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Hannah Richter

@hannah-richter.bsky.social

649 followers 139 following 72 posts

Science journalist covering Earth, space, and science policy🌎🪐🏛️ Contributing Correspondent for @science.org✒️📒 M.S. MIT Science Writing '24✏️ Read me: www.hannah-richter.com | Contact me: hannahroserichter@gmail.com | Signal: hannahrichter.01

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Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

120m beneath the salty blue waters of the Mediterranean lies a land bridge that once connected Sicily and Malta. Did ancient humans (or giant cave hyenas) cross it? 🌍👣 Learn more in my first story as an official Contributing Correspondent for @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...

Submerged land bridge may have helped people cross the Mediterranean

A campaign to map and sample the bridge could help reconstruct ancient animal migrations

Reposted by Hannah Richter

MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing @mitsciwrite.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Congratulations to @hannah-richter.bsky.social, '24, for landing a first place NASW Science in Society Journalism Award in the Science News category. You can her award-winning entry from @science.org here: www.science.org/content/arti...

In red states, many academic researchers feel fear–and resolve

State-level mandates prompt changes and small acts of resistance at universities

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

You've probably heard about the (extremely cool) particle detection that might just be dark matter. 🌌❗Read more about the particle's identity—and how to spot more of them—today in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social : skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #darkmatter #space #nasa #lz

skyandtelescope.org

Scientists Found a Potential Dark Matter Particle — What Happens Now?

The recent detection from the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment could point to “heavy” dark matter.

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Had the famously silly Ig Nobel ceremony not moved outside of the U.S., “I would have thought twice” before attending this year, said one new winner. “The perception I have is that there is not so much of a welcoming culture anymore.” 🔬🏅 Read more in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...

Ig Nobel hosts science’s silliest ceremony outside U.S. for first time

The indefinite move to Europe was a response to travel and safety concerns for winners

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Reports about the Tibet-Nepal flood have been devastating—and confusing. Here's the whirlwind story of how scientists around the world pieced together the cascade of events. @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #flood #hazard #naturaldisaster #landslide

How scientists unraveled the cause of the devastating flood in Tibet and Nepal

Global cooperation revealed a landslide, not a glacial collapse, likely initiated the cascade of events

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

3% of a giant Western Australian forest died in a record drought in 2023-24. Now, scientists have used the damage to develop a surprising new tool for predicting future die-offs: gamma rays.🌲⚡ Read more in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #tree #forest #drought #climate #climatechange

To predict tree death, scientists tapped gamma rays to peer underground

Airborne radiation sensors could help forecast and prevent drought-driven tree mortality

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

16,000 satellites currently whiz above our heads; 1.7 million more are proposed. A new preprint looks into a dystopian, runaway space junk threshold called Kessler syndrome—and finds that many popular megaconstellation proposals breach it. 🛰️🚨 For @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...

Planned satellite megaconstellations could generate runaway space debris

Modeling suggests infamous “Kessler syndrome” would make the swarms unsustainable

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Behold, my first-ever TikTok appearance! (About the not-so-icy "ice giant" planets for @science.org)🧊🪐 www.tiktok.com/@sciencemaga...

Astronomy lovers around the world mourned when beloved underdog Pluto got downgraded out of our Solar System model to a “dwarf planet.” There may be more pearl clutching yet to come: Uranus and Neptun...

TikTok video by Science Magazine

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Air travel is getting bumpier 🛩️. Modeling shows a controversial climate intervention could help 🚫☀️. Last week for @eos.org: eos.org/articles/str...

Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Might Make Flights Smoother - Eos

A new study suggests an intervention aimed at cooling the planet could have the additional benefit of reducing aircraft turbulence.

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

If Pluto's downgrade got you upset, brace yourself: Uranus and Neptune might not be real "ice giants." 🧊🚫🪐 Research increasingly shows our outermost planets are far rockier than thought—and maybe even full of magma oceans.🔥 Read more @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #space #nasa

Uranus and Neptune may not be ‘ice giants’ after all

A growing number of theories propose Uranus and Neptune are rocky worlds

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

20 billion galaxies. 10 million supernovae. 90k near-Earth objects. 50 interstellar objects. And finally, 0 more days to Rubin's long-awaited cosmic survey. 🌌💫 Read about this milestone for astronomy in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #space #rubin

skyandtelescope.org

Vera C. Rubin Observatory Begins Its Long-Awaited All-Sky Survey

The 8.4-meter telescope should spot billions of astronomical objects over the next 10 years as it maps the night sky over and over again.

