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PlasmaNerd

@plasmanerd.bsky.social
1K followers 820 following 1.2K posts

A Space Weather/Heliophysics researcher, enjoying the scientific nomadic life, and always hunting for more Aurora experiences.

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Reposted by PlasmaNerd
Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 30/09/2026
G’morning, friends. ☀️ You know that person who thinks changing guidance as we learn more (like during COVID) means scientists didn’t know what they were doing? ☕️ Some morning reading for our very confident friend: “When Scientists Admit Mistakes, That Means Science Is Working.”
greatergood.berkeley.edu
When Scientists Admit Mistakes, That Means Science Is Working
Public health experts need to be allowed to admit when they’re wrong—and share with the public what they are learning.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Having to move offices was a pain, but the loss of the library at NASA Goddard was demoralizing to many. The Library was a place where we held our knowledge, our past, a place where we congregated to hold meetings and network... It's loss felt like defeat. www.urgentmatter.press/nasa-adminis...
urgentmatter.press
NASA boss questioned Goddard library review, emails show
Two weeks earlier, a Goddard official learned the GSA needed no manifest for the books NASA was giving up.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
While I'm no longer a Lab/branch chief at NASA Goddard, today is hitting me hard. The division I was in is going through a reorganization & so today is their last Lab meeting... And I'm sitting here grieving the loss of the lab with them, even if from afar plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...
plasmanerd.substack.com
The Oath Ep. 1: My Foundation
The Decisions Before the Decision
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Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I know there is a hell of a lot going on right now. But not all of it is bad. Some is astonishingly good - like the results of this study from June. Cervical cancer is a terribly cruel thing. This might, at long last, be the beginning of the end of it. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News headline "Young women now have 'close to zero' risk of cervical cancer death after HPV jab"
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Qasim Rashid, Esq. @qasimrashid.com · 28/09/2026
To the people complaining these sex abuse cases have created a world where men now have to think 10 times before they touch a woman. Yes, that's the point. It's called consent. Welcome to human decency.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
How do you decide whether to stay at NASA when no one can tell you what staying will mean? In summer 2025, I tried to help my lab answer that question. By August, a quarter of the lab was gone. My latest essay is about uncertainty, responsibility, and grief. plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...
plasmanerd.substack.com
The Oath Ep. 15: Deciding in the Dark
When the deadline came before the answers.
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Chase Million @millionconcepts.com · 26/09/2026
This is incredibly well written, informative, and important. Most civil servants (who remain) are working their asses off, trying to hold the institution together. But they are also often prevented from say true (even obvious) things in public. Those of us with the freedom to do so must speak.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Happy Dolly Parton Day! 925
static.klipy.com
Dolly Parton: 'I'm Proud Of You'
ALT: Dolly Parton: 'I'm Proud Of You'
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Budgets can be restored. Scientific communities take much longer to rebuild. My latest essay explores funding uncertainty inside NASA, the difficulty of speaking up as a civil servant, and why the costs begin before cuts become law. plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...
plasmanerd.substack.com
The Oath Ep 14: Constraints
The rules that shaped every decision.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
To get full social security benefits you have to retire at age 67. The average life expectancy in the US for men is 76. Already the US is expecting that men will enjoy less than a decade of life after work. If you started paying in at age 20, you will work 47 years to then enjoy 10.
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
JIM HENSON started the show “Sam and Friends” in 1955 whilst a 19yr old Freshman at the University of Maryland. Here he is with the puppets from that show including an early version of Kermit.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I hope in another 50+ years another plaque is added saying "Possibly or probably dead, so enjoy this bench in Lucy's remembrance. "
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Science is better with friends. What happens when the people who built a scientific community start looking for a future elsewhere? In episode 13 of The Oath: NASA, belonging, and following the evidence when it becomes politically inconvenient. plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...
plasmanerd.substack.com
The Oath Ep 13: Per Aspera Ad Astra—through hardship to the stars
Starting to see the impacts of this new golden science.
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Blue Oleta @blue-oleta.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Maybe the most important political story of our time. People just want the bullshit to stop.
gizmodo.com
71% of Americans Say They're Completely Exhausted
A CDC report shows that people are not feeling relaxed and restful in the United States.
