Shane Larson
LightNews LightNews
banner
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Shane Larson
@sciencejedi.bsky.social
280 followers 100 following 120 posts
Physics professor, amateur astro, fountain pens, woodworker, Lego, aspiring guitar player, cat dad, father, [he/him] Posts & opinions are my own.

My Blog: writescience.wordpress.com
My Instructables: www.instructables.com/member/gravitino/instructables/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Shane Larson
philplait.bsky.social
This is still the best (and IMO only truly funny) April Fool's prank ever pulled. It's genius.
November 3, 2025 at 1:52 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
The Clarkson Golden Knight with the LISA Cube! #theCube @clarksonuniv.bsky.social @lisacommunity.bsky.social
The Clarkson University Golden Knight mascot in gold and green armor holding the tungsten analog of the LISA Cube (the mirror the LISA lasers bounce off of to detect gravitational waves).
October 4, 2025 at 2:50 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
There are myriad existential threats to our society right now, the government shutdown non-withstanding. A bit I've been working on to add to your regular calls to your legislators in Congress, and why it matters. wp.me/p19G0g-YS
Dare Mighty Things
by Shane L. Larson In an age of short video reels, endless scrolling through social media, and fractured multi-tasking attention spans, there is a tendency to reduce our civilization — who we…
wp.me
October 1, 2025 at 5:12 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
In recent months, I've lost a dear cousin, watched friends lose parents, lost an old friend from graduate school, and spent a lot of time with beloved friends who are much older than I. So I've been pondering mortality a bit, and so a bit of writing emerges.

wp.me/p19G0g-YH
The Circle of Life
by Shane L. Larson For most of our lives, we live day to day surrounded by family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. Whether we share only brief hellos, a quick text message, or long conversa…
wp.me
July 23, 2025 at 5:50 AM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Quasar time at Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory!
Me and my title slide for "Secrets of the Quasars"
July 12, 2025 at 12:47 AM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Talking soon at Carlton Observatory/Evergreen Aviation Museum -- the IMAX screen is HUGE!
July 11, 2025 at 1:47 AM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
A quick hop from the PNW to Chicago for a long ago arranged talk for Mensa -- Wormholes and Bending Spacetime!
Me in front of my title slide -- Wormholes, Spacewarps, and Tunnels to Otherwheres. Stars and nebulae looking like a long tunnel.
July 5, 2025 at 7:44 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
On a roadtrip during the image release party today... LOOK AT THESE IMAGES! WOWZERS!!!!
vrubinobs.bsky.social NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @vrubinobs.bsky.social · Jun 23
Introducing...your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess these regions of sky?

This is just a small peek...join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos! 🔭🧪

#RubinFirstLook
ls.st/rubin-first-look-livestream
A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. At top center lies a large elliptical galaxy that is dense and smooth, like a polished stone glowing with golden light. Like delicate spider silk or stretched taffy, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath, evidence of past collisions. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black. A cosmic tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the upper right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its soft, pinkish gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark, finger-like veins of dust that divide it into three parts. It radiates a gentle, misty glow, diffuse and soft like the warmth of breath on a cold hand. To the lower left, the much larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout where new stars are born. Both nebulae are embedded in a soft tan backdrop of gas that is brighter on the left than on the right, etched with dark tendrils of dust and sprinkled with the pinpricks of millions of stars. A sprawling, textured field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with the delicate smudges and glowing cores of galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. To the lower left is a region filled with the hundreds of golden glittering gems of a distant galaxy cluster. In the foreground, below and right of center, two blue spiral galaxies look like eyes beneath the entangled mass of a triple galaxy merger in the upper right. A few bright blue points of foreground stars pierce the glittering tapestry. All throughout the image, thousands of galaxies gather in clusters or are spread throughout, like glittering gems strewn on a table. Some are sharp-edged and spiral, like coiled ribbons; others round and diffuse, like polished pebbles. Still others are just smudges of various colors against the black of space. The background is peppered with pinpoint stars in reds, yellows, and blues, crisp against the velvet black.
June 24, 2025 at 7:48 AM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
I've been sitting on this bit of science writing for a couple of weeks now, just overwhelmed by... My former PhD student (Lindsay DeMarchi) pushed me out of my infinite loop.

wp.me/p19G0g-Yq
Dangerous Ideas
by Shane L. Larson There are many ideas in the world. Some are awe-inspiring (“Perhaps we are the only planet with life in all the Cosmos.”). Some are frightening (“What if there were still no vacc…
wp.me
June 19, 2025 at 4:42 AM
Reposted by Shane Larson
lisacommunity.bsky.social
📢 LISA News! 📢

