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J. Brian Balta

@drjbbalta.bsky.social
745 followers 369 following 721 posts

Planetary Scientist and Petrologist, dog parent.

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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Casey Dreier @caseydreier.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
For the second fiscal year in a row, NASA awarded ~20% fewer grants than the recent historical average. That's about 500 fewer grants going out to scientists around the country.
Line chart showing the running sum of new grant awards in FY 2026 compared to the average between 2021-2025, which is about 20% higher.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This sounds like a planetary protection kind of question to me.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I specifically asked if there were trips or guides from previous years and they seemed confused I would ask. I’m all about fieldwork when possible but…that’s not feasible and I don’t know who was taking that job every year.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There are at least a couple that hire visiting professors in petrology yearly. I did a virtual interview with them once and part of their expectation was me putting together at least a dozen field trips for the fall semester from scratch. Needless to say my response was skeptical.
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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Eos @eos.org · 29/09/2026
NASA has ignored recommended funding levels for planetary research & analysis for 15 years, according to a new investigative report by Mark Sykes (@coop.planetary-research.org). And for FY2025, it hasn’t even spent 50% of what it budgeted for R&A. 🧪🪐🔭 eos.org/research-and...
eos.org
NASA has Underspent on Research and Analysis for 15 Years - Eos
Spending for NASA’s research and analysis programs has remained relatively flat for 15 years, ignoring recommendations from community-led decadal surveys and directives by Congress.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A can of Torgo’s Executive Powder. The executives were beaten up, killed, and ground into a fine pink powder.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Most. 2024 was the last year of major energy conservation alerts in Texas.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The "Paid for by the US Government" ad just ran during the Ohio State-Illinois football game.
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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution @whoi.edu · 24/09/2026
Celebrating oceanographer Marie Tharp’s induction into the 2026 Women's Hall of Fame! 🥳🎉 Born in 1920, at a time when there were few options for women in science, Tharp revolutionized our understanding of the ocean floor. Learn more about this year’s inductees: go.whoi.edu/womens-hall-of-fame
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The real good ones are the ones that say they have a facility and that facility has been lost or shut down but the website doesn’t reflect it.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
static.klipy.com
Star Trek Ds9
Alt: Grand Nagus Zek enters the room with Mahairdu and notes that sometimes the only thing more dangerous than a question is an answer
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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Alyce: Old Media Enthusiast 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🍁 @thatretro.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
RIP Gerrit Graham We lost Franklin Sherman and that sucks.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Assuming that scientist brings about $10 million with them, sure. They certainly aren’t coming up with that money on their own.
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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Chris Rowan @allochthonous.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Pinning this story about how South Florida real estate agents deal with questions about sea level rise for the next time I’m told markets are effective at pricing in risk. Not if everyone ignores the risk instead! heated.world/p/the-open-hou…
Text Shot: Take the ground-floor condo I visited in the Bay Harbor Islands. “This is not a flood zone area,” the realtor said. “You don’t have to worry about it.”

Or the beachfront high-rise in South Beach. I mentioned that being so close to a rising ocean made me nervous. But the realtor said only the street would ever flood. “It won’t get into the building,” she said.

At a gorgeous single-family home in La Gorce, the agent told me flooding was only a problem in other neighborhoods. The grass might get some puddles during storms, but no more. “It doesn’t really get any flooding at all,” he said. “You’re kind of in the safe zone.”

