Luke Drury
@luke-drury.mastodon.dias.ie.ap.brid.gy
Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics in DIAS, member and former president of the Royal Irish Academy, former VP of ALLEA. Interested in open science and the […]
🌉 bridged from https://mastodon.dias.ie/@Luke_Drury on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/
🌉 bridged from https://mastodon.dias.ie/@Luke_Drury on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/
RE: https://journa.host/@fulelo/115759571674324155
The death penalty is an anachronistic abomination and the scale of its use in Saudi Arabia is horrific.
The death penalty is an anachronistic abomination and the scale of its use in Saudi Arabia is horrific.
journa.host
December 21, 2025 at 9:23 PM
RE: https://journa.host/@fulelo/115759571674324155
The death penalty is an anachronistic abomination and the scale of its use in Saudi Arabia is horrific.
The death penalty is an anachronistic abomination and the scale of its use in Saudi Arabia is horrific.
Reposted by Luke Drury
On this darkest solstice day of the year, my heart has dimmed, waking up to learn of the loss of dear colleague and mentor, Yannick Mellier. Yannick will be known to most as the lead of the amazing Euclid Space Telescope which will revolutionise our understanding of the Dark Universe 🧵🔭
![This square astronomical image shows thousands of galaxies across the black expanse of space. The closest thousand or so galaxies belong to the Perseus Cluster. The most prominent members of the cluster are visible in the centre of the image and appear as large galaxies with haloes around them in yellow/white, comparable to streetlamps in a foggy night. The background of this image is scattered with a hundred thousand more distant galaxies of different shapes, ranging in colour from white to yellow to red. Most galaxies are so far away they appear as single points of light. The more distant a galaxy is, the redder it appears.]
CREDIT
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ok3ms3dzop7gcwejp7lswhpi/bafkreiaukh5rfzzy4i242zdeoibuspehm6tmksbv3mfgk7yxcbk6fbtnv4@jpeg)
December 21, 2025 at 8:45 AM
On this darkest solstice day of the year, my heart has dimmed, waking up to learn of the loss of dear colleague and mentor, Yannick Mellier. Yannick will be known to most as the lead of the amazing Euclid Space Telescope which will revolutionise our understanding of the Dark Universe 🧵🔭
Tomorrow morning at 8:40 UTC - livestream from Newgrange for the winter solstice.
https://heritageireland.ie/visit/newgrange-winter-solstice-2025/
https://heritageireland.ie/visit/newgrange-winter-solstice-2025/
Newgrange Winter Solstice 2025 | Heritage Ireland
Newgrange is the best known of the 3 great passage tombs in the Brú na Bóinne complex. The passage and chamber are aligned in a
heritageireland.ie
December 20, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Tomorrow morning at 8:40 UTC - livestream from Newgrange for the winter solstice.
https://heritageireland.ie/visit/newgrange-winter-solstice-2025/
https://heritageireland.ie/visit/newgrange-winter-solstice-2025/
Reposted by Luke Drury
Weekly Update from the Open Journal of Astrophysics – 20/12/2025
Since the last update we have published two more regular papers, described below, which brings the number in Volume 8 (2025) up to 197, as well as the 12 papers in yesterday's Supplement, and the total published for the year up to […]
Since the last update we have published two more regular papers, described below, which brings the number in Volume 8 (2025) up to 197, as well as the 12 papers in yesterday's Supplement, and the total published for the year up to […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 20, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Weekly Update from the Open Journal of Astrophysics – 20/12/2025
Since the last update we have published two more regular papers, described below, which brings the number in Volume 8 (2025) up to 197, as well as the 12 papers in yesterday's Supplement, and the total published for the year up to […]
Since the last update we have published two more regular papers, described below, which brings the number in Volume 8 (2025) up to 197, as well as the 12 papers in yesterday's Supplement, and the total published for the year up to […]
RE: https://social.heise.de/@heiseonline/115745886075488548
Not that long ago I had an argument with a journalist fan of commercial rockets who dismissed the Ariane 6 as being decades off and thought Europe should abandon building its own rockets and just outsource to Musk. Well now we have 5 […]
Not that long ago I had an argument with a journalist fan of commercial rockets who dismissed the Ariane 6 as being decades off and thought Europe should abandon building its own rockets and just outsource to Musk. Well now we have 5 […]
December 19, 2025 at 12:23 PM
RE: https://social.heise.de/@heiseonline/115745886075488548
Not that long ago I had an argument with a journalist fan of commercial rockets who dismissed the Ariane 6 as being decades off and thought Europe should abandon building its own rockets and just outsource to Musk. Well now we have 5 […]
Not that long ago I had an argument with a journalist fan of commercial rockets who dismissed the Ariane 6 as being decades off and thought Europe should abandon building its own rockets and just outsource to Musk. Well now we have 5 […]
Reposted by Luke Drury
We are pleased to announce the publication today (19th December) of a special issue consisting of a series of papers about various aspects of Pulsar Science with the Square Kilometre Array Observatory.
