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Ferah M.

@ferahm.bsky.social
422 followers 1.2K following 20 posts

she/hers; all things galaxy formation, dark matter & pug related.

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Reposted by Ferah M.
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
*Women receive substantially lower "potential" ratings despite receiving higher performance ratings *Differences in potential ratings account for half of the gender promotion gap *Women’s lower potential ratings do not reflect future performance: women subsequently outperform male colleagues
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Euclid Consortium @ec-euclid.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
We are releasing seven new science publications today, based on our Q1 data release earlier this year. All revolve around galaxies, from dust to interactions to active centers.These are accompanied by two new image collages drawn from the same release. 1/ 🔭 #astronomy #space #ESA
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
What we know, final edition of the night: [Now in 3 parts] —Prop 50 wins —VA Dems flip Gov, LG, AG —Dems gain leg seats in VA, NJ, & MS —Dems defend NJ-Gov —Dems win NJ+VA trifectas —Mamdani wins —PA Dems win state supreme court —ME anti-mail voting measure loses —GA Dems flip 2 statewide offices
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Dan Starr @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Warning. ⚠️ If you are writing an NSF GRFP, new this year, you need official transcripts to apply. Beware. They will not review applications without official transcripts. ‼️
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Erin Ryan @erinleeryan.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Much of Virginia: anxiously watching not the Gov or Lt Gov race because we all know the fracking AG is what we need to worry about at this point.
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Ferah M. @ferahm.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
So pretty!!🤩
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 03/10/2025
As a theoretical cosmologist, I'm frequently asked "what is the benefit of the work you're doing for people's lives?" Nothing I work on makes money or cures disease. There are a few different answers one can give, at various levels of "convincing" / "actually relevant to why the work is done." 1/🧵
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Abbie 🌟 @abbiestev.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
If any of you fine folks are planetarians in (or want to be in) mid-Michigan, the Abrams Planetarium is hiring a full-time-staff position for the first time in 11 years!! Come work with the astro, scicomm, and informal ed folks at MSU!! 🔭 🧪 (reskeets welcome) careers.msu.edu/jobs/educati...
careers.msu.edu
Educational Program Coordinator II - East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Position Summary The program coordinator will maintain the planetarium, present live shows, and create new planetarium visualizations. In addition, this position will assist customers, assist in educa...
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Karen Masters @karenlmasters.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
I'm hiring at Haverford - a 2 year NASA funded postdoc to work on Galaxy Zoo with Roman Space Telescope Data: www.haverford.edu/human-resour... 👩‍🔬🔭
haverford.edu
Postdoctoral Researcher in Extragalactic Astrophysics
Haverford College invites applications for our full-time (37.5 hours per week), fixed-term (2 year appointment), exempt, benefits-eligible Postdoctoral Research in Extragalactic Astrophysics opportuni...
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Andrew Pontzen @apontzen.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Today, our EDGE simulations are in Nature with the brilliant @astroeth.bsky.social paper on the formation of globular clusters, the clumps of ancient stars that have puzzled astronomers for centuries. Turns out to happen all by itself when you crank up the resolution. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A dwarf galaxy from the EDGE simulations which has formed a bright clump - a star cluster - within it
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Jonathan Fortney @jjfplanet.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Great article from the Simons Foundation about the open source MESA stellar evolution code, which has a had a huge impact on astrophysics over the past 15 years. I had not heard that the code's architect, software guru Bill Paxton, had passed away in July. www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/08/12/a...
simonsfoundation.org
A Stellar Revolution: How Open-Source Tool MESA Changed the Way We Study Stars
A Stellar Revolution: How Open-Source Tool MESA Changed the Way We Study Stars on Simons Foundation
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Ferah M. @ferahm.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
But also looks at its impact on the CGM! Click the link & learn more!
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Ferah M. @ferahm.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
The paper not only explores RT’s impact on structural parameters, dark matter, and star formation (see the plot in this tweet)
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Ferah M. @ferahm.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Oh look! Another Nbody Shop paper has hit the arxiv! 🔭🧪 arxiv.org/pdf/2508.19396 — this paper re-explores the simulated dwarf galaxy sample “the Seven Dwarfs” but this time includes on-the-fly radiative transfer (RT)
arxiv.org
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Siva @sivav.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
This is how a real leader acts. A real leader does not quit and run. www.chronicle.com/article/gmu-...
chronicle.com
GMU President Refuses to Apologize for Diversity Efforts, Lawyer Calls Ed. Dept. Claims ‘Absurd’
In a 10-page letter, Gregory Washington’s lawyer says the Trump administration conducted an incomplete and haphazard investigation full of “gross mischaracterizations.”