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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 18/09/2026
While RFK Jr.'s been shouting "Make America Healthy Again" from the rooftops, over 160 foods have been recalled so far this year. There’s nothing healthy about food-borne illness.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The "cloud" is really misnamed and should be something more like the "ground". The data doesn't live in the sky, it lives in these data centers and gets past around them - so your data could be in any number of countries...
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This week has been a lot of fun talking about space things & how they change over short times (weather). I also wanted to write something that was more fun than normal...
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Goddard's posted response to the NPR article.
Jamie Dunn responds to the NPR article on the harm done to you Goddard through the closing of multiple buildings and labs on the harm done to you, Goddard through the closing of multiple buildings and labs last he talks about how Goddard was able to deliver Roman claims that the article harms the Romans team, which I'm not sure how that works and then he talks about how Goddard is moving forward and not looking backwards, not actually stating that the specifics in the article were false just that it was harmful and wrong.
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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 16/09/2026
According to the NYT, $9.5 BILLION was spent paying federal employees not to work. Meanwhile, most of our colleagues on admin leave would rather be WORKING. 🙄 “Government efficiency,” apparently. Goodnight to everyone except the MAGAts who thought this math was mathing. 😑🌙
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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Very interesting, and good to know. I hope that learning about this leads to understanding, and understanding to acceptance.
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
UMaine is hiring a director of our new PFAS lab: fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... If you've got a PhD in analytical or environmental chemistry and 5+ years of PFAS research experience, check it out!
fa-ewca-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com
Assistant or Associate Extension Professor, PFAS and Environmental Contaminants Analytical Specialist, and PFAS Lab Director
The University of Maine Cooperative Extension is seeking an accomplished scientist and collaborative leader to establish and grow the University's PFAS analytical and Extension program. This is a uniq...
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
More information about not just NASA but other government agencies forcing folks to move while then still paying rent on their building that now is sitting empty... www.instagram.com/reel/DdRx6Sh...
instagram.com
Instagram
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Fantastic and depressing piece about what has been happening at NASA Goddard www.npr.org/2026/09/15/n...
npr.org
NASA rushed engineers out of their labs. They say it risks future space missions
NASA employees say they've lost vital equipment and staff needed to make sophisticated spacecraft amid the agency's abrupt relocations over the past several months.
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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 14/09/2026
Abortion bans are killing women.
Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
You can check out my interview & more how the laboratory moves at Goddard have impacted the center which just played on NPR’s morning edition. Thanks to Chiara Eisner for covering this topic. NASA relocations could hinder agency's ability to build spacecraft : NPR www.npr.org/2026/09/14/n...
npr.org
NASA relocations could hinder agency's ability to build spacecraft
NASA has been moving engineers out of their labs as a way to reduce waste. But the moves may be limiting the agency's ability to make spacecraft.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
At the UK Space Weather Space Environment Workshop there are calls for better communication between researchers & industry, wanting researchers to provide actionable information. But academics have little info from industry as to when they see impacts, making it hard to say what causes the impacts
static.klipy.com
Vibrant Northern Lights Aurora Borealis
ALT: Vibrant Northern Lights Aurora Borealis
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Dr Space Junk (Alice Gorman) @drspacejunk.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
A feminist Green Foreign Policy approach to space debris: Centering justice and equity beyond Earth’s orbit, by Giuliana Rotola. Space junk IS a feminist issue. 🧪 🔭 #WomenInSTEM
gr.boell.org
A feminist Green Foreign Policy approach to space debris: Centering justice and equity beyond Earth’s orbit | Heinrich Böll Stiftung - Thessaloniki Office
Out of mind out in space? Space debris are an often overlooked aspect of our daily use of space technology, but the issue is rapidly growing into a global justice and security challenge. What can the ...
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M Meerkat @kackbro.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Robert's Freakin Right✅️.......
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M Meerkat @kackbro.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
THIS 👇 HERE TOO......
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
And yet many are now having to work well into their 60s and 70s.
