Shanil Virani

ASP2025 Symposium Speakers and Schedule Scientists, educators, and communicators are invited to explore the evolving relationship between humanity and the universe at the ASP’s 137th Annual Meeting: Eyes on the Cosmos – Embracing the Future

🌟 The countdown to #ASP2025 has begun! 🌟
We’re thrilled to unveil our lineup of leading astronomers who will be tackling some of the most pressing & profound questions in science!

🚀 Explore 4 themes.
🧠 Meet the minds behind the ideas.
💬 Be part of the conversation.

👉 See the list:

So let’s recap:
• #AI can beat our best math minds.
• AI is now writing scientific proposals.
• Humans are getting rate-limited… by their own creation.

🚨 Is this the last decade of human-led #STEM? 🚨

Or are we entering the era of STEM: Shadowing The Emergent Machines?

#ScienceFunding #FutureShock

🚨 This week in “Are We the B Plot Now?”:

1️⃣ #DeepMind and #OpenAI just earned gold medal scores on the International #Mathematical Olympiad — outperforming the world’s best teenage #math prodigies.

2️⃣ The #NIH is capping #grant submissions because it’s being overwhelmed by #AI-generated proposals.

🔬 Born this day in 1920: Rosalind Franklin — the brilliant crystallographer whose Photo 51 revealed DNA’s double helix.

She never won a Nobel. She never got the credit.

But science knows.

Let’s say her name today. Loudly. Proudly. 🧬

#RosalindFranklin #STEM

We don’t know when we left the savannah but we did. We don’t know when we first crossed the oceans blue but we did. To our successors, July 20 will represent a major milestone: we set foot on another world for the first time. 56 years later, is #science about to go dark?
READ MORE:
🔗 tiny.cc/MoonDay

Happy #MoonDay?

We didn’t lose the Moon.
We lost the will to go.

A Moon anniversary isn’t just about looking back — it’s about deciding who we still want to be.

If you’ve ever looked up and felt something stir, this essay is for you.

Read this essay on #Medium:
🔗 medium.com/@shanil.vira...

“Wanderers Still”: On the Moon, Memory, and the Future We Choose Reflections on the 56th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Happy #MoonDay?

It’s been 56 years since humanity first walked on the #Moon.

Are we still #explorers?

My new essay reflects on #Apollo, what we’ve forgotten, and what’s still possible.🔭🧪

🛰️ tiny.cc/MoonDay 🔗

📣 What are your thoughts?
#MoonDay #HumanFutures #Exploration #STEM #TheFutureWeChoose

The WaPo bemoaning misinformation and the dumbing down of American public intellect is peak irony.

#Measles are back, too. Proof that #science drowns in public discourse so broken we debate medieval weather magic. By any sane measure, it’s not 2025 — it’s 1725. Somewhere, Carl Sagan is weeping.

When the #WaPo has to debunk cloud-seeding conspiracies, and to point out that it didn’t cause catastrophic flooding in Texas, you know the rot runs deep. The sheer scale of America’s ‘dumbing down’ is breathtaking. It may have been a slow erosion in ‘95 but it’s now a landslide. 🧪

1/2

Seasons aren’t caused by our distance from the Sun but by Earth’s tilt. Today’s #Aphelion is a perfect reminder of the wonders of orbital mechanics & the beauty of our dynamic planet.

This post from #ourislanduniverse explains aphelion, perihelion & why Earth’s speed changes as it orbits the Sun! 🚀

From Flight to Freedom: How Canada Gave My Family a Second Chance? Canada welcomed us from Idi Amin’s Uganda and showed what it means to belong to a nation of justice, compassion, and hope.

51 years ago, my parents arrived in Canada as Muslim refugees fleeing Idi Amin’s Uganda. Today, I celebrate a country that welcomed them & allowed us to thrive. Let’s keep striving for justice, inclusion, and compassion. 🇨🇦

🔗 medium.com/@shanil.vira...

#CanadaDay #RefugeeStories #Inclusion #Justice

The SETI Institute is now accepting submissions for the 2025 Cosmic Chronicles Literary Prize Submission deadline: September 1, 2025.

The Cosmic Chronicles Literary Prize is a new initiative from our Artist in Residence (AIR) program. Cosmic Chronicles is a contest for emerging writers of all ages whose work explores questions of life, intelligence and consciousness in the universe. 🧪 🐡

For the full rules:

🚨 NOAA’s proposed budget zeros out funding for ALL climate labs: GFDL, NSSL, GML — & ends the US greenhouse gas sampling network, incl. Mauna Loa CO₂ records.

This isn’t just a budget cut. It’s an attempt to blindfold us to climate reality & attack our ability to know what we’re doing to our home.

We are human beings first. If more of us remembered that, the world would be a far better place. Your story and your voice matter. When you’re ready, your voice will be heard.

It is gut-wrenching, & I’m so sorry you’ve been made to feel like just a number. You are not a pawn — your life, your service, & your story matter more than words can express. It shouldn’t take this kind of suffering for people to wake up to what’s broken. Please know you’re not alone. You are seen.