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Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
The Destruction of NASA Would Be a Blow to Our Collective Imagination www.wired.com/story/the-de...
wired.com
The Destruction of NASA Would Be a Blow to Our Collective Imagination
As NASA grapples with major proposed budget cuts and losing some of its most brilliant minds, America’s willingness to look outward is also at risk.
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rahaeli @rahaeli.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Trust me, y'all need to watch this video
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Meg Schwamb @megschwamb.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Call for Astronomy, astrophysics and space science Editors at the Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS) blog.joss.theoj.org/2025/08/call...
blog.joss.theoj.org
Call for editors | Journal of Open Source Software Blog
Blog for the Journal of Open Source Software • <a href='https://joss.theoj.org'>https://joss.theoj.org</a>
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The Open Journal of Astrophysics @ojastro.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
New Publication at the Open Journal of Astrophysics: "Spectroscopic Analysis of Pictor II: a very low metallicity ultra-faint dwarf galaxy bound to the Large Magellanic Cloud" by Andrew Pace (U. Virginia, USA) and 32 others based in the USA, UK, Canada, Chile and Spain doi.org/10.33232/001...
doi.org
Spectroscopic Analysis of Pictor II: a very low metallicity ultra-faint dwarf galaxy bound to the Large Magellanic Cloud | Published in The Open Journal of Astrophysics
By Andrew B Pace, T. S. Li & 31 more. Magellan/IMACS and Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy of the ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxy Pictor II, which is located only 12 kpc from the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 31/07/2025
Via a friend who has been in touch with this family for a year: www.gofundme.com/f/help-ameer...
gofundme.com
Donate to Help me Evacuate my Kids from Gaza war, organized by Duha Latif
"Nothing is more precious to a person than their homeland, but when your country bec… Duha Latif needs your support for Help me Evacuate my Kids from Gaza war
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Michael Tremmel @michaeltremmel.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
New Romulus paper just dropped, led by Anna Wright!
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Ferah M. @ferahm.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Learn more about this fantastic work led by Anna Wright in the paper! @michaeltremmel.bsky.social
Images and surface brightness profiles of simulated LSB galaxies.
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Ferah M. @ferahm.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Turns out these LSBs form through mergers in which the secondary galaxy is co-rotating and aligned with the primary’s gas disk!
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Ferah M. @ferahm.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
In this paper we use the Romulus25 sims to study classical low surface brightness galaxies (LSBs) - including properties like SFR, HI content as well as their formation mechanism.
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Ferah M. @ferahm.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
New paper from the always fabulous Nbody Shop: arxiv.org/abs/2507.21231 🧪🔭
arxiv.org
The Merger-Driven Formation of Classical Low Surface Brightness Galaxies in Romulus25
We use the Romulus25 cosmological simulation volume to study a large sample of late-type gas-rich galaxies with low central surface brightnesses known as classical low surface brightness (LSB) galaxie...
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 28/07/2025
While I have everyone's attention, the genocide happening in Palestine -- in Gaza AND the West Bank -- is a crime against humanity. Please raise your voice in defense of Palestinian lives. They are depending on us to remind those with power that they have a right to live.
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Dr. Sharan Banagiri (he/him) @geodesicvoyager.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
This is utterly, utterly horrible. We have barely a few years to contain this in any meaningful way. Weather patterns are changing and eco systems are already straining. Everyone who voted for Trump or sat out, this is on you. I don’t care what your reason is. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/c...
nytimes.com
E.P.A. Is Said to Draft a Plan to End Its Ability to Fight Climate Change
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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
I think this is the most horrifying post I have ever read.
85% of Gaza’s population have entered the "fifth stage" of malnutrition — the most critical and dangerous phase, which is often irreversible even if food becomes available in the future.
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GMU-AAUP @aaupmason.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Virginia residents!! Tell Virginia Senate Democrats to say NO to six more extremists Gov Youngkin has nominated to GMU's Board of Visitors. Send your letter using this link: actionnetwork.org/letters/no-m...
actionnetwork.org
No more political operatives on George Mason University's Board of Visitors!
