Sarah Kendrew
@sarahkendrew.bsky.social
European Space Agency Astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD. Team Lead for the MIRI instrument on JWST. Runner, dog mum, cyclist. 🇬🇧🇧🇪 Opinions my own.
For our first date my partner took me on safari to Kruger. I lived in the UK (he in S Africa). Remember to say yes to the crazy ideas!
February 13, 2026 at 5:00 PM
For our first date my partner took me on safari to Kruger. I lived in the UK (he in S Africa). Remember to say yes to the crazy ideas!
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Relevant reading also for #PlanetaryScience folks
"Every person is a human being, whose personal development is more important than our short-term scientific accomplishments" - and more bangers in this from David Hogg (spoiler: it's about AI!) arxiv.org/abs/2602.10181 🔭
Why do we do astrophysics?
At time of writing, large language models (LLMs) are beginning to obtain the ability to design, execute, write up, and referee scientific projects on the data-science side of astrophysics. What implic...
arxiv.org
February 12, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Relevant reading also for #PlanetaryScience folks
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
I was thinking just last week how the decline in the WaPo leaves the door wide open for the Banner to become the paper of record for the Baltimore-Washington region.
Baltimore Banner gobbling up what the Washington Post is casting off.
The Baltimore Banner's EIC Audrey Cooper announced in an email to staff that The Banner will expand its coverage to include D.C.-area sports teams, including the Nationals and Commanders.
February 12, 2026 at 6:32 PM
I was thinking just last week how the decline in the WaPo leaves the door wide open for the Banner to become the paper of record for the Baltimore-Washington region.
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
I agree with your puzzlement. The arXiv submission guidelines specifically exclude opinion pieces.
info.arxiv.org/help/policie...
(My memory was that AAS Research Notes were also excluded as they were not scholarly enough.)
info.arxiv.org/help/policie...
(My memory was that AAS Research Notes were also excluded as they were not scholarly enough.)
Policies for specific content types - arXiv info | arXiv e-print repository
info.arxiv.org
February 12, 2026 at 6:28 PM
I agree with your puzzlement. The arXiv submission guidelines specifically exclude opinion pieces.
info.arxiv.org/help/policie...
(My memory was that AAS Research Notes were also excluded as they were not scholarly enough.)
info.arxiv.org/help/policie...
(My memory was that AAS Research Notes were also excluded as they were not scholarly enough.)
Note there is actually a 2nd paper on astro-ph today about AI in astronomy, by Roberto Trotta - haven't had the chance to read it yet arxiv.org/abs/2602.10165
February 12, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Note there is actually a 2nd paper on astro-ph today about AI in astronomy, by Roberto Trotta - haven't had the chance to read it yet arxiv.org/abs/2602.10165
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Excellent points made here, which I mostly agree with.
Even though I don't think LLMs are just "text-interpolators" as Hogg says,* I do feel strongly that they are not scientists, and cannot be made accountable in the way a scientist must.
* This is because of RL training objectives
Even though I don't think LLMs are just "text-interpolators" as Hogg says,* I do feel strongly that they are not scientists, and cannot be made accountable in the way a scientist must.
* This is because of RL training objectives
"Every person is a human being, whose personal development is more important than our short-term scientific accomplishments" - and more bangers in this from David Hogg (spoiler: it's about AI!) arxiv.org/abs/2602.10181 🔭
Why do we do astrophysics?
At time of writing, large language models (LLMs) are beginning to obtain the ability to design, execute, write up, and referee scientific projects on the data-science side of astrophysics. What implic...
arxiv.org
February 12, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Excellent points made here, which I mostly agree with.
Even though I don't think LLMs are just "text-interpolators" as Hogg says,* I do feel strongly that they are not scientists, and cannot be made accountable in the way a scientist must.
* This is because of RL training objectives
Even though I don't think LLMs are just "text-interpolators" as Hogg says,* I do feel strongly that they are not scientists, and cannot be made accountable in the way a scientist must.