Links to the individual papers follow in a thread....
https://astro.theoj.org/issue/13006
Links to the individual papers follow in a thread....
https://astro.theoj.org/issue/13006
Vol. 8 Supplement, Issue 1, 2025 | Published by The Open Journal of Astrophysics
Highlights of the expected outcomes from the upcoming SKA Observatory with game-changing large instantaneous sensitivity, wide frequency coverage and flexible observation modes
astro.theoj.org
December 19, 2025 at 11:26 AM
We are pleased to announce the publication today (19th December) of a special issue consisting of a series of papers about various aspects of Pulsar Science with the Square Kilometre Array Observatory.
Links to the individual papers follow in a thread....
https://astro.theoj.org/issue/13006
Links to the individual papers follow in a thread....
https://astro.theoj.org/issue/13006
I did not anticipate Trump's TMTG pivoting to Fusion energy! Don't tell him that the only working fusion reactor we have is the Sun.
https://www.ft.com/content/360057c6-f66a-4553-806b-4de2b768523d
https://www.ft.com/content/360057c6-f66a-4553-806b-4de2b768523d
Trump’s TMTG is merging with . . . a fusion energy company?
It’s not a pivot to video at least
www.ft.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:43 PM
I did not anticipate Trump's TMTG pivoting to Fusion energy! Don't tell him that the only working fusion reactor we have is the Sun.
https://www.ft.com/content/360057c6-f66a-4553-806b-4de2b768523d
https://www.ft.com/content/360057c6-f66a-4553-806b-4de2b768523d
One week to Christmas, but only three days to the Winter solstice when, if the skies are clear, a beam of sunlight will penetrate to the interior of the Newgrange tumulus at sunrise - one of the oldest astronomical alignments in the world and very impressive. It will be live streamed here […]
Original post on mastodon.dias.ie
mastodon.dias.ie
December 18, 2025 at 12:03 PM
One week to Christmas, but only three days to the Winter solstice when, if the skies are clear, a beam of sunlight will penetrate to the interior of the Newgrange tumulus at sunrise - one of the oldest astronomical alignments in the world and very impressive. It will be live streamed here […]
Reposted by Luke Drury
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
A very Irish problem - every Christmas we get cards signed just “Mary” with no further identification of the sender and have to guess whom it might be from!
December 17, 2025 at 11:22 AM
A very Irish problem - every Christmas we get cards signed just “Mary” with no further identification of the sender and have to guess whom it might be from!
Reposted by Luke Drury
Internet based on massive constellations of satellites you say?
What could possibly go wrong?
theverge@c.im - Starlink and Chinese satellites nearly collided last week https://thever.ge/VMJt #science #spacex #space #news
What could possibly go wrong?
theverge@c.im - Starlink and Chinese satellites nearly collided last week https://thever.ge/VMJt #science #spacex #space #news
Starlink and Chinese satellites nearly collided last week
Kessler syndrome avoided for now.
www.theverge.com
December 15, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Internet based on massive constellations of satellites you say?
What could possibly go wrong?
theverge@c.im - Starlink and Chinese satellites nearly collided last week https://thever.ge/VMJt #science #spacex #space #news
What could possibly go wrong?
theverge@c.im - Starlink and Chinese satellites nearly collided last week https://thever.ge/VMJt #science #spacex #space #news
Reposted by Luke Drury
This really highlights how incredibly dependent we are on Starlink's continued perfect collision avoidance maneuvers. So far they've done it, but they keep adding more satellites and making it harder.
Other megaconstellations are now launching as well, and they all need to communicate PERFECTLY […]
Other megaconstellations are now launching as well, and they all need to communicate PERFECTLY […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 11, 2025 at 2:33 PM
This really highlights how incredibly dependent we are on Starlink's continued perfect collision avoidance maneuvers. So far they've done it, but they keep adding more satellites and making it harder.
