MattBille
@mattbille.bsky.social
Writer, naturalist, historian. Space, zoology, marine life, cryptozoology, Dunkleosteus. 4 science/history books, 2 novels: Querying ecothriller Apex Predator
mattsciwriter@protonmail.com
www.mattbilleauthor.com
https://mattbille.blogspot.com
mattsciwriter@protonmail.com
www.mattbilleauthor.com
https://mattbille.blogspot.com
On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, remember the effect of fiction: Uhura and Scully accomplished a lot. I revised my novel Death by Legend to add a senior medical official based on my RN,JD wife, and a tough mining geologist named Renee at times took over my WIP Apex Predator.
February 12, 2026 at 2:06 AM
On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, remember the effect of fiction: Uhura and Scully accomplished a lot. I revised my novel Death by Legend to add a senior medical official based on my RN,JD wife, and a tough mining geologist named Renee at times took over my WIP Apex Predator.
Superstars 2026 was a great time. I recommend this to all fiction writers. I sat down with the editors from Blackstone doing my next novel and shared a table with my favorite writer, Jim Butcher, in addition to classes and workshops. Until next year! www.superstarswriting.com
February 9, 2026 at 5:56 PM
Superstars 2026 was a great time. I recommend this to all fiction writers. I sat down with the editors from Blackstone doing my next novel and shared a table with my favorite writer, Jim Butcher, in addition to classes and workshops. Until next year! www.superstarswriting.com
Reposted by MattBille
I teach a science media literacy module in all my courses.
It includes knowing the difference between a press release and a reported news story.
Here's a really interesting new research paper about public understsanding of that difference! #SciComm 🧪
jcom.sissa.it/article/pubi...
It includes knowing the difference between a press release and a reported news story.
Here's a really interesting new research paper about public understsanding of that difference! #SciComm 🧪
jcom.sissa.it/article/pubi...
Science News Agencies in science communication: an exploratory index for evaluating and enhancing public interest in mass-distributed press releases
Scientific press releases are reaching the public directly through press reproduction and institutional dissemination. Science News Agencies (SNAs) mediate this process, distributing texts to thousand...
jcom.sissa.it
February 4, 2026 at 2:41 PM
I teach a science media literacy module in all my courses.
It includes knowing the difference between a press release and a reported news story.
Here's a really interesting new research paper about public understsanding of that difference! #SciComm 🧪
jcom.sissa.it/article/pubi...
It includes knowing the difference between a press release and a reported news story.
Here's a really interesting new research paper about public understsanding of that difference! #SciComm 🧪
jcom.sissa.it/article/pubi...
Reposted by MattBille
The Constitution is very clear on this. The president cannot accept anything of value from a foreign government. Period. Add this to his growing list of impeachable stuff.
U.A.E. Firm Quietly Took Stake in the Trump Family’s Crypto Company
www.nytimes.com
February 2, 2026 at 12:38 AM
The Constitution is very clear on this. The president cannot accept anything of value from a foreign government. Period. Add this to his growing list of impeachable stuff.
Reposted by MattBille
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
April 18, 2025 at 1:33 AM
After federal troops forced a fugitive slave named Anthony Burns back into slavery in the 1850s, one Bostonian wrote, “we went to bed one night old-fashioned, conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad Abolitionists.” The abuse of power radicalizes people. We are seeing that now.
🧪January 31 is the anniversary of America's first orbital launch. We retraced the story of this epic event in our book The First Space Race.
mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/01/anni...
mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/01/anni...
Anniversary of Explorer 1, America's First Satellite
A science writer's blog on science and technology, especially conservation, new species, space exploration, space history, microsatellites, and NASA.
mattbille.blogspot.com
February 1, 2026 at 3:59 AM
🧪January 31 is the anniversary of America's first orbital launch. We retraced the story of this epic event in our book The First Space Race.
mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/01/anni...
mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/01/anni...
January 31 is the anniversary of America's first orbital launch. We retraced the story of this epic event in our book The First Space Race.
mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/01/anni...
mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/01/anni...
Anniversary of Explorer 1, America's First Satellite
A science writer's blog on science and technology, especially conservation, new species, space exploration, space history, microsatellites, and NASA.
mattbille.blogspot.com
February 1, 2026 at 3:58 AM
January 31 is the anniversary of America's first orbital launch. We retraced the story of this epic event in our book The First Space Race.
mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/01/anni...
mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/01/anni...
Fascinating!
Did you know there's a searchable library of science stories about failure? It was truly an honor to contribute my story to Fail-Safe Science, "an initiative designed to normalize experiencing and overcoming challenges in science graduate programs." risecenter.asu.edu/fail-safe 🧪
Fail Safe Science | RISE Center
risecenter.asu.edu
January 31, 2026 at 2:18 AM
Fascinating!
First read of Jim Butcher's Twelve Months. A sometimes touching, always interesting Dresden Files entry. Less wizard combat and a lot of time in the head of a man coping with lost love, impossible demands, and looming deadlines. Not a starter book for a newbie, but fascinating for series readers.