* This is because of RL training objectives
"Every person is a human being, whose personal development is more important than our short-term scientific accomplishments" - and more bangers in this from David Hogg (spoiler: it's about AI!) arxiv.org/abs/2602.10181 🔭
Why do we do astrophysics?
At time of writing, large language models (LLMs) are beginning to obtain the ability to design, execute, write up, and referee scientific projects on the data-science side of astrophysics. What implic...
arxiv.org
February 12, 2026 at 5:16 PM
"Every person is a human being, whose personal development is more important than our short-term scientific accomplishments" - and more bangers in this from David Hogg (spoiler: it's about AI!) arxiv.org/abs/2602.10181 🔭
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
New gaussian process slides going well
February 11, 2026 at 4:48 PM
New gaussian process slides going well
I know we're all supposed to be tired of the snow and cold, but honestly I can't get enough of this gorgeous light. #baltimore
February 11, 2026 at 6:36 PM
I know we're all supposed to be tired of the snow and cold, but honestly I can't get enough of this gorgeous light. #baltimore
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Interested in applying for the ESA Graduate Trainee positions?
Join one of our info sessions:
📆 12 February 17:00 CET
📆 17 February 12:00 CET
More details here 👉 https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Apply_now_to_the_ESA_Graduate_Trainee_Programme
#ESArecruits
🔭🧪
Join one of our info sessions:
📆 12 February 17:00 CET
📆 17 February 12:00 CET
More details here 👉 https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Apply_now_to_the_ESA_Graduate_Trainee_Programme
#ESArecruits
🔭🧪
February 11, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Interested in applying for the ESA Graduate Trainee positions?
Join one of our info sessions:
📆 12 February 17:00 CET
📆 17 February 12:00 CET
More details here 👉 https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Apply_now_to_the_ESA_Graduate_Trainee_Programme
#ESArecruits
🔭🧪
Join one of our info sessions:
📆 12 February 17:00 CET
📆 17 February 12:00 CET
More details here 👉 https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Apply_now_to_the_ESA_Graduate_Trainee_Programme
#ESArecruits
🔭🧪
Happy birthday to my alma mater, @ucl.ac.uk ! We'll be hosting a 200th anniversary Alumni event at Union Craft brewing in #Baltimore tomorrow, Feb 12th at 6 pm! (RIP The Brewer's Art....) #UCL200
February 11, 2026 at 6:29 PM
Happy birthday to my alma mater, @ucl.ac.uk ! We'll be hosting a 200th anniversary Alumni event at Union Craft brewing in #Baltimore tomorrow, Feb 12th at 6 pm! (RIP The Brewer's Art....) #UCL200
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Remember, they're there to keep us all safe.
This is the aftermath of an ICE kidnapping a few blocks from my home in St. Paul—an hour ago. A quiet street full of broken glass and at least three wrecked cars. The target of the kidnapping was taken away by ambulance. He was on a stretcher and covered by a sheet, though a cop said he was alive.
February 11, 2026 at 5:50 PM
Remember, they're there to keep us all safe.
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
All flights to and from El Paso, Texas, have been grounded for ten days for “Special Security Reasons”, the Federal Aviation Administration announced.
Shutting down airspace of a major US city for such an extended period hasn’t happened since the aftermath of 9-11.
Shutting down airspace of a major US city for such an extended period hasn’t happened since the aftermath of 9-11.
February 11, 2026 at 8:52 AM
All flights to and from El Paso, Texas, have been grounded for ten days for “Special Security Reasons”, the Federal Aviation Administration announced.
Shutting down airspace of a major US city for such an extended period hasn’t happened since the aftermath of 9-11.
Shutting down airspace of a major US city for such an extended period hasn’t happened since the aftermath of 9-11.
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Mathematician Sofya Kovalevskaya was the first woman to:
+ Earn a doctorate in #mathematics (in the modern sense)
+ Be appointed to a full professorship in mathematics
She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. She died #OTD in 1891.
