum cases and instead filing motions to send them to other countries across the world.
One Latin American woman was told this week she'd be sent to Uganda.
hellgatenyc.com/trump-asylum...
One Latin American woman was told this week she'd be sent to Uganda.
hellgatenyc.com/trump-asylum...
It's been quite a year for Quanta biology! In this year-end post I highlighted some favorite stories by @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social @theuniverse.bsky.social @peterbrannen.bsky.social @mollyherring.bsky.social and Ariel Bleicher - and I want to share more of our great work from the year below!
December 18, 2025 at 5:23 PM
It's been quite a year for Quanta biology! In this year-end post I highlighted some favorite stories by @yaseminsaplakoglu.bsky.social @theuniverse.bsky.social @peterbrannen.bsky.social @mollyherring.bsky.social and Ariel Bleicher - and I want to share more of our great work from the year below!
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Read about this year’s biggest moments in biology.
The Year in Biology | Quanta Magazine
Take a jaunt through a jungle of strange neurons underlying your sense of touch, hundreds of millions of years of animal evolution and the dense neural networks of brains and AIs.
www.quantamagazine.org
December 17, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Read about this year’s biggest moments in biology.
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
Trump team plans to break up ‘global mothership’ of climate science
Much of the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s non-climate portfolio will be dispersed, the White House says.
www.nature.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
Reposted by Hannah Waters
NCAR is a unique & valuable asset - far more than a climate model, or observations, or technology, or training ground, or gathering space. It covers weather, space weather, data, climate, paleo-climate, and everything in-between. It's building is an icon, but it's iconic status goes far beyond that.
December 17, 2025 at 12:21 PM
NCAR is a unique & valuable asset - far more than a climate model, or observations, or technology, or training ground, or gathering space. It covers weather, space weather, data, climate, paleo-climate, and everything in-between. It's building is an icon, but it's iconic status goes far beyond that.
Reposted by Hannah Waters
NCAR is quite literally our global mothership.
Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.
Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.
Unbelievable.
Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.
Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.
Unbelievable.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
www.usatoday.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:59 AM
NCAR is quite literally our global mothership.
Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.
Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.
Unbelievable.
Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.
Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.
Unbelievable.
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Are you someone who's Very Online, early in your reporting career, and eager to get clips? We're hiring a Breaking News Reporter at @motherjones.com. $65k-$75k salary. www.motherjones.com/careers/brea...
Breaking News Reporter
www.motherjones.com
December 15, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Are you someone who's Very Online, early in your reporting career, and eager to get clips? We're hiring a Breaking News Reporter at @motherjones.com. $65k-$75k salary. www.motherjones.com/careers/brea...
Reposted by Hannah Waters
SCOOP: The Trump administration is providing the names of all travelers passing through U.S. airports to immigration officials in search of people with deportation orders, a substantial expansion of government efforts to draw on data to hunt down immigrants.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Immigration Agents Are Using Air Passenger Data for Deportation Effort
www.nytimes.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
SCOOP: The Trump administration is providing the names of all travelers passing through U.S. airports to immigration officials in search of people with deportation orders, a substantial expansion of government efforts to draw on data to hunt down immigrants.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Is language core to thought, or a separate process? www.quantamagazine.org/the-polyglot...
The Polyglot Neuroscientist Resolving How the Brain Parses Language | Quanta Magazine
Is language core to thought, or a separate process? For 15 years, the neuroscientist Ev Fedorenko has gathered evidence of a language network in the human brain — and has found some similarities to LL...
www.quantamagazine.org
December 12, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Is language core to thought, or a separate process? www.quantamagazine.org/the-polyglot...
Reposted by Hannah Waters
My preferred version of this headline: These Ancient Wacky Plants Make HEAT to Lure POLLINATORS Biology Is SO RAD 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/befo...
Before Flowers Existed, Ancient Cycad Plants Lured Insects With Heat
New research of strange “cycad” plants offers a glimpse into the prehistoric origins of pollination
www.scientificamerican.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM
My preferred version of this headline: These Ancient Wacky Plants Make HEAT to Lure POLLINATORS Biology Is SO RAD 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/befo...
Reposted by Hannah Waters
When you hire a white man because they’re a white man that’s not identity politics. Identity politics is when you get hired and you’re not a white man. The anti wokeness hysteria was always a backlash to integration of white collar jobs bsky.app/profile/jami...