Reposted by Hannah Richter

David Grimm @david-grimm.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Just where—or rather, when—did it originate? Nice story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social for @science.org

Interstellar comet is unlike anything seen in our Solar System

Chemical signature of 3I/ATLAS suggests it formed early in the history of the Milky Way

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Father's Day must be on astronomers' minds—new JWST data makes famed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS a galactic "granddad," one scientist says. 🪨👴 Read more about this 12-billion-year-old interstellar interloper today in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #nasa #jwst #space

Interstellar comet is unlike anything seen in our Solar System

Chemical signature of 3I/ATLAS suggests it formed early in the history of the Milky Way

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

The wait is over—El Niño has officially begun. 🚨🌎 Read about why it's been so hard to be confident—and the potential fallout of this "unusually strong" forecast—in @science.org www.science.org/content/arti... #elnino #climate #noaa

El Niño has begun. It may become the strongest this century

After clearing a spring forecasting hurdle, scientists see growing odds of a powerful climate event that could disrupt weather worldwide

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

The OMB's sweeping proposed changes to U.S. grant funding have racked up over 6,000 comments this week. 📃🛰️ In @skyandtelescope.bsky.social, astronomers weigh in on just how destructive these ideas would be for space science: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #trump #omb #nasa

skyandtelescope.org

Proposed U.S. Grant Funding Rules Spark Worry, Backlash in Astronomy

The Office of Management and Budget envisions diminishing peer review and international collaborations.

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

“I grew up thinking that [sustained lunar presence] was going to be something that happened 20 years ago,” said one lunar scientist. “I’m just really happy that they are moving forward with it.”🚀🌑 Read more in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social about NASA's ambitious Moon Base plans: tinyurl.com/3hhdbtjk

NASA Brings Its Lunar Ambitions into Focus with Moon Base Missions

Rovers, drones, and landers will usher in a sustained lunar presence, under the new plan NASA announced this week.

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Poop stories are like catnip to science journalists. 💩 (But I think this one about weird climate proxies, today for @sciam.bsky.social, is definitely worth it). www.scientificamerican.com/article/poop...

scientificamerican.com

Poop, stomach oil and ostrich eggshells keep records of Earth’s ancient climate

Peering into Earth’s climate past is getting ever more bizarre

Reposted by Hannah Richter

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Peering into Earth’s climate past is getting ever more bizarre

scientificamerican.com

Poop, stomach oil and ostrich eggshells keep records of Earth’s ancient climate

Peering into Earth’s climate past is getting ever more bizarre

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Ganymede is the only known moon to power a magnetic field. Now, it may also be the only known body to still be forming its core. 🌑 Read more in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #space #solarsystem #nasa

Core of Solar System’s largest moon may still be forming

Ganymede discovery could force rethink of how worlds power their magnetic fields

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

What swims, hops, and explores all over? 🛟 🌊 The small, neon submersibles of Orpheus Ocean, facing their biggest test yet: a NOAA collab to explore 8,000 square nautical miles of seafloor and its potential mineral stores. Read more in my first story for @technologyreview.com: tinyurl.com/2s3fcmah

technologyreview.com

Inexpensive seafloor-hopping submersibles could stoke deep-sea science—and mining

A company called Orpheus Ocean wants to go “deep for cheap.”

Reposted by Hannah Richter

MIT Technology Review @technologyreview.com · 01/05/2026

If all goes well, the test could help establish the vehicles as a tool for government agencies, scientists, and companies that hope to probe the vastly understudied deep sea and the resources it holds.

technologyreview.com

Inexpensive seafloor-hopping submersibles could stoke deep-sea science—and mining

A company called Orpheus Ocean wants to go “deep for cheap.”

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Like "using a teaspoon to hold the ocean back."💧 Two field tests to thicken Arctic sea ice with pumped ocean water show that ice grows, then melts all the same. Today for @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...

Artificially engineered sea ice grows—but can’t withstand the thaw

First Arctic trials show pumped seawater can bulk up ice, but results aren’t lasting—and may not scale

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Coastal fog delivers water to half of the United States' lettuce and wine grapes and a quarter of its strawberries 🥬🍇🍓. A multimillion-dollar campaign will finally deMISTify it. This week for @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...

Fog is a vital water resource. Could it disappear in a warming world?

California program promises serious attention to an “underdog” area of research

Reposted by Hannah Richter

Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Neat story from @hannah-richter.bsky.social on researchers' latest efforts to pierce the fog around fog.

Fog is a vital water resource. Could it disappear in a warming world?

California program promises serious attention to an “underdog” area of research

Reposted by Hannah Richter

Sar Crespi @boron110.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

On this week's @science.org podcast: NASA’s plans to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars by 2028. Having not launched a fission reactor to space in more than 60 years...complications ensue w/ @hannah-richter.bsky.social www.science.org/content/podc...