Other megaconstellations are now launching as well, and they all need to communicate PERFECTLY […]
Other megaconstellations are now launching as well, and they all need to communicate PERFECTLY […]
We all used to get spam e-mails offering Viagra, but this received this morning is ridiculous - 2000kg? You’d have a hard time using that much!
December 11, 2025 at 11:08 AM
We all used to get spam e-mails offering Viagra, but this received this morning is ridiculous - 2000kg? You’d have a hard time using that much!
Reposted by Luke Drury
Got my slides put together for this meeting tomorrow. It's a damn good summary of the many ways that terrible things are happening in orbit that are already RIGHT NOW destroying the night sky, destroying the atmosphere, dropping shit on people, and making collisions much more likely in orbit. I […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 9, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Got my slides put together for this meeting tomorrow. It's a damn good summary of the many ways that terrible things are happening in orbit that are already RIGHT NOW destroying the night sky, destroying the atmosphere, dropping shit on people, and making collisions much more likely in orbit. I […]
Reposted by Luke Drury
There are so many FCC comment periods that will close right at the beginning of January, on really stupid, short-sighted, make-billionaires-richer things they want to do with loosening the already incredibly loose regulations for satellites. I am tired. But I have to write stuff for these. Fuck.
December 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM
There are so many FCC comment periods that will close right at the beginning of January, on really stupid, short-sighted, make-billionaires-richer things they want to do with loosening the already incredibly loose regulations for satellites. I am tired. But I have to write stuff for these. Fuck.
Reposted by Luke Drury
hi @sciety, I was just reading about using the @bonfire collaboration... what about adding your Mastodon account in your https://sciety.org/ footer (instead of (no longer existing)Twitter)?
Sciety
Let Sciety help you navigate the preprint landscape.
sciety.org
December 6, 2025 at 1:45 PM
hi @sciety, I was just reading about using the @bonfire collaboration... what about adding your Mastodon account in your https://sciety.org/ footer (instead of (no longer existing)Twitter)?
Reposted by Luke Drury
Went to an event at the Houses of Parliament tonight. And was unable to get my folded #brompton #bicycle to fit through the X-ray machine, so had to go home.
Kind of nuts. They said that the new ones don't fit. Not hte ridiculous over-sized G-line bikes. The […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Kind of nuts. They said that the new ones don't fit. Not hte ridiculous over-sized G-line bikes. The […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
December 5, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Went to an event at the Houses of Parliament tonight. And was unable to get my folded #brompton #bicycle to fit through the X-ray machine, so had to go home.
Kind of nuts. They said that the new ones don't fit. Not hte ridiculous over-sized G-line bikes. The […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Kind of nuts. They said that the new ones don't fit. Not hte ridiculous over-sized G-line bikes. The […]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
Reposted by Luke Drury
This afternoon, I will give a public lecture about #ResearchIntegrity and #ImageForensics, at the University of Bern, CH, where I will receive an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Science tomorrow.
Thank you for your support ❤️
Thank you for your support ❤️
December 5, 2025 at 12:07 PM
This afternoon, I will give a public lecture about #ResearchIntegrity and #ImageForensics, at the University of Bern, CH, where I will receive an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Science tomorrow.
Thank you for your support ❤️
Thank you for your support ❤️
The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium is under threat.
https://allea.org/allea-affirms-solidarity-with-the-royal-flemish-academy-of-belgium-for-science-and-the-arts-in-light-of-the-planned-discontinuation-of-structural-funding/
https://allea.org/allea-affirms-solidarity-with-the-royal-flemish-academy-of-belgium-for-science-and-the-arts-in-light-of-the-planned-discontinuation-of-structural-funding/
ALLEA Affirms Solidarity with the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in Light of the Planned Discontinuation of Structural Funding
The Flemish government has announced its intention to discontinue the structural funding of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB) as of 2026. In response to this development, KVAB, a long-standing member academy of ALLEA, has released an open letter addressed to the Flemish government outlining the anticipated implications of this decision and requesting its reconsideration.
The open letter sets out the importance of sustained institutional support for independent academies in enabling them to carry out their public missions, including the advancement of scientific excellence, the facilitation of exchange between science and the arts, and the contribution to informed public discourse.
Given these considerations, ALLEA expresses its full solidarity with the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. ALLEA President Paweł Rowiński has signed the open letter, thereby joining the appeal urging the Flemish government to reconsider its funding decision and to preserve the conditions that allow KVAB to continue fulfilling its mission.
ALLEA encourages members of the academic, scientific, artistic and wider societal communities to consult the open letter and consider supporting this initiative.
