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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.

@kateyalatalo.com
600 followers 100 following 101 posts

Astronomer ✨ Dreamer ✨ Crime Scene Investigator for Galaxies ✨Views are my own The sky calls to us, if we do not destroy ourselves we will one day venture to the stars. - Carl Sagan

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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Mel Andrews @bayesianboy.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
When utilized in literature review, LLMs consistently 1. fail to mention female authors in female-led literatures, 2. insist that men are more influential or more heavily cited when this is contradicted by objective citation counts, and 3. attribute women’s work to hallucinated male scholars.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com
Three cool scientists introduce their work "Our new theory has been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, but we feel its depths and intricacies are best appreciated on the limited-edition vinyl release."
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 01/04/2026
A thing about the Artemis II launch that fills my little heart with light is listening to the voices of the many people in ground control and hearing both men and women's voices.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 16/03/2026
When even the Cleveland Clinic agrees that barometric pressure can induce migraines, maybe I should... stop doubting? health.clevelandclinic.org/barometric-p...
health.clevelandclinic.org
Barometric Pressure Headache: Can Weather Trigger Headaches or Migraines?
Does the weather seem to bring on a migraine? You’re not imagining it. The fall in barometric pressure may be to blame. But there are steps you can take to minimize the effects.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Jordan aka Jirdan @slclunk.com · 28/02/2026
I think about this Tony Benn speech much more than I used to
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 26/02/2026
The Social Security website just tried to make me give them my ID to "verify" me and I have never noped out of something so fast. Absolutely NOT. I'm also upping my donations to both the @aclu.org and @eff.org just for our gov't's sheer audacity.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Now before you get all worked up about how bad these numbers are, it's important to take a minute and remember that they're also very funny.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 10/02/2026
I just need to go on the record and say all these ads that feature AI graphics look awful.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Margaret Killjoy @margaret.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 21/01/2026
My hometown paper is doing a better job covering what's happening right now than CNN.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 21/01/2026
There's this Miss Marple episode where the murderer always says the opposite of the thing that they actually did. So if they say, "I didn't do it," it means that they absolutely did.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
For @msnownews.bsky.social, I wrote an article about how ICE Watch is grounded in sociological theories of violence prevention. The reality is that most men will only commit public violence in extremely specific scenarios and ICE Watch disrupts the conditions necessary for escalation.
ms.now
Opinion | I'm a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here's how ICE observers are helping.
Research into how violence occurs shows that disapproval from the people around you can help reduce it.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Guys, the American Institute of Physics is looking for a new Science Policy News Director to produce their fantastic FYI newsletter. I personally need this high-quality news source to continue apace, so help them find someone good!
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 04/01/2026
In the past, when the US acted illegally, social media wasn't as accessible as it is now, so Americans had a harder time expressing their disgust and dissent at their government. Well, social media is here now. I'm disgusted with the US administration and support them being tried for war crimes.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
Am I the only one who gets a real kick out of citation chains? Reading people's writing and footnotes, and making assessments and notes, finding the sources in the footnotes and reading them yourself, and making more notes? I...love it?
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 04/12/2025
youtu.be/W8Z3MfNpJpE
youtu.be
Greed is Destroying the World
YouTube video by Drew Gooden
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 28/11/2025
Just a little piece of advice to nonprofits. If you make it really difficult or impossible to cancel a monthly donation, I am never going to donate to you again.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 17/11/2025
When I applied to grad school, it was the same year that Larry Summers was claiming women were biologically less capable of being scientists than men.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Crystal Frasier @amazonchique.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
I still remember my anthropology professor’s favorite joke from college: “What did Watson and Crick discover?” “Rosalind Franklin’s notes.”
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
The depth of the shame of a country this wealthy and abundant allowing its people to go hungry is impossible to measure. The fact that a handful of people could fix this by paying their fair share of taxes while still remaining obscenely wealthy makes it even worse.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 02/10/2025
Wrote another blog post! Hoping that maybe some of the insights I've gained from getting better at understanding my brain will help others. In this case, thinking about our brains like they were computers. #neurodivergence #adhd kateyalatalo.com/blog/your-br...
kateyalatalo.com
Your Brain, the Computer
During my senior year in high school, I was at a crossroads, trying to decide if I wanted to go into a career in psychology, or keep going at the physics and astronomy that I loved so much. Obviously ...
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 26/09/2025
Southwest, thank you for letting me know that the gate has changed yet again for my late night flight tonight, but at the moment, I'm not sure it's pressing information.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 23/09/2025
I know that this is a little silly, but it GRINDS MY GEARS that the lies being spouted are not just lies, but ignoring that neurodivergence makes the world a richer place to exist.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 20/09/2025
Great job, Maryland! www.thebanner.com/community/pu...
thebanner.com
Maryland joins Northeastern group to help form regional public health policy
Maryland joined coalition of Northeastern states and New York City to protect “broad vaccine access,” among other public health initiatives.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 19/09/2025
I made a friendly wager with some friends in March about the trajectory of #genAI. And I have to say, I'm beginning to feel pretty confident that I'm going to be getting that box of cookies 😎
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Luckily, Sinclair has a helpful database of all their stations, so you can see if they're operating in your area and respond accordingly. sbgi.net/tv-stations/
Map of Sinclair stations
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Adam Griffin @adamgriffin.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Really tough time to be an adult who actually did all the assigned high school reading.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 17/09/2025
Like the radio telescopes I used to observe at, brains also have varying degrees of limits. But some brains those limits are not wired very well. You can read more of my thoughts on it on my blog! #radioastronomy #adhd #blog kateyalatalo.com/blog/limits/
kateyalatalo.com
Limits
A software limit that tells a person “oh, you’re getting near a danger zone friend. Maybe you want to eat something, or take a break.”, a hardware limit that says “you’re getting actively sleepy from ...
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Museum of Science @museumofscience.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Research shows that when people with different perspectives share ideas, it activates more creative neural pathways, fueling innovation across science, technology, and beyond. Tag your go-to brainstorm buddy!💡 #Brainstorm #STEM
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 08/09/2025
Watching this video and immediately going @aussiastronomer.bsky.social did you get to show Josh Johnson around because he's doing ASTROPHYSICS and I love it! #joshjohnson #jpl youtu.be/Q0pMHmzH52Y
youtu.be
The 10-Minute Mission: Katy Perry and the AstroNOTS
YouTube video by Josh Johnson
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 31/08/2025
A little blog I wrote about why we need dark skies kateyalatalo.com/blog/why-we-... #astrosky #darkskies #astronomy
kateyalatalo.com
Why we need dark skies
For anyone who has never lived outside of the city wouldn’t be able to understand the breathtaking wonder that the night skies can bring us.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 31/08/2025
It was my middle school social studies teacher. He dressed up as different cultures and concepts he was teaching us about. I still remember Mr. Sypniewski all these years later and how cool I thought he was. Thanks for being part of the 15%, Mr. Syp!
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 31/08/2025
Happy to be here! #sciencecommunity #sciencesky #astrosky arstechnica.com/science/2025...
arstechnica.com
Bluesky now platform of choice for science community
It’s not just you. Survey says: “Twitter sucks now and all the cool kids are moving to Bluesky”…
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 29/08/2025
You ever get those little reminders that things you're now used to being 'second nature' from your job are actually pretty useful and valuable? Because that happened today! Running reviews is a skillset that's now in my quiver and makes me so pleased to apply it! #jobtalk
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 20/08/2025
I'd been getting tired of "according to CEO of OpenAI, AI is amazing!!!" articles out there, so it's nice to see something written with rigor. tl;dr For 200 word summaries, LLMs are fine. 500 words? Danger zone. Science literature search? OH GIRL NO. www.cjr.org/analysis/i-t...
cjr.org
I Tested How Well AI Tools Work for Journalism
Some tools were sufficient for summarizing meetings. For research, the results were a disaster.
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
This administration has thrown literal grenades at the rickety foundations of American academia, and for some reason, neither the national media nor university administrations are actually talking about as the economic, social, political and cultural threat/crisis it is. What a terrible loss.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 14/08/2025
Who knew that revamping a professional website would be a LOT of work? But either way, I am super proud of it. Want to learn what I do or read bites of some of the papers I've worked on? Go take a look! kateyalatalo.com Come for the astronomy Stay for the astronomy
kateyalatalo.com
katey's website
Dr. Katherine Alatalo's professional astronomy website
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Reposted by Katey Alatalo, Ph.D.
Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
My cartoon for this week's @newscientist.com
Title: Papers Released by the Influential Research Group 

