Robin Wordsworth
@rdword.bsky.social
Physicist/planetary scientist/astrobiologist based at Harvard. Soccer dad in training. Social media native since 2024.
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
Twin spacecraft are set to take off on an unprecedented, winding journey to Mars, where they will investigate why the barren red planet began to lose its atmosphere billions of years ago.
https://cnn.it/49FLkR0
https://cnn.it/49FLkR0
November 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Twin spacecraft are set to take off on an unprecedented, winding journey to Mars, where they will investigate why the barren red planet began to lose its atmosphere billions of years ago.
https://cnn.it/49FLkR0
https://cnn.it/49FLkR0
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
A personal reflection on the destructive erosion of ethics, norms and respect for law at NASA:
🧪🔭
🧵
🧪🔭
🧵
October 31, 2025 at 2:16 PM
A personal reflection on the destructive erosion of ethics, norms and respect for law at NASA:
🧪🔭
🧵
🧪🔭
🧵
New paper on arxiv led by Prune August on rocky exoplanet atmospheric reinflation! All comments welcome
arxiv.org/abs/2510.25896
arxiv.org/abs/2510.25896
Atmospheric collapse and re-inflation through impacts for terrestrial planets around M dwarfs
Detection of an atmosphere around a terrestrial exoplanet will be a major milestone in the field, but our observational capacities are biased towards to tidally locked, close-in planets orbiting M-dwa...
arxiv.org
October 31, 2025 at 3:26 PM
New paper on arxiv led by Prune August on rocky exoplanet atmospheric reinflation! All comments welcome
arxiv.org/abs/2510.25896
arxiv.org/abs/2510.25896
My new essay on the future of life in space just appeared in Noema magazine! Kudos to Satwika Kresna for the lovely artwork.
“If building space habitats is hard & machine technology is gradually developing more life-like capabilities, does this mean we humans might as well remain Earth-bound forever?”
— @rdword.bsky.social
#spacetravel #spaceexploration #rovers
— @rdword.bsky.social
#spacetravel #spaceexploration #rovers
The Future Of Space Is More Than Human | NOEMA
The time has come to expand our visions of life beyond Earth.
www.noemamag.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:42 PM
My new essay on the future of life in space just appeared in Noema magazine! Kudos to Satwika Kresna for the lovely artwork.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
This is good news for US higher education, although far from the end of the story.
This is good news for US higher education, although far from the end of the story.
Judge Hands Victory to Harvard in Funding Lawsuit, Ruling Trump Administration’s Freeze Unconstitutional | News | The Harvard Crimson
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the Constitution when it froze more than $2.7 billion in research funding to Harvard, striking down the freeze in its entirety and deliveri...
www.thecrimson.com
September 4, 2025 at 3:04 PM
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
This is good news for US higher education, although far from the end of the story.
This is good news for US higher education, although far from the end of the story.
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
Update on the atmosphere vs no atmosphere debate for TRAPPIST-1 b and c -- here's a nice and (IMO) conclusive result from Gillon and Ducrot et al.: no thick atmosphere on either planet. arxiv.org/pdf/2509.02128
arxiv.org
September 3, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Update on the atmosphere vs no atmosphere debate for TRAPPIST-1 b and c -- here's a nice and (IMO) conclusive result from Gillon and Ducrot et al.: no thick atmosphere on either planet. arxiv.org/pdf/2509.02128
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
The #MaxPlanckPostdocProgram offers a guaranteed contract of at least 3 years, targeted mentoring, and career workshops. The call for applications is open now! 🚀 Take advantage of this opportunity and browse the job vacancies. www.mpg.de/en/max-planc...
September 1, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The #MaxPlanckPostdocProgram offers a guaranteed contract of at least 3 years, targeted mentoring, and career workshops. The call for applications is open now! 🚀 Take advantage of this opportunity and browse the job vacancies. www.mpg.de/en/max-planc...
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
#RockyWorldsDiscussion is back from our summer break! 🔭🧪
Our next speaker is Laura Schaefer from Stanford University, who will tell us about redox gradients in planet formation simulations of terrestrial planets 🌍🌕🪨 Join us on Zoom on Thu 4 Sep @ 16:00 UTC
More: www.rockyworlds.org/event-detail...
Our next speaker is Laura Schaefer from Stanford University, who will tell us about redox gradients in planet formation simulations of terrestrial planets 🌍🌕🪨 Join us on Zoom on Thu 4 Sep @ 16:00 UTC
More: www.rockyworlds.org/event-detail...
September 2, 2025 at 9:38 AM
#RockyWorldsDiscussion is back from our summer break! 🔭🧪
Our next speaker is Laura Schaefer from Stanford University, who will tell us about redox gradients in planet formation simulations of terrestrial planets 🌍🌕🪨 Join us on Zoom on Thu 4 Sep @ 16:00 UTC
More: www.rockyworlds.org/event-detail...