January 30, 2026 at 12:51 AM
First read of Jim Butcher's Twelve Months. A sometimes touching, always interesting Dresden Files entry. Less wizard combat and a lot of time in the head of a man coping with lost love, impossible demands, and looming deadlines. Not a starter book for a newbie, but fascinating for series readers.
Reposted by MattBille
What Americans Lose If Their National Center for Atmospheric Research Is Dismantled - Eos | Five ways dismantling NCAR will cost the American people, and two ways to save it.
What Americans Lose If Their National Center for Atmospheric Research Is Dismantled - Eos
Five ways dismantling NCAR will cost the American people, and two ways to save it.
eos.org
January 28, 2026 at 5:57 PM
What Americans Lose If Their National Center for Atmospheric Research Is Dismantled - Eos | Five ways dismantling NCAR will cost the American people, and two ways to save it.
Reposted by MattBille
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
www.science.org
January 27, 2026 at 2:01 PM
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
Don't give up on your vision of your book. My major-publishing debut (Apex Predator, Blackstone, 2027), would have made it sooner with a simpler "discover 'extinct' creature, blood flows" plot. I insisted on a focus on human drama and science over mayhem, and that took years longer. But we made it.
January 9, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Don't give up on your vision of your book. My major-publishing debut (Apex Predator, Blackstone, 2027), would have made it sooner with a simpler "discover 'extinct' creature, blood flows" plot. I insisted on a focus on human drama and science over mayhem, and that took years longer. But we made it.
Reposted by MattBille
Fellow writers, please, don't fall for the scammers. Always make them tell you who they work for, and ALWAYS google the name. If nothing shows up or if they're listed on writerbeware.blog, shut the door in their face. Scammers wouldn't waste time making calls if it wasn't working. Be safe!!
Writer Beware
Shining a small, bright light in a wilderness of writing scams
writerbeware.blog
November 14, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Fellow writers, please, don't fall for the scammers. Always make them tell you who they work for, and ALWAYS google the name. If nothing shows up or if they're listed on writerbeware.blog, shut the door in their face. Scammers wouldn't waste time making calls if it wasn't working. Be safe!!
There is no way kids should graduate elementary school, much less high school, without understanding this.
“The history of science is indeed a graveyard of theories, but the fact that science keeps changing is a mark of its strength. It keeps changing because the world is complex and full of wonder. That isn’t a problem; it’s the engine that drives scientific progress.”🧪
January 6, 2026 at 3:15 AM
There is no way kids should graduate elementary school, much less high school, without understanding this.
No defense or rationale is being offered for a destructive and unnecessary move. "We're following regulations in the way we are doing this insane thing" is not an explanation for WHY you are doing the insane thing.
🧪🛰️🔭
🧵For those who don't know, this has been in the works for a while.
There have been plans in the works to close down and consolidate some of the libraries with NASA.
But the closure of the Goddard library was never part of the plan.
Planning was being done to make Goddard the hub/main library.
There have been plans in the works to close down and consolidate some of the libraries with NASA.
But the closure of the Goddard library was never part of the plan.
Planning was being done to make Goddard the hub/main library.
January 5, 2026 at 8:39 PM
No defense or rationale is being offered for a destructive and unnecessary move. "We're following regulations in the way we are doing this insane thing" is not an explanation for WHY you are doing the insane thing.
Are we moving from evil side effects of the rush to use gen AI for everything to simply embracing evil?
Enshittification with a difference. The thing was shit to begin with, too. One more ominous sign of how billionaires don't want the citizenry to be educated, to develop or use critical faculties of reasoning and analysis, or to understand the deep training and research behind expertise.
“This could look like a user asking how much ibuprofen to take for a headache receiving a promoted ad for Advil in the chatbot’s response. Meanwhile, actual results on correct dosage may be brushed to the side, or buried under a mountain of ad text…”
December 31, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Are we moving from evil side effects of the rush to use gen AI for everything to simply embracing evil?
Fascinating!
I wrote in @contingent-mag.bsky.social about how a chance encounter with monsters in the archives led to my two books on monsters, science, exploration, maps, and culture.
1/🧵
🧪💙📚 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH #archives #libraries #arthistory
1/🧵
🧪💙📚 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH #archives #libraries #arthistory
Can the Archive Make a Monster of a Historian?
A historian who pays full attention to their sources can’t help but be transformed into a monster...
contingentmagazine.org
December 31, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Fascinating!
One of the most fascinating phenomena in nature. Of course ancient people thought they were the work of gods. How could they think otherwise? And could this connect to the controversial phenomenon of earthquake lights?
This paper by Vasilyak and Shubralova makes an interesting observation that ELVES #TLE seem to be more likely to occur near tectonic plate boundaries.