Dear Senator, Thank you for your continued leadership in protecting Virginia’s public universities from political interference. Your actions have been critical in safeguarding the integrity and indep...
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Dr. Emily Moravec 📡 @dreamoravec.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Letters to a Pre-Scientist is recruiting STEM pen pal volunteers for the upcoming school year! STEM professionals send and receive 4 rounds of letters throughout a school year with a curious middle school student. prescientist.org/volunteers/
prescientist.us7.list-manage.com
For STEM Professionals - Letters to a Pre-Scientist
Pen Pal Program Overview We encourage STEM Professionals of all kinds to get involved with Letters to a Pre-Scientist! STEM professionals send and receive letters throughout a school year from ...
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Lee Phillips @badphysicist.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Emmy Noether created the future of physics while forbidden to teach. #Science: “Phillips’ writing shines…everyone will learn something new from this book.” #Physics #Education: “Fascinating” Learn her story: amzn.to/3YZZB4W
amzn.to
Einstein's Tutor: The Story of Emmy Noether and the Invention of Modern Physics
Einstein's Tutor: The Story of Emmy Noether and the Invention of Modern Physics [Phillips, Lee] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Einstein's Tutor: The Story of Emmy Noether and the Invention of Modern Physics
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 08/07/2025
Read this. And then call your Senator and tell them to save NASA science. www.planetary.org/articles/sci...
planetary.org
Scientists behind threatened NASA missions explain what’s at stake
Here is what they have to say, in their own words.
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Casey Dreier @caseydreier.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Today, *every* living prior leader of NASA's science directorate have released a joint letter condemning the proposed cuts to NASA science. These individuals every administration from Reagan to Biden, and all believe these cuts are insanely destructive: www.planetary.org/press-releas...
planetary.org
Every living NASA science chief unites in opposition to unprecedented…
The entire past leadership of NASA’s science activities have released a joint statement condemning the proposed 47% cuts proposed to the agency’s science…
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Anyway, it strikes me that the best thing to do now that ICE has that big budget is to make it impossible for them to spend it, starting with manpower: anyone who not only works with ICE but works somewhere that has contracted with them *once* needs to be made a pariah
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Yvette Cendes @whereisyvette.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Indiana University to discontinue more than 100 academic programs, including their PhD in astrophysics, due to low enrollment. So sad- it’s a great PhD program I know great astronomers have started from 😢 🔭🧪🎢 www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
forbes.com
Indiana University To Discontinue More Than 100 Academic Programs
Indiana University-Bloomington is ending 116 academic programs in a restructuring that comes after Indiana passed a law requiring a review of low-enrollment programs.
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NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 23/06/2025
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.
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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 11/06/2025
NEW: After firing expert scientists on the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, RFK Jr. has named their replacements. The new committee contains many figures known for spreading disinformation about vaccines and COVID including Robert Malone and Martin Kulldorff. This is bad.
The list includes several well-known critics of vaccines.

The eight new members, a significant decline from the 17 that previously served on the panel, include: 

Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, a psychiatrist and nutritional scientist who previously worked on nutritional neuroscience at the NIH;
Dr. Martin Kulldorf, an epidemiologist formerly at Harvard Medical School, who has served on an FDA safety committee as well as the vaccine subgroup of ACIP;
Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the MIT Sloan School of Management;
Dr. Robert Malone, a physician who conducted early research on mRNA vaccine technology;
Dr. Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, who has previously held advisory roles at CDC and FDA, including as an ACIP member;
Dr. James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician; 
Vicky Pebsworth, a nurse with a PhD in public health, who has previously served on FDA vaccine advisory committees;
Dr. Michael Ross, an obstetrician and gynecologicist, who has served on a CDC advisory committee for the prevention of breast and cervical cancer.
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Grace Telford @ogtelford.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Delighted that the first paper from our Cy2 JWST program was published today, reporting the discovery of molecular hydrogen in the 3% Solar metallicity galaxy Leo P. This was a very fun project with @karinsandstrom.bsky.social strom.bsky.social and fabulous co-authors! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Molecular hydrogen in the extremely metal- and dust-poor galaxy Leo P - Nature
Observations from the JWST MIRI-MRS instrument reveal the detection of rotational emission from molecular hydrogen near the only O-type star in the 3% solar metallicity galaxy Leo P, providing confirm...