You deserve so much better — your service, your pain, and your voice matter deeply. I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to. And when the time is right, maybe finding a platform to tell your story and show how we as a country should do better could be a powerful way to affect real change.

You deserve to be seen, respected, & appreciated for all you’ve done and the strength it takes to share your story. How we treat our men & women in uniform is appalling. We ask you to make the greatest sacrifices, and then when you come home, it’s mean and callous how we turn our collective back. :(

… like it right now. Thank you for your courage and for speaking up — I hope you know you’re not alone, and there are people who care about what you’ve given and how you’re feeling now. ♥️🫂

🥺 I can’t begin to imagine how heavy and heartbreaking it must feel to have dedicated so much of yourself to this country, only to feel let down like this. Your words are powerful, and they deserve to be heard. Your service and the sacrifices you’ve made matter deeply, even if it doesn’t feel …

You and me both. How do we out from this upside down world?

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: SALLY - Documentary film about astronaut Sally Ride. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. This registration is required in order to view the free, one-time ASP virtual screening of SALLY, a National Geographic Documentary Film about astronaut Sally Ride on Monday, June 30 at 5:30PM PT/8:30...

Our movie screening of #Sally begins in an hour! Have you registered to get your link to join us for the film & the post-movie discussion? Don’t wait a second longer!🏳️‍🌈

Register NOW:
tiny.cc/SallyRide

If you’re all set check out this Q&A from @physicstoday.bsky.social!

pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...

The Day the Sky Exploded: Chelyabinsk, Tunguska, and Humanity’s Asteroid Problem What two Russian airbursts teach us about Earth’s future in a cosmic shooting gallery.

Today is #AsteroidDay — the dinosaurs 🦖 didn’t have a planetary defense program. We do. #Chelyabinsk & #Tunguska prove #citykiller #asteroid impacts still happen. Somewhere out there is a continental-killer with our name on it. 🧪🔭 #LookUp #DART

My latest essay on #Medium:
medium.com/@shanil.vira...

Radha Maurya, a 10-month-old living in the village of Nausahara, Nepal, is being treated for severe wasting.

The United States reneged on its foreign aid commitments. Nepal’s malnourished children and their families are paying the price.

Learn more in this week's issue of Science: scim.ag/46cnJFO

Celebrate the end of #Pride month with @astrosociety.org as they host a free online screening of #SALLY, the new #NatGeo doc about Sally Ride — America’s first woman in space — & the love she kept hidden.🌈🚀🧪🔭

🗓️ Mon, June 30, 8:15pm ET
🎟️ Register now: tiny.cc/SallyRide
#LGBTQ #Astronaut #Documentary

ASP’s Vivian White & Kat Troche are in Utah this week! 🌌 Catch them at ASTROCON 2025 — the Astronomical League’s national convention — and at Bryce Canyon’s Astro Fest on Friday, June 27 from 2–5 PM MT at the Visitor Center! Stop by & say hi! 💫 #ASTROCON2025 #BryceAstroFest

ASP’s Vivian White & Kat Troche are in Utah this week! 🌌 Catch them at ASTROCON 2025 — the Astronomical League’s national convention — and at Bryce Canyon’s Astro Fest on Friday, June 27 from 2–5 PM MT at the Visitor Center! Stop by & say hi! 💫 #ASTROCON2025 #BryceAstroFest

#ASP’s Vivian White & Kat Troche are in Utah this week!🔭

Catch them at #ASTROCON 2025 — the Astronomical League’s national convention — & at Bryce Canyon’s #Astro #Fest on Friday, June 27 from 2–5 PM MT at the Visitor Center!

Stop by, say hi & chat about stargazing! 💫 #ASTROCON2025
#BryceAstroFest

🗣️ Astro enthusiasts, educators, and researchers! Check out the excellent virtual workshop and 1-day conference opportunities coming up 👇🏽🔭🧪👩🏽‍🔬

Join the #ASP on Mon, June 30 at 5:30pm PT for a #FREE online screening of #SALLY — the story of astronaut Sally Ride and the love she kept hidden. Her partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, shares their 27-year journey in this moving #NatGeo #doc. 🏳️‍🌈🔭🧪 #LoveIsLove
🎥 @sundance.org #filmfest
🔗 buff.ly/ctsFmYN

🚨 Today’s the day! The Vera C. Rubin Observatory unveils its first light image at 11am ET — our first glimpse through the largest digital eye ever built, producing ~20 TB of data per night. A new era of cosmic discovery begins! 🔭🧪

🔗 Watch live: RubinObservatory.org

#RubinFirstLight #Astronomy

Ancient Skies 2023: Machu Picchu (Short Version)

High in the Andes, the Inca built Machu Picchu to align with the #sky. 🌞🏔️
The Intihuatana stone & Temple of the #Sun mark #solstices — a sacred fusion of landscape, #astronomy, & spirit.

📍 Peru (~1450 CE)

Time, carved in stone.
#AncientSkies #IncaAstronomy #CulturalAstronomy