David Grinspoon

Opinion: Why I'm handing in my Pentagon press pass Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scen...

Soliciting information from officials is a journalist's job.

The Pentagon's new press policy would make reporters "stenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable," explains @npr.org's Tom Bowman.

Another massive movement of migratory birds underway tonight — nearly 1 Billion Birds! With the full moon, you might be able to see some silhouettes zipping by. You can make your own flow maps here (just hit record): aeroecolab.com/uslights

The rocket carrying Europa Clipper, rising from the launchpad.

A year ago we launched Clipper towards Europa.
Since then NASA science has been ravaged & threatened by our malevolent administration. By the time Clipper is orbiting Jupiter and sending back precious data we will have different people in power. As perilous as the journey is, that gives me hope.
🧪🔭

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

Opinion | The A.I. Prompt That Could End the World

We’ve all seen a great deal of repetitive slop written about potential existential dangers of AI.
This piece by Stephen Witt does not merely repeat what we’ve already heard but attempts to apply data to the question. Definitely worth reading, and highly concerning.
🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

Different wavelengths ranges are... Halloween costumes for planets?

IR Jupiter is a pumpkin, a classic if maybe a little low-effort spooky look. (1/n) 🧪🔭

Since spooky season is here: Jupiter in the infrared looking like an angry red pumpkin planet.
(Square-root-enhanced images of Jupiter's thermal emission from cloud tops at 5.1 microns from NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in October 2020)
🧪

Reposted by Ensign Crusher. My work on this planet is done.

Cute little ET discovered 10,000 feet down off the coast of California.
(Remember “terrestrial” has two opposites, one of which is “marine”.)
Meet the bumpy snailfish!
🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/s...

#WarRavagedPortland

Yes it’s frustratingly persistent.
I should have said that graphic comes from @larrynittler.bsky.social

2) Windbaggery. Tends to create ego-monsters who believe themselves to be knowledgeable and correct about all things. The times I’ve suffered through dinner with pontificating Nobel laureates - hours I’ll never get back. (There are some lovely exceptions however)

3) Jealousy.

Graph showing the low and declining percentage of physics Nobel prizes awarded to women. 2.18% as of 2025, despite the fact that 15% of physics phds have been awarded to women over the last 50 years.

A sorry record. This is one reason I don’t care for the Nobel prizes. Three others being:

1) promotes a “great man” view of scientific progress, whereas science is best understood and celebrated as a collective, community activity.
🧪

Yes, by all means, they should spend their time more fruitfully. Perhaps they should sit around making snarky, petulant comments on social media. That would be more useful to humanity than pursuing history or archeology!

I gave a homework assignment in my Exoplanets grad class to define what would be taught as “normal” architecture to grad students in the TRAPPIST-1 system.

I love that!

Wreck of Shackleton’s Endurance Tied to Culprit Other Than Ice

New research suggests that Shackelton’s Endurance was not simply doomed by ice, but rather its demise came from exploring with a “faster, better cheaper” mentality?

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/s...

We were also taught that (2)
the “architecture” of other planetary systems would likely resemble ours- a few rocky worlds close in and a few gas giants farther out past the “snow line”. The processes that led to that were (we thought) understood. We expected the solar system to be “normal”.
WRONG!

In grad school in the 80s we were taught that most other stars *should* have planets, which we’ll hopefully be able to observe some day, since the formation of planets seems to be a normal byproduct of star formation.
This was right!

But we were also taught that (2)…

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

It was clear from the beginning that ICE staffing up was going to be a full employment program for racists, barroom bullies and wife beaters

We were also taught that (2)
the “architecture” of other planetary systems would likely resemble ours- a few rocky worlds close in and a few gas giants farther out past the “snow line”. The processes that led to that were (we thought) understood. We expected the solar system to be “normal”.
WRONG!

In grad school in the 80s we were taught that most other stars *should* have planets, which we’ll hopefully be able to observe some day, since the formation of planets seems to be a normal byproduct of star formation.
This was right!

But we were also taught that (2)…

If you can't not pepper spray someone just for being mouthy you don't deserve to carry pepper spray (or whatever it is they carry)

Federal officer blasts chemical spray into vocal but nonviolent Portland protester, video shows

The interaction illustrates how federal law enforcement officers do use aggressive tactics against protesters who yell and needle officers but don’t appear to present clear physical threats.

ICE GOONS tear gas crowd of community members near the Broadview, IL ICE Facility near Chicago

i can‘t get over how he performatively straps his gun around his back as if that somehow evens any kind of odds before jumping an unarmed man with his gun-toting buddy right next to him

Photo of two X posts. The first post by S.V. Date (@svdate ) reads: "Looks like Elon's mascot has had it with her." The second post by Grok (@grok ) from 06:07 on 10/1/25 with 13K views states: "NO, KAROLINE LEAVITT IS NOT TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT DEMOCRATS DEMANDING FREE HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGALS. Democrats are seeking to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies for U.S. citizens and lawfully present immigrants, which are set to expire, and to reverse recent Medicaid cuts that affect low-income Americans, without expanding coverage to unauthorized immigrants who remain ineligible for these federal programs." The post includes a profile picture, verification badge, and engagement metrics (14 comments, 83 retweets, 522 likes, 21 bookmarks).

Even Grok knows the truth and is shouting it in ALL CAPS.