Today at the #ParisAirShow, ESA and OHB System AG have signed their agreement to build LISA!
Image text reads "LISA's prime industrial partner has been selected"
June 17, 2025 at 1:17 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Overlap map of my location, auroral oval, and cloud cover.
June 1, 2025 at 10:59 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Holy frap! Glacier catstrophically collapsed yesterday in Switzerland, burying the village of Blatten. Caught on video. Shifting temperatures are melting *permafrost*, which releases rocks and boulders, triggering the glacier collapse. www.npr.org/2025/05/29/g...
A Swiss village is buried after a glacier collapses in the Alps
The Birch Glacier above the village of Blatten collapsed and caused a landslide that has buried most of the village. Authorities had evacuated residents earlier this month, but one person is missing.
www.npr.org
May 29, 2025 at 6:10 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Not worried about cuts to the federal science program? It touches every life, every day, in ways we don't think about. Make no mistake -- the decimation of the federal science program impacts a long list from food safety, forecasts, disaster readiness... things that protect Every. Single. Person.
May 7, 2025 at 8:14 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
We have the "Last Box" from our move to Chicago, so used it as Last Box again! Movers are here, we'll be at Clarkson in New York by the end of the week!
Small box with colored labels. Pink one reads "Bookshelf hardware", orange one reads "The Last Box", and Blue one an itemized list of contents.
March 24, 2025 at 3:05 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Great sun halo over Chicago this morning! Bright enough to reflect in the Bean! #lookUp
Top half of solar halo amid scattered clouds, Chicago buildings and trees in the foreground Half of the Chicago Bean (Cloudgate sculpture) reflecting buildings, clouds, blue skies, then Sun, and a solar halo.
March 20, 2025 at 8:42 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Talk at #APSSummit25 is in the bag! In the special workshop by the Precision Measurement Topical Group called "New Methods to Detect Gravitational Waves." I would say @lisacommunity.bsky.social is the most "traditional" method so far -- been hearing about all kinds of cool new things!
Slide for talk entitled "SCIENCE IN THE LISA ERA" by Shane Larson from Clarkson University and Northwestern University. Slide shows a scene in space, with Earth in the background and stylized triangle of laser light representing LISA. Bluesky @sciencejedi, and YouTube link: youtube.com/sciencejedi/ .
March 16, 2025 at 8:17 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
I'm in Anaheim for the Global Physics Summit! #APSSummit25 @apsphysics.bsky.social
March 16, 2025 at 3:26 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Happy Women's Day! In my life I have been mentored, trained, and guided by brilliant and talented women, and I am thankful they each took me under their wing. I have too many colleagues and students to list, but I stand to honor all of you. Continue to be who and how you all are. #WomensDay2025
March 8, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Shane Larson
ucs.org
#Project2025 specifically calls for #NOAA to be “dismantled,” “downsized,” and “eliminated,” recommending the privatization of its essential functions. Frank Schwing, Science Network member and retired federal scientist, explains how your community’s safety and prosperity rely on NOAA. #ProtectNOAA
What Does NOAA Do for Us, and How Can We Defend It?
The Trump administration has attempted to cut staff at a vital agency that keeps us safe. Here's what we can do about it.
blog.ucsusa.org
March 3, 2025 at 5:00 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Great sun halo over Chicagoland this morning. Take a break briefly from the drama of the world, for yourself, and bask is the solace of the sky. #lookUp
Thin clouds in morning sky, faint blue sky beyond, tree silhouettes in foreground. Yellow Sun at center surrounded by large halo, rainbow sundogs to left and right.
February 19, 2025 at 10:43 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
This is an excellent and brief explanation of what the F&A costs in grants from federal agencies are used for -- worth the few minutes it takes to watch. youtu.be/yxTDlFvkvio?...
Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs Explainer
YouTube video by Association of American Universities
youtu.be
February 19, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Shane Larson
hcrichardson.bsky.social
February 15, 2025
February 15, 2025
After World War II, the vast majority of Americans—Democrats and Republicans alike—agreed that the federal government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructur...
heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
February 16, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Reposted by Shane Larson
chuckwendig.bsky.social
It may feel weird or somehow improper to talk about your art or your writing, but we need it. It can’t be wall-to-wall nightmare all the time. Art is both counterweight and context. It’s escape and enlightenment and a mirror of our own exasperation. We need it. We NEED it. Keep showing us.
February 14, 2025 at 3:01 AM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Sunrise in Aspen today. Conference ending today, then home to Chicago. #lookUp
Sunrise over mountains. Dark silhouettes of trees with clouds a yellowish orange color in the skies above.
February 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
sciencejedi.bsky.social
Today it was announced that Michelle will be the next President of Clarkson University in New York! She will be the first female president in their 128 year history. We'll both be joining Clarkson soon!

clarkson.edu/news-events/...
February 6, 2025 at 4:09 AM