Leila Belkora PhD, astrophysics

Small lilac colored flowers on a stem of Mexican heather.

Purple-pink azaleas close up.

Yellow rose just opening up.

Blue desert bells spilling out of a flowerpot.

Hayfever from tree pollen bad, flowers good rn.

I’m also giving a talk on the East Coast later this month, and was afraid they’d give me a morning slot and I’d feel like I was lecturing in the middle of the night 😃

My husband and I started setting the alarm clock progressively earlier, starting almost two weeks ago. Getting up on Monday won’t be hard, but on the other hand my internal clock is very confused, and I always feel like it must be evening when it’s only 3 pm.

In the late 1980s and 1990s Marc Arnold Aaronson’s untimely death was given to us grad students as a warning. It was very sobering.

Beyond infuriating. In the sciences, grants mentioning words beginning with “trans,” like transgenic, were targeted by these ignorant and hateful people in a similar (mis)use of a.i.

Physics … is for girls? Contrary to modern stereotypes, the laws of the natural world used to be considered a fundamental part of young women’s education.

Did you know—in 1820s & 1830s U.S., “natural philosophy” (including mechanics, machines, heat) was “the most widely offered scientific subject in girls’ schools—more commonly taught than astronomy, chemistry, botany, mineralogy, or natural history.” 🧪 #histsci

physicstoday.aip.org/features/phy...

Predicting a return to reading books. It will be on the frontier of resisting subjection.

The author in their favorite brown pants and white plaid shirt, standing in a weedy field near the pole of a radio telescope, holding a laptop with various silly stickers on it. Caption: Nicole Gugliucci, Ph.D. stands by the Radio JOVE equipment near the college's observatory. Photo by Sid Ceaser

Okay this photographer was effing AMAZING.

I was profiled for my institution's magazine. We didn't do the headphones, but this WAS inspired by "Contact."

www.anselm.edu/about/anselm...

C’est moi 😆

The other reason it’s a safe place is that some of us just opt out of doing turns now, lame duck or otherwise.
🦆

My adult ballet class is such a safe place for us middle-aged people. One student was trying to remember the name of a type of turn she’d learned elsewhere. “Bird dog” she thought it was. “Bird dog?” The teacher, also middle-aged, looked blank for a minute. Then the light dawned. “Lame duck.” 🤣

Just finished this interesting non-fiction book today. Even though you basically know the outcome from the beginning, it manages to be quite a suspenseful and complex story, too.

Reporter, Nature News Job Title: Reporter, Nature Location: Washington DC or New York (Hybrid Working Model) Application Deadline: March 27, 2026 About Springer Nature Springer Nature is one of the leading publishers of re...

JOB OPENING! If you want to work as a reporter with Nature's US news team, this is a VERY RARE opportunity. The beat is physical sciences/energy & environment/technology. DC or NYC location. Deadline 3/27. Join our awesome team! #journojobs

springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/es/SpringerN...

Species Slowdown: Is Nature’s Ability to Self-Repair Stalling? When scientists recently analyzed hundreds of studies of ecosystems, they were surprised to see a marked slowing in the rate of species turnover. If new species don’t replace old ones, they say, ecosy...

Excellent, clear article. 🧪 #conservation

e360.yale.edu/features/eco...

Great article. Saving my response to it for when I write my memoirs, ha ha.

A row of trees with rounded tops, behind a row of lamps with rounded tops. Above them, in a blue evening sky, the moon is about the same size and brightness as the lamps.

The lamp that floated free

I took this picture Sunday and couldn’t think why I liked it until I noticed the moon is about the same size and brightness and color as the lampshades on the lights. Location is Tustin public library parking lot.

Meet three scientists who said no to Epstein The warning signs included a web search, a mother’s doubts, and inklings of a “sexist attitude”

The one who ended up with the best quality information had asked his mom to vet the person behind the invitation.

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

We shall see how it holds up!

It’s always easier when you can consume any excess!

I re-caulked my kitchen sink for the first time, please clap.

In the final step, it turns out to be useful having experience icing cakes. The skills are the same. 🧁

A Galaxy Composed Almost Entirely of Dark Matter Has Been Confirmed What scientists thought were four separate star clusters are actually part of one nearly invisible system.

More here 🔭
www.wired.com/story/a-gala...

Case of sampling bias, 🧪🔭
But both sides of a debate were right!

Elite Doctors Served Jeffrey Epstein While Treating His ‘Girls’

NEW: I and colleagues reviewed 15,000 documents to illuminate how Jeffrey Epstein used VIP doctors to control and manipulate young women* — and how the doctors helped him, treating his needs as more important than the patients'. Gift link.

*see next post in thread

Inventions Then and Now: Cristiano Zanetti Researches and Teaches the History of Technology Cristiano Zanetti, the first postdoctoral teaching fellow in a new Caltech–Huntington joint program, researches the history of inventions in the European Renaissance.

Cool #histsci researcher profiled in Caltech weekly: Cristiano Zanetti. His interest is Renaissance architect-engineers and mechanical inventions. He’s drawing on the Huntington’s collections to explore construction and machinery used by the Florentine academies.

www.caltech.edu/about/news/i...

I didn’t know what the Great Unconformity was until @alicianhans.bsky.social recently told me about it with respect to the Sandia mountains near Albuquerque. This article is interesting and understandable even if you’re new to the concept, like me.

Van Gogh and the Meaning of Yellow

The last four paragraphs are particularly interesting. I didn’t know that yellow was the color associated with racy paperback novels in late 19th France. Gift article.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/a...

🔭

I agree! Enjoying it while it lasts.

Snow-covered mountains in background with greenery and bike trail in foreground.

Snow-covered San Gabriel mountains in Southern California on this clear morning.

Distant snowy mountain in the background with hiking trail in foreground and green hills in middle. Afternoon shot with long shadows.

I didn’t manage to get a good picture of the snowy mountains this morning, and low clouds partially obscured the view this afternoon. But I located a good viewing spot to return to when it’s clear.