Sarah Gibson

This is what an authoritarian regime would do. Hidden deep in Trump’s 1,100-page bill that passed the House today is a provision that would block federal courts from enforcing contempt charges against government officials who violate court orders.

Science.

Baby Is Healed With World’s First Personalized Gene-Editing Treatment

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/h...

NSF slashes number of ‘rotators’ and well-paid managers as part of restructuring Smaller future budgets will require fewer people, NSF official tells staff

NSF officials announced they are essentially abandoning the use of “rotators”— scientists on leave from academic positions who help the agency choose the best research to fund. NSF also plans to reduce the number of administrators classified as senior executive service employees. scim.ag/3EKnxmc

Crosswalks across Silicon Valley were hacked this weekend. Pressing the button now triggers a message impersonating Elon Musk—mocking him in the process. Videos have been circulating online all weekend. 😂

Why opening doors in space is a big deal | PUNCH mission This week we're planning on opening doors on two of our four single-instrument spacecraft: the Narrow Field Imager (NFI) and one of the three Wide Field Imagers (WFIs). That's a big deal scientifica...

We expect to open our first two instrument doors on Monday. That's a big deal both scientifically, and for the engineers who poured an incredible amount of effort into making sure it goes well. Wish us luck! 🛰️☀️🚀

When I grow up, I want to be an old woman

Tufts student details harrowing transport by ICE, lack of food and medical care in detention Rümeysa Öztürk's sworn statement was filed alongside a motion from her attorneys seeking her immediate release from detention while they fight the revocation of her visa.

She is still in custody www.wbur.org/news/2025/04...

Trump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA “This would decimate American leadership in space.”…

This is the president's proposed NASA budget. 🤬🤯😵

"Among the proposals were: A two-thirds cut to astrophysics... a greater than two-thirds cut to Heliophysics... a greater than 50 percent cut to Earth science... and a 30 percent cut to Planetary science..."

X-band radios... check! Ready for first light next week! | PUNCH mission Today we tested our X-band radios and they are working fine. That is a huge relief. We have two separate radios on each of four spacecraft: an S-band transmitter (2-4 GHz, roughly the same band as a...

First starfield images are just a few days away! 🛰️🔭☀️🚀

What it looks like walking out the front door at night in Alaska…

22 in Colorado colleges: enewspaper.denverpost.com/infinity/art...

Solar Opposites A scientist and a cosmic cabbie land on common ground.

stanfordmag.org//contents/so...

The universe is a Swiftie. arxiv.org/pdf/2503.227...

PUNCH's Orbital Friends | PUNCH mission PUNCH will jointly observe the Sun with many other missions. Trajectories of the Solar Orbiter, Parker Solar Probe, BepiColombo, STEREO-A and JUICE and the 4 inner planets, spanning April 2025 through December 2029, show collaborative opportunities with PUNCH. There's also an animation (link to...

PUNCH Nugget #4 - our friend @chrisoutofspace.bsky.social prepared a nice time-variable map showing all the different missions that will be flying through our field of view over the next couple of years. Nice to see a few of the probes Humanity is operating in deep space right now. ☀️🛰️🔭

Video of a student in my town who wrote a political op-ed being grabbed off the street by government agents bsky.app/profile/pale...

PUNCH mission logo

We just launched a mission account for PUNCH: @punch-mission.bsky.social. That account will be a good source for mission updates and science "nuggets" as they happen. Click through and follow it if you like. 🧪🛰️☀️🔭

punch.space.swri.edu

SpaceX Launches NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH Missions (Gift Article) The SPHEREx telescope will create the most colorful map of the cosmos, while the four satellites of the PUNCH mission track the evolution of the solar wind in three dimensions.

It is a fine morning here in Denver though I am still groggy from taking the 5am flight from California. NYT has a great article on SPHEREx and PUNCH. Thanks, Katrina Miller! ☀️🔭🛰️🚀😎

Just witnessed the launch of #PUNCH and #SPHEREx, the rocket emerging from behind the LA skyline and over the ocean here in Orange County 🚀🛰️🛰️ A super cool view, good luck to the two missions! (and congrats @drzowie.bsky.social ☺️)

YouTube video by NASA's Kennedy Space Center NASA's SPHEREx, PUNCH Launch

youtu.be/5WYNdBAQxBA

Go PUNCH!!!

Home

plus.nasa.gov go for launch!

Home

t-56 minutes. SPHEREx/PUNCH launch is starting to get real. Weather at Lompoc, CA looks beautiful. NASA broadcast starts right about now -- tune in to plus.nasa.gov if you want to follow!
☀️🛰️🔭🚀

Update: If you look at a wx app you'll see a large depression W of CA, moving slowly E. The cloud wall is coming over VSFB right now. It is thick enough to trigger concern over "rocket-induced lightning". We're still counting for now, but the wx outlook for tonight is not good for a launch. 🔭☀️🛰️🚀

It should go without saying ... all RBF items have been removed and documented! 🛰️

A Study of Mint Plants. A Device to Stop Bleeding. This Is the Scientific Research Ted Cruz Calls “Woke.” The senator flagged thousands of National Science Foundation grants for using words like “female” and “diversify.” A ProPublica analysis found numerous examples of projects caught up in his crude meth...

www.propublica.org/article/ted-...

NSF downsizes summer research program for undergraduates Many participants are from groups underrepresented in science

My first research experience was because of a summer NSF REU. I learned to code (in FORTRAN 77!) as part of the KTeV high energy physics collaboration. It launched my passion for science & my entire career. Devastating to see this valuable program gutted.

www.science.org/content/arti...

RFK Jr. Vows To Make Measles Deaths So Common They Won’t Be Upsetting Anymore WASHINGTON—Addressing the ongoing outbreak in Texas that has infected at least 124 state residents and killed one child, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed Thursday to mak...

RFK Jr. Vows To Make Measles Deaths So Common They Won’t Be Upsetting Anymore

Opinion | How Far Will Trump Go? Tom Friedman Is Banking on the Law of Gravity. The president wants to create a revolution abroad. This Opinion columnist would love to see a plan.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/o...