However, with just 37 events, I'm skeptical of the statistical significance of their results which isn't addressed in the paper at all. 🧪🧵
However, with just 37 events, I'm skeptical of the statistical significance of their results which isn't addressed in the paper at all. 🧪🧵
We call the very upper-atmospheric lightnings elves and sprites (which is itself great), and these events don't appear everywhere. The analysis in this study argues that elves are mostly occur along the tectonic plates' boundaries, which is slightly crazy. 🧪⚒️
Link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
December 31, 2025 at 4:11 PM
One of the most fascinating phenomena in nature. Of course ancient people thought they were the work of gods. How could they think otherwise? And could this connect to the controversial phenomenon of earthquake lights?
@climateages.bsky.social Weird question about exceptions. I'm editing a scientific thriller about survival of a specialist (Dunkleosteus): not a "monster" tale, but about human drama and science. Its survival past the Devonian is not far-fetched, but surviving the K-Pg is hard. Any suggestions?
December 30, 2025 at 4:47 PM
@climateages.bsky.social Weird question about exceptions. I'm editing a scientific thriller about survival of a specialist (Dunkleosteus): not a "monster" tale, but about human drama and science. Its survival past the Devonian is not far-fetched, but surviving the K-Pg is hard. Any suggestions?
Reposted by MattBille
A great year in observing the deep ocean!! 🦑🧪🌊
From the first sighting of a colossal squid in the wild to a seriously goofy octopus, 2025 delivered some astounding photos from the ocean’s depths
6 Otherworldly Deep-Sea Images from 2025
From the first sighting of a colossal squid in the wild to a seriously goofy octopus, 2025 delivered some astounding photos from the ocean’s depths
www.scientificamerican.com
December 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM
A great year in observing the deep ocean!! 🦑🧪🌊
Reposted by MattBille
Sweeping science cuts in 2025 halted clinical trials, erased public health data and forced researchers into impossible choices.
“This year nearly broke me as a scientist,” one writes.
Six researchers share their stories: buff.ly/u2MHIQo 🧪
“This year nearly broke me as a scientist,” one writes.
Six researchers share their stories: buff.ly/u2MHIQo 🧪
‘This year nearly broke me as a scientist’ – US researchers reflect on how 2025’s science cuts have changed their lives
US science lost a great deal in 2025, including tens of billions of dollars of federal funding, entire research agencies and programs, and a generation of researchers.
buff.ly
December 28, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Sweeping science cuts in 2025 halted clinical trials, erased public health data and forced researchers into impossible choices.
“This year nearly broke me as a scientist,” one writes.
Six researchers share their stories: buff.ly/u2MHIQo 🧪
“This year nearly broke me as a scientist,” one writes.
Six researchers share their stories: buff.ly/u2MHIQo 🧪
It's rare I turn up in any survey or database of books. But The First Space Race is here, and I'm ticked about it.
If you are a freelancer fired up about this flagrant theft of your work please know that the National Writers Union has a whole AI working group and we would love your energy! DM me if you have questions!
Meta used at least 16 of my books, and numerous articles, to help train the AI it will use to make billions.
Authors, search your name here:
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Authors, search your name here:
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
December 27, 2025 at 2:00 AM
It's rare I turn up in any survey or database of books. But The First Space Race is here, and I'm ticked about it.
We are dismantling global centers of excellence that, as displaced experts are snapped up by the private sector, can't be rebuilt. This is an area where America is, inarguably, great - but the White House doesn't know or doesn't care. (How can they be so blind with a space entrepreneur in charge?)
Did a little in-person reporting yesterday as NASA’s GISS lab in Manhattan was cleared out following DOGE cuts. 🧪🌏
'This is an attack on NASA.' Space agency's largest union speaks out as DOGE cuts shutter science institute located above 'Seinfeld' diner in NYC
The Trump administration is closing a historic NASA science office in the name of efficiency, but critics point out that the move won't actually save much money.
www.space.com
December 27, 2025 at 1:58 AM
We are dismantling global centers of excellence that, as displaced experts are snapped up by the private sector, can't be rebuilt. This is an area where America is, inarguably, great - but the White House doesn't know or doesn't care. (How can they be so blind with a space entrepreneur in charge?)
I have my agent, but don't overlook opportunities!
Literary Agent Spotlight on Ann Rose today! Ann is looking for many genres in YA and Adult!
See more info about Ann and how to query on our blog: www.writingdayworkshops.com/blog
#amwriting #amquerying #literaryagent #writingcommunity #fiction #writing #writerscommunity
@annmrose.bsky.social
See more info about Ann and how to query on our blog: www.writingdayworkshops.com/blog
#amwriting #amquerying #literaryagent #writingcommunity #fiction #writing #writerscommunity
@annmrose.bsky.social
December 23, 2025 at 6:20 PM
I have my agent, but don't overlook opportunities!
Don't forget: old books can be updated and republished for a new audience. My tale of monsters in LA, The Dolmen, got great reviews. But the city has changed since 2014, and I've become a better writer. I gave it a full rewrite and relaunched it. Reviews are good! www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0F1...
Death by Legend
www.amazon.com
December 15, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Don't forget: old books can be updated and republished for a new audience. My tale of monsters in LA, The Dolmen, got great reviews. But the city has changed since 2014, and I've become a better writer. I gave it a full rewrite and relaunched it. Reviews are good! www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0F1...