jonathan jb webb

Nasa's Parker Solar Probe survives closest-ever approach to Sun Scientists hope the probe can help us better understand how the Sun works.

If you thought your Christmas was intense… this robot was busy barrelling through the sun’s atmosphere at 192 km per second. It went closer to the sun than we’ve ever been before - and faster than any other human-made object in history. 🔥

www.bbc.com/news/article...

BBC complains to Apple over misleading shooting headline Apple's new artificial intelligence features falsely made it seem the BBC reported Luigi Mangione had shot himself.

As I said -- only a matter of time before news orgs lashed out at Apple's lackluster (and evidently dangerously wrong) AI summaries of their work. This is shambolic and the BBC has every right to be furious about it.

Falling enrolments and funding cuts force Australian universities to take stock The Australian Universities Accord offers a roadmap for reform, but there are major challenges ahead.

A clear summary of a grim situation by @drjr.bsky.social.

Academics always grumble about university rankings, unless their university is doing well in them. But when Aussie universities are dropping down the charts in unison... it's a warning sign.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Top Fivers kicking goals 💥👋

So nice to hear Laura interviewed by @sanaqadar.bsky.social 🤓🙌

Folks outside the UK / science might not clock quite what a strong statement this is.

EVERYBODY wants to be an FRS. But not @deevybee.bsky.social - not any more. 💥

NASA's visualization team created a preview of every phase of the Moon in 2025, hour by hour.

The best part: Watching how the Moon's appearance changes due to its inclination, oval orbit, and libration (wobble). 🔭🧪

svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5415

TIL the Daily Mail has a data vis team.

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar...

🎶 It’s me, hi! 🎶
🎶 I’m the problem, it’s me 🎶

Did you know - 99% of camera trap photos taken in Tasmania are of brushtail possums messing with equipment…

The best thing about this image: the night side of Saturn. It’s not totally dark. Why not? Because it’s vaguely lit by light that has reflected from the rings. If you could somehow stand on the top of Saturn’s clouds, when it’s night, your world would be brightly lit by the huge yellow arc of rings.

What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?

Ants often act like inefficient goofballs. They got lost, accidentally drop their good and walk in circles trying to find it but eventually give up and go home, half of the ants in a nest just sit there 24/7 and do absolutely nothing.

Alex's cafe has 13 numbered tables in a straight line. Customers tend to walk out rather than sit next to an occupied table, and always choose the farthest table from other customers. To maximise her dine-in trade, Alex always tells her first customer to sit at one of two tables. Which ones are they?

Thinking I might start popping the weekly brainteaser from my science spot on Radio National Breakfast up here, for any fellow nerds who like a puzzle... 🤓

This was last week's. I found it kinda surprising, and it was solved beautifully by a 10yo of my acquaintance so it's eminently doable!

Fever xkcd.com/2877

ABC launches science cadetship in memory of 'science news geek' Darren Osborne The ABC launches a cadetship for an aspiring science journalist from regional Australia, in honour of science news editor Darren Osborne, who died of brain cancer in 2015.

Here's a bit more about Darren and why we launched this cadetship back in 2017:

www.abc.net.au/news/science...

🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨

We are looking for the next Darren Osborne cadet to join the ABC RN Science Unit in 2024!

It's an entry level gig for 10 months, location flexible.

If you know a "science news geek" (that was Darren's Twitter handle 🤓💗) from regional Australia, tell them to apply.

And pls share 🙏

It’s been too long since I read anything by Naomi Oreskes. Good to see she’s still swinging.

What's that in front of the Sun? The closest object is an airplane, visible just below the Sun's center and caught purely by chance. Next out are numerous clouds in Earth's atmosphere, creating a series of darkened horizontal streaks. Farther out is Earth's Moon, seen as the large dark circular bite on the upper right. Just above the airplane and just below the Sun's surface are sunspots. The main sunspot group captured here, AR 2192, was in 2014 one of the largest ever recorded and had been crackling and bursting with flares since it came around the edge of the Sun a week before. This show of solar silhouettes was unfortunately short-lived. Within a few seconds the plane flew away. Within a few minutes the clouds drifted off. Within a few hours the partial solar eclipse of the Sun by the Moon was over. Fortunately, when it comes to the Sun, even unexpected alignments are surprisingly frequent. Perhaps one will be imaged this Saturday when a new partial solar eclipse will be visible from much of North and South America. APOD editor to speak: in Houghton, Michigan on Thursday, October 12 at 6 pm

Plane, Clouds, Moon, Spots, Sun - ©
Doyle and Shannon Slifer


Official: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231008.html
HD: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2310/PlaneEclipse_Slifer_1756.jpg

Please enjoy following threads too! 🔭

2) It gets complicated, because there are multiple versions of the same character.

3) Richard E Grant in a big hat.

Looking forward to season 2 of Loki, aka "Dr Who but with fights".

I’m 100% not the first to think or say this, but … it is.

1) A British-sounding hero with a shabby-formal outfit travels through time with a companion, on the run from a bureaucratic bunch of self-important busybodies. ✅

Priceless toddler moment #827:

Little human woke up from nap, leapt to his feet and declared, with obvious confidence and clarity of purpose, “We’re going to take our rubbish to the zoo!”

NEW Staying below 1.5C wld save $12tn & create more jobs than are lost, says IEA

To get on track by 2030 we need…

🌅3x renewables
🏢2x efficiency
🚗"sharply" more EVs & heat pumps
🔥-75% methane emissions
🛢️⛽🏭-25% fossil fuel use

🧵let's dive in

www.iea.org/reports/net-...

4) It is an impossible myth invented to torture us all

Zero worries. Felt a bit like a twat pointing it out - glad I didn’t just miss something 😅

A-ma-zing…

Love this poll. 🤓

It looks like the eliminated birds are still in the voting list?

This was the first time I’ve jumped on, not sure if that makes a difference…

I should add, in case of confusion (sorry): although it’s based in Radio National and our team spans right across audio & digital platforms, this is primarily an online reporting role.

You’d be writing heaps of stories for the News website + also contributing to big projects, social, podcasts etc.

Bizarre. What’s the ~monthly rhythm in Sydney all about?

🙏👏👋

We are recruiting for an environment reporter in the science unit at ABC RN!

If you're passionate about the environment and digital storytelling, and can work in Australia, this could be you. 🤓🌏

Would love this job ad shared far and wide, to anyone from anywhere who might be amazing at it.