Katrina Miller

The most precious commodity you have is your attention. You don’t have to waste it on poor-faith debates or arguments with strangers if you don’t think they’ll be productive. You can prioritize the things that matter to you and make your life richer.

A card reads: "rage bait / noun: Oxford’s 2025 Word of the Year is defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive.” Over the past year, according to Oxford’s data, frequency of use spiked by a factor of three."

Oxford University Press has chosen “rage bait” as its 2025 Word of the Year. The open-compound word, which beat out “biohack” and “aura farming,” goes back at least to 2002. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/a...

thank you for reading!

a place called the badlands? i’m sold!

Fighting for ‘The Right to Night’ Under Starry, Rural Skies

have you ever been somewhere so dark you could step outside & immediately spot the Milky Way? i traveled to the Upper Peninsula to learn about efforts to balance industrialization & economic growth with the preservation of starry skies:

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/s...

my roman empire!

Building the highwayman shot from Over the Garden Wall (2014), created by Patrick McHale, Cartoon Network Studios

Storyboards by Patrick McHale, animation by Nick Cross

Can Anyone Rescue the Trafficked Girls of L.A.’s Figueroa Street?

amazing investigation reported by my colleague www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/m...

911 Calls Show South Shore Residents’ Panic During ICE Raid CPD dispatch audio reveals Border Patrol also arrested two U.S. citizens that night in Steelworkers Park.

NEW: Residents called 911 as ICE agents raided a South Shore building in September; one complained agents had unit numbers and kicked their door in by mistake.

CBP also detained two U.S. citizens that night two miles from the raid & asked CPD to get them. It's unclear what happened to them.

'Astronomers' is an anagram for 'moon starers.'

#ICYMI - yesterday our program welcomed 24 new award winners! 🏆🥳🎉

The #scicomm awards given by @nationalacademies.org in partnership with Schmidt Sciences recognize excellent science journalists, research scientists, and science communicators.

Learn more: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10...

Clergy say religious rights are under attack inside and outside the Broadview ICE facility Chicago area religious leaders have been hit with tear gas and pepper balls outside the building. They also say immigrants are being denied pastoral care inside the facility.

Chicago area religious leaders have been hit with tear gas and pepper balls outside the Broadview ICE facility. They also say immigrants are being denied pastoral care inside the facility. trib.al/p3gX5fV

ScienceWriters2025 Thursday Oct 23, 2025 / 12:00PM - 01:00PM "The Truth About AI: How to report on it without giving in to hype, and how to use it in the newsroom"

Thrilled to kick off NASW's #SciWri25 at the virtual plenary this Thursday! Our session will be about:

- what AI actually is
- what journalists need to know about it
- ideas about how to use it in your reporting

I'll be moderating the discussion at noon CT / 1 p ET on Oct 23. See you there!

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Your Ultimate Chicago Halloween guide 🎃🦇
70+ parades, parties, markets and family events: blockclubchi.co/47cRS8a

Has Your Scientific Work Been Cut? We Want to Hear.

A new NYT as-told-to series, "Lost Science," documents the work of researchers who have lost their jobs or funding after cuts by the Trump administration. Share your story with us!

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

Nobel Prizes This Year Offer Three Cheers for Slow Science

"In an age when government efficiency has been used to justify sharp cuts to scientific funding, the science Nobels offer a case for plodding curiosity: that esoteric, seemingly useless exploration can lay the bricks for a road to places we cannot yet see."

Katrina Miller on basic science Nobels:

Nobel Prizes This Year Offer Three Cheers for Slow Science

three cheers for slow science, each Nobel representing decades of inquiry that paved the way for the technology, treatments, & toys of tomorrow:

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/s...

Has Your Scientific Work Been Cut? We Want to Hear.

has your scientific work been cut? @nytimes.com wants to hear from you.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/c...

Nobel Prize in Physics Is Awarded for Work in Quantum Mechanics

today’s Nobel honored three physicists who discovered two properties of quantum mechanics, the laws that rule the subatomic realm, could be observed in a system large enough to be seen with the naked eye:

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/s...

What a Signal in a Failed Star’s Clouds Means for the Search for Life

on a brown dwarf dozens of light years from us, astronomers have detected trace amounts of a molecule that, on this planet, is made by living things.

this discovery is not life. but it will help astronomers on their quest to find it elsewhere in the galaxy:

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/s...

@katrinamillerphd.bsky.social is a science reporter for @nytimes.com who writes about the universe and how the pursuit of understanding it impacts society.

We asked her about covering #astronomy and #physics, shifting from research to journalism, and more: www.nationalacademies.org/news/2025/10...

1/ I’m Till Eckert, a ProPublica reporter. For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been going to the same NY immigration courthouse.

Nearly every time, I see ICE agents arresting immigrants. Today, a woman was slammed to the ground after begging officials not to take her husband away.

Thread 👇

thank you jeanne!!

FASCINATING interview with @katrinamillerphd.bsky.social.

"I really wanted to reach people who had been let down by the education system. I tried to propose a liberal arts math class, but the university wouldn’t let me do it. So I thought, well, I guess I’ll write it." @dreugeniacheng.bsky.social

The Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It? When her son died in utero, a venture capitalist went to extremes to punish her surrogate.

Surrogate pregnancies are increasingly popular in tech circles, and the practice is expected to explode globally in the coming decade. It’s also shockingly unregulated. This is a story about what happens when it goes horribly wrong.

Quakes on Mars Reveal New Features of the Planet’s Interior

the dust-choked solar panels on NASA’s InSight lander prevented further operations in 2022. but the mission’s data continues to reveal new information about Mars, lately how its insides are both like & unlike Earth:

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/s...

You Don’t Need to Be Good at Math to Enjoy It

“I want people to be able to gaze at math,” she said. “You can still enjoy music, even if you can’t play.”

@dreugeniacheng.bsky.social spoke with me about her mission to bring math to the masses & the inspo behind her new book, Unequal:

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/s...

Page One.

@chicago.suntimes.com

Scientists Find a Quadruple Star System in Our Cosmic Backyard

astronomers discovered a quadruple star system: a brown dwarf dancing around another, locked in orbit with two brighter stars also circling each other 💫 the universe is so cool.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/s...