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

“I’m not saying they can’t do it. It’s just unheard of."🚀☢️ Dove deep into NASA's mission to bring a 60-year nuclear dream to reality in 32 months for @science.org. Check it out for hints at where its fission reactor might be built—and who provided input on the mission, anyway: tinyurl.com/3627nvmp

History and mystery surround NASA’s 2028 nuclear Mars mission

Fission-powered space flight, a 60-year dream, would supercharge outer Solar System exploration

Reposted by Hannah Richter

Michael Greshko @michaelgreshko.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

BIG story out now from @science.org on SR-1 Freedom, a highly ambitious nuclear Mars mission that NASA wants to launch in 2028. @hannah-richter.bsky.social has scoops on how the mission came together—and where its reactor is probably being built. www.science.org/content/arti...

History and mystery surround NASA’s 2028 nuclear Mars mission

Fission-powered space flight, a 60-year dream, would supercharge outer Solar System exploration

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Bubbly magma spurs volcanic eruptions...or does it? 🫧🌋 New research proposes that our longstanding theory is backwards: it's bubbles disappearing that does the trick. “That is a paradigm shift...in triggering volcanic eruptions," said one researcher. Today in @science.org: tinyurl.com/mr39x5kn

Long-standing volcanic eruption theory might be backward

Eruptions could be triggered when bubbles vanish into magma—not when they burst out

Reposted by Hannah Richter

David Grimm @david-grimm.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

“I expect at some point” that the ceremony will make its way back across the pond, says Ig Nobel founder Marc Abrahams. But “the way things are right now, I doubt that the ceremony will be back in the U.S. in any of the next few years.” Nice coverage by @hannah-richter.bsky.social for @science.org

After 35 years, Ig Nobel ceremony to leave the U.S.

Finances and Trump policies underlaid the decision to move the satirical science event to Switzerland

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

“We were aware that we might have a similar situation this year,” the Ig Nobel founder said after Trump's border policies prompted 4/10 winning teams to decline traveling in 2025. "Then the situation got far worse.” Read about the Igs' decision to move abroad @science.org: tinyurl.com/3kfrdh7y

After 35 years, Ig Nobel ceremony to leave the U.S.

Finances and Trump policies underlaid the decision to move the satirical science event to Switzerland

Reposted by Hannah Richter

David Grimm @david-grimm.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

For half a century, researchers suspected treetops on Earth might glow because of thunderstorms. But the phenomenon, an electric outburst called a corona, has only ever been spotted in the lab--until now. Cool story from @hannah-richter.bsky.social for @science.org

In a first, researchers film treetops glowing during thunderstorms

Glimmer sparked by electrical fields detected in nature for the first time

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Lightning is so 2025 - it's time for glowing trees, instead ⚡🌲. Today for @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #lightning #trees #storm #science #nature #physics

In a first, researchers film treetops glowing during thunderstorms

Glimmer sparked by electrical fields detected in nature for the first time

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Freezing rain is the next big winter hazard—and if the recent January storm is any indication, it's coming for the U.S. South ❄️⚠️🧊. Read more today (and in this week's print edition) @science.org www.science.org/content/arti... #freezingrain #climatechange #weather #climate #nws #noaa

As the world warms, freezing rain shifts to the U.S. South

Recent winter storm traced the path of an emerging ice corridor

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Wake up, babe, the new quietest spot on Earth just dropped 🤫🧊🌐 It's 2.5 km under the South Pole—and geologists have installed seismometers there that operate more quietly than the background rumblings of Earth itself. Read more about this cool project in @science.org : tinyurl.com/5n76jfht #science

Earthquake sensors buried in the quietest spot on Earth

Deep beneath the South Pole, two seismometers will monitor the planet’s interior and the movement of Antarctic ice

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

After a year of chaos and turmoil, Congress gave NASA "nearly everything we were asking for." 🪐💵 Read about the appropriations bill on the way to President Trump's desk that has sparked, at least for now, hope. @skyandtelescope.bsky.social skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... #nasa #space #trump

skyandtelescope.org

NASA’s Budget Woes Are Over, For Now

Congress has rejected Trump’s draconian cuts, passing a bill that funds the space agency similarly to 2025.

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

On December 4th, NASA's MAVEN spacecraft sent its last bit of data. Two days later, it was somersaulting around Mars. Since then, silence. 🛰️ Read about the space agency's final attempt to reconnect with the decade-old craft in @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #nasa #maven #space

NASA is making last-ditch attempt to contact tumbling Mars orbiter

After 12 years studying the Red Planet’s atmosphere, MAVEN has gone perilously quiet

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

“Is Europa truly dead?” a planetary scientist asked himself after some disheartening results for the moon. “Or should we broaden our perspective on other mechanisms that can sustain life?” (Spoiler: he chose the latter)🌱🦠 Read my last #AGU2025 story (for now!) at @science.org: tinyurl.com/4dd67hhw

Life in Europa’s ocean could feed on rocks’ radioactive decay

After series of bleak findings, theory sparks hope for alternative energy source within Jupiter’s intriguing moon

