Matthew Phelan
@matthewphelan.bsky.social
I’m reporting on science at Mashable, past bylines @Slate, @newrepublic, @sciam, @inversedotcom, @Gawker, etc. / NYU SHERP / used to hand-make Li-ion batteries
Excited to see Dasha play Mary Magdalene in Angel Studios “The Last Temptation of Supply Side Jesus.”
deadline.com/2025/11/dash...
deadline.com/2025/11/dash...
November 14, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Excited to see Dasha play Mary Magdalene in Angel Studios “The Last Temptation of Supply Side Jesus.”
deadline.com/2025/11/dash...
deadline.com/2025/11/dash...
A lot riding on this election today.
November 4, 2025 at 8:26 PM
A lot riding on this election today.
“Use’d’t’be HBO prestige was all about New Jersey. Now it’s Allentown this! Delco accent that! Are you listenin’ to me? Wawa, Yueng-a-Lings, bikers — do these things sound ‘prestigious’ to you?”
“They don’t sound classy to me, T.”
“They don’t sound classy to me, T.”
October 20, 2025 at 3:12 AM
“Use’d’t’be HBO prestige was all about New Jersey. Now it’s Allentown this! Delco accent that! Are you listenin’ to me? Wawa, Yueng-a-Lings, bikers — do these things sound ‘prestigious’ to you?”
“They don’t sound classy to me, T.”
“They don’t sound classy to me, T.”
One upshot of American democracy being on the verge of collapse is that I’m getting to learn about all sorts of arcane statutory concepts written in that clear and concise “5th-to-10th grade reading level” of traditional newspaper copy.
October 8, 2025 at 5:50 PM
One upshot of American democracy being on the verge of collapse is that I’m getting to learn about all sorts of arcane statutory concepts written in that clear and concise “5th-to-10th grade reading level” of traditional newspaper copy.
But coyotes aren’t ugly. They’re beautiful majestic creatures!
September 13, 2025 at 8:13 PM
But coyotes aren’t ugly. They’re beautiful majestic creatures!
They should put the “Inside Epstein’s Cell” segment of 60 Minutes back(?) on Paramount+, @paramountpictures.bsky.social, just my two cents.
July 19, 2025 at 5:03 PM
They should put the “Inside Epstein’s Cell” segment of 60 Minutes back(?) on Paramount+, @paramountpictures.bsky.social, just my two cents.
Trying to get back to mid-2023 and course correct America like…
July 17, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Trying to get back to mid-2023 and course correct America like…
Knicks - spiracy
😭😭😭😭😭
😭😭😭😭😭
May 28, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Knicks - spiracy
😭😭😭😭😭
😭😭😭😭😭
I should have known better than to trust the Associated Press on this, without first checking in with an official NASA historian such as yourself, David. My apologies. 🙃
Citation: apnews.com/article/arch...
Citation: apnews.com/article/arch...
April 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
I should have known better than to trust the Associated Press on this, without first checking in with an official NASA historian such as yourself, David. My apologies. 🙃
Citation: apnews.com/article/arch...
Citation: apnews.com/article/arch...
Here are Apollo 15 astronauts (L-R) Jim Irwin & Dave Scott driving a prototype moon buggie in that same USGS-made crater field east of Flagstaff. I feel sorry for anyone reading this who thinks this is not cool.
More about this pre-lunar landing prep here: www.lpi.usra.edu/science/krin... (23/26)
More about this pre-lunar landing prep here: www.lpi.usra.edu/science/krin... (23/26)
April 18, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Here are Apollo 15 astronauts (L-R) Jim Irwin & Dave Scott driving a prototype moon buggie in that same USGS-made crater field east of Flagstaff. I feel sorry for anyone reading this who thinks this is not cool.
More about this pre-lunar landing prep here: www.lpi.usra.edu/science/krin... (23/26)
More about this pre-lunar landing prep here: www.lpi.usra.edu/science/krin... (23/26)
Contrast this with what USGS Astro did for NASA during the Apollo program: THEY BLEW IDENTICAL CRATERS INTO A 1000-YEAR-OLD VOLCANO BED IN ARIZONA because the site’s porous volcanic gravel was a good approximation for the texture and consistency of the lunar regolith on the Moon's surface. (22/26)
April 18, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Contrast this with what USGS Astro did for NASA during the Apollo program: THEY BLEW IDENTICAL CRATERS INTO A 1000-YEAR-OLD VOLCANO BED IN ARIZONA because the site’s porous volcanic gravel was a good approximation for the texture and consistency of the lunar regolith on the Moon's surface. (22/26)
Within 24-hours of touchdown last month, IM’s second attempt with its Athena lander skidded into a small, shallow crater (a topographic landing site error!) and kicked up some much regolith (i.e. moon dust and rocks) that it’s solar panels were coated and inactive (Dust analysis matters!) 20/26
April 18, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Within 24-hours of touchdown last month, IM’s second attempt with its Athena lander skidded into a small, shallow crater (a topographic landing site error!) and kicked up some much regolith (i.e. moon dust and rocks) that it’s solar panels were coated and inactive (Dust analysis matters!) 20/26
"Or you might not want to land in a place that has super high thermal inertia," Dr. Edwards continued, "because maybe it's just pure bedrock and might be hard on the wheels." (16/26)
Below: Some of the quantitative thermal inertia mosaics of Martian locales below, products published by USGS Astro.