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NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 02/06/2025
A quarter for your thoughts? 🪙 We think Vera C. Rubin is a great choice to be honored with a quarter... and with an observatory! Rubin was an accomplished astronomer who provided the first convincing evidence of dark matter, influencing a new subfield of astrophysics. 🧪🔭
A black and white photo of astronomer Vera Rubin standing at the eyepiece of a large telescope. The background is a teal-hued landscape in the dry Chilean mountains. In the bottom third, text reads "U.S. Mint American Women Quarters Program. Dr. Vera Rubin is now on a U.S. quarter!" To the right of the text is an image of the Vera Rubin quarter.
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Ars Technica @arstechnica.com · 31/05/2025
arstechnica.com
Trump pulls Isaacman nomination for space. Source: “NASA is f****ed”
“NASA’s budget request is just a going-out-of-business mode” without Isaacman.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 30/05/2025
We're going to learn some tough stuff today about the White House's proposed budget for fiscal year 2026—including what they have in mind for NASA. I'll share what I hear, but remember: CONGRESS decides how much money NASA gets, not the White House. So whatever happens today, the fight continues.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 29/05/2025
Everyone involved in trying to pass off that ChatGPT-extruded disinformation manifesto as a scientific report should be, at the very least, barred from public office for life. The MAHA report is dangerous criminal misconduct and an offence to the process of science.
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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 27/05/2025
Totalling around 120 hours of observing time, this is the longest the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has ever focused on a single target. The deep field aims to probe the Cosmic Dawn, when the Universe was only a few million years old. Read more 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... 🔭 🧪 ☄️
A field of galaxies in space, dominated by an enormous, bright-white elliptical galaxy that is the core of a massive galaxy cluster. Many other elliptical galaxies can be seen around it. Also around it are short, curved, glowing red lines, which are images of distant background galaxies magnified and warped by gravitational lensing. A couple of foreground stars appear large and bright with long spikes around them.
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Peter Coles 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇮🇪 @telescoper.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
In response to the ever-increasing number of submissions to the Open Journal of Astrophysics, I'd like to invite more astrophysicistsonto our Editorial Board. We're looking for volunteers with expertise in any area of astrophysics! Please contact me or @ojastro.bsky.social astro.theoj.org
astro.theoj.org
The Open Journal of Astrophysics
The Open Journal of Astrophysics is an arXiv overlay journal providing open access to peer-reviewed research in astrophysics and cosmology.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 22/05/2025
NSF Physics was cut by 85%, basically wiping out most of its capacity for supporting research. NSF Astronomy was cut by 53% Undergrad education was cut by 71% and research on learning by 79% Graduate education was cut by 100% to ZERO. #GiftLink ⚛️🔭 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades (Gift Article)
The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.
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Kye @gxldsociety.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
BREAKING: ICE deported a Burmese man who doesn’t speak English to South Sudan—a country he’s not from and on the brink of civil war. He refused to sign English-only papers. They deported him anyway—with 11 others. No hearings. No translators. Court order ignored. This is state-sponsored kidnapping.
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Hakim Atek @dyonysos.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
JWST has extended the cosmic frontier to z=14.44, a new record for the most distant galaxy. The paper led by @rpnaidu.bsky.social is on the arXiv arxiv.org/abs/2505.11263
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Isis Naucratis @isisnaucratis.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
WOW: Absolute RESPECT to Cecilia Culver for delivering a courageous, and kickass, commencement speech that calls out her university's complicity with genocide www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE6w...
youtube.com
STANDING OVATION!!! | Cecilia Culver, The George Washington University 2025 Commencement Speech
YouTube video by EverydayPal
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Ciara | Ciaraíoch 🎨 @ciaraioch.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Maybe boycott the singing competition platforming propaganda by a state committing an ongoing genocide, perhaps. A little proposal for the bare minimum. Something to consider.
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Brian Weeden @brianweeden.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
One of the few paid opportunities to do research related to space sustainability swfound.org/news/all-new...
swfound.org
Announcing Secure World Foundation 2025 Space Sustainability Research Fellowships | Secure World
Friday, May 16, 2025 Application Deadline: June 9, 2025 Posted: Friday, May 16, 2025 Jump To: Compensation | Deliverables | Application | Research Areas To investigate fundamental questions and…
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