**Read and sign the open letter.**
allea.org
December 4, 2025 at 5:20 PM
The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium is under threat.
https://allea.org/allea-affirms-solidarity-with-the-royal-flemish-academy-of-belgium-for-science-and-the-arts-in-light-of-the-planned-discontinuation-of-structural-funding/
https://allea.org/allea-affirms-solidarity-with-the-royal-flemish-academy-of-belgium-for-science-and-the-arts-in-light-of-the-planned-discontinuation-of-structural-funding/
Reposted by Luke Drury
"Cornell Tech has received more than $7 million from Schmidt Sciences and NASA to upgrade arXiv, an open-access research repository of more than 2.8 million articles. "
It's great news for arXiv. I'm just wondering why they want actually move to the cloud:
"finish migrating to cloud […]
It's great news for arXiv. I'm just wondering why they want actually move to the cloud:
"finish migrating to cloud […]
Original post on paperbay.org
paperbay.org
December 3, 2025 at 5:05 AM
"Cornell Tech has received more than $7 million from Schmidt Sciences and NASA to upgrade arXiv, an open-access research repository of more than 2.8 million articles. "
It's great news for arXiv. I'm just wondering why they want actually move to the cloud:
"finish migrating to cloud […]
It's great news for arXiv. I'm just wondering why they want actually move to the cloud:
"finish migrating to cloud […]
Reposted by Luke Drury
Update. The French 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 (#cnrs) is canceling the #webofscience and encouraging its affiliates to use #OpenAlex. It cancelled #scopus last year.
https://www.cnrs.fr/en/update/cnrs-breaking-free-web-science
#clarivate #elsevier #france #opensource #wos
https://www.cnrs.fr/en/update/cnrs-breaking-free-web-science
#clarivate #elsevier #france #opensource #wos
December 2, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Update. The French 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦 𝘭𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 (#cnrs) is canceling the #webofscience and encouraging its affiliates to use #OpenAlex. It cancelled #scopus last year.
https://www.cnrs.fr/en/update/cnrs-breaking-free-web-science
#clarivate #elsevier #france #opensource #wos
https://www.cnrs.fr/en/update/cnrs-breaking-free-web-science
#clarivate #elsevier #france #opensource #wos
RE: https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/115651551884099952
Main reason my wife and I got the shingles vaccine as soon as the Welsh study was announced! Sadly you still have to get it privately in Ireland.
Main reason my wife and I got the shingles vaccine as soon as the Welsh study was announced! Sadly you still have to get it privately in Ireland.
The effect of shingles vaccination at different stages of the dementia disease course https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)01256-5
Highlights
• Herpes zoster vaccination reduced dementia diagnosis in our prior natural experiments
• Here, we find a lower occurrence of MCI and […]
Highlights
• Herpes zoster vaccination reduced dementia diagnosis in our prior natural experiments
• Here, we find a lower occurrence of MCI and […]
Original post on mastodon.scot
mastodon.scot
December 2, 2025 at 7:18 PM
RE: https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/115651551884099952
Main reason my wife and I got the shingles vaccine as soon as the Welsh study was announced! Sadly you still have to get it privately in Ireland.
Main reason my wife and I got the shingles vaccine as soon as the Welsh study was announced! Sadly you still have to get it privately in Ireland.
Hobbs said something rather profound which has always stuck in my mind since I first read it: "peace is not the mere absence of war, but the absence of the expectation of war".
December 2, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Hobbs said something rather profound which has always stuck in my mind since I first read it: "peace is not the mere absence of war, but the absence of the expectation of war".
First Sunday in advent!
November 30, 2025 at 3:20 PM
First Sunday in advent!
RE: https://fediscience.org/@rahmstorf/115633288039430041
And so must Ireland - it is not certain (risks rarely are) but were the AMOC to collapse the consequences would be so extreme that this must be treated as an existential risk for society.
And so must Ireland - it is not certain (risks rarely are) but were the AMOC to collapse the consequences would be so extreme that this must be treated as an existential risk for society.
fediscience.org
November 29, 2025 at 4:27 PM
RE: https://fediscience.org/@rahmstorf/115633288039430041
And so must Ireland - it is not certain (risks rarely are) but were the AMOC to collapse the consequences would be so extreme that this must be treated as an existential risk for society.
And so must Ireland - it is not certain (risks rarely are) but were the AMOC to collapse the consequences would be so extreme that this must be treated as an existential risk for society.