A graph with a Y axis labelled 'Citations' and X as 'Time'.

Hit Debut Paper (high up)
Difficult Second Paper (a bit lower)
Break-up Paper (lower still)
Unsuccessful Solo Papers (bobbing along the bottom)
Greatest Hits Paper (climbing back up)
Reunion Paper (high up, but still not as high as the debut)
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 13/05/2025
Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume? Astrophysicist: It's a new form of work called "dark work" that only interacts gravitationally.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 04/02/2025
(Writing this on my personal computer, during my barely available spare time.) For the foreseeable future, I will not be using this account to discuss issues related to the science community, because the place I work depends heavily on federal grants. #myopinionsaremyown
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 21/01/2025
If it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. #ihatethistimeline
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 18/01/2025
Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 17/01/2025
There is no way to remove copilot prompts in Word on a Mac. So it appears the only way to remove copilot is to stop using Office. I like Pages but with is opened its data format so other programs could interact with it. #AIluddite #antiLLM www.cnbc.com/2025/01/15/f...
cnbc.com
From Gmail to Word, your privacy settings and AI are entering into a new relationship
If there were ever a time to understand your online data privacy settings, it's now in the AI era.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 14/01/2025
Having migraines is like being in an abusive relationship with your brain.
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European Space Agency @esa.int · 10/01/2025
A new image showing the extent of the fires in #California. #CopernicusEU Sentinel-3 captured this view on 9 January: at lower left we see the Palisades fire and at top right is the Eaton fire - with smoke seen reaching Catalina Island and the Santa Barbara reserve. www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
A wide view from space of wildfires in California, with smoke seen reaching Catalina Island and the Santa Barbara reserve to the south of the fires.
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Katey Alatalo, Ph.D. @kateyalatalo.com · 10/01/2025
The gofundme for affected astronomers has been expanded to cover ALL astronomers who have been impacted by this fire. We're at $33k and still going, so if you were on the fence, please think about donating! www.gofundme.com/f/support-na...
gofundme.com
Donate to Help JPL & Roman & HabWorlds teammates in Pasadena, organized by Jason Tumlinson
We are raising money to assist friends of ours who are displaced or… Jason Tumlinson needs your support for Help JPL & Roman & HabWorlds teammates in Pasadena
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Peter Coles 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇮🇪 @telescoper.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
The LA fires are now threatening to engulf Mt Wilson Observatory. www.latimes.com/california/l...
latimes.com
Homes, structures 'in the thousands' are burned in Palisades, Eaton, officials say; more fire weather ahead
Five people have died, but officials say the death toll is likely to be higher. More than 2,000 structures have burned and at least 130,000 residents are under evacuation orders. Experts say L.A. is ...
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