#WomenInSTEM
+ Earn a doctorate in #mathematics (in the modern sense)
+ Be appointed to a full professorship in mathematics
She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. She died #OTD in 1891.
#WomenInSTEM
February 11, 2026 at 12:03 AM
Mathematician Sofya Kovalevskaya was the first woman to:
+ Earn a doctorate in #mathematics (in the modern sense)
+ Be appointed to a full professorship in mathematics
She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. She died #OTD in 1891.
#WomenInSTEM
+ Earn a doctorate in #mathematics (in the modern sense)
+ Be appointed to a full professorship in mathematics
She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. She died #OTD in 1891.
#WomenInSTEM
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent. Large proportion worked at Columbia University, which had its grants cut and frozen by the administration of US President Donald Trump. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent
Large proportion worked at Columbia University, which had its grants cut and frozen by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
www.nature.com
February 10, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Dozens of researchers will move to France from US following high-profile bid to lure talent. Large proportion worked at Columbia University, which had its grants cut and frozen by the administration of US President Donald Trump. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
We all show this figure, but I seriously agree with Peter that we need to rethink that. It tells a story but doesn't actually convey more than one or two important facts. It's almost ritualistic.
February 10, 2026 at 11:57 PM
We all show this figure, but I seriously agree with Peter that we need to rethink that. It tells a story but doesn't actually convey more than one or two important facts. It's almost ritualistic.
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
OPPORTUNITY: The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, is searching for a highly skilled Cloud Software Engineer II with expertise in Python programming and building ETL data processing pipelines for large-scale scientific datasets: https://bit.ly/3M2xe31
February 10, 2026 at 10:12 PM
OPPORTUNITY: The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, is searching for a highly skilled Cloud Software Engineer II with expertise in Python programming and building ETL data processing pipelines for large-scale scientific datasets: https://bit.ly/3M2xe31
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Friends from Minneapolis reporting to me that things are at the point where folks are being hidden in other people's houses and we are in the "again" part of "never again" which the "never" was supposed to preclude
February 10, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Friends from Minneapolis reporting to me that things are at the point where folks are being hidden in other people's houses and we are in the "again" part of "never again" which the "never" was supposed to preclude
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.
February 10, 2026 at 10:09 AM
"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.
love it 🔭
At the last Spirit of Lyot conference we were handing out stickers with this meme:
February 10, 2026 at 4:49 PM
love it 🔭
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
I shared this earlier with my 16 yo who plans to be a historian. He said, "Historians can do that?!" I was so happy to say that they do!
Not at all surprised to learn that Bad Bunny has a historical adviser. His halftime show was a reminder that our history and culture are deeply intertwined with the rest of the western hemisphere. We should think of his performance as part of #America250. #SuperBowl
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
Pop star Bad Bunny needed a Puerto Rican history scholar. UW–Madison had just the one.
Bad Bunny collaborated with UW–Madison history professor Jorell Meléndez-Badillo on Puerto Rican narratives that accompany the new album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”
news.wisc.edu
February 9, 2026 at 6:10 PM
I shared this earlier with my 16 yo who plans to be a historian. He said, "Historians can do that?!" I was so happy to say that they do!
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
Just a few weeks ago, the administration cancelled all remaining department of energy grid resilience projects in Puerto Rico. All of them. www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-end...
The end of DOE’s grid work in Puerto Rico
The Trump administration has canceled all eight of the remaining awards devoted to distributed energy on the island.
www.latitudemedia.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Just a few weeks ago, the administration cancelled all remaining department of energy grid resilience projects in Puerto Rico. All of them. www.latitudemedia.com/news/the-end...
Reposted by Sarah Kendrew
BREAKING: “in my 24th year of my quest to settle the planet Mars, I have just been informed of a basic fact of celestial mechanics.”
February 9, 2026 at 10:31 AM
BREAKING: “in my 24th year of my quest to settle the planet Mars, I have just been informed of a basic fact of celestial mechanics.”