Hiring a Black woman: “identity politics”
Hiring a white guy for a job that has been held disproportionately by white guys, because he is a white guy: “subverting” identity politics!
(The author of this sentence is Dylan Byers; you will not be surprised to learn that he is a white guy.)
Hiring a white guy for a job that has been held disproportionately by white guys, because he is a white guy: “subverting” identity politics!
(The author of this sentence is Dylan Byers; you will not be surprised to learn that he is a white guy.)
December 11, 2025 at 11:01 AM
When you hire a white man because they’re a white man that’s not identity politics. Identity politics is when you get hired and you’re not a white man. The anti wokeness hysteria was always a backlash to integration of white collar jobs bsky.app/profile/jami...
Reposted by Hannah Waters
This is exactly analogous to thee centre-right "don't mention climate" idea that has taken hold in climate comms since 2022.
As @doctorvive.bsky.social pointed out: the right constantly talks about climate change. They're now setting the entire frame and agenda.
As @doctorvive.bsky.social pointed out: the right constantly talks about climate change. They're now setting the entire frame and agenda.
we all got cowed into avoiding "virtue signaling" as if the public affirmation of socially agreed upon ethical principles was somehow cringey instead of a significant part of what a "society" even is. now all there's left is vice signaling, and it's reshaping society.
December 11, 2025 at 6:03 AM
This is exactly analogous to thee centre-right "don't mention climate" idea that has taken hold in climate comms since 2022.
As @doctorvive.bsky.social pointed out: the right constantly talks about climate change. They're now setting the entire frame and agenda.
As @doctorvive.bsky.social pointed out: the right constantly talks about climate change. They're now setting the entire frame and agenda.
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Fascinating study covered by @maxkozlov.bsky.social that analyses the shared genetic roots of many neurodevelopmental (ADHD, autism) and mental health conditions
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Huge genetic study reveals hidden links between psychiatric conditions
Analysis of more than one million people shows that mental-health disorders fall into five clusters, each of them linked to a specific set of genetic variants.
www.nature.com
December 11, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Fascinating study covered by @maxkozlov.bsky.social that analyses the shared genetic roots of many neurodevelopmental (ADHD, autism) and mental health conditions
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Hannah Waters
Writers and editors, don't forget to nominate work for The Best American Science and Nature Writing! Deadline is 12/20 (for anything published by then). Info and submission form here: jaimegreen.net/basn
The Best American Science and Nature Writing — Jaime Green
jaimegreen.net
December 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Writers and editors, don't forget to nominate work for The Best American Science and Nature Writing! Deadline is 12/20 (for anything published by then). Info and submission form here: jaimegreen.net/basn
Thanks to Nikki Greenwood for talking up Quanta's biology section in @theopennotebook.bsky.social !
www.theopennotebook.com/2025/11/25/i...
Writers, I welcome your pitches of "obscure" biology stories! Email me hwaters@quantamagazine.org for my pitch guidelines.
www.theopennotebook.com/2025/11/25/i...
Writers, I welcome your pitches of "obscure" biology stories! Email me hwaters@quantamagazine.org for my pitch guidelines.
Isotopes, Archaea, and Cold-Water Physics—How to Sell Obscure Science Stories to Editors and Readers - The Open Notebook
Getting a story about unfamiliar and obscure fields such as geology, organic chemistry, or quantum mechanics off the ground often means jumping over hurdles—for editors and readers alike—that might no...
www.theopennotebook.com
December 10, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Thanks to Nikki Greenwood for talking up Quanta's biology section in @theopennotebook.bsky.social !
www.theopennotebook.com/2025/11/25/i...
Writers, I welcome your pitches of "obscure" biology stories! Email me hwaters@quantamagazine.org for my pitch guidelines.
www.theopennotebook.com/2025/11/25/i...
Writers, I welcome your pitches of "obscure" biology stories! Email me hwaters@quantamagazine.org for my pitch guidelines.
Reposted by Hannah Waters
How does global warming cause colder winter storms? whowhatwhy.org/2019/11/23/t...
The Paradox of Global Warming and Colder Winters - WhoWhatWhy
If the cold weather makes it harder for you to argue with climate change deniers about the existence of global warming, this story is for you.
whowhatwhy.org
December 5, 2025 at 5:47 PM
How does global warming cause colder winter storms? whowhatwhy.org/2019/11/23/t...