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

“An abdication of U.S. leadership”—that's how the scientific and policy communities see the White House's push to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research. 🌪️🪓 Read my 3rd story from AGU for @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti... #nasa #trump #science #ncar #climate #weather

Trump administration moves to break up leading U.S. climate and weather center

White House budget director calls the National Center for Atmospheric Research a source of “climate alarmism”

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has been a member of the deep-sea club for almost 2 decades. New research might revoke its water world card. 🪐 🌊 My 2nd #AGU2025 story of the week for @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti... #space #titan #nasa

Titan might not have an ocean after all

A reanalysis of data from NASA’s Cassini mission suggests Saturn’s icy moon may lack the subsurface ocean presumed for a decade

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Do you wanna build an ice dome? 🧊🔨 Taking a trip from New Orleans to Mars for my first @science.org story from #AGU2025: www.science.org/content/arti... #mars #space #humanspaceflight

Martian cities could be built from ice

Astronauts could theoretically harness frozen water on the Red Planet to construct habitats and research stations, new analysis suggests

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

From California to Florida, projects to manually refill aquifers by pumping in highly treated wastewater are underway.💧 But they have a shaky downside: the potential to cause earthquakes.🪨 🚩 Read about how—and what researchers are doing to prevent the danger— in @science.org: tinyurl.com/ytcrj2ca

Replenishing sapped groundwater could trigger small earthquakes

A boom in aquifer injection projects could unlock long-quiet faults

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Trump has brought a national chill to U.S. science. But what about state actions? 🚩🏛️ For @science.org, I spoke with researchers across disciplines, career stages, and geography to find out how being a red state researcher can stoke fear, and acts of resistance 🔬🏳️‍🌈: tinyurl.com/4yf8pf62

In red states, many academic researchers feel fear–and resolve

State-level mandates prompt changes and small acts of resistance at universities

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

A hyperlocal story for @eos.org about a vulnerable population in the path of climate change🌡️

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Glaciologists are "kind of like one of those crime shows…‘Who Killed the Ice Shelf?’" A record-breaking glacial casualty gets unraveled today in @science.org: www.science.org/content/arti...

Antarctic glacier shows fastest retreat in modern history

Tides and glacial earthquakes caused record ice loss at Hektoria Glacier

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

What's worse than getting your grant cut by the Trump administration? Getting it cut by accident. ❌🪲 Thank you to this Louisiana Tech ecologist for letting me share her story in @sierramagazine.bsky.social: www.sierraclub.org/sierra/ecolo... #trump #ecology #nsf

This Ecologist Lost Her Grant for Studying Diversity—of Insects

The federal trawling of grants for misaligned priorities has brought in bycatch

Reposted by Hannah Richter

Eos @eos.org · 21/10/2025

Where are critical minerals hiding? Plate tectonics might hold clues.🧪⚒️ New research from Chris Kirkland @curtinuniversity.bsky.social + colleagues; input from Zachary Murguía Burton @ Montana State. Story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social. eos.org/articles/to-...

To Find Critical Minerals, Look to Plate Tectonics - Eos

A study of “weird” Australian rocks suggests stores of niobium rose to the surface during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia.

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

90% of the world's niobium comes from a single operation in Brazil 🪨 ⛏️ . More might be hiding in the scars left by an ancient supercontinent breakup. Read my first story for @eos.org: eos.org/articles/to-... #criticalminerals #mining

To Find Critical Minerals, Look to Plate Tectonics - Eos

A study of “weird” Australian rocks suggests stores of niobium rose to the surface during the breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia.

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

For essentially every supermassive black hole that astronomers have studied, they've spotted powerful winds blowing out from the event horizon to shape the surrounding galaxy. Except for the one in the Milky Way. 🌟 ⚫ 🌬️ The case may now be closed. @science.org tinyurl.com/5y99b7az #space #astronomy

Missing wind from Milky Way’s giant black hole finally found

Astronomers may have glimpsed a long-predicted wind of gas blowing out from Sagittarius A*

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

The world's premier space agency isn't exempt from the U.S. government shutdown. "You can't just sit in your lab and think that this doesn't impact you, because it's very clear now that it does,” says one planetary scientist. 🏛️ ❌ Read more in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/26e5h4d2 #nasa

NASA Faces Government Shutdown, Funding Fears Rise

While civil servants are furloughed or working without pay, funding for NASA remains uncertain.

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Cooling 1 data center's electronics and venting the heat 💻 = 40,000 U.S. households' energy 🏠. New research suggests a way to waste less power with the help of solar—even as the U.S. moves away from renewables.☀️🔌 #solar #ai @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

A ‘solar bump’ could help data centers recover wasted energy

Solar water heaters could recoup 8% of the electricity needs of AI computer farms