Our next speaker is Laura Schaefer from Stanford University, who will tell us about redox gradients in planet formation simulations of terrestrial planets 🌍🌕🪨 Join us on Zoom on Thu 4 Sep @ 16:00 UTC
More: www.rockyworlds.org/event-detail...
I've stuck a few more here:
people.seas.harvard.edu/~rwordsworth...
The CO rotational band makes a nice bass. Ozone is straight out of 60's Star Trek. And ammonia and water are terrifying.
people.seas.harvard.edu/~rwordsworth...
The CO rotational band makes a nice bass. Ozone is straight out of 60's Star Trek. And ammonia and water are terrifying.
July 26, 2025 at 10:44 PM
I've stuck a few more here:
people.seas.harvard.edu/~rwordsworth...
The CO rotational band makes a nice bass. Ozone is straight out of 60's Star Trek. And ammonia and water are terrifying.
people.seas.harvard.edu/~rwordsworth...
The CO rotational band makes a nice bass. Ozone is straight out of 60's Star Trek. And ammonia and water are terrifying.
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
🧪 I'm a fan of this way of interacting with vibrational spectra. I did this on my blog a while ago: nanoscale.blogspot.com/2015/06/what...
What does a molecule sound like?
We all learn in high school chemistry or earlier that atoms can bind together to form molecules, and like a " highly sophisticated interlock...
nanoscale.blogspot.com
July 26, 2025 at 3:10 PM
🧪 I'm a fan of this way of interacting with vibrational spectra. I did this on my blog a while ago: nanoscale.blogspot.com/2015/06/what...
If you could hear in the infrared, what would CO2 sound like? We calculated this recently for a Gen Ed course, and the result is a little eerie.
Results were generated by mapping IR frequency in inverse cm to sound frequency in Hz.
Results were generated by mapping IR frequency in inverse cm to sound frequency in Hz.
July 24, 2025 at 5:02 PM
If you could hear in the infrared, what would CO2 sound like? We calculated this recently for a Gen Ed course, and the result is a little eerie.
Results were generated by mapping IR frequency in inverse cm to sound frequency in Hz.
Results were generated by mapping IR frequency in inverse cm to sound frequency in Hz.
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
Now on @sciam.bsky.social, by @nadiadrake.bsky.social:
The U.S. has axed CMB-S4, its boldest cosmology experiment in generations. Tight budgets and crumbling infrastructure helped doom the project, which was meant to test cosmic inflation. RIP.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-...
The U.S. has axed CMB-S4, its boldest cosmology experiment in generations. Tight budgets and crumbling infrastructure helped doom the project, which was meant to test cosmic inflation. RIP.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-...
U.S. Pulls Back from Quest to Confirm Cosmic Inflation
Researchers hoped CMB-S4, a $900-million cosmology experiment, would answer one of the greatest questions in physics. Instead it’s become another cautionary tale of pursuing big science amid shrinking...
www.scientificamerican.com
July 23, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Now on @sciam.bsky.social, by @nadiadrake.bsky.social:
The U.S. has axed CMB-S4, its boldest cosmology experiment in generations. Tight budgets and crumbling infrastructure helped doom the project, which was meant to test cosmic inflation. RIP.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-...
The U.S. has axed CMB-S4, its boldest cosmology experiment in generations. Tight budgets and crumbling infrastructure helped doom the project, which was meant to test cosmic inflation. RIP.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-...
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
Direct evidence for tectonics (of some kind!) 3.5B years ago. The timeline keeps moving back. Nice find by @alexwilkins.bsky.social at Goldschmidt.
Ancient rocks show earliest evidence of tectonic activity on Earth
The origins of plate tectonics on Earth are hotly debated, but evidence from Australia now shows that parts of the crust moved in relation to each other as early as 3.5 billion years ago
www.newscientist.com
July 15, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Direct evidence for tectonics (of some kind!) 3.5B years ago. The timeline keeps moving back. Nice find by @alexwilkins.bsky.social at Goldschmidt.
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
A lab experiment that simulated Mars conditions showed that green algae can grow in plastic containers made from the same algae, setting the stage for a self-sustaining system to build habitats on the planet.
Bioplastic habitats on Mars could be built from algae
A lab experiment that simulated Mars conditions showed that green algae can grow in plastic containers made from the same algae, setting the stage for a self-sustaining system to build habitats on the planet
www.newscientist.com
July 3, 2025 at 8:38 AM
A lab experiment that simulated Mars conditions showed that green algae can grow in plastic containers made from the same algae, setting the stage for a self-sustaining system to build habitats on the planet.
