The tragedy of Professor Jason Arday is being “weaponized” by the right against black academics in the UK and beyond. I found this opinion perspective in the Guardian helpful.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/13/jason-arday-right-racial-equality-society
The City of Pasadena approved an organization to hire 600 goats to eat vegetation on the steep slopes of the Arroyo Seco and reduce wildfire risk. The pilot project was 100 acres (about 50 hectares). The goats finished their work much faster than expected. See this article in PasadenaNow.
https://pasadenanow.com/main/goats-finish-ahead-of-schedule-in-arroyo-seco
@sundogplanets Linda Geddes at The Guardian has a well-researched article about how Reflect Orbital’s space mirrors can damage the environment https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/apr/05/satellite-mirror-plans-could-disrupt-sleep-and-ecosystems-worldwide-scientists-say
The NASA JPL robotics team found a way to use the commercial CPU (Snapdragon) in the Ingenuity helicopter base station on the side of the Perseverance rover to do advanced image processing on the imagery captured by the rover and determine the rover location on Mars accurately. Since it was not a space-hardened CPU, they had to do extra error checking, but it works well. See the news release for more:
#Mars #NASA #JPL #PerseveranceRover
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-now-autonomously-pinpoints-its-location-on-mars/
@sundogplanets Maybe you saw this study of Amazon Leo satellite brightness.
https://phys.org/news/2026-01-amazon-leo-satellites-exceed-brightness.html
The Vantor company (formerly Maxar) used one of their Worldview satellites to capture a picture of the NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) satellite in orbit. The large radar reflector (12 meters or 38 feet wide) has a mesh surface that appears gold and the solar panels on the main satellite built by ISRO appear red.
New Science Insider news article out in Science Magazine about NISAR (NASA-ISRO SAR) satellite launching soon. Includes a quote from me and other scientists.
#NASA #ISRO #NISAR #NASAJPL
https://www.science.org/content/article/giant-radar-satellite-set-probe-earth-s-shifts-and-shudders
Brief video about the interstellar comet by NASA JPL.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-vzafaw0t08&si=mOyubwfGzRwQjEEq
The Trump Office of Management and Budget has instructed all USA Federal agencies to stop funding all external activities, including science grants to universities and research institutes. There were people reporting NSF review panels on Monday being postponed, which was surprising, but this is everything. Archive link to Washington Post article below. #USA_politics https://archive.ph/qeptT
CNN published a satellite image acquired by the Maxar satellites at 10:45 a.m. PT on January 8, 2025. They used the short-wave infrared channels to see the fires through the smoke and clouds. It is a devastating view of almost every house burning over most of the western half of Altadena, California.
https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news/los-angeles-pacific-palisades-eaton-wildfires-01-08-25#cm5on5ljn00053b6nfv5v500t
Stat news article about the USA Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee: “Nominating an anti-vaxxer like Kennedy to HHS is like putting a Flat Earther at the head of NASA,” Peter G. Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said in a statement. CSPI is a consumer advocacy group that lobbies in part for better food policy. https://www.statnews.com/2024/11/14/trump-to-nominate-rfk-jr-hhs-secretary-health-care-maha/
The Earth-observing NISAR satellite is coming together 🌎
A key piece of the science hardware – its reflector – has arrived at the Indian Space Research Organisation’s assembly and test facility, where it will prepare for launch in 2025.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/nisar/2024/10/23/nisar-satellites-radar-antenna-reflector-arrives-in-india/
Guardian article: US meteorologists face death threats as hurricane conspiracies surge https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/11/meteorologists-death-threats-hurricane-conspiracies-misinformation?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
The Geological Society of America sent this message to members: We are deeply saddened by the recent catastrophic events in western North Carolina. To support understanding of the region’s geology, we have made "Geology and Geologic Hazards of the Blue Ridge: Field Excursions for the 2024 GSA Southeastern Section Meeting, Asheville, North Carolina, USA" openly accessible to all during this time. https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/books/edited-volume/2621/Geology-and-Geologic-Hazards-of-the-Blue-Ridge
Isak Finnbogason captured some amazing video of the long fissures with lava fountains in the first hours of the new eruption in Reykjanes of Iceland late 22 and early 23 August.
The Icelandic TV network RUV has a great live webcam that is on top of a hill north of Grindavik and showing the lava flowing into the town. It is sad to see lava reaching people's homes but all the people were evacuated in time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqudj0x0POA
#eruption #Grindavik #iceland #lava
Shawn Willsey is a professor of geology who has been making some very informative videos on the new volcanic crisis in Iceland. He describes several possible scenarios for the likely future eruption, with a comparison to the 2018 Kilauea eruption in Hawaii that may be somewhat similar. #iceland #volcano #eruption #Grindavik https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Cj1roa856Q&si=r5T6K8GvTtDYcwzJ
Blog post on The Eyewall (@theeyewallwx) today describes how badly the forecasts for Hurrican Otis missed predicting the explosive strengthening yesterday. Tuesday afternoon, the forecast was for Category 1 hurricane, but it strengthened to Category 5 and hit Acapulco directly. #hurricane #otis #acapulco #huracán #mexico
https://theeyewall.com/october-25-2023-outlook-after-a-shocking-burst-of-intensification-hurricane-otis-makes-a-catastrophic-landfall-near-acapulco/
NASA has put a new "beta" website online. Members of the public are encouraged to visit the early, in-progress preview of the beta website and submit feedback at: https://beta.nasa.gov/.
#nasa
Washington Post article about the Kariba dam supplying electricity to Zambia and Zimbabwe at only 1% water capacity so they are cutting power for up to 19 hours every day.
Low water levels have created an energy crisis at the world’s largest dam https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/01/04/kariba-dam-record-low-power-cuts/