Below: Some of the quantitative thermal inertia mosaics of Martian locales below, products published by USGS Astro.
April 18, 2025 at 6:01 PM
"Or you might not want to land in a place that has super high thermal inertia," Dr. Edwards continued, "because maybe it's just pure bedrock and might be hard on the wheels." (16/26)
Below: Some of the quantitative thermal inertia mosaics of Martian locales below, products published by USGS Astro.
Below: Some of the quantitative thermal inertia mosaics of Martian locales below, products published by USGS Astro.
These researchers are basically identifying and debunking countless little troublesome optical illusions from the sun’s rays bouncing off landforms on Mars—hundreds of important-but-unexciting cousins to the infamous "Face on Mars" that must be resolved with confidence to plan Mars missions (10/26)
April 18, 2025 at 5:52 PM
These researchers are basically identifying and debunking countless little troublesome optical illusions from the sun’s rays bouncing off landforms on Mars—hundreds of important-but-unexciting cousins to the infamous "Face on Mars" that must be resolved with confidence to plan Mars missions (10/26)
To properly merge big hi-res images of the Martian surface (like these below) into this system, scientists need to model where a planet is in its orbit around the sun as a function of time, model of how fast the planet spins and more to game out the reality under each pic’s light and shadow (9/26)
April 18, 2025 at 5:49 PM
To properly merge big hi-res images of the Martian surface (like these below) into this system, scientists need to model where a planet is in its orbit around the sun as a function of time, model of how fast the planet spins and more to game out the reality under each pic’s light and shadow (9/26)
These topographic maps utilize elevation data, over 600 million measurements gathered between 1999 and 2001 by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter onboard NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2782/ (7/26)
April 18, 2025 at 5:44 PM
These topographic maps utilize elevation data, over 600 million measurements gathered between 1999 and 2001 by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter onboard NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2782/ (7/26)
Editorial needs kept me from going on about this—but the maps, code and other data products that USGS Astro generates with its modest staff are just really mind-bending and cool. This smooth teal region below is “Chryse Planitia” on Mars where NASA landed its Viking 1 probe in 1976. (6/26)
April 18, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Editorial needs kept me from going on about this—but the maps, code and other data products that USGS Astro generates with its modest staff are just really mind-bending and cool. This smooth teal region below is “Chryse Planitia” on Mars where NASA landed its Viking 1 probe in 1976. (6/26)
That image is from USGS Astro’s Global Geologic Map of Europa, Jupiter’s icy watery moon, published last year: pubs.usgs.gov/publication/...
Here's another Astro map that I love: Mars' Aeolis Dorsa (Latin for "Wind Ridge") depicting how paleoclimate (wind and water) shaped this landscape (5/26)
Here's another Astro map that I love: Mars' Aeolis Dorsa (Latin for "Wind Ridge") depicting how paleoclimate (wind and water) shaped this landscape (5/26)
April 18, 2025 at 5:41 PM
That image is from USGS Astro’s Global Geologic Map of Europa, Jupiter’s icy watery moon, published last year: pubs.usgs.gov/publication/...
Here's another Astro map that I love: Mars' Aeolis Dorsa (Latin for "Wind Ridge") depicting how paleoclimate (wind and water) shaped this landscape (5/26)
Here's another Astro map that I love: Mars' Aeolis Dorsa (Latin for "Wind Ridge") depicting how paleoclimate (wind and water) shaped this landscape (5/26)
All of this is to say that the grand project of creating reliable and highly precise maps—not just of Mars and the moon, but of any celestial body that humanity might want to explore—is still in jeopardy of having its institutional wisdom scattered to the four winds. (4/26)
April 18, 2025 at 5:34 PM
All of this is to say that the grand project of creating reliable and highly precise maps—not just of Mars and the moon, but of any celestial body that humanity might want to explore—is still in jeopardy of having its institutional wisdom scattered to the four winds. (4/26)
Correctly reporting something it took the CIA decades to admit? Another big win for the ‘fake news’ reporters at the New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/1975/09/03/a...
www.nytimes.com/1975/09/03/a...
March 19, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Correctly reporting something it took the CIA decades to admit? Another big win for the ‘fake news’ reporters at the New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/1975/09/03/a...
www.nytimes.com/1975/09/03/a...
A lot of unredacted things in the new JFK docs just confirming that historians and journalists had already dug up some impressive accurate scoop or other — like this bit from David Atlee Phillips’ testimony to Senate investigators confessing to the CIA’s role overthrowing Allende in Chile.
March 19, 2025 at 12:56 AM
A lot of unredacted things in the new JFK docs just confirming that historians and journalists had already dug up some impressive accurate scoop or other — like this bit from David Atlee Phillips’ testimony to Senate investigators confessing to the CIA’s role overthrowing Allende in Chile.