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
On a related note, we found that convective shutdown by the same mechanism can drastically shorten primordial magma ocean freeze-out times, though with enough irradiation there can be persistent magma oceans despite convective shutdown. arxiv.org/abs/2412.11987
Convective shutdown in the atmospheres of lava worlds
Atmospheric energy transport is central to the cooling of primordial magma oceans. Theoretical studies of atmospheres on lava planets have assumed that convection is the only process involved in setti...
arxiv.org
June 16, 2025 at 3:15 PM
On a related note, we found that convective shutdown by the same mechanism can drastically shorten primordial magma ocean freeze-out times, though with enough irradiation there can be persistent magma oceans despite convective shutdown. arxiv.org/abs/2412.11987
New work led by Jess Cmiel finds that planets with steam atmospheres may be cooler — much cooler — at the surface than we previously thought.
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
arxiv.org/abs/2505.00775
This supports and extends conclusions published last year by Selsis et al. in Nature. 🔭 🧪
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
arxiv.org/abs/2505.00775
This supports and extends conclusions published last year by Selsis et al. in Nature. 🔭 🧪
Characterizing the Radiative–Convective Structure of Dense Rocky Planet Atmospheres - IOPscienceSearch
Characterizing the Radiative–Convective Structure of Dense Rocky Planet Atmospheres, Cmiel, Jessica, Wordsworth, Robin, Seeley, Jacob T.
iopscience.iop.org
June 16, 2025 at 2:54 PM
New work led by Jess Cmiel finds that planets with steam atmospheres may be cooler — much cooler — at the surface than we previously thought.
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
arxiv.org/abs/2505.00775
This supports and extends conclusions published last year by Selsis et al. in Nature. 🔭 🧪
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
arxiv.org/abs/2505.00775
This supports and extends conclusions published last year by Selsis et al. in Nature. 🔭 🧪
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
The abstract submission for Rocky Worlds 4 is now open! groningen2026.rockyworlds.org/registration... 🌋🔭🧬😱
ROCKY WORLDS 4 - Abstract Submission
Abstract submission & conference registration
Abstract submission and conference registration are done in two steps. First, the abstract submission below (including requests for financial support) run...
groningen2026.rockyworlds.org
June 2, 2025 at 10:59 AM
The abstract submission for Rocky Worlds 4 is now open! groningen2026.rockyworlds.org/registration... 🌋🔭🧬😱
These ‘large igneous provinces’ have formed a few times in Earth history and are terrifying — imagine a huge chunk of the surface turning into Mordor in a geologic blink of the eye
June 2, 2025 at 2:53 PM
These ‘large igneous provinces’ have formed a few times in Earth history and are terrifying — imagine a huge chunk of the surface turning into Mordor in a geologic blink of the eye
What does it take to turn Earth into a Snowball? Formation of a volcanic plateau about the size of India at the equator, according to our new study led by Charlotte Minsky:
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
🔭 🧪
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
🔭 🧪
June 2, 2025 at 2:53 PM
What does it take to turn Earth into a Snowball? Formation of a volcanic plateau about the size of India at the equator, according to our new study led by Charlotte Minsky:
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
🔭 🧪
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
🔭 🧪
Interesting paper by Yang et al. on arxiv today arguing clouds might _help_ us observe O2/O3 on exoplanets in some cases:
arxiv.org/pdf/2505.07760
arxiv.org/pdf/2505.07760
arxiv.org
May 13, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Interesting paper by Yang et al. on arxiv today arguing clouds might _help_ us observe O2/O3 on exoplanets in some cases:
arxiv.org/pdf/2505.07760
arxiv.org/pdf/2505.07760
Proposed NASA cuts in context, courtesy of the Planetary Society #astronomy #science
May 2, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Proposed NASA cuts in context, courtesy of the Planetary Society #astronomy #science
Sub-Neptunes shrink and oxidize as they cross the radius valley and become rocky planets, in a new paper led by Collin Cherubim
arxiv.org/pdf/2503.05055
#astronomy #science
arxiv.org/pdf/2503.05055
#astronomy #science
April 22, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Sub-Neptunes shrink and oxidize as they cross the radius valley and become rocky planets, in a new paper led by Collin Cherubim
arxiv.org/pdf/2503.05055
#astronomy #science
arxiv.org/pdf/2503.05055
#astronomy #science
Reposted by Robin Wordsworth
I'm excited to announce that my first solo-author paper has been accepted at ApJ: arxiv.org/abs/2502.19394. I study the dependence of hot Jupiter circulation on both the temperature and wind initial conditions building upon Liu & Showman (2013), finding that the circulation of typical HJ is robust.
Limited hysteresis in the atmospheric dynamics of hot Jupiters
Over the past two decades, a coherent picture has emerged of the atmospheric dynamics of hot Jupiters from a combination of three-dimensional general circulation models (GCMs) and astronomical observa...
arxiv.org
February 27, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I'm excited to announce that my first solo-author paper has been accepted at ApJ: arxiv.org/abs/2502.19394. I study the dependence of hot Jupiter circulation on both the temperature and wind initial conditions building upon Liu & Showman (2013), finding that the circulation of typical HJ is robust.