The safe zone, it seemed, was whichever property I happened to be standing in.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
@barbylon.bsky.social @steve-elardo.com
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Then you just spend 25 years job hunting. Ask me how I know.
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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Kees van der Leun @sustainable2050.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Glaciologist @matthias-huss.bsky.social shows that the centre of the Great Aletsch glacier in Switzerland (the biggest in the Alps) lost 6 meters(!) of thickness just this summer. "No words...", he adds on LinkedIn.
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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Rock Plodder @mtmagog.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Pro-tip: watch those lens caps #parkchat What was found among 20k pieces of trash removed from Yellowstone hydrothermal areas share.google/7iUF0JtzdfvW...
share.google
What was found among 20k pieces of trash removed from Yellowstone hydrothermal areas
What staff find while cleaning out hydrothermal areas at Yellowstone National Park can be surprising, and they shared all of it, from common to funny to just plain weird.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
just making sure - you do realize they're still accepting proposals just under the 2025 rules through November, right?
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Because the phasers were unavailable in the wormhole, Scotty installed battery backups. These were the only available shots after the Reliant knocked out auxiliary power.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
George.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Was this before or after the high-resolution satellite photos were out? Because that site is bloody trashed. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Satellite images show extent of damage to major Saudi pipeline, amid global oil supply fears
Saudis yet to provide details about damage from drone attack to key east-west pipeline to Red Sea that could affect 4% of global oil supply
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I believe both of mine in 2019 got $250 and did work the booth (it was labeled like a 2nd place award at the time or something like that). That was more valuable than what we got for working at the meeting, but still left me a lot to pay.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
That actually sounds about right, Comped registration for about $250, almost wiped out by the travel costs from working Saturday.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Was the student registration rate about $250 then?
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
If that was a thing in 2019 it is news to me. They got about $250 student stipends for working, and it cost me about $200 for the extra day. They did get a bonus from PGD for working their table.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
In fact for two students i almost lost money on the subsidy because they had to work on Saturday and that meant paying an extra lodging and food day.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
While there was support from the divisions if they worked, i certainly never got anything close to an almost subsidized student at GSA (last time I could go was pre Covid).
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
GSA has a huge timing advantage for this as it is right in the middle of student recruitment for the winter application cycle. If you meet someone interesting at AGU it may be too late to apply.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
When I was able to go I thought AGU was extremely valuable entirely because of how big it was and you could always find 20 things of interest to do. I have long since been an unfundable casualty though.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Will you be telling readers about the challenge in the edition itself? An opening article saying “one of these entries is AI” that is linked to on every article in the edition boldly so that it’s tough for readers to miss the game?
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Rather the opposite, it means that the profit from refining to diesel is immense, as large as the cost of a single oil barrel itself.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Not quickly.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Like all questions, the answer is Plate Tectonics.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
youtu.be/C79dJoAKidU?...
youtu.be
Al Gore's $100 GALLON OF GAS!
YouTube video by rm0824
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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Chinook salmon have recolonised 88% of their historic range on the Klamath River, with more than 13,000 fish passing the old Iron Gate Dam site in 2025, up from 7,700 the year before. Two years after the dams’ removal, it’s going better than anyone predicted. buff.ly/pToC9gB #ShareGoodNewsToo
nature.com
Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
As much as you might want to be annoyed with the ad or the department, this is also an explicit response to the funding agency priorities.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
They used a similar lineup to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Mike McCready as an extra guitarist and Taylor Momsen on vocals.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Priceless NBC talking head chatter. We need to hear Urban Meyer talk about he upcoming Giants Cowboys game. How would we live without that.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
They did not. Not one bit, it was visible in the background behind precious NBC talking head chatter.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Could we, you know, watch this?
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Thanks
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We legitimately drove past him by the Butte mine at field camp.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We fed them to some genetically engineered bacteria.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
When you synthesize monazite with specific cations in a lab, you can make quite the rainbow. Here are La, Nd, Gd, and Yb monazites (technically xenotime for Yb, almost the same structure but different enough that it has its own name). Nd was always my favorite. #mincup26 #mincup #monazite
A sequence of synthetic monazites, each crystal made in a lab from flux growth methods. In order, La, Nd, Gd, and Yb monazites (last is technically xenotime). Two crystals of Nd monazite, tip of tweezers for scale.Multiple crystals of La-monazite, tweezers for scale.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
How?!
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
It is the most common host for rare earth elements in most rocks but it is also extremely stable, so it is rarely used as a resource because you cant break the stuff apart. One article labeled it “the unleachable mineral”.
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J. Brian Balta @drjbbalta.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
That looks like one of the Gale Trachytes.
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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Climatologist49 @climatologist49.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
🔥 August 2026 not only beat the record for the warmest August on record, but it beat July 2023 for the warmest overall month on record for Planet Earth since 1940 - and likely the warmest during the entire Holocene. 😢
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Reposted by J. Brian Balta
Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 01/09/2026
Had to accelerate this story, which means I got to dwell on far less termination shock science than I would have liked.
science.org
NASA’s New Horizons mission may shut down two instruments over lack of funding
Decision risks “incalculable loss” of data from the edge of the Sun’s influence, scientists say
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