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D. Earl Stephens @dearlstephens.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
📌“A Federal Reserve survey found that Black families had a median wealth of $44,890 compared with the median white family wealth of $285,010. Black men’s imprisonment rate was about 5.5 times the rate for white men, according to figures from the Bureau of Justice.” No institutional racism, eh?
apnews.com
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Is the goal to understand or to just do... We tend to get those mixed up. I can build a machine to work out in the gym for me, but I will not get any healthier. I can have AI "make new discoveries" or do my work, but I will not become any smarter.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
NASA knows how to respond to emergencies. But not every urgent deadline is one. In “Manufactured Crisis,” I write about rushed funding reviews, uncertainty, and the people who kept good work from disappearing. plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...
plasmanerd.substack.com
The Oath Ep. 12: Thirty Days at a Time
What happens when an institution built for decades can no longer plan a month ahead.
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Rachel Alter, MD MPH @rachelalter007.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This infectious disease doc in training encourages you to get your flu and COVID shots this season! Preferably somewhere you get paid to do so. Thrilled with my $20 credit toward groceries for protecting myself from severe flu and covid infections!
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
JUST IN: A federal judge concludes that DHS leaders arbitrarily decided to cut FEMA staff by 50% even though it damaged the agency's ability to fulfill its mission — and leaders hid their comms about it on auto-delete Signal chains. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Jaime Palter @jaimepalter.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
🌊 I searched the long version of NSF’s letter on “a New Golden Age of Science.“ There is no mention of any of the following words: planet, Earth, ocean, atmosphere, climate, weather, or the stem “geo.”
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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 11/09/2026
We're all about serving the American public, but we've gotta get our basic needs met. We can grind for a bit but not endlessly - now this bs It's discriminatory and intended to force out even more of our staff after years of spreading ourselves thin Fuck. This. www.govexec.com/management/2...
govexec.com
CDC, after months of delays, gives employees 20 days to resubmit disability accommodation documentation
CDC is spending months, if not longer, to process reasonable accommodation requests because HHS-wide layoffs and separation incentives decimated the department’s human resources functions.
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Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Astronomers! The Savilian Professorship at @oxfordphysics.bsky.social is now open for applications - this is the senior chair in (normally) theoretical astrophysics, and I hope you'll consider coming to join us. Hapoy to chat informally if useful. my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... 🔭
my.corehr.com
'
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 10/09/2026
Also there is this: vote.gov
vote.gov
Register to vote in your state | Vote.gov
Find the information you need to make registration and voting easy. Official voter registration website of the United States government.
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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Boosting for Chicago peeps
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Josef Aschbacher @josefaschbacher.esa.int · 10/09/2026
Will we be passengers or pilots? Customers or service providers? Tenants or architects? At the International Space Summit, I argued that Europe must take steps now to shape its own future in space. Read my full speech 🧑‍🚀🚀 esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/corpora... #ParisSpaceSummit
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Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Due to a profound and well-earned mistrust of the GOP, I check my voter registration relatively often. I just did and I'm OK. You can check yours; just search on "check voter registration status [your state]".
Screenshot of my voter status, listed as "Active"
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caroline cash @cashbrowns.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Nancy 9/7/26 … Happy Labor Day 🛠️
8 Hours for Work, 8 Hours for Rest, 8 Hours for What We Will. Based on a screenprint by Ricardo Levins Morales after the organizing work done by Robert Owen.
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
My newest Substack post asks some serious questions about public service, loyalty, NASA, and who gets to represent America. But perhaps more importantly: what is climate change doing to Bigfoot? The Oath Ep 11: Who Do We Serve? plasmanerd.substack.com/p/the-oath-e...
A cartoon of the Michigan Dogman next to a polluted river with floating arms, a snorkel, and an inner tube with a duck on it.  The text says, "More Frequent and Severe Storms are Flooding Rivers in the Midwest. Washing the Michigan Dogman out of Hiding Early.
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Capt'n Amy, the Girl with the Sun in her Eyes @captnamy.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I remember a time when we'd get notice of a software update. Usually distributed on a diskette. Excitment! What new cool stuff will we get. Nowadays I dread updates. What new nonsense will they force on us? What settings walked on? What nefarious new surveillance will be embedded?
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I agree.
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RB @rbisrb.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Same As It Ever Was...
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PlasmaNerd @plasmanerd.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Boarding the last flight until I land in my new home! So excited! Partially terrified. Incredibly tired.
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